Will Nize's organic farm in DeLand have to bite the dust?

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Mar 7, 2009 - 5:15:19pm

The long arm of county code enforcement has reached the small farm owned by Nize and Bill Nylen.

The Nylens and their sons live in a modest house in the middle of 8 or 9 acres at 687 E. Kentucky Ave., in the unincorporated area on DeLand's northeast side. Their land is an oasis of green in a developing area.

Nize grows and sells fruits and vegetables. Her husband, a Stetson University professor, makes deliveries to friends on campus.

Nize Nylen also sells chicken and duck eggs, and goat milk.

A neighbor complained about the animals. That brought out code-enforcement officials, who told Nylen she could have only four pets. They also told her she couldn't operate her small commercial farm in her residential zoning.

"They told me to call the zoning people to see what they can do for me. Here I am desperate, waiting," she said in February.

She sold her turkeys and roosters, and began to sell some ducks.

After a meeting with zoning officials, the code-enforcement action is in abeyance. Nylen can keep her animals while she requests rezoning.

That will be a process, Volusia County Planning Manager Scott Ashley said.

"The property is zoned for single-family use," he said.

The land-use designation for the property doesn't allow agriculture.

The Nylens have lived on the acreage about nine years. A large lot across Kentucky Avenue is vacant. Heather Glen subdivision is on one side, and remaining property around them is platted for single-family housing.

First, the Nylens will have to ask for an amendment to the county's comprehensive-land-use plan. The plan is a blueprint for how land is to be developed.

The Nylens would have to request a low-intensity designation, which would allow commercial-agricultural use. That request will go through the county Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission (PLDRC) and the Volusia Growth Management Commission.

If approved, the land-use change, accompanied by the rezoning request, will go to the County Council for final action.

"We met with them about a week-and-a-half or so ago, and kind of laid out the process to them," Ashley said.

The whole process will probably take a good six months, Ashley said.

Nize Nylen said she's happy she can at least keep her animals for now. She will pursue the land-use-change and rezoning, but she's worried about how to pay for it.

The process isn't cheap, Ashley said. There are filing fees, legal-advertising fees and other expenses.

Nize Nylen is thinking about a fundraising party, with food from her garden and live music.

Bill Nylen hopes the land-use-application process will become an opportunity.

"We have the consciousness now ... we have a window to do something different," Bill said.

He would like to put a little store on the property, and maybe a couple of houses among the gardens.

He said he hopes the DeLand area won't start to look like South Florida, completely developed and paved over.

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

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