CITY SPOTLIGHT
PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF DEBARY
QC
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
DeBary: A Community That Is Multimodal DEBARY Volusia County Pop. 21,973
Unique location offers opportunities for business and play
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ocated on the northern shore of the picturesque St. Johns River and incorporated in 1993, the City of DeBary is a young city with a close-knit community citizenry. The City is known for its warm and friendly hometown atmosphere. DeBary’s “A” rated schools, the low ad valorem rate and overall safety contribute to making it a great place to live, work and play. With a wide variety of new and traditional living accommodations attracting a diverse population, its quality core values are integrated into everything the City does, which fosters a wellrounded lifestyle. City leaders are creating a dynamic, multidimensional community while maintaining a small-town atmosphere and quality core values. They achieve that by incorporating innovative concepts that assimilate DeBary’s unique business, 16 QUALITY CITIES | THIRD QUARTER 2021
by Carmen Rosamonda City of DeBary
recreational and environmental assets. Their focus is to create a mixed-use Main Street concept with opportunities for living accommodations and small specialty businesses such as restaurants, taverns, coffee shops, bakeries and salons. The Main Street will also serve as a focal point for communitywide events and festivals, strengthening the downtown through increased business and resident interactions. DeBary’s business-friendly government policies and loyal, proud customer base, along with a rising income level, create a strong and sustainable small retail and specialty-focused business
environment. This environment was evidenced by the fact that nearly 100% of DeBary businesses survived the challenges that small businesses faced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. To integrate the business environment with its quality lifestyle, DeBary created a Tr a n s i t- O r i e n t e d D e v e l o p m e n t (TOD) overlay to provide multimodal opportunities. The recently approved mobility plan offers the flexibility to develop the appropriate transit enhancements in the TOD. The mobility plan will allow the City to create sustainable mobility and build trails, sidewalks or other options that a truly multimodal community embraces. For example, business and residential developers in the TOD are required to build trails in their community that link to the already established trails in DeBary. Uniquely, DeBary incorporates another
