With over 900 photo submissions in the City’s 2023 Annual Photo Contest, the photos capture the essence of Palm Coast across six distinctive categories: Residents, Pets, Landscape, Wildlife, Recreation, and Events. Participants were able to submit up to 20 photos per person with six chances to win a grand prize ‘Category Winner.’
Palm Coast City Council
For $3 Million Rebuild of Splash Pad at Holland Park, Palm Coast Turns to Trusted Contractor
Palm Coast government is turning to a trusted contractor, Daytona Beach-based Saboungi Construction–fresh from its ramped up transformation of Waterfront Park–to repair the desolate splash pad at Holland Park, a two-year-old blight on the city’s prized park system and an eyesore at the flagship park almost since it opened in May 2021.
Town Center Fills In Slowly: Palm Coast Council Approves First 66 of 161 Homes at ‘The Retreat’
The Palm Coast City Council last week approved a 66-home development, phase 1 of a gated development that will eventually total 161 houses and duplexes in what’ll be called The Retreat at Town Center, on land just north of the Publix on Central Avenue and east of Belle Terre Parkway.
Palm Coast Council Member Steps Back from Malacompra Beach Annexation, Opting for ‘Different Options’
After hearing little more than opposition to the idea, Palm Coast City Council member Theresa Pontieri is stepping back from her proposal to explore annexation of the county’s Malacompra Road and beach in the Hammock, opting for “different options,” she told her colleagues on Tuesday. But she still intends to find beach access for city residents somewhere.
At Root of Palm Coast’s Affordable Housing Crisis: We Got Our Own. Screw the Rest.
We have a housing crisis in Palm Coast. Too few houses, too few apartments, discriminatory zoning and homesteading laws that make the problem worse. We who live in our sprawling, property-tax-sheltered single-family houses not only see these laws as entitlements. We want the door to more development closed behind us. We got our own. Screw the rest. So just when we need it most, affordable housing is becoming a dirty word.
Up to 210 Homes Approved on Old Kings Road South of SR100 But Polo Club West Neighbors Have Worries
The Palm Coast Planning Board recommended approval of a rezoning of 62 acres on Old Kings Road some 2.5 miles south of State Road 100 that will clear the way for up to 210 small homes, hours after the Palm Coast City Council annexed the property into the city, from the county. The property is adjacent to Polo Club West, an upscale equestrian community where residents have been worried about the effects of a more dense development on their privacy and property values.
‘Faith’ Bridge Over SR100 Goes from Maligned to Acclaimed as It Opens, But in the Absence of Its Champion
Flagler County and city officials inaugurated the formal opening of the $12.3 million pedestrian bridge over State Road 100, five years in the making, with speeches and a dedicatory run by the Flagler Palm Coast High School track team. But its leading champion, Faith al-Khatib, was absent.
Rezoning Enabling Up to 850 Homes in Seminole Woods Causes Sharp Debate Before Palm Coast Approval
The Palm Coast City Council today approved on a pair of 4-1 votes land use changes that clear the way for up to 850 housing units on 375 acres on the west side of Seminole Woods Boulevard, three miles south of State Road 100. The proposal, for a project called Cascades, drew sharp opposition from City Council member Theresa Pontieri and an equally sharp defense from the developer, Jeff Douglas of Douglas Properties. The exchange drew in the mayor and other council members and reflects a recurring debate in Palm Coast over the speed, density and purpose of development.
Malacompra Beach Annexation Into Palm Coast Draws Frosty but Not Fatal Response from Joint Committee
The joint local government committee of county and city representatives that met for the second time approached at arm’s length Palm Coast City Council member Theresa Pontieri’s proposal that Palm Coast annex into the city the county beach and access at Malacompra Road.
Ed Danko Attacks City Staffer With Baseless Claims in Public Meeting, Drawing Sharp Rebuke from Mayor
Palm Coast City Council member Ed Danko verbally attacked and disparaged the city’s resiliency and sustainability officer in a public meeting on Tuesday, baselessly calling her presentation “propaganda,” questioning why she had a job, and sparring with Mayor David Alfin, who brought him under control.
