The Palm Coast City Council this morning approved plans for a 264-unit apartment complex on Town Center Boulevard, across from Imagine School at Town Center, and from a 300-unit high-end apartment complex the Planning Board greenlighted last August called The Legacy. The new units are expected to help reduce the shortage of apartments and possibly slow the rise in rental costs, which have been hurting working families and retirees who choose to move away from the burdens of home ownership.
Local Business
Affordable Housing in Palm Coast-Flagler: Plenty of Ideas, Not Enough Political Follow-Through
The Palm Coast Community Center was not the place to be this afternoon if you wanted to hear cheery answers and simple solutions to increasing the dismal stock of affordable housing in the city and the county. But it was the only place and one of the rare times in recent years where local governments–the county and Palm Coast–devoted a serious forum to explore difficult questions and realistic possibilities to bring more affordable housing to the region.
Flagler Pride Fest Cancelled Amid Turmoil as Organization’s Founder Resigns, Board Frays and Wagons Circle
To the dismay of a following that had grown substantially over the years, what was to be the fifth annual Flagler Pride Fest at Palm Coast’s Central Park in a month was abruptly cancelled last week through a cryptic, short-lived Facebook post that was scarcely cleared up when what remained of the organization’s officials posted a not-entirely accurate statement attempting to explain the decision on Tuesday, and betraying infighting.
‘Housing Policy Forum’ on May 17 and ‘Housing Fair’ on May 18
Housing officials from Flagler County and the City of Palm Coast are hosting two separate events on consecutive days – Friday, May 17, and Saturday, May 18 – to address different needs of the community.
Bunnell Approves Plan That Would Add 6,000 Homes, a Town Center, and Increase City’s Population Fivefold
The Reserve at Haw Creek would be Bunnell’s largest development yet, and one of the largest in the county’s history. It would sprawl over nearly 3,000 acres west and south of the city. It would add nearly 6,000 homes, mostly single family and some apartments, plus commercial and industrial acreage. It would result in a potential population increase of 15,000 in a city with a current population of 3,500. Bunnell would be unrecognizable.
Flagler Fluid and Advisory Group Float Pair of Plans to Keep Belle Terre Swim Club’s ‘True Spirit’ Viable
Flagler Fluid, the independent swim-team organization operating out of the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club since 2001, has submitted a plan to the school district as part of a proposal to take over and run the club as a business, potentially with a fee-based, public-use component, to reverse the district’s recent decision to end membership access to the club.
Data Company Wants to Use Veterans Park to Land Undersea Cables; Flagler Beach Wants Appropriate Payment
DC Blox, a data company planning a data center in palm Coast–its Florida subsidiary is called DC Orchid–is now proposing to run its undersea internet cable landing site through the north side of Veterans Park in the heart of Flagler Beach, after a proposal to do so at a South 6th Street location displeased city commissioners. The company is also willing to pay more than the one-time, $100,000 fee it had offered, per cable–a sum city commissioners found paltry.
AdventHealth Hired 10,000 Nurses Since 2020
Four years after a global pandemic rocked the health care industry and exacerbated a nationwide nursing shortage, AdventHealth celebrates a major milestone: 10,000 registered nurses hired across its Central Florida hospitals and health care locations since 2020. AdventHealth’s hospitals in Flagler, Lake and Volusia counties have successfully reduced turnover by 22 percent and travel-nurses by 39 percent.
Typical House Will Cost $5,000 More in Flagler Beach as City Approves Series of New Impact Fees
It’ll cost builders $5,000 more to build the typical 1,500 to 2,000-square foot house in in Flagler Beach, a cost that will be passed down to buyers of new homes, as the city commission last week approved an increase in water and sewer impact fees and instituted new impact fees for fire, police, the library and parks and recreation.
Why Is Palm Coast Backroom-Dealing Tax Incentives with a Private Company?
Palm Coast is in the middle of a secret deal with an Atlanta-based company called DC Blox, which bought 34 acres in Town Center for $3.3 million last fall. It plans to build a data center there to land several undersea internet-data cables, by way of Flagler Beach. The city and the county are cooking up some kind of tax incentive with the company. We don’t know how much. We don’t know for how long. Presumably, we’ll find out only when the deal is sealed.