Daytona Beach city officials plan to sell dirt off of city property to help finance construction of a new homeless shelter.
The proposed agreement is on the City Commission’s consent agenda tonight where it could be approved without public discussion.
The First Step Shelter will cost more than $5 million to build. The city expects to offset more than $2 million from the dirt sale.
The deal allows one of the project’s contractors, P&S Paving, to dig a 40-acre retention pond and keep the estimated 1.42 million cubic yards of excavated dirt. P&S would pay the city $1.50 per cubic yard of dirt.
The owner of a Port Orange land clearing business told the Daytona Beach News Journal that demand for fill dirt has risen, and P&S could easily sell the dirt for $5-$7 per cubic yard.
City Manager James Chisholm recommended approving the agreement.