Controversial Solitude Development on A1A Moving Toward 14 Three-Story Condo Units Instead of 16 Houses

On the drawing board for almost 20 years, the controversial Solitude at Matanzas Shores development proposed for 3.9 acres of beachfront property on A1A just south of the Surf Club condominiums is now moving toward construction as 14 three-story condominium units in an L-shaped pair of buildings rising 35 and 36 feet. Each unit would have a pool deck.

Over its many years, some of them in litigation, the project has alternately been proposed as a 41-unit condo development, as town homes or as single family homes, and now back to condos. (See: “Proposed 16-Home Beachside Development South of Surf Club Troubles Residents and the County,” and “County Rejects Proposed 16-Home ‘Solitude’ Seaside Development on A1A, With Legal Threats Looming.”)




The county just approved phase-1 site planning, which entails grading and other site preparation. “The developer is working with ACI Architects to refine the building design for the PH-II submittal,” Luke Kilic, the director of engineering on the project, wrote county Planning Director Adam Mengel on Aug. 12, when Kilik submitted architectural plans for the two buildings.

Mengel said the developers have been in contact with the county since earlier this month, when the developers secured a long-sought and essential CCCL permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to proceed with construction. According to DEP, “The Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL) Program regulates structures and activities that can cause beach erosion, destabilize dunes, damage upland properties or interfere with public access. CCCL permits also protect sea turtles and dune plants.”

All that activity has been geared toward Consolidated Capital of Sanford’s impending sale of the acreage, Mengel said. Consolidated has owned the land since 2005, when it bought it for $4.3 million. The land’s just market value, according to the county’s property appraiser, is $2.18 million.




Solitude was last before the Flagler County Commission when its developer was seeking a special exception to build 16 single-family homes. Neighbors from the Lakeside By the Sea subdivision across the street and residents along Old A1A strenuously objected, calling attention to what they described as torrential flooding that courses south through that property in heavy storm events. Residents were also concerned about traffic, aesthetics and further erosion of the diminished dune line.

Flagler Beach attorney Dennis Bayer, who had represented the resident who sued the developer in 2006 to preserve public access to the beach, was again representing the resident last year, in addition to representing the Hammock Community Association, raised legal objections: the special exception for single-family homes was simply not permissible under the current Land Development Code. Commission Chair Andy Dance agreed, as did three of his colleagues. The special exception was denied, killing the possibility of single-family homes, but leaving the possibility of 14 town homes intact.

When the project was first approved for town homes in 2008, the county planning board attached a series of conditions. Those conditions are still enforceable, but most of them are not of public concern as they had to do with submittal deadlines. The developer made additional concessions ahead of the request for a special exception last year, when applying for single-family homes were

“Two points of specific public interest are being met through the proposed project,” a March 2023 planning department memo to the County Commission said. “The Owner has agreed to provide a 15 foot wide pedestrian access easement to the County along the South boundary line of the parcel for a future beach walkover; and the Owner will consent to the County’s dune easement as part of this Project, filling an important void in the County’s coastal dune project.” But those were not part of the original conditions.




Land use attorney Michael Chiumento III was representing the developer. Chiumento said at the time that if the special exception were approved, there was “a commitment” to those concessions, as well as a wider buffer along the perimeter and broad turning lanes for emergency vehicles inside the development. But since the exception was not approved, it’s not clear, Mengel said, whether those concessions would still be part of the plan. That includes public access.

“My client’s main concern was preserving his access to the beach,” Bayer said today. The access would have been ensured through a 15-foot-wide pedestrian easement.

None of the next development steps require regulatory oversight either by the Planning Board or the County Commission. Only county staff. The developer’s contractor would contact the contact to apply for a Land development permit for phase 1. Palm Cast will provide water, Matanzas Shores’ Homeowner Association will provide sewer services. Phase-2 will be actual construction of the units.

“My main concern is what this development will look like 10 years from now,” Courtney Vande Bunte, who lives on nearby Debra Lane with her husband Blake and their children, said. She had been among the critics of the proposal when it was for single-family homes. “Will the future owners be able to maintain these units well enough to prevent them from falling into disrepair after inevitable, direct battering from Atlantic hurricanes? If these units are priced too high, they risk remaining unoccupied, potentially creating another ghost-town scenario like Beach Walk in the 2010s. If priced too low, the units could deteriorate from constant storm exposure, leading to abandonment as the construction and repair costs become too burdensome to sustain.”

Vande Bunte noted some 30 listings of condominiums and houses within two miles of the proposed development, all offering beach access and views. “What will make this development stand out? Why would buyers choose a townhome with shared walls on a lot lacking natural dune protection over a condo right next door that has 200 feet of natural Florida shrub and dunes between it and the ocean?”

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