Gun-Shy County Delays Buying ‘Sensitive Lands’ Acres That Could Allow Expansion of Bull Creek Campground

The Flagler County Commission was ready Monday to buy 28 acres of pastureland and a house not far from its Bull Creek Campground near Dead Lake at the west end of the county. The $1.245 million purchase would have been done with money from the tax-funded Environmentally Sensitive Land program. It would have ensured that the acreage remains in conservation in perpetuity, and would have allowed the county to expand Bull Creek Campground with parking and additional camp sites.

But at the last minute County Administrator Heidi Petito, who knows firsthand the cost of acquiring potentially troublesome properties absent thorough vetting,  requested that the purchase be delayed. There are concerns about the homestead that’s part of the purchase.




Petito received an inspection report on Monday that she had not reviewed. The report could affect the price of the property. With some reservations, the commission granted the delay, leaving open the possibility of a special meeting this week or next to vote on the purchase.

Some commissioners, especially Pam Richardson, are concerned that the owner, Marjorie McCraney, is in negotiations with others to buy the property. She doesn’t want to lose the property. “I’d just like to see some kind of security in writing that we are planning to go ahead and proceed, if there are people that are competing against us. I think that would be in our best interest,” Richardson said.

“I just want to make sure that we do our due diligence and not rush it,” Petito said. She had received the independent inspection report until after 8 Monday morning. ” The postponement ensures that we continue with our due diligence and thorough evaluation before proceeding with this important decision.” She proposed bringing it back to the commission on Dec. 16.




The substance of the inspection report was not disclosed at Monday’s meeting. But there were hints that it could refer to concerning issues. (FlaglerLive requested the report. It had not been delivered before this article initially published.)

“I’ve been in contact with Miss McCraney, and she knew that our ability to go forward dependent upon a favorable inspection report of the residents,” County Attorney A Hadeed said. The report relates to “the structural soundness of the structure that we are buying, that we intend to integrate as part of our public parks usage there.” There’s only a verbal agreement in place, nothing written. Hadeed added: “She’s aware of the terms, we’ve discussed those. She understands that significant precondition to the county going forward was the inspection report of the residence that we would be buying and making up, by the way, most of the purchase price.”

Most notably, “there might be a need to adjust the purchase price given the condition of the building.” Alternately, there could be escrowed money as needed repairs are conducted, or the breadth of the purchase could be reconfigured. All of that has to be determined based on the inspection report. Hadeed was hesitant about proceeding with a contingency, “given the potential range of answers to the presenting issue,” he said.




Flagler County government does not want to find itself facing yet another controversy with a public building. The county has a long history of such acquisitions going back to the 2013 purchase of the former Memorial Hospital in Bunnell that it turned into a short-lived sheriff’s operation center. The county found itself mired in further controversy with the Captains BBQ building at Bings Landing, and faced some backlash over with the demolition of the building at the fish camp two years ago. The county was sued over the restaurant and had to pay a $1 million settlement. The county also had a bad experience when it bought the former Sears building on Palm Coast Parkway, and discovered problems only after conducting its own inspection.

New commissioners may not be as aware of that history as others, or understand why Petito is unsurprisingly hesitant not to carry out every “due diligence” under the sun with the potential acquisition of yet another building.

Environmentally Sensitive Land dollars are accrued from a dedicated property tax voters have approved three times over three decades. A typical, $200,000 homesteaded house with a tax assessment of $150,000 pays $19 a year into the fund, which currently has a balance of $9.5 million. It has been used to buy Bings Landing in the Hammock, Princess Place Preserve (including a recent acquisition there), controversially help fund a private developer’s Marineland marina, and a few other properties. The county has also received state appropriations for purchase of environmental lands, and that money has to be spent by a certain date–an approaching deadline, according to Commissioner Leann Pennington, who represents the west side.




The commission appoints members to its The Land Acquisition Selection Advisory Committee to study, vet and rank potential acquisitions. The McCraney acreage was on the committee’s so-called A-list. The committee voted in October unanimously to recommend a purchase–but only of the westernmost 10 acres, not the rest. Committee members were doubtful about the county’s uses for the house, an 1,800-square-foot structure that would not normally lend itself to public uses. Last month, the committee changed its mind and recommended buying all eight parcels, including the house. (The switch was strange, because the “reconsideration” was already on the agenda before the committee reconsidered it, when it would normally require a committee member to motion for a reconsideration. That suggests that there had been back-channel activity before the meeting, outside the sunshine.)

It is actually eight parcels, with McCraney’s homestead in the middle. Two appraisals conducted this year averaged out to a value of $1.24 million, the price for which McCraney agreed to sell to the county. McCraney is eager to sell in order to pay off a mortgage, Petito said.

The county would use the land as a “comfort station” for the Bull Creek Campground, would add 50 camp sites, would expand and relocate the sanitary sewer drainfield, stormwater ponds, compensating storage for flood waters, and overflow parking from the campsite.