ORLANDO, Fla. — The city of DeBary predicts to be fully developed with in the next handful of years with another four to five thousand homes.

Green space is coveted, and the mission of the current city council is to make sure residents and guests of DeBary will have a park to admire and enjoy.

DeBary mayor Karen Chasez just by looking at a map in City Hall can see an exciting future on an undeveloped piece of land.

The parcel is located off Fort Florida Road and has river access off the peninsula for Alexander Island.

The land currently is home to birds, alligators, cows, and an abundance of trees. Soon it the land will have a board walk, green space, and a place to admire the water.

“This is an area that will basically be preserved as marsh land,” Debary mayor Karen Chasez says touring the land. “At a maximum we have some picnic tables out here.”

DeBary is paying $3.5 million for the 170 acre parcel. 40 homes could have potentially been built along the St. John’s River, but instead this giant piece of land will be set aside for recreation, preservation and education.

“This land is within a mile of what will be the most densely populated area of our city when it is built out, Chasez says. The area around Sunrail.”

Driving in to the future park you can see the surrounding development being built amongst the trees. Former Volusia County council member Pat Northey says locking down a piece of land like this for a community is priceless.

“Longterm you can not put a price on preserving these kind of green spaces because they don’t exist in a lot of places,” Northey explains. “Volusia County has a conservation corridor that we have pretty much filled in.”

Only thing possibly even being put near Alexander Island will be a starting point for kayaks, but even that is just an idea for now.

“I think it is reasonable to expect that we will put five to ten million in to this and in to developing it over time,” Chasez says looking out in to the river.

A master plan has still not been presented at this time. The funding that DeBary will use for the purchase and development of the lands will come from the $10 million dollars the city was allocated by the American Rescue Plan Act.