The Palm Coast Planning Board cleared the way for 425 single family homes in the Sawmill Branch development’s latest phase on U.S. 1, a month after approving 320 town houses for a separate phase. The single-family home phase is on 213 acres west of U.S. 1, about half a mile south of Old Kings Road North. The town houses are on 65 acres, with lot size of 2,000 square feet.
Business & Economy
Miller’s Ale House Preps Opening Aug. 5 Ahead of BJ’s Warehouse, With Luring Appetizer for First Guests
Miller’s Ale House is opening its 113th restaurant in Palm Coast on Aug. 5, in one of the five satellite businesses in front of BJ’s Wholesale Club, which opens a few weeks later. Miller’s Ale will host a ceremonial ribbon-cutting and offer recurring goodies to the first 100 guests that day.
Promenade Breaks Ground at Town Center’s 1st Mix of 200 Apartments and Array of Shops After 20-Year Wait
When it opens in 22 months, Promenade will be Town Center’s largest–well, its only–mixed use development to date, and what so much of Town Center was imagined to be when it was conceived out of 2,000 acres of scrub 22 years ago. The developer, the architect, city and county officials gathered on the project’s 17 acres this morning for a groundbreaking and a few insights into what’s coming.
DeSantis Veto of Vacation-Rental Bill Opens the Way for Palm Coast Regulations with Flagler’s as Model
Facing pressure, Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed the measure a bill that deregulated local control of vacation rentals, saying the proposal would create “bureaucratic red tape” for local officials. Now, Palm Coast has another chance to write its own vacation-rental ordinance, or at least craft some city-specific regulations. City Council member Theresa Pontieri said this morning she intends to open the way for just such a proposal, with caution, as residents increasingly complain of rentals.
264 Apartments Approved Across Imagine at Town Center, Near 300-Unit Complex, Raising Traffic Concerns
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.
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.
For Palm Coast Council, ‘Utopian’ Goals on Roads, Parks, Arts and Jobs Clash with Fixation on Reducing Tax Rate
The Palm Coast City Council has narrowed its goals for the coming year to 12. It is an ambitious, immediately contradictory list that starts with limiting government revenue by way of a rolled back tax rate as a goal, then goes on to outline costly initiatives the administration has not been able to address in line with demand for lack of money: road repairs, swale repairs, more money for arts and culture, advancing the dredging of saltwater canals, implementing the parks master plan, and so on.
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.
BJ’s Wholesale Club in Palm Coast Will Be Company’s 38th Store in Florida
BJ’s Wholesale Club, a leading operator of membership warehouse clubs, announced today the five newest clubs coming to its footprint, including the Palm Coast location on State Road 100. The local 103,000 square foot store will be part of a shopping center that will include other businesses, including a Miller’s Ale House and four other satellite businesses.
Palm Coast Takes Stock of Its Capital Funds Ahead of Budgeting for Parks, Roads, Fire, Swales and Utilities
The Palm Coast City Council this morning got a glance at what the city’s own major capital or construction plans will look like over the next 10 years, where the money will come from, and what city projects may drive the spending. The review of the city’s Capital Improvement Plan, or CIP, combines the tedious with the essential, delineating the wishful from the possible.