There is a mysterious hex which says, “May you live in interesting times.” 

The provenance of this grave malediction remains the subject of great philological debate – with some modern scholars employing powerful search engines that can simultaneously pour over and cross-reference the world’s recorded history – in their hunt for the origin of what Garson O’Toole described as a most “piquant and controversial expression.”

Regardless, even dullards like me agree that the expression does not extend best wishes to the unfortunate recipient – rather an imprecation for evil, chaos, and tumult.  

I think it safe to say that residents of Florida’s fabled “Fun Coast” are now living through that accursed and star-crossed age, leaving many to question how in the hell did we get here?

Last week, many of my frightened neighbors in the Halifax area descended on the Volusia County Council chambers to support a proposed moratorium on heavy-industrial (I-2) development in unincorporated areas – a clumsy eleventh-hour response by flummoxed officials to pending applications from Belvedere Terminals, LLC – a company plowing ahead with plans to build a controversial 13-million-gallon bulk fuel storage facility on property currently zoned I-2 along the Florida East Coast Railroad abutting the City of Ormond Beach. 

Both Belvedere Terminals and the FEC Railway are subsidiaries of Grupo Mexico, a Mexican transportation, mining, and infrastructure conglomerate with a grim history of environmental contamination in the United States and Mexico. 

For many, the thought of allowing a bulk fuel terminal adjacent to the busy Ormond Beach Municipal Airport, the city’s sports complex, and rapidly expanding residential areas, is inconceivable – and has residents wondering how our ‘powers that be’ in Volusia County’s dubious “growth and resource management” apparatus could have been so horribly negligent – completely ignorant of strategic planning concepts and future land use considerations? 

That’s dangerous – and leads one to ponder what other revelations are ominously looming on the horizon?  

In my view, this bureaucratic ineptitude is tantamount to so-called “professional planners” facilitating explosive development and sprawl without first ensuring adequate transportation infrastructure, flood control, wastewater treatment capacity, the quality and quantity of potable water supplies, schools, hospitals, and other critical infrastructure.

Oh, wait… 

What I found most disturbing is that while angry residents watched some of the same hacks who got us into this mess describe their scheme for temporarily thwarting the fuel terminal under the flimsy guise of a “countywide” moratorium – accompanied by much hue and cry from the dais about how resident’s should craft comments due to the potential of a lawsuit – our elected and appointed officials were well aware that just two-days earlier Belvedere Terminals had already filed a lawsuit against Volusia County.

Yeah, I know…

In an informative article by Sheldon Gardner writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, we learned the reasoning behind Belvedere’s legal action filed Tuesday in Circuit Court:

“The County has made clear it opposes the Project and is attempting ‘at all costs’ to prevent Plaintiff from developing its property in direct contradiction to the existing I-2 Zoning Ordinance,” the lawsuit reads, using part of a quote from District 4 Councilman Troy Kent.

Though the moratorium hasn’t been approved, the county is using the “pending ordinance doctrine” to stop development progress at the fuel terminal site. The county rejected the conceptual site plan in December.

Belvedere Terminals filed the lawsuit, which is 39 pages long, not including attachments, on Tuesday in Volusia County Circuit Court through their attorneys with GrayRobinson law firm. The business is asking the court to find that the development pause doesn’t comply with Volusia County Code and how the county is using the pending ordinance doctrine isn’t valid.

“This lawsuit results from a deliberate and concerted effort by the County Council to rob Belvedere of its Property and constitutionally protected rights,” according to the lawsuit. “The Property is in an enclave surrounded by heavy industrial uses to the north (railroad and alcohol warehouses), south (concrete production and waste disposal), and east (heavy recycling).”

In addition, according to a shocking excerpt from the lawsuit by WKMG-6:

“Volusia County Council members stated they first ‘became aware’ of the Project at some time in August 2023, despite Belvedere’s direct coordination with County staff in June 2022,” the lawsuit reads. “Upon finally ‘learning of the Project,’ the County Council began a crusade to stop Belvedere’s Project, as one Councilmember put it, ‘by any means necessary.’”

In addition, the lawsuit says that the councilmembers knew there was no rezoning or land-use change necessary for Belvedere to go ahead with the project, so they “panicked and began devising cloak-and-dagger schemes to stop this project.”

Wow.  Damning…  

Why wasn’t this critical information made available to residents during Thursday’s public hearing on the moratorium? 

Playing devil’s advocate (and thinking strategically) it is hard to deny the factual basis for Belvedere’s lawsuit. 

(Read Belvedere’s complaint for yourself here: http://tinyurl.com/y56fp42u )

This is setting up to be a terribly expensive and time-consuming fight – one that could have been avoided with a modicum of prior planning and diligence – and I suspect John & Jane Q’s risk tolerance will now depend upon their home’s propinquity to the potential explosive impacts of 13-million-gallons of flammable material…

I hope Volusia County residents realize this isn’t a NIMBY issue.

With the pending expansion of the massive Ormond Crossings development – and the proposed facilities proximity to established neighborhoods and the airport – I believe it represents a grave public safety concern. 

In my view, despite the fact council members have vowed not to make the Belvedere debacle a political focus during this year’s election season (it already is, because they are all equally culpable) – perhaps it is time for taxpayers to demand across-the-board accountability – and begin the process of changing the culture of Volusia County government? 

Look, I reason under the assumption that most people believe government should work in the interests of those who struggle under the yoke of excessive taxes and fees, participate in what remains of our democratic processes, and elect representatives who promise that a modicum of our tax dollars will return to the community, assure that essential services will be provided efficiently, and pledge that the administration will be accessible and responsive to our needs.

That quaint notion becomes blurred when struggling taxpayers see local elected officials serve the mercenary wants of a few influential string pullers and the industries they represent – who have purchased a very lucrative chip in the game through massive campaign contributions – while our role is relegated to paying the exorbitant bills, executive salaries, and corporate “incentives” in silence (or within our allotted three-minute audience before the aloof elite…) 

But this is different.

Perhaps most corrosive to the public trust is that those ensconced in the “inner sanctum” at the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Complex in DeLand have diminished and ignored the professional ethic of accountability.

That time-honored concept has been replaced with strict adherence to the stagnant status quo, crafting public policy in a way that no one inside government can ever be held accountable for the consequences, coupled with a pernicious scheme where senior appointed officials “befriend” those we elect, welcome them inside the tent, control information, and convince them that they alone hold the answers. 

A highly effective strategy that ensures job security for senior executives – until the very moment those with political vulnerability on the dais of power are caught with their pants down and a confused look on their faces – as the behind-closed-doors machinations of the bureaucracy are exposed to public view…  

As a result, the once sacrosanct concept of answerability is becoming a quaint artifact of what was once a government of the people.

In my view, now is the time to start terminating the tax-supported employment of anyone and everyone in county government responsible for this ongoing outrage. 

That should begin with the Volusia County Council removing County Manager George “The Wreck” Recktenwald and his coterie of not-so-useful idiots – and replacing them with competent and accountable leadership during this deplorable period in our history. 

It not now, when?

If this insult isn’t the final straw of the Recktenwald administration’s dismal history of mismanagement, what is?

How long are Volusia County taxpayers expected to accept this incompetence as “business as usual”?