The Flagler County Commission was set next Monday to approve a $10 million state grant to buy a 78-acre parcel off U.S. 1 in Palm Coast for a planned fuel depot and rail head. The county administration pulled the item from the agenda after the Palm Coast City Council opted to look for a different location in response to mounting public opposition to the plan. The pause is also a reflection of deepening skepticism among elected officials about a plan that was barely vetted before it was sprung on them just weeks ago in confidential meetings.
“It was pulled at the request of the City of Palm Coast so they can perform a site analysis,” County Administrator Heidi Petito said. She had conferred with Interim City Manager Lauren Johnston after the council meeting and agreed to pulling the item, which would have started a 90-day clock the county does not want to face with all the uncertainty in Palm Coast.
“The pause is appropriate,” County Commission Chair Andy Dance said this morning. “Palm Coast needs to be sure, and sharing of information on his type of significant project is important.”
Belvedere terminals, a start-up company with no experience in the field, is proposing to build a 12.6-million gallon gasoline and diesel fuel depot and distribution center for gas stations in Flagler, Volusia and St. Johns County on a parcel at the end of Peavy Grade, next to one of the city’s water treatment plants and just south of the Sawmill Creek subdivision.
The grant is a $10 million taxpayer subsidy from the state Department of Commerce specifically earmarked for the project, which may be built either in Flagler, Volusia or Brevard counties. The Legislature passed a law in 2023 It was originally planned for a site on Hull Road in Ormond Beach. Public opposition there scuttled that approach. Belvedere then shifted to Flagler County.
The Flagler County Commission was to approve the $10 million grant since the county would be buying the land on behalf of Belvedere, and for five years would be the property owner of the site in Palm Coast. (Belvedere would pay property taxes starting from year one of operations.)
The grant is conditional. Closing on the property would have to occur within six months of the County Commission approving it, and $2 million of the $10 million would have to be handed to Belvedere within 90 days after closing for site development. The county has until June 2026 to approve the grant.
The six-month window gave Palm Coast ample time for Palm Coast to conduct its analysis for an alternative location before closing. But the county doesn’t want to be boxed into a site that Palm Coast, being the regulatory agency, could end up rejecting. The county could be left owning a large industrial parcel it doesn’t want, or having to reimburse the Commerce Department the full amount. “Any costs incurred by [Flagler County] as a result of a failed or incomplete sale shall not be reimbursed,” the agreement states.
It is not clear why Belvedere, working with the county and city administrations, picked that particular site–an island of industrial zoning amid a sprawl of residential–instead of locations further south along the railroad or in Bunnell. “I don’t know, candidly, what the push is for this property,” Council member Theresa Pontieri said. Pontieri called for the site analysis.
The decision to pull the proposal for now also reflects trepidation not just from the public, but from elected officials–and not just in Palm Coast. Dance, the county chair–and a landscape architect–has concerns.
“In my one-on-ones with the applicants, my initial concerns are ones that have been repeated by residents, and that’s the location of the wells and the water treatment plant,” Dance said. The water plant is about 3,500 feet from the project parcel in one direction. A pair of wells are equidistant in the other direction. Sawmill Creek is to the north. “How do we mitigate that risk? So those are still items that are for me still being evaluated.”
On the other hand, Dance said the public may not be grasping the realities of land use laws: the site is zoned for industrial use. It is not up for a rezoning. There are entitlements. “The residents near the railroad tracks and that industrial parcel have to know that if an industrial use is compatible with the land development code and the zoning code, by right they can develop,” he said.
The fact that the county is the land-buyer adds a wrinkle in the equation, as does the fact that the land buy depends on that state grant: taxpayer money is buying the land. In effect, the public is buying the parcel as a bridge to Belvedere’s future operations. Pontieri points to that part of the equation to underscore the importance of public involvement.
Neither the Palm Coast City Council nor the County Commission had discussed the plan in public until the council did so for the first time Tuesday, prompted by public responses to reporting about the plan. County and city officials, along with Belvedere Terminals’ chief financial officer, disclosed the plan’s details to reporters last Thursday. Company officials had met individually with city and county elected officials in late February and early March. The plan until then had been cloaked under the state’s allowance for certain economic development projects to be temporarily exempt from sunshine-law disclosure.