Palm Coast Reopens Door to EV Charging Stations, But Only as Conduit to Private Business
The Palm Coast City Council is not as opposed as it seemed a few months ago to expanding availability of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations on public land, but only if private companies lead the way and lease the land at market value–a much stricter standard than the city’s arrangement with its cell phone tower builder and operator.
Only Half of Palm Coast’s Land Mass Has Reliable Cell Coverage, with Limited Relief Ahead
For all of the city’s efforts since 2017 to improve cell coverage in Palm Coast, reliability is still a serious problem. Only 14 to 15 percent of the city’s land mass is getting fully reliable coverage. Less than 35 percent of the city is getting fair to mediocre coverage. A deficit of needed towers still looms.
Palm Coast Council’s Pontieri Makes Startling Move to Annex Malacompra Park: ‘Our Citizens Are Entitled to Their Own Beach’
In a startling proposal that may revive city-Hammock conflicts dormant since the mid 2000s, Palm Coast City Council member Theresa Pontieri on Tuesday said the city should consider annexing the county’s Malacompra Park so Palm Coast can have its own beach. The idea did not get a warm reception from fellow council members or others.
Deep Disagreements Remain Between School District and Cities and Builders Over Enrollment and Impact Fee Dues
Are Flagler County’s public schools adding students? Will the district need to build new schools? Should it be drawing money from developers today even though it has no certain plans to build schools yet? Those questions were asked and answered with varying degrees of certainty and a lot more disagreements on Thursday in the latest meeting of a joint committee of local government representatives in charge of reviewing how much money developers are required to pay to defray the cost of new school construction.
Palm Coast Approves Doubling Housing Units to 845 at Lighthouse Harbor on Colbert Lane, Part of Future ‘Village’
The council approved several deviations from the Land Development Code to accommodate the developer, which is part of the Marina Village collection of developments. Between Marina del Palma’s 615 units to its immediate north and a 240-unit apartment complex immediately to the west of Colbert Lane, the cluster of new developments will add 1,400 housing units.
Waterfront Park Finds Its Latest ‘Paddle Straight to Paradise’ as $1.2 Million Boat Pad and Launch Open
The new boat ramp at the very popular Waterfront Park is part of a $1.2 million project adding access for non-motorized boats to the Intracoastal Waterway, which the city celebrated with a ribbon-cutting today. The next phase of the project is construction of an 80-space parking adjacent to the launch.
300-Unit Apartment Complex Going Up Next to Imagine School at Town Center, One of 2 Planned There
A high-end, gated, 300-unit apartment complex is going up on the 27-acre squarish parcel across the street from Imagine School at Town Center. It is to be the first of two such apartment complexes in that area. The complex is to be called The Legacy at Palm Coast Town Center.
Palm Coast Approves 275 Town Homes Over Objection of Tax-Base Shift From Commercial to Residential
The 4-1 vote, with Council member Theresa Pontieri in dissent, led to a discussion–if not a debate–on what has become routine in the city’s ongoing residential development boom: time after time, land zoned for commercial use is being re-zoned for residential uses. In this case, the rezoning is taking place despite going against the city’s own Land Development Code in one regard: the town homes will be smaller than the code calls for.
Congestion Ahead: Palm Coast Approves 4-Laning of Old Kings North and 7 Safety Projects on Belle Terre Parkway
Get ready for some new traffic disruptions around some of Palm Coast’s busiest arteries: Old Kings Road North, just past Kings Way, and along Belle Terre Parkway from south of Buddy Taylor Middle School to Royal Palms Parkway as construction crews take on a series of critical road improvements that, once done, will make traveling safer and swifter.
Challenged by Staffer, Palm Coast Council Awards $8.2 Million to Same Firm Dragging Belle Terre Bridge Project
Carmelo Morales, a rank-and-file city engineer, charged city council members with “micromanaging” an $8.2 million stormwater contract with the same firm building the Belle Terre Parkway/Buddy Taylor walkway and storm pipe, and risking leaving the city begging for contractors. But in the end, the council approved the contract and conceded Morales’s point, with caveats.
