Daytona Beach rezones land for The Brown museum expansion as drainage review continues

Daytona Beach commissioners approved rezoning for The Brown’s planned museum expansion on September 23, allowing the project to move through its next reviews. The 7-0 vote, reported by Observer Local News, covers land where the museum proposes a new building and a larger planetarium. It does not settle the site-plan and permit questions that matter to neighbors concerned about drainage.

The city’s agenda identifies the measure as ordinance DEV2026-074, scheduled for a public hearing and final action on its second reading. It describes roughly 62.9 acres north of Museum Boulevard and west of South Nova Road. The change replaces a mix of multifamily residential, single-family residential and tourist, office and retail zoning with Planned Development-General zoning for a museum facility and associated infrastructure. The agenda sets out the proposed action; Observer Local News reported the final vote.

What the museum proposes

The plan presented at the meeting calls for a two-story, 90,000-square-foot museum joined to the existing Brown Museum by a main entry atrium, according to Observer Local News. The reported ground-floor program includes an event hall, concourse, temporary exhibition space, two classrooms and a children’s experience. A larger planetarium and permanent galleries are proposed upstairs. These are plans for the expansion, rather than facilities opened by the zoning vote.

Museum chief executive Tabitha Schmidt told commissioners that the planetarium would grow from 94 to 200 seats, with its dome increasing from 40 to 60 feet, Observer Local News reported. She said the museum completed a strategic plan in 2023 and a master plan in 2024. Those figures describe the project presented to commissioners; later design and permitting work remains relevant to what is ultimately built.

The city agenda names Jessica Gow of Cobb Cole & Associates as the applicant on behalf of the Cici & Hyatt Brown Museum of Art. Observer Local News reported that the Museum of Arts and Sciences Inc. and the Brown museum own the site. The outlet also reported that the Planning Board recommended approval 7-0 on July 23 and that city staff recommended approval before the commission’s decision.

Drainage remains under review

Rezoning allows the museum use described in the ordinance, but a site-plan application and permits still require review. Observer Local News reported that a site-plan application had been submitted alongside the zoning process. The outstanding reviews include wetland preservation, floodplain management and tree protection. The distinction matters because approval of a land use does not establish that a particular drainage design has passed those later checks.

A project engineer told commissioners that floodplain storage affected by the project must be replaced one-to-one, according to Observer Local News. The engineer said the proposal supplies about 1.5 times the required amount, with storage areas connected to the floodplain and intended to add capacity for the Nova Canal during a 100-year storm. That is the project team’s description of its proposed design, not a finding that nearby homes will avoid flooding.

A Cedar Street resident told commissioners she supported the museum expansion but wanted answers about drainage patterns, downstream discharge, overflow routes and protections for neighboring property, the outlet reported. She said water had reached her steps, although her house had not flooded. Her concern therefore reaches beyond the amount of replacement storage: she asked how water would move during and after a storm, and where it could go if the proposed system overflowed.

The resident asked for her engineer to review potential effects. An attorney for the project said the team would meet with her and that agency review of drainage and compensating storage was still under way, according to Observer Local News. The sources reviewed do not establish whether that meeting has happened or whether reviewers have accepted the drainage calculations. Those questions remain part of assessing the project’s effect on adjacent property.

What happens next

The next concrete steps are the site-plan and permit decisions described in the meeting report. Those reviews must address the applicable wetland, floodplain and tree requirements before the proposed construction can proceed. Neither the zoning vote nor the museum’s conceptual images establish a construction start date or a final building design. For residents, the drainage review is the place where the proposed storage and runoff arrangements still need to be tested against the site requirements.