Few people can remember when there was no driving on Volusia County beaches and now there is a  group which wants to keep those vehicle's wheels rolling on the hard-packed sand, so much so, they want to put it on the ballot.

But business owners say driving on the beach may be keeping quality businesses from coming to the World's Most famous beach and surrounding areas.

Volusia County has 46 miles of beaches, 17 of those miles are open for driving.

"That's why we moved here. We love it, we love to park our car and get out be right here on the beach. That's what attracts people to here," said Christine Bejune who was driving on the Beach in Ormond Beach Sunday morning.

Greg Gimbert, who heads up the group  "Let Volusia Vote," says those 17 miles will continue to shrink with fewer miles for driving unless something is done.

Gimbert says elected officials have been taking away the number of miles on the beach available to drivers without even asking voters, and wants to change that by gathering signatures calling for a change in county law through a charter amendment.

That amendment would make voters responsible for deciding if any changes to driving on the beach should be made.

The driving force behind this petition has been the number of hotels, such as the Desert Inn and the Hard Rock hotel, who requested that driving be suspended in front of their hotels.

"We have seen a surge in that, not just with the Desert Inn, but with but also with the Bayshore Capital Group. If you have a give-away out there that's for free, certainly businesses are gonna ask for it," said Gimbert.

Business owner Paul Politis is seeing that same surge and says there's a reason for that.

He says beach front hotels can command a higher occupancy rate, and a higher daily rate if they do not have driving in front of their hotels.

He says these wheels rolling down sand-packed Volusia County beaches may very well be keeping businesses away.

"I think driving on the beach right now is not conducive to the four and five star hotels that might be looking at this area," said Politis, owner of Gator Beach and Sports on A1A in Daytona Beach.

Gimbert says he has to get at least 17,000 signatures to place the proposed charter amendment on the ballot, but not this year's ballot.

At the earliest, that question would be put to voters in the 2016 ballot.