THORNBY "GEM OF A PARK"

"Gateway to Deltona that will

attract tourism from other states"

COUNTY COUNCILWOMAN AND CANDIDATE PAT NORTHEY ON THE RADIO TONIGHT, TAKING YOUR CALLS!

July 25, 2010

Deltona's ONLY talk radio show hosts guest County Councilwoman and candidate Pat Northey, who was a major proponent of spending TEN MILLION DOLLARS in tax money for the Thornby property.

To hear it live or to play back this or past shows, click here.

17 months after purchase,

What does the Thornby Park look like?

DeltonaBonaFide.com's Ensminger decided to take a look:

Song:     Thornby Loompa

Song:     Thornby Money

Past Thornby news (pre-2009):

THORNBY PARK COST TO DELTONANS COULD BE $10 - 20 MILLION

Residents of the neighboring town of Enterprise want

Deltona homeowners to spend big bucks on a new park.

FACT SHEET

Click a blue fact-link for detailed facts

Bookmark this page and check back regularly for updated Thornby news.

New information will be noted with a red exclamation point!

What is Thornby?

• The Thornby property is a 38-acre privately-owned piece of undeveloped land full of dense foliage and trees and is located at the southern edge of Deltona.

Why is Thornby an issue?

• A small but vocal group of people want the citizens of Deltona to buy the Thornby property, develop it into a park, and maintain it every year thereafter.  Many or most of those people do not pay taxes to Deltona because they are not residents of Deltona - but it is Deltona tax payers who will likely foot most or all of the $10 - 20 million tab for their dream.

How much will Thornby cost?

• The Thornby property is currently for sale and the asking price is about $7 million.

• The official estimated cost of developing the Thornby property into a park is about $3 million.

• The Mayor's newly proposed Thornby buildings are likely to add another $1 - 10 million to the estimated development costs.

• $20 million is over 20% of the City's annual budget - it would be like you spending 1/5 of your annual salary on something you don't need.

• Commissioner Harvey points out that the Mayor was not being 100% truthful when he said it wouldn't cost the City anything.

Are other sources of funding available to pay for the purchase and development of Thornby?

• For over five years the supporters of Thornby have researched and pursued obtaining grants from the various levels of Government and private donors, but to date no grants or contributions have been obtained that would pay for the Thornby property, its development, or its annual upkeep.  The most recently rejected grant application was denied by the State last September.

• When County staff asked the City of Deltona if they had an alternate funding source for Thornby, the City’s response was no, they do not have an alternate funding source at this time.

• No matter what County, State, or Federal grants are applied for - it's all tax money.  Your tax money.

Why should Deltona NOT buy Thornby?

• The park would cost Deltonans millions of dollars.

• A new $10 million dollar park would worsen the negative impacts to local traffic (Doyle Rd., Providence Blvd, etc.).  Would you want to spend that kind of cash on a park that didn't generate traffic?

• Several parks already exist within five minutes' distance of the Thornby property - more parks in that area simply aren't needed.  County Councilwoman and Thornby supporter Pat Northey admits "Green Springs, a County park, is in very close proximity to this property."

• Deltona needs more sports parks, to provide the children with positive activities.  Idle hands are the devil's workshop.

• Commissioner Janet Deyette, who has been highly supportive of the purchase, said her vision includes possibly launching a water taxi across the lake from Sanford.  But that would do more to help Sanford's economy than it would Deltona's and, according to some, the people of Deltona are tired of going to other cities to shop and eat.

• The property owner has conducted an archeological study on the property, but has not provided the results to the City.  If there's any archeological value to the property, it would have benefited the seller to share those results with Deltona.

• Phil Maroney, chairman of the Volusia Forever Advisory Committee, expressed a concern that there is a lack of connectivity to other conservation lands and a significant amount of disturbance to the property.

• Mayor Mulder, in a prelude to a flip-flop on wasteful spending, was recently quoted in a local paper as saying "...we're going to have to live within our means, which is what we should be doing."