“One of my concerns is, we’re going to pick this land and the county is going to buy it and own the land, and the company is going to go belly-up,” Pontieri said. (Belvedere’s CEO, Edwin Cothron, filed for bankruptcy in 1998 and 2012.) “If it does go belly up we certainly don’t want a wasteland, particularly next to residential development.”
Mayor Mike Norris has championed the project as essential to balance the city’s tax base, which relies heavily on residential development. In an interview this morning, even he was acknowledging public distaste for the facility at the U.S. 1 location.
“We only have so much industrial land so I don’t think they’re going to have an easy time finding a site unless they have a connection with Rayonier,” the Jacksonville-based timbering company that owns the majority of the land west of U.S. 1, in Flagler County. “Maybe they can try something further down in the county. I don’t know. If it’s safe in the county that’s a big bonus to the tax base, but I don’t think the citizens of Palm Coast have an appetite for it. But that’ll be between the county and Belvedere.”
Jan says
Glad they will look at other options for the fuel depot. That site was not a good one for that use.
JimboXYZ says
Here’s a suggestion, Why don’t they build it in the middle of the approved 8,000 residential for the Growth of a Vision of 2050 for Bunnell, FL ? Let’s see how that flies with the developers ?
ninetynine problems but a superfund site aint one says
A lot of the problems Palm Coast has are due to the inability of the city to hold builders that live here accountable for contractual agreements. If the city cant get builders that live here to live up to the contractual agreements then how do they expect to hold a CEO living in a country where the drug cartels have more powee than the politicians accountable. Especially a CEO with a track record of taking the money and then declaring bankruptcy leaving cities burried in debt and toxic waste. When this happens the FL governments department of envirinmental protection will have no problem opening a second lawsuit against us, like the other environmental fines they already have piled on the city. And the EPA will join suit and fine the city. This scenario will play out with a declaration of palm coast as a public “superfund” site that will tank property and result in continous and perpetual fines for cancer causing carcinogens. If the city thinks it has problems now, it hasnt seen nothing yet
Irked says
Excellent article. Finally we get the facts.
Thank you
Jack says
That’s the wrong place for it. We need to protect the ground water supply in that area.
FLF says
Yes, we need an industrial tax base to help support growth in the this county. We need the type of business that employs 100’s of people who make things, that creates a salary base for people to live here and prosper. This fuel dump would employ 40 people who are going to watch computer screens, adjust valves, transfer fuel, maintain, and keep the place from leaking or catching fire. We don’t need new schools because this city hasn’t provided a place for young people to work and start new families. Instead we attract 50+ year olds who are at or near the twilight of there working careers and the last thing we want is increasing costs. My wife and I are always amazed to see the level of low paying strip mall or gas station jobs that are built on every square inch of available soil. These jobs used to be entry level into the real working world or support you while in school. Now the expectation is that these jobs are a career, really? Sorry, you can’t afford to live here.
Oil Magnate says
The council blames how the land was previously rezoned. Whatever. They just wanted money. This is as dumb as buying an RV and a boat then driving them home wondering how it’ll all fit in the single car garage. The fact they went after this so quickly, to “diversify our tax base” in their own words, is beyond concerning to me. They prioritized their pitiful desperation before citizen and community wellbeing for sure.
Gail D says
A big thanks to our city and county commissioners for tabling this project for future study. I am pro-business and hope that we can bring some industrial business where appropriate to the surrounding areas. This is not that, in my opinion. Thank you for listening to the taxpayers!
Greg says
Face it, no one will want that in their area. Must build the thing and and be done with it. Palm Coast is always crying it’s need more industry, and you shut the big complex down. Either build it or quit crying about industry in the city.
LG says
That fuel depot should be down toward Brevard County to serve folks north, south, and west. A depot at or next to I95 and the 528 would serve that purpose.
Em says
And, did I just read that the Ritz-Carlton is wanting to build an elite 128 condo, 2 story monstrosity on A1A? Here we go again!
Ray says
This is what happens when people stand up! Just think if we would’ve stood up before all this development and overpopulation. This would’ve been a nice quiet town instead of the zoo it is becoming like Orlando!
CH says
Just another example of government getting in the way of business. This is a Republican county and people here voted for less regulation. I say we put it on 100, you know, on the way to Flagler Beach.
