The Flagler Beach City Commission rejected for now approval of a proposed three-story, eight-unit vacation-rental building near the corner of State Road A1A and South 17th Street.
The commission is not against the project, and in fact favors eventual approval, but it is requiring more detailed building plans, and it wants to ensure that a small, dirt alleyway on the west side of the building doesn’t turn into a high-traffic entry point for the building. The commission voted unanimously to table the matter pending design revisions and another look by the city’s planning board, which previously approved a site plan.
“I’m not against it. I like it,” Commissioner John Cunningham said. “I just want to see what it’s really going to be.”
The alley issue is also a sticking point. “This needs another design,” Commissioner Eric Cooley, named chair Thursday evening, said.
“What the commission is saying is they don’t have plans, they can’t visualize how that’s going to operate,” City Attorney Drew Smith said. “There seems to be some confusion just in the process of the hearing as to even what that drive will look like. So it seems like there may be an issue that needs to be ironed out before the commission has enough to be able to vote on this.”
The property is owned by Ted Barnhill, owner of Barnhill’s, the upscale restaurant across from City Hall. The building would go up on what is currently a vacant, palmetto-thick lot at 1708 South Ocean Shore Boulevard. Each unit would be a one-bedroom apartment of between 544 and 638 square feet each, with a total building footprint of 2,558 square feet and total living area between the three floors of 1,500 square feet, or 7,752 including outdoor and shared areas.
Commissioners and the mayor immediately raised concerns about parking and access.
“I’m not a huge fan of the alleyway-only access. I just feel that’s a lot of traffic through an alleyway,” Mayor Patti King said. “I think we’re not there yet with this set of plans. It doesn’t show me what I need to see in order to feel comfortable with this.”
To R.J. Santore, who had been sworn in as a commissioner less than an hour earlier, the plan did not comply with requirements for traffic in and out of the property.
That led to discussions about what is and isn’t an alleyway–generally, “a 30 foot right of way that is not a primary access,” in the words of City Attorney Drew Smith–and who would improve the alley to make it more accessible. That would require new plans.
The city is rife with such alleyways, small, often unmarked passages that contribute to the city’s charms and that successive governments have preferred to keep unpaved and untended just enough so as to discourage use except for each given block’s residents.
If the alleyway behind the proposed vacation rentals were upgraded, it would be redefined as a street. City Commissioner John Cunningham said the plans should be flipped, with parking on A1A, not on the side of the alleyway. The building is to have nine parking spaces, one of them disability-accessible.
“I never proposed to have parking in front of the facility,” Barnhill said. “I think it’s a danger, and so the parking in the rear, off of 17th Street and the alleyway, it avoids the danger of people pulling out and backing out onto A1A. There’s no A1A access.” He said he would be “happy to consider anything that you decide I need to consider.” He did not think he was allowed to have parking in front of the structure. Smith said A1A parking is “discouraged but it’s not prohibited.”
Santore also had more granular concerns about landscaping and screening the parking area from nearby houses. He had done his homework, Jane Mealy-style, for his first meeting. (Mealy, unseated by Cunningham a year ago, was known for studying every commission item in detail.)
Addressing the commission, Barnhill said he and his wife bought the property “many, many years ago and intended to do something with it at that time,” but various things interfered. (They bought the property at Barhill’s aunt’s and grandmother’s suggestion in 1976, taking out a $12,516 mortgage at the time, or $71,600 in inflation-adjusted dollars. The property’s just market value today is $510,000, according to the county property appraiser.) “It was about over 50 years ago to do something commercial,” Barnhill said.
The Barnhills own the Flagler Beach Motel and Vacation rentals at 1820 South Ocean Shore, and would manage the two properties jointly.
“We think this is an asset to the city of Flagler Beach and the people who like to come to Flagler Beach, if I can operate this correctly,” Barnhill said. “We have people that have worked for us for a long time that are available to help manage an additional property. So anyway, it’s a continuation of activities we’ve been involved in for a long time.”
His son, an architect, produced the original design–lots of windows, ocean views, private decks, Florida rooms on the bottom floor. “We think it’s an attractive building,” Barnhill said.
“I do not want to turn alleys into streets,” Cooley said. “As far as improving them, yes.” But making it the primary access point for a commercial business? He’s opposed, reflecting residents’ opinions.
