DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Daytona Beach city leaders have approved a massive development that could bring thousands of new residents and major commercial space to the area — but not everyone is thrilled about it.
The Daytona Beach City Commission approved rezoning and annexation of land to make way for Avalon Park Daytona, a planned community described by its developers as a “city within a city.” The concept mirrors the existing Avalon Park development in east Orlando, built by the same development team.
When fully built out, Avalon Park Daytona would include approximately 8,800 homes and 1 million square feet of commercial space. The development would be located between Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach, just west of Interstate 95, bordered by State Road 40 and a main road leading to LPGA Boulevard.
Neighbors who already live in the area say their biggest concern is traffic — on two corridors they describe as already overwhelmed.
“30,000 more people is going to be insane,” said resident Sherry.
That figure reflects the number of residents Avalon Park Daytona could draw once the community is fully complete.
“You can hardly go anywhere because the traffic is so bad,” Sherry said.
Fellow resident Patty Modreck echoed those concerns, but said she hopes the development comes with a real solution.
“I hope for myself and future residents that there’s a plan to improve that,” Modreck said.
The developer says there is one. A representative identified as Kahli said the team has committed $125 million toward road infrastructure — including parallel roads along State Road 40.
“We will invest our money, $125 million, to this value and probably over time, inflation, it’ll probably even go up; we will build parallel roads to 40,” Kahli said.
The plan also includes a new cut-through connecting State Road 40 to LPGA Boulevard to ease east-west traffic flow. Under the developer’s agreement with the cities and Volusia County, infrastructure improvements must be completed to meet the needs of each phase before construction can advance to the next.
“This is Volusia County, which is responsible for most of those roads, actually, all of the large ones, they made it clear ‘we have a problem’ and you have to solve it, and that’s the road network agreement,” Kahli said.
Beyond roads, Kahli said the development team is also pursuing its own utility permits, plans to donate land for police and fire services, and has committed to building schools if the school district determines they are needed.
“It’ll create over time 2,700 construction jobs; it’ll create thousands of permanent jobs,” Kahli said.
The full build-out of Avalon Park Daytona is expected to span 15 to 20 years, unfolding across several phases. The developer says work on Phase 1 is set to begin next year.