Joseph Barand says
Will politicians have to return the bribes they got for pushing this shit?
localonetwothree says
People opposed to this is are overlooking some key facts: #1 Regardless of where the Fuel Depot end up being built, the trains loaded with Fuel are still going to be passing the new neighborhoods, the water treatment plant and the water wells. #2 Fuel Depot’s and Fuel Tank Farms are required by EPA and fire code regulation to have liners and berms to contain over 100% of the maximum capacity of whatever will be on site. #3 Railroad tracks do not have to contain anything and often do end up with derailments that leak chemicals into ground water. #4 Having the Fuel Depot in the proposed location means that the trains will be moving slowly to unload in the vicinity and therefore much less likely to derail with spillage. #5 Having the Fuel Depot in Flagler provides energy security for Flagler residents in the event of storms versus the current situation with everything having to be trucked into the county. #6 Having the Fuel Depot local to Palm Coast means residents might finally be able to get cheaper gas since we will no longer be an the end of expensive distribution routes.
Robin says
The whole Belvedere fuel farm strikes me as a solution looking for a problem!
When have our gas stations ever run out of fuel with the current distribution system? (Excepting during a hurricane emergency.)
Angela D says
Thank you, Pierre, for giving us a clearer picture about what has been happening behind the scenes and how our input as local residents can still impact what can be done to stop this fuel tank farm, which is incompatible with the surrounding community. A question I have regarding zoning (rezoning) is: How was the land rezoned from industrial to residential over the past decade or so, but that parcel cannot be rezoned as residential, commercial or another designation? It seems that now that there are hundreds of homes and thousands of residents living adjacent or very near this site, it would make more sense to rezone the parcel that Belvedere Terminals wants to build on. We are not opposed to an industrial project, per se, as long as it doesn’t have negative health, safety and environmental impacts on the surrounding community as the Belvedere Terminals project clearly does.
Standing in the Middle of Palm Coast Parkway says
‘ninetynine problems but a superfund site aint one’ commented : “If the city cant get builders that live here to live up to the contractual agreements then how do they expect to hold a CEO living in a country where the drug cartels have more powee than the politicians accountable.” .
But a little research turns up that the CEO: “Cothron is a sixth-generation Floridian who studied engineering and computer science at Santa Fe College in Gainesville from 1979-1981, according to company documents.” .
as per https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local/st-lucie-county/2023/11/13/belvedere-terminals-fuel-farm-ceo-founder-edwin-cothron-1984-bribery-conviction-two-bankruptcies/71520323007/
Maybe ‘ninetynine problems but a superfund site aint one’ has a little racism problem?
CC says
Belvedere Terminals, a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico (who has a record of environmental violations can obtain a state grant of $10 MILLION OF OUR TAX DOLLARS…..
WHY ARE OUR TAX DOLLARS BEING SPENT ON A FOREIGN CORP…?
Our president keeps saying……..MADE IN AMERICA…..SUPPORT AMERICAN COMPANIES.
Despite the fact that this location is beyond ridiculous and potentially a disaster…..
Why are the people of Florida subsidizing a suspect foreign company.
It just speaks to: Someone is getting paid off.
Just Saying says
Move it to Mar-a-Lago property
Dump the Fuel Dump says
Do we trust them? I hope people will still show up at the Flagler County commissioner meeting on Monday morning, April 7th @ 9 am in Bunnell. Especially the good people of Bunnell. You’re necks are on the chopping block.
Tired of it says
Have to love the rationalization from” localone.” Basically it boils down to, so it is dangerous but it will be dangerous anyway no matter where it goes. No, having the tanks here won’t mean cheaper gas, that is not how gas pricing works. Yes, the danger to our community and our drinking water WILL increase. We have never had a a problem getting gas during and after storms in the 20+ years i have lived here. And what will increase exponentially, will be the traffic from those large 18 wheel gas trucks going in and out the depot, at all hours.
We wouldn’t need all this money if the greedy politicians hadn’t done their best to turn this community into something it was never meant to be.
Landman... says
So move it inland some more. Keep the tankers trucks on State road US-1.
Then watch builders still build near the terminal, like the airport where the people complain that actually moved there. This way others can move near it and complain.
I’ll take the the industrial taxes and 50 in- house jobs. Anything that helps with my property tax.
Stop being a bunch a cry babies. If they build it out in the middle of nowhere it just shouldn’t be a problem.