• Mayor Mulder has proposed several buildings to be built on the Thornby property, but in a local newspaper he was quoted as admitting that as a developer he "doesn't have any idea" what he is doing.

• We can't afford it - Deltona's commission has been warned by their financial advisors that Deltona's budget needs to be closely watched or within "a year or two the money going out will be greater than the money coming in."

• A Thornby park would likely be a financial drain on Deltona year after year.  Not one supporter of Thornby has presented or proposed any plan for a park that would pay for itself.  Thornby would likely require more money for upkeep than it would generate in revenue.

• Additionally, if Deltona bought and developed the park, it would lose thousands in tax revenue annually.

• If the City buys Thornby and develops it as a park,  a tighter City budget will surely result.  As such, commissioners in the future will be under more pressure to raise your taxes whenever the opportunity  presents itself, in order to make the City's budget healthy again.

• Deltona already owns 17 parks many or all of which are still in need of development - $10 million dollars could finish all of those parks.  Some existing parks have no grass.  The landscape at the Keysville park, Deltona's only dog park, was not completed due to insufficient funding to complete the project. Money is sorely needed to complete this park and others.

Why should Deltona buy Thornby and develop it into a park?

• Larry French, recently resigned Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee member and long-time Thornby supporter, explains to the Deltona commission why they should purchase Thornby.

• Kevin Finn, Enterprise Preservation Society board member, recently said that the proposed Thornby park would attract out-of-town visitors.  "...They're not just going to remember Disney World but they'll remember Deltona and that really cool park," he said.

Lies, deceit and egos in City Hall

• Last year Mayor Mulder, Commissioner Carmolingo, and Commissioner Harvey all said they didn't want to spend your City tax dollars on Thornby.  But this month all three of them voted to spend thousands of your City tax dollars on a property appraisal of Thornby, thus opening the door to future spending of your tax dollars on Thornby.  On Monday February 19th they will again vote on spending tax dollars on Thornby.

• Mayor Mulder last year said that Thornby wouldn't cost the City anything but recently voted twice to spend your tax dollars on Thornby.

• !During a recent commission meeting, Mayor Mulder said "There'll be developer money we'll have to come up with."  That means Deltona tax dollars will have to be spent to develop the property.

• Commissioner Harvey points out that the Mayor was not being 100% truthful when he said it wouldn't cost the City anything.

• If Deltona needs more park land, then why did Mayor Mulder recently partner with the wife of Deltona Youth Soccer Club official Charlie Vance to purchase Deltona park land so they can privately turn it into a residential development?  He profits while you pay.

• !The proposed Thornby park will damage many rare species' habitat and old trees.

• !Commissioner Janet Deyette told the Volusia Growth Management Commission "don't be too trusting of us."

• !When the City recently considered buying weather sirens to save the lives of residents during tornado activity, Opposing Commissioner Janet Deyette said "the sirens" - costing as little as $600,000 to cover the entire City - "are real expensive."  Is spending millions on Thornby more important than saving human lives, Deyette?

• Your commissioners killed the Partnership Center, some opposing it because the cost had gone up and what we were going to get in return had gone down.  The same can be said of Thornby, but those same commissioners support Thornby.  Thornby's cost used to be $1.3 million and also included a historic house.

• Deltona's Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, lead by Jamie Jessup, advised the commission to poll the citizens to determine the will of the people with regard to Thornby.  The commission has failed to conducted any polls.

• During his campaign, while he was making promises to get your vote, Mayor Mulder said "I have said many times I will not promote any project that does not get majority citizen approval. either on a ballot or an independent poll.  Remember!! You can say you listen to residents, or You can PROVE it."

To date, no such public poll or ballot has been conducted, yet Mayor Mulder has promoted the Thornby project numerous times with his commission vote.  What you want doesn't seem to be important to your commission.  But, Mayor Mulder has made sure to make it known what he wants.

Who's in your wallet?  They want millions of your dollars for Thornby.

