Volusia commits $1 million to Taylor Road flood project near DeLand, Spectrum reports

AI-generated illustration. AI-generated photographic illustration of shallow water in a grass-lined roadside swale beside dry pavement. Inspired by the story and DeLand.

The Volusia County Council committed $1 million to the Taylor Road flood mitigation project at its Oct. 6 meeting, Spectrum News reported. WKMG described the money beforehand as an engineering contract for design work, a starting point rather than a final design.

Spectrum reported that the full project is expected to cost more than $11 million, paid for by Transform386 and the county, with construction expected to begin in early 2028.

What the county plans to build

County public notices posted on the Transform386 site place the work along Taylor Road in DeLand, west of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The plan calls for buying and demolishing three homes, building a new stormwater pond, placing a culvert beneath Taylor Road, and adding a pump station with about 6,800 feet of pipe carrying stormwater to Lake Moore.

The county says the goal is more storage capacity and less repetitive flooding. Its federal environmental review found no significant impact on the human environment, and a public comment period on that notice ran March 9–26, 2026.

Neighbors' concerns

Martha Bailey, who lives on Taylor Road, told Spectrum that flooding from hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 kept her and her husband from leaving for weeks. JC Figueredo, who lives nearby, told WKMG the plan is a small fix for a larger problem tied to development. The county told Spectrum it will review Lake Moore during design and permitting so excess water does not affect nearby properties.