After Qualms from Palm Coast and Bunnell, County’s Beach-Saving Plan Gets a Much Warmer Reception from Flagler Beach

After a punting response from Palm Coast government and a muted one from Bunnell, Flagler County Administrator Heidi Petito’s ambitious plan to save the county’s beaches and permanently ensure their maintenance got a warmer response from the Flagler Beach City Commission Thursday evening, with one commissioner hoping the city will not only back the plan but be its champion.

“I am one million percent behind the proposal,” City Commissioner Eric Cooley said this morning. “Needs a few tweaks, but any municipality not behind it would have to be in complete denial of the impact the beach has on the county and how good a collaborative deal it is for everyone.” Cooley, who had peppered Petito with the most questions, told his colleagues after the Petito presentation that the plan is in the city’s best interest. “If this is something that we as a city decide to move forward with, us helping to champion it would be a big deal.”




But the commission stopped short of an endorsement, with several of its commissioners withholding comment until a March 6 special workshop of the commission to better digest the plan and formulate a response ahead of a joint meeting of governments on the same subject on March 12. “It’s great information but digesting it is another question,” Commission Chair Scott Spradley said, after commending Petito for the thoroughness of the presentation. (Spradley’s guest at his weekly 9 a.m. “Coffee with the Commissioner” town hall at his law firm is County Commission Chair Andy Dance, who is supportive of the plan.)

Commissioner Jane Mealy–who may be just one vote, but whose voice tends to carry and represent more than most in Flagler Beach–did not tip her hand at the meeting beyond ensuring that the commission holds that workshop next week. But in an interview this morning she said “we all are in this together and it’s not Flagler Beach’s beach, it’s it’s everybody’s beach,” a perspective echoed in the Petito plan. “Everybody should pay for it.”

Addressing the plan specifically, Mealy found it to be a working document and a good foundation for further discussion. “I think we can make headway on both sides. She didn’t sound that definitive that there isn’t room for movement on both sides,” Mealy said, referring to Petito. “So we’re going to have this workshop next week and we’ll see what the rest of my colleagues feel.” Mealy added: “I do feel that Flagler Beach should not have to pay for everybody. That, I am very adamant about.”




Petito and Deputy County Administrator Jorge Salinas crafted the beach-management plan at the County Commission’s direction. It is the first plan that comprehensively addresses a full reconstruction (or renourishment) of the county’s 18 miles of beach as well as its long-term maintenance. The plan would make the county responsible for all 18 miles, relieving Flagler Beach, Beverly Beach and Marineland of any maintenance responsibility. Barrier island residents would pay a $160-a-year fee, tourist tax revenue would double to $2 million a year for three years, and the county would temporarily devote a fraction of property tax revenue to the initial reconstruction of the beaches.

But the long-term maintenance plan largely depends on increasing the sales tax by half a cent, and requiring Flagler Beach to give up its share of that new revenue–or, more accurately, to shift the revenue to the county to manage its beaches. Palm Coast and Bunnell would be required to give up half the new revenue.

When Petito presented the plan to the Palm Coast City Council on Tuesday, the council didn’t reject it, but a majority of council members recoiled at the sales tax proposal absent a referendum. At least two council members are not supportive of shifting to beach management the tourism tax revenue’s portion currently devoted to capital projects around the county, since cities at times benefit from substantial grants out of that fund.

“I don’t think that the conversation was that bad,” Petito said of the Palm Coast reaction, disputing the “cold water” metaphor used in a FlaglerLine headline to sum it up. But she pushed back against the idea of a referendum. “This doesn’t require a referendum. We’re not bonding it,” Petito said. “It requires a super majority of our board, which would be four out of the five.”




Personally, she said in response to a question by Commissioner James Sherman about Palm Coast sitting it out, “I don’t think that we would move forward with the half cent if we didn’t have everybody on the same page, because at the end of the day, it’s the Board of County Commission that has to bear the burden of doing that.”

