City of DeBary and Volusia County Schools approve Interlocal Joint Partnership
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2021
Shari Simmans
Communications & Government Affairs Director
City of DeBary
(386) 601-0200 Email: ssimmans@debary.org
City of DeBary and Volusia County Schools approve Interlocal Joint Partnership
DeBary, Florida – Volusia County Schools approved an interlocal joint partnership agreement with the City of DeBary on January 26th. The agreement, previously approved by DeBary’s City Council on December 18, 2020, will redesign the parent loop turn lane for DeBary Elementary at Donald E. Smith Boulevard and Highbanks.
The issue was one of the top strategic initiatives for Mayor Karen Chasez and Council. When Carmen Rosamonda became City Manager in April 2019, he immediately went to work on developing a new design, value engineering previous failed concepts. He also began building the partnership with Volusia County Schools, which entailed working with School officials and engineers, conducting site visits and validating the design and negotiating the terms of the agreement.
The DeBary City Council approved the cost of engineering the concept in the FY 2019-2020 budget. In March 2020, the City approved the funding to support agreement of sharing the entire cost of the project 50/50 with Volusia County Schools. The Volusia County School Board approved their funding share in their FY 2020-2021 budget in September 2020. According to the terms of the agreement, as this is a School Board project, Volusia County Schools will be controlling all engineering, procurement and construction management with City of DeBary oversight.
The concept of the new design is to move the ingress/egress onto Donald E. Smith Blvd. Car stacking will occur on school property (2 lanes) and Donald Smith (dedicated turn lane) rather than Highbanks Rd. Traffic will turn into the school property, circle around the existing parking lot and back out to Donald Smith Blvd. The current front entrance will be closed.
With the agreement now signed by both parties, the project enters a three phase process: developing engineering plans, procurement of a contractor, and construction. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the calendar year.
“The City Council has been laser focused on resolving many of the long-standing problems in the community” stated Rosamonda. “The DeBary Elementary School traffic and public safety issue will soon be behind us. There was a lot of great work by City Council, Volusia County School Board and their respective staffs to make this resolution possible.”
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The City of DeBary was founded in 1993. Located on the St. Johns River, the City offers a unique urban community, highlighting its history, ecotourism, and small town living.
