EDGEWATER -- Some Shady Oaks residents pleaded with City Council members Monday night to ensure a new development doesn't increase flooding in their community.

Residents in the unincorporated subdivision said it floods with hard rain, and Volusia County has not maintained and cleaned the mosquito ditches in about five years.

Developer Michael Evans, of Melbourne, said the Worthington Creek subdivision would not worsen the flooding in Shady Oaks. The 155.64-acre site, planned for about 436 single-family homes, is west of U.S. 1 and northwest of William Street.

Council members approved the first reading to rezone the site as residential planned unit development and required the developers to include a clause in the homeowners association covenants to make the association responsible if flooding occurs in Shady Oaks.

About three houses per acre are planned and will cost between $250,000 and $450,000.

David Taylor, who lives on Shady Oaks Lane, said his neighbors joke with him about the private "lakes" that form around his property. The ditch that traditionally has held the floodwater is overgrown, he said.

"It's never been maintained and now you're talking about putting all these houses?" he said.