DELAND, Fla. — Tuesday night the Volusia County community came together to discuss several proposals regarding the county’s stormwater and drainage issues.

Three items were talked about and were passed by the Volusia County Council in a first reading. Which means the county is set on placing long-term goals to help the county get ahead of flooding.

To start, the stormwater management amendment was passed unanimously.

It requires four things:

1. Requiring additional soil borings on properties to better determine permeability of the soils and its exact location of the groundwater level.
   
   
2. Requiring additional information to better estimate the seasonal high level of the groundwater.
   
   
3. Requiring the location of ponds to be as interior to the project as possible to minimize impacts on adjacent properties.
   
   
4. Requiring that the tailwater elevation used in the design of the stormwater is to be based on the county-approved basin study.

County leaders view this as an opportunity to get things right in the future.

“I really wanted to take bold action on this. The county is taking bold action on other things, but we needed to do this," Chair Jeff Bower said.

Other items dealing with future land use and low-impact development passed their first reading.

The council is expected to come back in April to solidify those amendments.