When workers and their construction equipment began to dig up new swales along South Daytona Avenue in Flagler Beach, residents along the affected course were upset. They didn’t see it coming.
It wasn’t exactly a secret. Flagler Beach government had discussed it and taken action about it at commission meetings last year, since receiving a grant for it, but information about the planned project hadn’t gone out to residents with sufficient clarity, and residents aren’t generally glued to their video simulcasts of the meetings (which haven;t been working, anyway) to keep up with the cavernous details of localized city projects.
The project when approved last year was to stretch between 10th and 26th streets on South Daytona and Central avenues, though the Central Avenue segment is being delayed because of effects from the A1A reconstruction. Oak Street and Palm Drive are also due for swales.
And when the city engineer held a roadside meeting for residents Thursday evening, at the corner of South 15th Street and Daytona Avenue, some 30 residents who showed up were no less upset, including about the engineer’s chosen venue, in the midst of blustery winds that echoed blustery moods.
“I have several issues with the project, but lets first talk about the inappropriateness of having a meeting with residents in the middle of a city street,” Kare Padgett, a resident along the avenue, wrote City Commissioner Rick Belhumeur, who was also at the roadside gathering. “The project manager parked his truck in the grassy area near the corner of S. Daytona and 15th street and the residents gathered around him in a huddle and no one could hear what was being said or what questions were being asked because of the traffic in the street and the windy conditions. When asked why they were having a meeting in the street, the project managers reply was ‘because I was told to.’ None of the people there understood or could fathom why the meeting wasn’t held in the commission office, a place where we would have been out of the elements and in an environment more conducive to a meeting.”
Commissioners weren’t exactly bombarded by emails: swales in Flagler Beach aren’t anything new (City Commissioner Marshall Shupe had his yard dug up by the city’s contractors a few years ago). But the place and timing of these swales are what’s rankling the residents affected. Commissioners got only a handful of written reactions, one of whose subject line was: “Stupid idea to put swales along S. Daytona.” There was no additional wording to the email other than a request to the commissioners to call the writer–David Haas, a former county administrator.
Belhumeur isn’t opposed to the swales. He says it’s a done deal. But he didn’t like the manner and outcome of the roadside meeting, and spent part of the day today figuring out how to get a special meeting called to discuss it, and let residents voice their concerns. He had not succeeded–it takes two commissioners to call a special meeting, or the mayor–but by mid-afternoon, he was under the impression that a special meeting had been called. It is set for Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 4 p.m. in the commission chambers on South 2nd Street. “It’s like Kim said,” Belhumeur said, referring to fellow-Commissioner Kim Carney, who is currently chairing the commission. “It’s already been approved, the contract has already been awarded so there’s nothing we can do about it other than explain to these people why it’s being done.”
Asked why he was in contact about a city issue with Carney outside of a public meeting, he said “she sent me a text, just to let me know the meeting is coming up,” and that the issue “is already done and over with,” with no further commission votes ahead. “We cannot vote or do anything about this, it is budgeted, it’s going to get done, there’s nothing the commission can do about it.”
In fact, the notice from the city refers to a “City of Flagler Beach South Flagler Beach Swale Project Meeting,” and all commissioners were informed of the meeting and may attend it, but the notice also specifies that “The Elected Officials, who attend will not take any action or take any vote at this meeting. This is not an official meeting of the Flagler Beach City Commission.” (A previous version of this story had referred to it incorrectly as a special meeting of the commission.)
The city is executing, through contractor Kimley-Horn, a $500,000 grant from the St. Johns River Water Management District to dig new swales. City Manager Larry Newsom said the matter was approved by the district, discussed and ratified by the city commission. It’s to carry out an overdue necessity in Flagler Beach. “Typically there should have been swales a long time ago, we should have had a swale program probably way before I got here,” Newsom said.
The city commission ceremoniously accepted the check from the St. Johns Water Management District at its Feb. 14 meeting. Two weeks later, at its Feb. 28, 2019 meeting, it approved a $32,000 contract with Kimley-Horn for design and contract administration. The vote was unanimous. No members of the public spoke. Last Oct. 24, after Fred Griffith, the city engineer, detailed the project for commissioners, the commission awarded the actual construction contract, valued at $464,000, to Jacksonville-based W. Gardner LLC. Commissioner Shupe even asked whether the city would hold “tailgate” meetings–streetside meetings–to inform residents, and Griffith said he’d like to hold a town-hall style meeting. It was Shupe in fact, who “recommended the tailgate style neighborhood meeting,” according to records of that meeting. Only one person addressed the issue from the audience–a resident of North 12th Street entirely unaffected by it.