Several residents spoke, largely opposing the plan as presented, almost all of them citing the alley as an issue.
“That alleyway needs to be addressed, because it’s a disaster,” Charles Bell, a neighbor of the property, said. “I live there because there’s an alleyway, not a street.” Another resident borrowed Santore’s description of the alley matter as a precedent-setting can of worms.
That convinced City Commissioner Scott Spradley that “we’ve got to get it right if we’re going to do something that affects the alleyway.” He’s opposed to setting a precedent without addressing the city’s approach to dirt roads and alleys throughout the city.
The administration will work with Barnhill to craft plans that would mesh better with commissioners’ perspectives, without requiring a full redesign. The results will be submitted to the planning board before returning to the commission. Since the property has been awaiting its commercial transformation since July 19, 1976, a few more weeks’ delay may not be crushingly burdensome.
alex says
heaven forbid we have any lots left that house a natural environment and shelter for plants that filter the air and animal inhabitants that brighten our day , so let’s pave over yet another wild green space that adds to the city’s charm, this already heavy land holding owner of this lot needs another business over what was once natural splendor. we know that they would never donate the lot to preserve for future generations because there is no money exchange involved in that (even though there would be tax benefits ) , so would it be so bad if they sold it to someone who was interested in conserving it instead of bulldozing it and adding more exhaust to the air of the city ? or would it be so horrible if the city took any action to buy any of these beach front lots so we didn’t look like ormond in a couple of years ? will they realize the charm of us having some undeveloped property is what leads us to stand out and actually attract visitors ? sigh…. ? until it is too late i foresee. but hey …..money is number one ! !
Scruffy says
The hotel project was wrongheaded as designed, and should not have been approved by the PAR Board, given the planned ingress and egress from an alley. This was a perfect example of the power of community involvement!
m thompson says
I agree. Should have never been approved by the board. Wait until the open planning board seat is filled with someone who’s only agenda is over develop & take away the only few parking spaces left in this town.
The city planner thinks it’s a great idea….on paper !
“Build it & they will come” won’t work in this situation.
Someone with no history of this town or education of how Flagler Beach earned it’s status should not be trying to ‘create a vision of work, live, play, blah – blah – blah…” concept that won’t work here.
You want people to come to beachside, BUT where is anyone supposed to park? Doesn’t anyone realize how much parking was lost when the ‘waffle concrete pavers’ were installed on all the residential streets? or what was lost long A1A (both sides) when it was ‘redesigned’? Businesses have to share street parking with other businesses if they don’t have their own parking lot & you expect them to succeed. The only people that will benefit to the congestion & overbuilding are current residents who can navigate to any establishments by walking, biking or a golf cart. Beachside is no longer car-user friendly to anyone visiting. It’s more like a drive through looky-loo town because there is no where to stop & spend money in town. Over the last few years I haven’t spent hardly any time on the barrier island because driving around for 10-15 mins looking for somewhere to legally park pisses me off & I just leave! Build a damn parking garage & more parking lots if you want people to really come & stay. Unless non residents can be dropped in or be picked up from a drone, you can’t get to anything!!
Concerned says
Some of the truths and realities of alley parking behind short term rentals-
1. Typically, more than one family or group friends meets up to visit so, more than one car, truck, mobile home, motorcycle trailer or boat is being parked up and down the alley WAY past the allotted /designated area
2. Unauthorized widening of the alley occurs during construction
3. Much more traffic and unsightly imposition is forced on the surrounding citizens
4. A constant flow of strangers who are on vacation partying, speeding in alleys and parking area day and night causing safety, privacy concerns and sleep interruption.
6. More than the allotted number of guests per square foot in each unit but the city code enforcement says due to conflicting rules, it is not authorized to enforce the limit inside involving parking or the visitors are gone before the infraction can be addressed.
7. If A1A parking is considered, there is minimal capability
8. Considering streets instead of alleyways will be costly to all tax payers and devastating to our rare and critical ecosystems of indigenous animals, birds and plants which facilitates and protect rain absorbsion, the water aquifer /flood and wind protection.
Overpacking and desecrating alleyways by clear cutting and then placing to few parking spots and a few ornamentaal plants has a domino effect which affects us all and will forever change our town’s forever.