Other important concessions include enlarging the buffer along the 1,577 home development to 175 feet, native plantings, restrained use of pesticides and fertilizer on the golf course, help implement speed limits and assist with a scenic road designation.

As a former board member of the St. John's River Water Management District, I can verify the area's fragile eco-system, which necessitates careful protection of the wetland water and wildlife resources.

In my 50 years in Volusia County, this is by far the largest grass roots uprising, and indicative of our citizen's mandate to our elected officials to afford more attention to growth and sprawl issues.

More than 9,000 people have signed petitions and more than $15,000 has been raised by the sale of yard signs, T-shirts, buttons, and bumper stickers.

Some have heard of "The Loop" but know little about it. "The Loop" is a 23-mile roadway north of Ormond Beach winding through thousands of acres of public land, including Tomoka and Bulow Creek state parks, and includes a number of historical sites. This fragile eco-system is unique to the subtropical environment of Florida. The thick canopy of native trees lining the route is used heavily by cyclists, bikers, runners, walkers and tourists and offers access to multiple recreational opportunities.

The "Plantation Oaks" development and 18-hole golf course looms behind this lush screen of live oaks and palmettos. The "Save the Loop" Committee is committed to addressing the traffic, environmental and recreational concerns of the public and is working with the government and developers of the project to protect the public investment in this. It is my hope that opposition to this 1,577 home development and its impacts, which has spawned the "Save the Loop" movement, is only the beginning of a renewed awareness of quality of life and conservation issues. Some indication of this is the "Smart Growth" summit, initiated by the Volusia County Association of Responsible Development with wide support and sponsorship by both environmental and development interests.

As we all know, this area's quality of life has been one of our great economic advantages. If we do not address urban sprawl, we will run out of customers, water and dollars.

I urge you to make your feelings about this issue known to our county's elected leaders. Let the members of the County Council know your concerns about protecting the loop and other environmentally sensitive lands in your area.

The Loop's serenity -- the quiet, narrow lane canopied by oaks dripping with Spanish moss -- is still threatened. A road from the proposed Plantation Oaks housing complex will still empty traffic onto Old Dixie Highway, The Loop's main artery. Worse, that road will link Old Dixie at its centermost beauty to U.S. 1 -- potentially expanding traffic flow to and from Old Dixie.

To keep the ecological and historic integrity of the area, developers for the landowners -- the National Gardens Trust -- have a responsibility to route traffic away from Old Dixie Highway. Agreed, it might not be either easy or cheap to create entryways without an outlet to The Loop. But sending cars -- perhaps two per day for each of the proposed 1,577 houses -- onto that pristine roadway threatens the very qualities that make people want to make their homes near The Loop. There is not even a gateway planned to protect The Loop from cut-through traffic.

Lowering the speed limit has been suggested as an answer. And while that should be encouraged, it is not a real solution. Even now, tailgaters pressure slow-going drivers to speed. Increased traffic will only increase such pressure.

Outraged residents and environmental leaders who rallied to form the Save The Loop group last year say they did the best they could in this latest round to temper the effects of the new development. They are probably right. Their hands were tied in 1986 when the Volusia County Council approved an initial development plan that included the 1,003 acres that are in Plantation Oaks. Their hands were tied again in November when the County Council voted 4-3 to approve a more specific plan.

Leaders of Save The Loop, which became a part of the Volusia-Flagler Environmental Action Committee, should be congratulated for what they did accomplish. After the County Council's November vote, they sued claiming the county had not done enough impact studies before allowing the project to go forward. The suit held up the permitting process, which gave Save The Loop leverage to talk with the county and the developers. Even then, developers refused to budge on access to Old Dixie Highway.

Nevertheless, before agreeing to drop the lawsuit, the group accomplished several significant goals:

In Volusia County, and especially north Ormond Beach, our quality of life as well as quality of the environment will be diminished.

We will no longer have this old Florida country road. After all the phases of housing are built, almost the entire western side of the Loop will be developed. The effect on the tree canopy is unknown.

Since July 2002, the Save The Loop Committee has been fighting for the best-case scenario. Our lawsuit has not been about stopping Plantation Oaks development, but about requiring Volusia County to mandate a larger buffer and not allow an access road from the development onto Old Dixie Highway.

Twenty years ago, a deal was struck with Volusia Land Trust in which zoning was given for this housing development. Included in that agreement was a road connecting U.S. 1 and Old Dixie Highway. However, nowhere does it state that the road must be a two-way road.

During the County Council hearing of November 2002, when former commissioners Ann McFall and Big John pushed for the rezoning vote, the county's traffic engineer, Jon Chaney, recommended that the council postpone the vote until their own traffic studies could be completed. We are all too painfully aware of what happened next. Led by McFall and John, this rezoning was passed 4-3 without the traffic impact study.

The city of Ormond Beach is currently conducting a comprehensive traffic study, which I believe will show that these developments will have a much greater impact from and will adversely affect The Loop and North Beach Street.

The County Council needs to step up to the plate. The Council has seen how valued this area is to its citizens. The council has seen the outpouring of public support. Yes, there is a road, but the council can make a compromise and call for an ingress-only road from Old Dixie Highway. Ingress-only will lessen the impact on the southern half of Old Dixie Highway and place it on U.S. 1. This minimal impact is written and implied in all the past county-developer agreements and in council resolutions. There is a sequencing of the development that mandates it proceed from west to east and that all development should connect to U.S.1.

As stated previously, Save The Loop is also symbolic. It brings to the forefront the issues of growth management, quality of life and the right of self-determination by a community.

Volusia County needs to continue its fight in balancing growth with our environment. We need to raise a new banner, one that represents the standards, not of urban sprawl which we are mostly seeing around us, but of smart growth.

The Save The Loop Committee voted to dismiss its lawsuit with the county in exchange for certain conditions being met. These conditions include that the developer construct a 175-foot buffer along Old Dixie Highway; use only native plants for entryways; build a bike path; design an environmentally friendly golf course, and sell approximately 500 acres to the state as an expansion of Tomoka State Park.

This agreement does not mean the efforts of Save The Loop are over. There are years of work to be done, including the identification and purchase of available lands, monitoring all permitting phases of this development, and working with the county code enforcement to see that all agreements are implemented. The community support for Save The Loop has been overwhelming. We ask that you continue to support us by displaying your yard signs and staying involved.

Margaret Mead once noted, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, caring citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."