“We believe that we now have an outstanding storm water improvement project designed which will assist us in attenuating storm water flows and reducing the amount of storm water run- off down into the Flagler Avenue right-of-way and the alleyways between South 9th Street and South 26th Street,” an administrative memo to the commission stated at the time. “In addition it also includes the reconstruction of swales in several other poorly drained streets on both sides of the Intracoastal Waterway. These city streets have been experiencing similar situations of excess storm water run-off that is adversely affecting these residential neighborhoods from time to time. We remain hopeful that this project will in addition to reducing minor flooding or standing water in roadways will also serve to increase aquifer recharge, protecting our future wellfields, and reduce storm water run- off from being deposited into our saltwater estuaries of our area which are so valuable to our ecosystem in which we live and work.
But the city manager acknowledged that people may not be understanding why the swales are needed in front of their houses. Residents are complaining that the swales are not necessary because they don’t have a flooding problem. That may be the case, Newsom said, but the swales are being dug for two reasons. First, because swales are in and of themselves an environmentally sound way to filter runoff before it reaches the aquifer or a body of water like the Intracoastal.
Second, because allowing water to “percolate” in swales along one avenue means that the water is not flowing downhill against properties along lower avenues–and causing flooding there, which has been a problem. “The main purpose of the swales is to make sure the water that comes off the roadways based on storm events, doesn’t actually impeded on the houses,” Newsom said. “My goal is to keep the water out of the houses.”
There’s another issue from the residents’ perspective. “They’re not happy because a lot of the time they like to be able to park on the side of the road in front of their houses, and they still can,” Newsom said. The construction will interfere for a while.
Flagler Pride says
I have to say after living in this community for 30 years, one thing still hasn’t changed. Flagler Beach residents can be the biggest babies on the planet when they want to be! Heaven forbid the municipalities try to save you from more flooding, how dare they?
These are the same people that complain about all the traffic and visitors, but that’s what most of them are, tourist that tripped over a piece of coquina, fell and never got up. Bunch of whiners. Next, they’ll be complaining the sand is too sandy, and the water is too wet. Maybe Gilligan and the Skipper can come up with a good solution.
Fredrick says
Its not that the swales were dug it was the manner they were dug. There has been no effort to blend or smooth out the digging. Sod randomly tossed down. Sprinkler dug up (yes they were in the easement) but no effort to mark where they were so things could be repaired. Now residents have to dig up their year just to find the lines. Inexcusable.
Flagler Beach Resident says
Not sure how this really impacts you since you do not live here at the beach.
Born here says
How did you conclude he does not live in Flagler?
Jimbo99 says
Not sure what digging a swale really accomplishes if there are no tunnels underneath concrete driveways for the water to drain down the street somewhere else ? That is, higher ground to lower ground as water flows. The water will accumulate as standing water in between those driveways ? As a ditch full of water, there is less soil/sand for the water to soak into where it was dug out ? Will the standing flood water never be absorbed into the soil, attracting mosquitoes ?
steve wheeler says
VOTE THEM ALL OUT… They are wasting our money, they enjoy sneaking and doing things with other peoples money. VOTE THEM ALL OUT !!!! Marshall Shupe is up for re-election This March. Vote then ALL Out.
Born here says
Went down to Flagler today and saw these swales. All I can say is what a waste of money. In 100 years Flagler Beach has never needed swales. Just government wasting tax dollars. Try spending the money on something to benefit residents .
Paul Meyer says
I hope the eastern swales on S Flagler Ave are dug out as well. These lead to drains to ICW, but water does not reach them due to overgrowth in swales.
john says
Flagler County is trying to eliminate all trees, nature, natural beaut , in favor of turning the whole county into pavement, strip malls, gas stations, crack and section 8 housing like Jacksonville!
Dave says
This will only work if they add culverts beneath every driveway. Will that be the case here? Otherwise the water will not flow where needed and just sit stagnent.
Resident says
Yes they do and they fix the driveways too. Come on over to the north side of town and take a look at the swales.