• Enterprise Preservation Society (EPS), a special interest group who appear to be  more interested in the preservation of their Enterprise history than they are your wallet.  Regarding Deltona agreeing to consider buying Thornby they say "We couldn't be happier."

• Kevin Finn,  board member of EPS, who admittedly does not know how much of your tax money Thornby will cost, used sloppy math while presenting his cost estimates to the City commission, is pushing the commission to spend millions of your tax dollars on an unneeded park.

• Ed and Cindy Sullivan (board member of EPS), live in Enterprise and do not pay property taxes to Deltona.  Although he agrees that Deltona does not need a Thornby park,  Ed still says "It's just a good idea."

• !Carol Aymar, board member and past-president of EPS and supporter of both Janet Deyette's and Mayor Mulder's campaigns, lives in Enterprise and does not pay property taxes to Deltona.  But Ms. Aymar was quoted by a local paper in 2004 as saying "We're expecting continued challenges until there is a change in power in Deltona."

• Sandy Walters, coordinator of the Friends of Thornby, also a supporter of both Janet Deyette's and Mayor Mulder's campaigns. According to the Volusia County property appraiser she is an Enterprise resident whose nearly 4,000 square foot home with separate boat house and dock is near the Thornby property and required a wetlands permit. She doesn't live in Deltona but she appears to have strong expectations of your Mayor.

• County Council member Pat Northey has been pushing for preservation of Thornby. But she was recently quoted as saying the county can't help if Deltona doesn't come up with matching funds.  "We're not really the leaders. It's a Deltona project, and that needs to be emphasized," Northey said.

• Larry French, recently resigned Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee member and long time Thornby supporter, admits "The city has yet to poll its residents to see if there is truly a desire among the public for the [Thornby] park..."

• Mayor Mulder, a Janet Deyette campaign supporter who recently purchased designated park land in Deltona with the intent of upzoning it to residential for his own development experiment, who last year said that Thornby wouldn't cost the City anything, and who also said during his campaign that he would not promote any project that did not get majority voter approval on a poll or ballot, has flip-flopped by voting to spend your tax dollars on Thornby without asking for your approval.

• Commissioner Janet Deyette, local tax accountant and long-time supporter of Thornby, she has not presented any plan to buy Thornby that does not require Deltonans to foot most or all of the bill.  She regards your State tax dollars as "free money."  A tax accountant, of all people, should know that tax money is not "free money." Did her tax clients not earn it before they paid it to the State? Did you not earn your money before you paid your taxes?

• Commissioner Carmolingo, who last year said he didn't want to spend any City tax dollars on Thornby - "it's not the right thing to do," has flip-flopped by recently voting to spend your City tax dollars on Thornby.

Who does your commission represent - you or Enterprise residents?

What can you do?

• TELL YOUR CITY LEADERS THAT YOU WANT A PUBLIC POLL CONDUCTED TO DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT DELTONA BUYS THORNBY.  Let the taxpayers of Deltona decide by poll or ballot.

• Contact your commissioners and Mayor via email or telephone or speak to them during a City commission meeting.  Make sure they are hearing what you are saying.  Tell the City Clerk you would like to speak to the commission during the next commission meeting.

• A referendum is being considered to limit the amount of spending our commission can do without public approval.  Contact us to let us know what you think about such a referendum.  What limits would you like to see?  Would you be willing to help recruit others into signing the referendum?

When can you voice your concerns about Thornby?

• The first and third Monday of every month, at City Hall during the regular commission meeting.  Call the City Clerk first.

• Anytime via email, telephone or in person.

Where can you voice your concerns about Thornby?

• You can voice your opinion at City Hall during commission meetings.

• Email or telephone your commissioners.

Song:     Thornby Loompa

Song:     Thornby Money

Regarding the spending of tax dollars, Commissioner McFall says

"The voters have to hold us accountable"

The small group of Enterprise residents want to partner with Deltona in the rewards of the Thornby property

but they want us to keep to ourselves with the financial risks

Bookmark this page and check back regularly for updated Thornby news.

Discuss it at Deltona's online discussion forum DeltonaChat.com

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