County Favors State Aid for New Sheriff’s Station in Hammock, But Not for Animal Shelter or Library

The Flagler County Commission wants the state to help it pay for a new Sheriff’s District Office on the barrier island, but not paired with a community center and branch library. It wants financial aid with its projected tourism center on State Road 100. And it wants aid with a drainage project and a new agricultural extension center.

Commissioners are foregoing asking for state money for a countywide animal shelter, for a joint fire station and sheriff’s district office at Cody’s Corner, at the southwest end of the county, for a new headquarters for the overcrowded Supervisor of Elections’ office, and for several other projects that had made the short list of wishes upon a lawmaker. The list was pared down from almost a dozen to just four projects.




Commissioners know that they will have a far tougher time to secure appropriations from a much less friendly legislature when the session begins in March. Their two golden calves–Paul Renner and Travis Hutson–are out of the Legislature. They’ve been replaced by junior members with little pull in the Senate and the House (Tom Leek and Sam Greco).

The legislative leadership is also warning of leaner budgets ahead, because the billions of dollars in federal Covid aid the Biden administration showered on the state have dried up. The aid–which the GOP leadership never acknowledged as having anything to do with Biden–cushioned state budgets year after year, creating the deceptive impression of balanced budgets through fiscal prudence even as the state’s coffers were getting large federal subsidies. Just as Flagler County’s gravy train is over, so is Tallahassee’s. (See: “Legislative Analysts Warn Florida’s Surpluses Could Turn to Billion-Dollar Deficits as Federal Aid Dries Up.”)

“There’s not a lot of money this year, so we’re trying to be real cautious on how many we put forward,” Assistant County Administrator Holly Albanese said, “and we want to make sure the ones we put forward are the ones we really want. We don’t want them to make the decision for us which one there they’re going to fund and not fund.” What Albanese did not say is that legislators may well decide to fund none of Flagler’s requests, and if they do fund one or two, the governor–who vetoed a third of this session’s appropriated requests–may veto them.




Palm Coast, Bunnell and Flagler Beach are going through the same exercise, with the same trepidation. County commissioners drafted their final list at a workshop Monday.

The Supervisor of Elections will be disappointed. That office is looking for a new, 40,000 square foot facility (it has 10,000 square feet at the Government Services Building). It would cost $20 million. Animal advocates will also be disappointed. For the past few months, a stream of advocates have appeared before the County Commission and the Palm Coast City Council begging for joint action either to spur the Flagler Humane Society to build a new shelter or for a joint government consortium to do what’s necessary to build it. Cost seemed to be of little concern to the advocates. But as Albanese noted to the commissioners, “if we build 30,000 square foot, you’re looking at $15 million.”

There was a lot of discussion about a projected joint facility on the barrier island that would pair a sheriff’s district office and marine unit with a cultural and community center–the “cultural center” being another word for a 3,000 square foot branch library. The county owns the land. The sheriff’s 6,000 square foot building would be on the Intracoastal or very close to it. A second building would be the 9,000 square foot community an cultural center–6,000 square feet for the community center portion, 3,000 square feet for the library/community center.” There would be rentable space for events for non-profit and for-profit organizations. The cost for both buildings: $8 million.




“We’re calling it a cultural center,” Albanese said, “it would hold library activities, so there would be materials there for the people on the barrier island who currently don’t have access to a library. The library could oversee this facility.” The commissioners were not too interested.

Commissioner Leann Pennington said the sheriff will need “all the outreach” he can get as the county grows. “I’m just wondering if the appetite is there to take on new community centers and libraries.” To Commissioner Pam Richardson, the Palm Coast Community Center is not a long distance away, over the Hammock Dunes bridge. “Having another one right there, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” she said.

“The city of Palm Coast Community Center was built for the residents in the city of Palm Coast,” County Administrator Heidi Petito said. “Therefore they may not be able to use the amenities that the city of Palm Coast has. The people on the barrier island are not residents of Palm Coast, so this would be providing a new, updated facility on the barrier island in the unincorporated area.”

Pennington said it may be a good project, but not for the legislative list. The joint facility should be “phased in,” starting with the sheriff’s piece.

“This is not one of my favorites,” Commission Chair Andy Dance said of the overall proposal. Neither the sheriff’s nor the community center portion would end up making it on his final list. The sheriff’s portion ended up on three other commissioners’ final lists.  Going ahead with the sheriff’s portion alone would cost in the range of $3 million. In the end, it was Albanese herself–the county library director–who cautioned commissioners against going for the library among its legislative asks: “I hate saying this, but the legislature will not have an appetite to support a library,” she said.

So that was that. She made it easier for commissioners to drop the idea, at least for now as a legislative ask. “We can plan for the community cultural centers in next year, the future,” Pennington said.




What used to be called the Eco-Tourism Center, and is now called the Regional Trails and Conservation Center—the visitor center on State Road 100, near the foot bridge–was an easier one for the commissioners, who will be asking for $3 million to help fund that 10,000 square foot facility. The building will also be home to the tourism office.

The $3.3 million ask for the Black Branch north drainage system along Old Haw Creek Road would be a flood-control project while also improving water quality along Haw Creek Road. To sweeten lawmakers’ appetite for a little aid, the county is noting that the water quality will benefit the Florida State Guard training facility that just broke ground there. Finally, the county is hoping lawmakers will support a $10 million package to help move the University of Florida’s extension office, currently at the county fairgrounds.

“This project would relocate and build a new 20,000 square foot building with extended parking and a teaching garden focused on agriculture/horticulture,” the county’s pitch states. “This space could become a hub for hands-on demonstrations, showcasing sustainable practices and serve as a model for farmers and the community. The building would also include a certified shared-use kitchen, An Ag Innovation Hub and an Ag-Tech Living Laboratory.