Jimbo99 says
My driveway in P-Sector & West of I-95 is an oddity. Swale runs up & down the street, they chose to place the water pipe for the entire street, that fixture in the middle of my driveway. Every house/duplex has a tunnel under a level driveway section that has a gradual down slope from the garage. My driveway has no tunnel so water would flow over it, rather than under it thru the tunnel. My driveway is concave to the reverse radius of the swale at the street and a gradual grade to the garage. Occasionally for heavier rains, the water accumulates as a shallow puddle at the end of the driveway. It is what it is I guess.
Concerned Neighbor says
As one of the “so called” whiners let me say this – we are not opposed to the project if it will help flooding issues. What we are opposed to is the manner in which it was handled. There was no prior notification of the project, and as of yet we have not seen or been provided with any study or information that indicates the swales will do what they are intended to do. There is an informational meeting to be held where hopefully these questions will be answered. I believe the first commenter would be upset as well if no one explained to him what they were doing. As it stands right now, the City Engineer told the residents that if their utility lines are cut or damaged the responsibility to have those services falls back to the homeowner … not the city or the contractor. Is this something you should “Whine” about? I think so … Also, as one of the “whiners” I would like to thank Flagler Live for the article as it has provided More information than the City of Flagler Beach has to date.
Flagler Beach Resident says
Well said and your neighbors concur.
danm50 says
Texas style storm drains are what is required. Large concrete pipes approx 6’X5′ covered with dirt and drain to the ocean. This is what shoud have been done years ago. Swales don’t work, are dangerous, ugly and is not smart planning.
Stephen Edwards says
Living on South 23 Flagler Ave.. Another issue. During high tides, guess what!! The salt water acutely comes in. Kills grass. Progress. And yes I know. My 37 year on South 23
Flagler avenue.
Stephen Edwards says
Living on South 23 Flagler Ave.. Another issue. During high tides, guess what!! The salt water acutely comes in. Kills grass. Progress. And yes I know. My 37 year on South 23
Flagler avenue.
steve wheeler says
The people elected the commissioners – This So Called City Manager – The Mayer whos seems to never get out of her chair and be hands on like she should be. They are incapable of doing things the way we want, they have failed at the job that we voted them in to do correctly. They forget that they work for us! Hello!
VOTE THEM ALL OUT!!!!!
David Flexerall says
Paved paradise.. and put up an H.O.A….
PJ says
Do the residents of FB not complain about anything or do they complain about everything?
There were Commission meetings to address the flooding issues in that area with a proposed grant. You don’t show up and ask questions. Are you lazy or what?
I say return the money back to St. John’s Water Management and let these fools deal with water themselves.
Your City Manager and his Staff are doing things that your other award winning City Managers wouldn’t do. “WORK FOR THE RESIDENTS!”
Flagler Beach Resident says
Yep. Send it back. These so called grants keep pencil pushers happy. These swales will do nothing to alleviate flooding along Flagler avenue. The flooding comes from the intercoastal, not rain storms. If you lived here you might actually know something. BTW….do we actually need to go to meetings to find out what they are doing in the town.??? There is NO communication to the residents here. In fact if you call the city to find out whats going on no one answers their phone or even attempts to reply back to the message left. I have talked to many other residents and not one knew what was going on.
Concerned Neighbor says
There is a meeting on Wednesday at the Commission office at 4pm. Please come and let your voice be heard. No idea if any of the commissioners will be there -as it is not an “official commission meeting” but hopefully there will be someone there with answers to the questions.
OTR says
Somewhere along the line there was a breakdown in communication between the city & those this project might affect. Outside of this site and maybe a few Facebook pages, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of local reporting for something of this magnitude. Something as simple as notices placed in mailboxes could have gone a long way here in giving residents peace of mind.
Richard says
Receiving a letter stuck to your entry door one week before the project is to begin in MY area is not an acceptable time-frame to be notified of this project. Very poor communication and then to attend a meeting where 50 people are all taking or yelling at the same time. What a CF!
Resident says
We also were not given a choice on the north end of town. You can see how much the swales helped us during Hurricane Irma, some of our homes were completely destroyed. Some people had up to 26 inches of water standing in their homes. And the bad news also, the swales became a lot deeper and the city has not helped repair them, plus we are not allowed to fix them because they are the right of way. No more parking anywhere except your driveway, the rest of your yard will have a very deep ditch around them. So sorry the south end will have to suffer along with us.