Daytona's East ISB troubles: Residents share frustration, ideas
Eileen Zaffiro-Kean @EileenDBNJ
Mar 3, 2020 at 12:36 PM Mar 3, 2020 at 5:08 PM
Daytona Beach's long-struggling East International Speedway Boulevard was discussed at a meeting Tuesday morning attended by everyone from local residents to top officials with the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce.
DAYTONA BEACH — In about three years, work is going to begin on a $24 million overhaul of East International Speedway Boulevard that's hoped to catapult the long-blighted corridor into a new stratosphere of investment.
For beachside residents such as Sue Odena, that's three years too late to start improvements to the city's main gateway to the ocean.
"I've had drunks sleep on my front lawn," said Odena, who noted she has a police captain on speed dial. "During a business meeting on Seabreeze, I saw a knife fight."
Odena and about 70 other people packed into Henry's Pizza, one of the few businesses still operating on East ISB, as the sun rose over the ocean Tuesday morning. They discussed the possibility of a new dawn on the troubled road and throughout the beachside area around it.
For 90 minutes, they tossed around ideas and vented frustrations with the street pockmarked with empty buildings, vacant lots and a dearth of parking. The first people to arrive at Tuesday's meeting quickly filled the tiny lot at Henry's Pizza and everyone else had to park at the strip club next door.
The discussion organized by The News-Journal centered on how to spark new energy in the peninsula between the Halifax River and Atlantic Ocean. Taking time out of their morning to discuss East ISB were dozens of residents, business owners, members of the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce, City Manager Jim Chisholm and Zone 3 City Commissioner Quanita May.
Christine Perelli, who lives at East ISB and Peninsula Avenue, said she's afraid to venture outside her beachside home at night and she's "constantly picking up trash."
"I see dead cats, people urinating," Perelli said.
Perelli would like to turn her home into an "elegant" bed and breakfast, but she's afraid to make the investment while the area is struggling so much. She's seen the homeless get so comfortable in her neighborhood that they've left clothes on her property. One of them even drove a nail into a wooden fence to use it as a makeshift clothes hook.
Beachside resident Susan Bousquet said East ISB "is an embarrassment," but quickly added, "it doesn't have to be that way."
Longtime peninsula resident Mike Denis recalled how he and a group of local citizens cleaned up East ISB in 2015, hauling off trash and weeds in wheelbarrows.
"We probably did more for this street than anyone since, and that pisses me off," Denis said.
Several of the residents who shared their thoughts said the city needs to take more of the lead on spurring improvements.
"The city is not in the business of creating a business, but creating the environment for a business," Chisholm told the group. "If there are barriers we want to know about it."
The city has been buying property along the East ISB corridor for years, and holds land near the Halifax River, at the corner of State Road A1A, and some property in between, including the large fenced lot just east of Henry's Pizza. In 2018 alone, the city spent about $2.63 million on East ISB land as well as property just around the corner on A1A.
In the process of buying that land, the city leveled several dilapidated buildings and created opportunities for new investment.
"But we can only do that if we have willing sellers, and they sell at market value," Chisholm said. "The real solution is the citizens and investors reinvesting in their property."
Chisholm said the city is "constantly looking for investors."
Chisholm said the city is "willing to work with" investors, as it's done with Streamline Hotel owner Eddie Hennessy. Hennessy has bought out much of the property between his hotel and East ISB with plans to redevelop it.
"It takes all of us to do this," Chisholm said.
Christos Mavronas, owner of Steve's Famous Diner on the northern end of A1A, said Daytona Beach Shores officials are enticing him with financial incentives to open another restaurant in their city.
"We've got to make businesses not afraid to invest here," Mavronas said.
Beachside resident Jenny Nazak said if the right changes aren't made, East ISB will just become "a wider blighted street." She suggested pop up businesses be encouraged to rent space and local residents pool their money to open small businesses.
"You know who's really going to solve it? You," said Jeff Brower, a candidate for the Volusia County Chair post. "Why would someone invest in the area where there's no confidence?"
Denis said the City Commission needs to ease zoning laws, at least temporarily, to make redevelopment easier for investors.
"We haven't had anybody denied on that stretch of road because of regulations," Chisholm responded. "If we get someone willing to make an investment and they feel something is an impediment we'll work with them. We do it every day."
Chisholm said the city can also offer incentives such as tax abatement and property improvement grants.
Ken Strickland, who's making a bid to become Daytona Beach's next mayor, said the city needs to invest more "in people and local businesses" and quit chasing after "the next big thing."
May — whose City Commission zone includes most of the beachside — said she and other city officials are addressing problems east of the Halifax River as quickly as they find out about them.
"I have a working list," May said.
May said only three properties are currently for sale on East ISB, so that will limit major change at least for now.
City records show an asking price of $480,000 for 8,100 square feet at 219 East ISB; an asking price of $825,000 for 35,924 square feet at 301-305 E. ISB; and an asking price of $1.2 million for 13,770 square feet at 500 E. ISB.
City records also show eight properties along the corridor selling since March 2016. The most expensive sale by far was the 234,226 square feet that sold four years ago for $9.67 million.
Another large sale was the 4,400 square feet at 730 East ISB that sold in June 2018 for $1.07 million. That worked out to $244.32 per square foot. Other properties of various sizes sold for $200,000-$900,000.
Some of the city-controlled land at the intersection of ISB and A1A will be used for a new roundabout that several people at Tuesday's meeting predicted will create more traffic congestion than it alleviates.
There are also plans to widen the half-mile stretch of East ISB, build a raised median, resurface the roadway and upgrade traffic signals. There will be a 10-foot-wide sidewalk on the south side of the road to accommodate pedestrians and bicycles.
The roadwork is expected to begin in about three years. The total cost of the project is estimated at $23.8 million, which is funded by the state.
Design, which is going to cost about $2.6 million, should be complete by the end of this year. About $14.2 million is expected to go toward property acquisition to make the road and sidewalk widening possible.
Right-of-way acquisition is expected to begin late this year. Parcels will be needed on the north side of the road throughout the corridor as well as some land on the south side of the street near Peninsula Drive and A1A.
Construction is estimated to cost about $7 million and begin in early 2023, putting the project's completion at least four years away.
The Florida Department of Transportation has scheduled a meeting to get public input on the proposed road design for March 31 at the Midtown Cultural and Educational Center on George Engram Boulevard.