In Palm Coast Sheep, Not Chicken, May Safely Graze
The Palm Coast City Council’s rejection of a pilot program that would have allowed chickens in a handful of backyards is disappointing. But the council since its earliest days has tended to run the city more as a homeowners association bound to conformity and the somnolence of residents out to pasture rather than as a vibrant city welcoming of differences, innovation, young and working people.
Palm Coast’s Saltwater Canals in Better Shape Than Feared, Narrowing Debate to ‘Spot Dredging’ and Cost
A long-anticipated analysis of Palm Coast’s 26 miles of saltwater canals, the second since 2005 in the canals’ half-century history, revealed to some surprise that the canals are in better shape than expected. While that diminishes the urgency, breadth and cost of necessary dredging, dredging would still be necessary and expensive regardless.
Palm Coast Disarms ‘Forensic Audit’ Talk as Council’s Klufas Asks ‘Where’s the Fire?’ and Cautions Against Pandering
Led by Council member Nick Klufas, the Palm Coast City Council on Tuesday decidedly stepped back from its posture a week earlier, when it appeared ready to call for what would have been a very expensive and accusatory “forensic audit” of city finances, seemingly at the behest of one, significantly misinformed resident.
Cascades Development, Revived from 2005, Calls for Up to 850 Homes on 375 Acres in Seminole Woods
After a nearly two-decade hiatus, the massive Cascades development planned for Seminole Woods is back, and is more than double its original size: up to 850 single-family homes and apartments on 375 acres. If built out to that cap, the Cascades would be, along with Coquina Shores on Old Kings Road–a 750-home development just rezoned for the purpose–one of the largest developments in the city.
Palm Coast Council Chickens Out of Modest Pilot Program for Backyard Hens, But May Survey Residents
The Palm Coast City Council today shot down a two-year pilot program that would have permitted up to 25 properties to have backyard chickens in answer to a growing movement across the country toward more self-sufficiency and more natural foods. The most the city will do for now is possibly survey residents on their opinions about backyard chickens.
Impacting Services, Palm Coast Cuts $2.7 Million from Initial 2024 Budget to Comply with Council’s Lower Tax Rate
While these are budget cuts only in relation to the initially planned budget for next year, they nevertheless will have the effects of actual budget cuts in many regards, because they go against the grain of growth in the budget intended to maintain services and what City Manager Denise Bevan referred to as the city’s customary forward-looking approach.
Without Evidence of Wrongdoing, Palm Coast Council Orders Expensive, Unprecedented Forensic Audit
The Palm Coast City Council Tuesday evening agreed to an unprecedented and very expensive forensic audit of city finances, the sort of audit usually predicated on suspicions of wrongdoing, despite a lack of evidence of any wrongdoing and routine, annual audits and a finance department that just as routinely wins annual awards for transparency. The council was responding to public demands driven more by ideology and general dissatisfaction than facts.
Palm Coast Franchise Fee Killed Again as FPL Balks at Referendum; City Must Cut Budget $2.8 Million
The Palm Coast City Council is set to abandon the unpopular franchise fee it proposed adding to electric bills only last week. City Council member Theresa Pontieri said today she will withdraw the motion that she’d made on July 18. The reason, according to the city manager: Florida Power and Light won’t accept the city’s terms.
Waste Pro and Palm Coast Drop All Claims Against Each Other in Bingate Settlement
Waste Pro and Palm Coast signed an agreement that will have Palm Coast release $153,150 owed Waste Pro. The city will also void the $66,350 fines the company had accrued. Neither side admits wrong-doing. Neither side will sue.
Palm Coast Rezones Coquina Shores for 750 Homes as Details of Development North of SR100 Emerge
Coquina Shores, the 750-home development planned as a 505-acre gated community in a north-south rectangle north of State road 100 and east of Old Kings Road in Palm Coast, will be built with $65 million in infrastructure and run as its own community development district, or CDD, like Grand Haven and Hammock Dunes.
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.
Palm Coast in Ugly Meeting Votes to Lower Tax Rate Substantially and Add New, Modest Fee for Now
In another unseemly, disconcerting meeting that included coarse language and flaring tempers from the dais and rowdy and name-calling behavior from a floor thronged with residents, the Palm Coast City Council today substantially lowered the property tax rate in one vote and with another approved new fee or tax–a very modest one for now–on power bills.