In other words, the county plan could not go forward without Palm Coast’s endorsement.

In Bunnell Monday, that city commission did not discuss the plan after Petito’s presentation, and Mayor Catherine Robinson–whose voice in Bunnell’s is like Mealy’s in Flagler Beach—was absent. Two of the Bunnell commission members are vacating their seats next month (one of them did so last Monday).

In an interview this morning, Vice Mayor John Rogers, who chaired the meeting, said he prefers to do more research and wait until the new commission is seated on April 14 before taking a position. Still, the sales tax proposal makes him uneasy–not because Bunnell would give up half the revenue (Bunnell would still realize about $135,000 more in revenue than it has now), but because it would amplify the sales tax gap between Flagler County and its neighbors: a 7.5 percent sales tax in Flagler County would be a full 1 percent higher than in St. Johns or Volusia. “If they’re buying a big-ticket item they would go north or south, because now you’re talking about a whole percent,” Rogers said.

Is beach protection a common goal? “That’s a tough question, because the majority of our citizens don’t participate in it,” Rogers said. “I guess we’re going to have to round-table it. We’re going to have to talk about it at our next meeting, take the pulse and see where we’re at.”




Bunnell Commissioner Pete Young was more favorably inclined, especially after learning that Bunnell could make that extra revenue from the sales tax. “I’m not like one of those that says we don’t benefit from the beach,” Young said. “You’ve got to save the beach anyway. We’re probably the only county where you can actually drive out on A1A and see the beach. You have to drive and see it between the high rises elsewhere.” Regarding the funding formula, he said, “I have no problem with that, if we can do our part.” He has not yet heard any complaints from constituents.

At the Flagler Beach commission meeting, Cooley wanted to ensure that the county would not take the money and run, spending it elsewhere in future years. Petito assured him that spending plans would be solidified in a joint agreement between the county and the city. “Essentially, what you would end up giving up is the management of your beach,” Petito said. All 18 miles of beaches would become “one facility.” If Flagler Beach didn’t join, the city would have to come up with $2.5 million a year to manage its portion of the beach, Petito said. (The figure is based on the cost of maintaining the beach and having the money required for the next renourishment in six years: when that payment is due to the Army Corps of Engineers, and even going by last summer’s cost of $27 million for the 2.7 miles of beach that would have to be renourished (an unlikely scenario when costs are increasing rapidly) the local responsibility–Flagler Beach’s responsibility–would be $13 million.)

“So if you look at how much you’re contributing in half cent sales tax, the new one, it doesn’t really make sense not to be part of this program,” Petito said: Flagler Beach would be giving up $277,000 a year in expected new revenue from the sales tax, or $2 million over six years (assuming some growth in sales tax revenue)–a bargain compared to the required cost of renourishment.

“Believe me, there’s not one soul in Flagler County that wants to pay for this,” said Kim Carney, the former Flagler Beach commissioner and current county commissioner, who said she was addressing the city as a resident. “It has to be done.” She added: “You don’t buy a brand new car and not figure that five years from now, you’re going to have to do maintenance. You got a budget for it. If we can’t handle $2.5 million, tell the county what we can handle, but we’ve got this beach is too important to us, Flagler Beach.”

In fact, Flagler Beach doesn’t have to give up anything it has now. It only has to support the county’s sales tax increase and give up expected revenue from that share.

Petito says a decision should be made in April or May.

The Beach Management Plan in Details:

• Flagler County’s Coastal Erosion and Management: Comprehensive Report
• Flagler County’s Coastal Erosion and Management: Executive Summary
• Flagler County’s Coastal Erosion and Management: Slide Presentation to Local Governments
• Palm Coast Throws Cold, Brackish Water on County Beach Tax and Management Plan, Calling for Referendum
• Flagler County’s $114 Million Beach Management Plan Depends on Raising Sales Tax and Winning Cities’ Buy-In