Some 80 people turned up, including most of the city commission and its new manager, Dale Martin, to hear the developer and contractor of the coming Margaritaville Hotel describe how construction will mesh with downtown over the next 18 months.
Flagler
Without Authority, a County Commissioner Asks Flagler Beach to Table Sales Tax Increase Discussion
The Flagler Beach City Commission pulled from consideration for now a county proposal to raise the local sales tax, after Flagler County Commissioner Dave Sullivan requested that the item be tabled–even though he had not secured the County Commission’s authority to do that. It was the latest example of factual, political and procedural messiness surrounding the county’s sales tax proposal.
Two-Term Flagler County Commissioner Charlie Ericksen, a Stalwart of Civility and Grit, Dies at 80
Charlie Ericksen, who served two terms as Flagler County Commissioner–two terms characterized by an immersive interest in all things Flagler, unfailing civility and understated wit–died today in Celebration, where he’d recently moved in declining health, to be closer to family.
Whispering Meadows Ranch Will Leave Flagler Over Next 2 Years For 9-Acre Tract in Ormond Beach
Whispering Meadows Ranch, the equine therapy non-profit that’s been looking for a new home for over two years, closed on a 9-acre tract in Ormond Beach, along State Road 40 just south of the Flagler County line, and will leave its John Anderson Highway location over the next two years.
Flagler Beach Bids Worshipful Farewell to One Manager and Welcomes the Next, with $165,000 Contract
The Flagler Beach City Commission bid a worshipful farewell to Mike Abels, the city’s interim manager and fixer extraordinaire for the past six months, and voted to approve the three-year contract of the city’s new manager, Dale Martin, who takes over on Monday.
Flagler County Uses False Information as It Asks Cities to Support Increase in Sales Tax
Flagler County government is disseminating false information about the proportion of the local sales tax paid by visitors as it seeks letters of support from Palm Coast, Flagler Beach, Bunnell and Beverly Beach to increase the county’s sales tax by half a percent.
Confrontation and Felony Charge Over a Private Walkway and a Seawall Point to Erosion of Different Kind
Jason Wiles, a beachside resident north of Flagler Beach–and the husband of an assistant county attorney–faces a felony battery charge after a confrontation with a neighbor over a private walkway. The incident is illustrative of new kinds of tensions becoming part of beachside norms as recurring consequences of rising seas erode more than just shorelines: the fabric of beachside culture is also fraying.
Tone-Deaf Flagler County Wants Palm Coast and Other Cities to Support Sales Tax Increase
The Flagler County Commission will seek letters of support from Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Bunnell to raise the county’s sales surtax to 7.5 percent and generate an additional $10 million that would be shared between the four governments and used at their discretion. Palm Coast’s answer may well be: Read the room.
Flagler County Faces a $5.6 Million Deficit in Road Costs Over Next 5 Years; Gas Tax Is Tapped Out
Flagler County government is facing an estimated $5.6 million deficit in the next five years in the required local match for nearly a dozen road projects the state Department of Transportation is financing. That’s in addition to a need for $2.6 million in annual dollars for maintenance of the county’s roads. The County Commission is planning to approve only $2 million next year.
Yes, There Is a Free Lunch
Step back a moment and take stock of the paradox. On one hand a community can and should take pride in its willingness to rally for those in need. On the other hand, there should not be such things as food drives–not in a country that presumes itself wealthy and civilized. There should not be food insecurity, period. Basic nutrition is a human right, as ought to be universal food assistance where necessary and free school meals whether necessary or not.
Mayor David Alfin and Dr. Steven Bickel’s Arm-Wrestling Match Will Launch $1 Million Food-A-Thon
Dr. Stephen Bickel, the medical director at the Flagler Health Department and the county’s leading philanthropist, will arm-wrestle in a best-of-three match with Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin to launch this year’s $1 million Food-a-Thon, an effort to raise $200,000 that will e leveraged into $1 million worth of food for needy families, through Grace Tabernacle Food Pantry.
Public Meeting Set for July 20 on Re-Paving of SR A1A in Flagler Beach
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is to hold a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. July 20 (Tuesday) about the resurfacing project plans for State Road A1A from South 8th Street to North 18th Street in Flagler Beach.
