By Heresies Distressed

Volusia property appraiser questions single-minded tourism approach to selling ...

ORMOND BEACH -- From "The World's Most Famous Beach," to "The Great American Race," Volusia County seems to have always seen itself primarily as a great place to visit.

But is that the best assessment of the community?

Property Appraiser Morgan Gilreath started to wonder as he prepared a presentation Friday for members of the Volusia County Association for Responsible Development. A few numbers jumped out at Gilreath, leading him to thoughts that he joked "might be considered heresy" in an area largely defined by its tourism industry.

The first number is the overwhelming percentage of residential housing in Volusia. For about 60 years, Gilreath said, Volusia's share of residential property has hovered around 90 percent, even during periods when new housing was scarce.

The next surprise for Gilreath was the number of hotels built in the county. He tracked construction trends since 1850 and found that for all the emphasis on tourism, the county has seen only three oceanfront hotels built since 1989.

"There hasn't been a lot of hotel growth in this county," Gilreath told VCARD members, gathered at the Halifax Plantation Clubhouse for a real estate forum. "Think about what that says about our area."

To Gilreath, the numbers reflect no accident of statistics. In the free-market system we live in, the numbers represent a choice.

"This is what we are," he said. "It was also amazing to me that we had such spikes in residential building and yet overall (the percentage of housing) was such a consistent part of the whole picture."

It made Gilreath wonder: This is what we are, but is this the way we define ourselves to the world?

"I wasn't sure that it was," he said.

"The thing that really hit me is we're a residential community. And that's what people here want and people who come here want," he added. "In my opinion, that's the way we can get more people to come here, to show them what a wonderful residential community we are. If you get people to see that Volusia County is a wonderful place to come and have your family live, then you're going to have some corporate heads that want to move their families and their businesses here as well."

Gilreath's views gave his audience of mostly real estate professionals something to chew on, even before lunch was served.

"Morgan had some interesting insights regarding how Volusia views itself," said VCARD executive director Dave Castagnacci. "That's something for everyone to think about and figure if we want to look at our high quality of life as a resource for promoting economic development. That's an interesting perspective that I've not really heard before.

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By Heresies Distressed

By Heresies Distressed

By Heresies Distressed

By Schism Rent Asunder

A Mighty Fortress