In February the commission voted 5-2 to hire John O Grady, Mount Dora s former police chief and public safety director, for a contracted part-time position in Deltona s code enforcement department.
John Peters III, acting city manager, said O Grady has the right set of skills for the job, the contract for which expires Oct. 1. There s a lot of good things going on, but it could probably be better, O Grady said by phone Wednesday. We just need to hear from the community on how best to serve them through code enforcement services.
Deltona s biggest issue? Illegal parking
O Grady said the biggest issue citywide is illegal parking.
Both groups want their region s notable rural areas left alone by developers.
In Deltona, it s about 110 acres of land located west of Little Lake, though part of the lake is included in the boundary, and just south of Lake Hutchinson. A developer has plans to put 189 single-family homes on the site. The surrounding area also includes several miles of the River of Lakes Heritage Corridor, which was designated in February as a National Scenic Byway.
On Monday night, Deltona s commission voted 4-3 with commissioners Loren King, Dana McCool and David Sosa dissenting in support of the request to change about 110 acres from county prime agriculture to city residential planned-unit development dubbed Hickory Lakes Preserve.