Ugly as Tin, the Glaring, $12 Million Bridge Over SR100 Is Radiating Concerns–and Publicity
The just-completed A-frame pedestrian bridge over State Road 100 has turned into a recurring joke and a legitimate traffic concern that the county is addressing. But some officials see an opportunity in the bad publicity the bridge is attracting, because with it comes tourist interest and a potential marketing coup.
Flagler County Approves 1st Step to Doubling Levy in the Mondex, Angering Residents
The Flagler County Commission today voted 4-1 to potentially double the special assessment rate residents of Daytona North pay for some road maintenance and other infrastructure improvements. Residents attending the meeting were not happy. Nor was County Commissioner Leann Pennington.
Flagler County Whirs Closer to Buying $5.4 Million Replacement for FireFlight Helicopter
In a busy pair of meetings today, the Flagler County Commission got closer to buying a new emergency helicopter, set the maximum tax rate for next year, and set proposed rates that would increase garbage pick-up costs by 45 percent.
Flagler County Library’s Budget, Hours and Staffing Shrunk as Population Increased 25%
Flagler County’s population has increased 25 percent since 2010, but the budget of the county library has shrunk 3 percent when adjusted for inflation, the library’s hours have been cut, it’s lost staffing and its materials budget has declined.
County’s Heidi Petito Gets Strong to Glowing Evaluations, at Least From Those Turned In
County Administrator Heidi Petito got glowing evaluations from Commissioners Greg Hansen and Dave Sullivan, and a less glowing but strong one from Andy Dance. Donald O’Brien didn’t bother turning one in, and Leann Pennington wasn’t allowed to fill one out, being told that the evaluation window didn’t coincide with her tenure on the commission.
Daylong July 4 Celebration in Flagler Beach, Then Fireworks at County Airport
Independence Day celebrations on July 4 will be a cross-county affair, stretching from Flagler Beach with the parade and daylong events there, then shifting to the county airport for evening ceremonies and the fireworks over the runways. Parking options are detailed.
Flagler and Palm Coast July 4 Holiday Schedules, Travel and Safety Advisories
Independence Day this year falls on a Tuesday, slicing through the earlier part of the week and creating a checkerboard of work schedules and closed offices. The one constant are safety and travel advisories. Here’s a run-down.
With $1.2 Billion for Florida, Biden Unveils $42.5 Billion Plan to Connect All Americans to Broadband
The Biden administration on Monday announced $42.45 billion to connect all Americans to high-speed broadband internet by the end of the decade, likening the ambitious goal to FDR’s New Deal-era rural electrification program that brought the then-modern technology to farms and rural areas across the United States.
On EVs, Palm Coast and Flagler County Choose Backwardness
Flagler County, this self-deluded mecca of economic development, is not only an electric vehicle charging station desert. It is actually hostile to electric vehicles. It is sending a loud and shrill message to tourists and forward-looking businesses and the residents they’d bring along: we like to fossilize. Progress is elsewhere.
Strip Mall Will End Matanzas Shores’ Shop-Free Days, and There’s Nothing Residents Can Do About It
Matanzas Shores will soon lose its distinction as an upscale community free of shops, restaurants and the traffic that goes with it all as a developer is about to build a strip mall on 2.25 acres at the southwest corner of State Road A1A and San Carlos Drive.
Flagler Beach Achieves One Goal in Meeting With Other Governments: Agreement that the City Needs Help
Flagler Beach convinced other cities and the county in a joint meeting this evening that it cannot contend with the ongoing onslaught of visitors alone, and only in Flagler Beach, when the county has plenty of unused beaches and cities can contribute other strategies.
At Tiger Bay, a Triumphal Paul Renner Reaps Adulation and Delivers a Few Inaccurate Jabs
House Speaker Paul Renner today exulted in considerable adoration and a standing ovation at Flagler Tiger Bay like no bringer of bacon before him, tempered though both Renner and the audience were by the club’s disfavor with uncivil partisanship.
$5 Million for Fire Station 22 Vetoed, But Palm Coast Still Nets Historic $55 Million Haul from Legislature
Palm Coast is focusing on the positive: scoring $54.6 million out of $59.6 million in legislative requests, not including more than $1 million to be earmarked for a new YMCA in the city.
Ed Danko Announces Run for County Commission, Setting Up Primary Against George Hanns
His third year on the Palm Coast City Council not yet completed, the peripatetic and willfully controversial Ed Danko today announced a run for a County Commission seat in the 2024 election, setting up a primary contest against former Commissioner George Hanns.
