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Arts Overlay District reduced to exclude residential areas

New Smyrna Beach -- In a joint meeting between the city commission and the planning board tonight at city hall, the consensus was to consider 40 units per acre in the Canal Street area and including the North Causeway, in what is referred to as "infill" housing where dwellings could be added by building up several stories.

The Canal Street Historic District wants to add 150 housing units in addition to the 622 now there. Right now the city allows 18 units per acre, but the city officials at tonight's joint meeting saw 40 units per acre and building height capped at 5 or 6 stories. Planning Board Chairman Jason McGuirk, a candidate with no opposition so far for a seat on the commission in the 2012 elections, was asked by Mayor Adam Barringer at Tuesday's meeting for his perspective.

"It's a good question for me -- the number of the density is difficult to answer. I look at what Gail was looking at 35 units per acre," he said, referring to city planner Gail Henrikson.

HOLLY HILL -- David Sullivan was looking down the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun after two men ran up to his Magnolia Avenue home on Monday demanding cash. But the 45-year-old homeowner grabbed the gun and pointed it up in the air during which a shot was fired, a pellet grazing his forehead.

Sullivan got a trip to the ER at Halifax Health Medical Center and the the woulds-be robbers ran off like cowards.

Here is a synopsis of what happened in the 11:50 p.m. incident as reported by Holly Hill Police Chief Mark Barker: Two unidentified black male subjects approached the residence at 705 Magnolia Avenue in Holly Hill, Florida. One of these individuals was armed with a 12-gauge “sawed-off” shotgun. The homeowner was working inside the garage area of his home when he observed the men coming towards him from the north side of the house.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A man found passed out in some bushes on Flagler Avenue just after midnight this morning from drinking too much was taken into protective custody and transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach to sleep it off.

Police Sgt. Christopher Roos said in his report that while he was eastbound on Flagler, he was flagged down by a person who reported a man sleeping in the bushes.

Here is the synopsis of what Roos said he encountered encountered 12:05 a.m. Tuesday in the vicinity of 376 Flagler after waking the man up from his inebriated sleep: "I made contact with the male who was impaired to the point where he was unable to care for himself or provide any information to care for him for someone to care for him."

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The local unemployment rate is above 8 percent. More animals go hungry each day. See a connection? Hundreds of local families are not making enough money to pay for basic necessities. Granted there are government-run and personally-run programs that assist people in hard times but what about their pets?

ORMOND BEACH -- As a member of Volusia Tax Reform in public testimony during 2009 county budget hearings in DeLand, I held up the yellow pages of the county phone book for that year and the previous one to show the County Council how high taxes were decimating the private sector listings in the commercial districts of the county. There was a net loss of one-quarter-inch in thickness. About 150 pages of listings.

Life was much simpler back in 1979 when Donna Summer was queen of the pop charts. The music helped define the 1970s, the decade of mistrust, betrayal and failure.

And as much as that decade said "Disco Sucks!" it was the music that moved us. It was the beat that helped us endure and transition to a new decade of living large and enjoying the good times: the Big 80s.

No singer transcended the music of the disco era better than Donna Summer. And if Disco sucked, it was a reflection of our leaders who sucked: Nixon, Ford and Carter. 

I was a wide-eyed naive 17-year-old begging, hoping to put high school behind me as fast as possible for college and the beginning of my adult life with endless possibilities.

Peter Mallory is a retired co-publisher and founder of NSBNews.net, now under the umbrella trademark Headline Surfer (HeadlineSurfer.com). You can read his award-winning blog segments for "The Right Side," by clicking here where he has an entire blog listing, along with details of his 2011 Florida Press Club blog award. When he writes new installments, they will be posted here.

EDGEWATER -- A 24-year-old Edgewater woman is reported missing and police are asking the public's help in locating her.

Christine Lavoie and her mother were arguing in their home 6 p.m. Tuesday when the daughter ran from the residence after threatening to commit suicifde, police said.

"Christine has not been heard from since and her whereabouts are unknown at this time," Edgewater police said today in a press release.

 Christine Lavoie is described as a white, 5 feet 4 and 130 pounds. She has brown eyes, long straight dirty-blonde hair, facial piercings and a tattoo of “Bella Vita” on her right forearm. She was wearing a white T-shirt and denim capris.