Ed Danko Makes Inaccurate Claims in Campaign Ad Ahead of Council Vote on New Electric Fee (or Tax)
On Tuesday morning, the Palm Coast City Council will consider adopting a utility franchise fee that could add up to 6 percent to the cost of residents’ electric utility bills and significantly add to the city’s tax-revenue structure. In his opposition to the proposal, Palm Coast City Council member Ed Danko circulated a campaign email that made inaccurate and misleading statements.
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.
Palm Coast Explores 6% Tax on All Electric Bills Through ‘Franchise Fee’ Repeatedly Opposed in Past
For the third time in 11 years, the Palm Coast City Council is exploring the imposition of a new, 6 percent tax on all electricity bills by way of a so-called “franchise fee” that would be levied on Florida Power and Light and passed down to customers.
Complex 4-Week Trial Over Splash Pad Set for Late 2024 as Parties Duel and Pad Remains Barren
The length of the civil trial is a reflection of the immense technical and legal complexities of the case and the number of parties involved. Each named party has responded to the suit, rejecting the city’s allegations and pointing fingers either back at the city or at other contractors.
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.
Matanzas Woods Pkwy Will Close from Lakeview to Londonderry Drive for 10 Days
Matanzas Woods Pkwy from Lakeview Boulevard to Londonderry Drive will be closed to traffic from July 5 to July 15 as crews repair and repave that segment, one of Palm Coast’s major arteries.
Dangerous Dog Designation Upheld for R-Section Dog Who Mauled Girl, 13, in ‘Gruesome’ Attack
In a rare appeal, a special magistrate this morning affirmed Palm Coast Animal Control’s decision to designate Ghost, a large pit bull mix, a dangerous dog following the dog’s attack on the 13-year-old girl who was walking him on an R-Section street on June 5.
Razing Fire Station 22 For a Parking Lot May Be a Ballot Question as City Council Bows to History
A majority of the Palm Coast City Council doesn’t want to see Fire Station 22 leveled to make room for a parking lot once the station shifts further east, though the Community center has a deficit of more than 100 parking spaces. The city administration says it’ll cost at least $1.1 million, possibly more, to refurbish the building.
Palm Coast Wants More Action on ‘Bad Drivers,’ Litterers and Priorities as Sheriff Submits Budget
Submitting his annual budget to the Palm Coast City Council this morning, Staly heard requests for more help with “bad drivers” and litterers to maintain quality of life, and answered an extended series of questions from a council member on the paradox between a sharply falling crime rate and a still-rising jail population.
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.
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.
Council Approves 1st Leg of Beltway from Matanzas Woods to Palm Coast Parkway, Opening West
The Palm Coast City Council approved an engineering contract for the first phase of what will be a three-phase, 7-mile beltway connecting Matanzas Woods Parkway and Palm Coast Parkway west of U.S. 1. The ambitious road incursion through 12,000 acres of empty wilds would open that part of the city to development.
In Palm Coast, a Pitbull Attack, a Dead Dog, and Disputed Accusations of City ‘Gestapo’ Tactics
Palm Coast City Council member Ed Danko compared employees to “Gestapo agents” in reference to an animal control case involving a pit bull attack and a dog’s death earlier this month. Danko later walked back the statement, but remained “infuriated’ with the way an animal control officer had allegedly handled the case.
$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.
Tampa Is Latest City to Unveil Climate Action Plan, Tapping Tax Credits
Tampa’s plan comes just days after two federal agencies released guidance that will for the first time allow local and state governments and nonprofit organizations to access clean energy tax credits that come from 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act, which contained nearly $370 billion in climate provisions.
So You Want to Recall a Council Member or Write an Ordinance? Palm Coast Codifies Process After 24 Years.
The Palm Coast City Council in its 24th year is codifying its own referendum and recall process–the method by which residents may pitch or force the reconsideration of an ordinance, amend the city charter, or initiate a recall of a sitting council member.
Palm Coast Encourages Involvement in Budget Process
The City of Palm Coast is excited to announce the release of an informative budget video designed to provide residents with a comprehensive understanding of the city’s annual financial plans.