Ken Belshe, who represents Veranda Bay, the planned 2700-home development along John Anderson Highway, told Flagler Beach’s city attorney in an email that voluntary annexation is a go. The city had been assiduously pursuing Veranda Bay to annex, amending its annexation ordinance to make it possible, courting Belshe with what amounted to a love letter, and with not a little bit of anticipatory drool, sharply increasing its development impact fees that would disproportionately be generated from Veranda Bay.
Real Estate & Development
Palm Coast Approves Final Regulatory Step in 4 Developments Totaling 533 Single-Family Homes
The Palm Coast City Council in rapid-fire succession Tuesday approved the final step clearing the way for four developments totaling 533 single-family homes, the final-plat approval that essentially means lots will be sold and homes built on infrastructure and according to plans that won regulatory approval several years ago. Some of the developments were more dormant than others.
After Trickle of Interest, All 5 Applicants Are Appointed to Palm Coast’s ‘Drainage Advisory Committee’
Only six people applied to be members of the Palm Coast Citizens Drainage Committee, few of them part of the vocal throngs, and one withdrew before the council had a chance to make its choices. The advisory committee required a minimum of five members and at least one alternate, and could have had as many as nine members and two alternates. Given the dearth, the council had no choice but to appoint all five members when it made that decision on Tuesday.
Land Clearing for 333-Home Subdivision Along Royal Palms Parkway and Town Center Blvd.
Crews began clearing land on nearly 200 acres for the future Sabal Preserve subdivision, a development of 333 relatively affordable single-family homes at the northeast intersections of Royal Palms Parkway, Town Center Boulevard and I-95 to the east in Palm Coast.
Time for Renters’ Tax Credit
According to the Low-Income Housing Coalition, there is no state or county in the United States where someone working full-time at minimum wage can afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. When a huge chunk of your paycheck goes to rent or the mortgage, there’s little leftover for an emergency. And most Americans — 56 percent of us — can’t pay for an unexpected emergency of $1,000. A surprise dental bill, medical bill, or car repair can send us spiraling into poverty.
Proposed 90% Increase in Flagler Beach Impact Fees Shadowed by Questions and a Looming Development
After hearing it first proposed last July and twice opting not to adopt it just yet since, the Flagler Beach City Commission will try again to approve a revised impact fee schedule that would raise water and sewer fees for the first time in 14 years and create new impact fees for parks, police, fire and the library system. But questions about the study rationalizing the new schedule, including from a city commissioner and from the Flagler County Home Builders Association, continue to shadow the proposal.
Palm Coast Approves Steps for Trio of Developments That Will Add 689 Homes in North and South of City
The Palm Coast City Council and its planning board between them approved different steps for a trio of developments in north and south Palm Coast that will add a combined 689 single-family homes to the city’s inventory. The approvals were for the final plat of Phase 2B of Sawmill Branch off U.S. 1, the final plat of Seminole Palms Phase 1 on the west side of Seminole Woods Boulevard, north of Grand Landings Parkway, and for the subdivision master plan of Sawmill Branch Phase 3.
‘Promenade at Town Center’ Will Add 204 Apartments Atop Shops in First Development of Its Kind There
Palm Coast’s Town Center will finally get the kind of development that was meant to define it when it was conceived in 2003–a 17-acre project mixing commercial, retail and residential uses in a six-building complex totaling 233,000 square feet, called The Promenade at Town Center. It’ll be right in the center of it all: at the southwest corner of Bulldog Drive and Central Avenue, with 1,100 feet of frontage on Central–about three football fields’ length—and 350 feet on Bulldog.
Out of Her Control: Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin Explains Why He Fired City Manager Denise Bevan
In a 40-minute interview Tuesday afternoon, Alfin explained what led him to make his motion, threading a needle between lavish praise for Bevan in one sentence and sharp criticism of city management in the next, while explicitly conceding that Bevan may have been the victim of political circumstances. Bevan, in sum, paid a paid a price for election-year political currents she was not in control of.
Census Bureau: Flagler County’s Population Was 131,500 Last July, an Increase of 16,000 in Three Years
Flagler County is again among the faster-growing counties in the nation, but not among the fastest. The county added 16,000 residents between 2020 and 2023, a 14 percent increase beginning to resemble the population surge of the early 2000s that was halted by the housing crash. Put another way: the county has grown by a population equivalent to more than three times the size of Flagler Beach in that brief span. Just since 2010, the county has grown by 40,000 people.