DELAND, Fla. — The city of DeLand shared its vision for the future at an open house Thursday night where it presented the community proposed changes to the city’s Comprehensive Plan and the 2050 Vision Plan.

Kelly Hobbs, a co-owner of Gurrs & Purrs in DeLand, said he knows how the city has grown over the years, and he’s looking ahead to what’s next.

 “We have issues with parking, we have issues with water, there’s a lot of things that are going on,” Hobbs said. 

Even with these challenges, he said he's learned to adapt quickly.

“We were in one spot for eight years — and parking got so bad, and our business grew, that we had to move to a second location just down the street," Hobbs said. "But we still have both locations."

It’s those challenges that officials with the city of DeLand say they’re trying to prevent.

“Both documents guide growth and development in the city of DeLand,” said DeLand Planning Director Carol Kuhn.

Kuhn said that in a lot of ways, the Comprehensive Plan and 2050 Vision Plan go hand-in-hand.

“There’s not a lot of large changes to the comprehensive plan," Kuhn said. "We’re cleaning up outdated references and dates, but we are adding an economic development chapter, and we’ve never had an economic development element."

As for the 2050 vision plan, Kuhn said that’s all looking ahead to the future.

“Recognizing that the south side of town is different than the north side of town, and the west node would be different because that’s close to the SunRail, each one has a distinct feel,” Kuhn said. 

But Hobbs said people in DeLand are ready for change in the future.

“We’ve needed something like this for quite some time,” he said.

Both plans will be presented to the Planning Board on June 12, for a public hearing, and in July they will head to City Commission.