Two Elections and ‘Record’ Flagler Voter Registrations Adds Costs to Elections Supervisor’s Budget
Flagler County Elections Supervisor Kaiti Lenhart told the County Commission this morning that the presidential year’s two elections, a record rate of voter registration, inflation and a spate of new legal requirements are adding costs to her office’s budget, which she presented to the county at a workshop.
Flagler Sheriff Requests 12.2% Budget Increase and 5 New Deputies from County as Constitutionals Submit Proposals
All constitutional officers’ budgets will be reviewed by the County Commission Monday. The sheriff’s budget, the largest constitutional portion in the county budget, would include funding for five new deputies, increasing retirement costs, union-negotiated pay increases and a 5.3 percent across-the-board cost of living pay increase.
Exuberant Pride Day Follows Drag Night as Palm Coast Goes United Colors of LGBTQ+ in Town Center
Bookended by an exuberant evening of drag the night before and Sunday evening’s more solemn vigil in memory of the Pulse massacre victims, Flagler Pride today celebrated the local and regional LGBTQ community with song, dance, causes and bounties of divergence in the fourth annual Pride Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center, drawing some 750 people.
Palm Coast and County Snub Role in EV Charging Stations In Shocking Rebuff to a Green Energy Grant
Partisanship, misinformation, false assumptions and free-market ideology all played a role in Palm Coast and county government rejecting a partnership in what would have been a potential $15 million federal grant to build electric vehicle charging stations at various public locations in cities and the county.
No, Flagler Beach Isn’t Asking for Money. It’s Asking for Cooperation from County and Cities.
Flagler Beach is quickly becoming “maxed out” with visitors, Flagler Beach City Commission Chairman Eric Cooley says, and is looking for help from the county and its other cities to devise a balancing strategy and spread out tourists and day-trippers more manageably. He refutes the claim that the city is looking for more money.
County All But Derides Flagler Beach’s Plea for Financial Aid to Manage Visitors’ Impact
Flagler Beach government has invited the county and cities to a joint meeting on June 21 where Flagler Beach will make a plea for more money to manage visitors’ impacts on its beaches and infrastructure. But the city’s invitation got a cold and at times nearly derisive reception from the County Commission.
Flagler’s Property Values Still Rose Robustly, Continuing Potential Windfall For Local Governments
Property values didn’t rise as sharply this year as they did in 2022. But the increase is still the second-highest in 16 years, generating substantial new revenue for local government budgets.
Flagler Replaces Confusing Letter-Based Evacuation Zones With Neighborhood Names as Hurricane Season Begins
As the 2023 hurricane season begins–with a forecast of 12 to 17 named storms–Flagler County’s Evacuation Zones A and B and C are a thing of the past, replaced by a more intuitive, neighborhood-named system. Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord previewed the season and a few changes ahead.
Flagler County’s Local Government Leadership Academy Graduates 13 Professionals
Thirteen executives, managers and professionals from a half dozen local government agencies graduated from the Flagler County Local Government Leadership Academy at a special ceremony at the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Operations Center last week.
Peggy Border, For 17 Years Flagler’s Exact and Far-Seeing Elections Supervisor, Dies at 78
Peggy Rae Border, who ran the Flagler County Supervisor of Elections office for 17 years with foresight and meticulousness to great acclaim, died on Tuesday surrounded by family, following a long illness. She had been living locally at an assisted living facility for the last few months, and was 78.
Captain’s BBQ Trial Delayed to February as Both Sides Ask for More Time
The two sides asked for the delay jointly, but not necessarily because a resolution is pending. Rather, each side still has adversarial motions that have yet to be heard in court. Captain’s is also attempting to bring the county back to the mediation table. The county had been resisting. A trial would have been premature, the two sides agreed. The judge granted the delay two weeks ago.
Palm Coast’s Population at 98,411 in Latest Census Estimate, 18th-Fastest Growing in U.S.
Palm Coast grew 10.3 percent between 2020 and 2022, to 98,411 people, according to the Census Bureau’s latest estimate, released today. The city is on pace to cross well past the 100,000 threshold this year, and based on the last two years’ trend, likely did so in February or March.
Federal Judge Signs Order Releasing Flagler County Dunes Easement It Sought for 3 Years
A federal judge late this afternoon signed the order approving a settlement agreement between the county and Cynthia d’Angiolini, who for three years had held out from signing an easement that would allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild 2.6 miles of dunes south of the Flagler Beach pier.
240-Unit Apartment Complex Planned Next to BJ’s Wholesale Club on State Road 100 in Palm Coast
The Flagler County Commission Monday evening unanimously approved rezoning 28 acres just east of what will be the BJ’s Wholesale Club shopping center, clearing the way for an eight-building, 240-apartment complex called Republic Palm Coast there.
Vidya Herbs Launches Its Manufacturing Plant in Bunnell, Promising 100 Jobs and Bounty of Extracts
Vidya Herbs, founded in India 24 years ago, launched its first American-based manufacturing operation in Bunnell today, where it projects 100 or more employees over the next four years as the plant manufactures a saw palmetto extract and other products.
Haircuts and 10,000 Pounds of Food: Flagler Spring Fling Outreach Delivers to 90 Families
Flagler County Health and Human Services Department delivered up social services agencies and associated vendors at its May ‘Flagler Spring Fling Outreach’ that, in turn, provided haircuts, meaningful information, and 10,000 pounds of food.
Flagler County Works with Agencies for Larger Combined Dunes Project from Pier to Gamble Rogers
Flagler County Engineering has been working with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Department of Transportation to combine two projects to expedite restoration of a larger section of dunes south of the Pier in a more cost-effective manner.
Flagler’s Vacation-Rental Regulations Again Survive at Last Minute as Lawmakers End Session
For the ninth year running, local regulations of short-term vacation rentals in Flagler County and across the survived a legislative attempt at dilution and pre-emption by the state, though it came down to a last-minute escape as lawmakers finalized a $117 billion budget and ended the session.
YMCA, 3 Fire Stations, Road Projects: Palm Coast and Flagler Stand to Gain Nearly $100 Million From State
Flagler, Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Bunnell may be at the receiving end of the largest appropriations of state dollars for local special projects, by far, in the county’s history–nearly $100 million for roads, fire stations, pier reconstruction, water projects, a substance abuse facility and other, smaller projects, according to the $116 billion budget the Florida House and Senate published Tuesday.
From Gun Truck to Healthcare: Ret. Gen. Mark Hertling, Former Commander of 90,000, Talks Leadership in Workplace
These days Mark Hertling lives in Palm Coast, teaches physicians and healthcare administrators how to lead, and talks geopolitics on CNN. When he has a moment, he appears before civic groups for a talk, as he did on a Saturday last month when he addressed the University Women of Flagler at the Hilton Garden Inn, as he will again on May 17 as the keynote speaker at Flagler Tiger Bay’s monthly lunch.
Flagler-St. Johns Scenic A1A Organization Wins National Byway Award
The National Scenic Byway Foundation congratulates the A1A Scenic & Historic Coastal Byway as the winner of our 2023 Byway Organization Award for Partnership. This is one of the Foundation’s eight national awards presented annually.
Beach Front Grill Owner Buying High Jackers Restaurant at County Airport Just As He Tees Off at Palm Harbor
Jamie Bourdeau, owner of Beach Front Grille in Flagler Beach and Loopers at Palm Harbor Golf Club in Palm Coast, is buying High Jackers Restaurant at the Flagler County airport from Gail Holt for $700,000 and assuming the lease at the county-owned property for the next eight years, with an option to renew for another 10. He is partnering with Joseph Wright, owner of Quantum Electrical Contractors and Anthony’s Pizza.
County Plan to Move Whispering Meadows Equine Therapy Ranch to Fairgrounds Collapses as State Says No
The state has rejected Flagler County government’s plan to move the Whispering Meadows Ranch–the equine therapy non-profit–to the county fairgrounds, saying it would privatize public land. The rejection is the latest setback in the ranch’s two-year effort to leave its John Anderson Highway property, where it has operated for 16 years, until neighbors started objecting to its presence.
With Travis Hutson Cheering, Bill Upending Flagler’s Vacation-Rental Controls Clears Last Hurdle Before Vote
The success of the vacation-rental bill sharply scaling back local regulation this year is a blow to Flagler County government, which was a leader in pushing for the 2014 regulations providing for local control, and has pushed back against attempts to weaken them since. The Flagler County Commission made preserving the 2014 law a legislative priority every year since.