Two weeks ago the Flagler Beach City Commission approved the annexation of a 545-acre tract west of John Anderson Highway that immediately increased the city’s size by a fifth. The tract will be the future Summertown development, anchored by a 90-acre commercial town center.
This evening, the city commission will be at it again, taking up yet another annexation, this one for the 211 acres on the east side of John Anderson Highway that form the Veranda Bay development, where more than 160 houses have been built since 2020.
It can get confusing. The two developments are owned by the same Charlotte, N.C.-based SunBelt Land Management company and represented locally by Ken Belshe, who’s been developing land in the county for about 30 years.
Both developments were known as Veranda Bay until last year when SunBelt split them, in part to get around hurdles that nearly derailed the annexation plans last year, when Preserve Flagler Beach and Bulow Creek, a nonprofit that has largely opposed Veranda Bay, threatened to sue if the annexation were to create an enclave of unincorporated county land. SunBelt got around that hurdle by literally drawing boundaries around the enclaves in such a way as to neutralize that issue.
There is still a double-barreled threat of litigation, this time from county government and against Flagler Beach. The county is considering a lawsuit over the Summertown annexation on allegations that it is out of compliance with the city’s comprehensive plan. Utility issues may also be contested. On the Veranda Bay side, the county is contesting the city’s right to annex without the certainty that all the existing homeowners at Veranda Bay have signed voluntary annexation petitions, as required by law.
“I hope things are smooth,” City Commission Chair James Sherman said this afternoon of this evening’s meeting, terming himself cautiously optimistic. But he said he’d been caught off-guard by the county’s threat to sue. “I don’t want to make accusations or sling mud at the county, however, they’ve had several years to bring their concerns for us to address these things, and now at the 11th hour, for the Summertown side of things, we were caught with these lists of concerns,” Sherman said.
“At the end of the day that’s how we should be working–collectively, not us against them,” Sherman said, “and if we do move forward with this item on the ageda, that we would have constructive conversations and all the concerns the county may be bringing forward or anybody else, that we could address those before second reading,” or even, he said, at another workshop.
Belshe said the annexation petitions are a non-issue, since the petitions are in hand. “In order to buy property in Veranda Bay, you had to sign off on this,” he said. “We told [property owners] up front, we’re going to annex either into the city of Palm Coast or the city of Flagler Beach. And you don’t buy here unless you agree to that. And so it’s in the covenants and restrictions, so there’s no doubt that everybody’s agreed to that, or we wouldn’t have sold them the property. And so the county attorney has a little bit of a difference of opinion, but our attorneys and the city have assured us that the way we’ve done it is proper.”
Belshe spoke at length on both developments last week on Free For All Friday with WNZF’s David Ayres. Other than the statement about the petitions, he did not say anything that hadn’t been said before at the innumerable Flagler Beach City Commission meetings that have vetted annexation for more than two years, since the city invited Belshe to annex. But he spoke with fewer guards and none of the government lingo that sometimes leadens language at government meetings.
Though that appears to be a settled issue for now, Belshe reiterated SunBelt’s intention to sell about 153 acres surrounding the headwaters of Bulow Creek to the county for preservation. That acreage is in the Summertown parcel. “The county has expressed an interest in it, and we have said we are willing sellers, and we have signed the paperwork that they put in front of us,” he said.
The plan for Summertown is for 1,640 housing units–single family homes, apartment buildings, condos. Should the sale be successful, the density of about three units per acre will not change. But the number of units will fall proportionately to the acreage sold. If 153 acres are sold, about 460 fewer housing units would be built.
City Manager Dale Martin said the focus has been on housing. But city officials are more excited about the planned 840,000-square-foot commercial development that will anchor Summertown.
“I’ve worked with Ken,” Martin said, “we’re prepared to outreach to educational outlets, universities, medical outfits to say, Listen, the Palm Coast-Flagler Beach area has had explosive growth, but we have a lack of jobs and services, and especially on the professional level. So we want to expand, or at least offer through Ken the opportunity to bring some of these professional type entities.” He mentioned healthcare and colleges and universities.
“It’s not like we have a reputation of building smoke shops and casinos. We don’t,” Belshe said of the 90-acre commercial development.
He described it: “Imagine a newer version of Winter Park where you have shopping and entertainment and it’s a live, work, play environment, a walkable area that incorporates office space and and a little bit of residential mixed in there and mostly commercial retail and entertainment venues. You have to get those anchor people in there and really plan around them. And we’re close to that. But they’ve all been watching this process, and they’ve all been saying, We love you and we love the place, but you got to get your zoning, or why would we waste a ton of our time planning something that we don’t know if it’s going to exist or not? So we really just accomplished that major hurdle” with the Jan. 8 annexation.
The Promenade in Palm Coast, the first mixed-use commercial development in Town Center–a six-building, 230,000-square-foot project with shops on the ground floor and 204 apartments above–intends to bring the same idea to life, but it’s not announced a single announced tenant yet even though it is scheduled to open this summer.
Deputy Palm Coast City Manager Lauren Johnston dismissed concerns that the Promenade is not filling up. “I don’t have any concerns,” she said. “The Promenade Investment Group is charged with energy to want to do more here in Town Center.”
With every new commercial development comes competition for other commercial developments in the county. Town Center will be competing with Summertown, and both of those will be competing with planned town-center-like development at the Reserve at Haw Creek, the massive, 6,100-home development Bunnell approved last year. There is no feasibility study on record that analyzes how all that commercial space will be viable, when Palm Coast’s Town Center, a quarter century since it emerged, is still closer to a commercial ghost town than the brimming urban space it was intended to be.
Belshe said Summertown and Veranda Bay will play out over 20 years. “I have no delusions about the business that we’re in. It is controversial at times, but it requires people to change, and change is difficult for human beings,” he said. His challenges are more immediate, with still numerous regulatory steps ahead, the county’s looming legal challenges, and the lingering skepticism and opposition from Preserve Flagler Beach and Bulow Creek.
“I do believe when we go into those meetings and hearings, that the people there have their heart in the right place,” Belshe said. “But I do think if they would simply sit down with me and get the facts straight, that they would feel differently, or at least not feel as angry as they sometimes do.”
Keep Flagler Beautiful says
I am not a fan of Veranda Bay AT ALL. Anytime you have to truck in dirt to raise houses out of a flood zone, that’s a big red flag. After decades of watching the disastrous effects of construction in low-lying areas around Florida, I have no doubt that it will create new flood zones in adjacent areas. But thanks to idiots in local government, we’re stuck with it, just like we’re stuck with the god-awful Margaritaville Hotel, which looks like a glorified Motel 6 and is a gigantic eyesore when you cross over the Intracoastal to the island. Why look at an unobstructed view of a beautiful ocean if you can look at the ass-end of an embarrassment like that tacky hotel? That’s the Flagler Beach way of doing things. HOWEVER, there’s no reason to think a Winter Park-like shopping, dining and entertainment zone would not work just because Palm Coast’s dismal attempts at such a thing have failed. Every time a new strip mall opens in Palm Coast, it’s the same thing: nail salon, vaping room, junk food x 4 or 5, and other businesses that hold no appeal to shoppers. Veranda Bay is actually adjacent to a beach town. If they were judicious and could attract better-quality retailers, it could succeed. Don’t forget that a Ritz-Carlton condo development is coming in or near the Hammock. And there are plenty of people in Flagler who would spend if there were anything to spend on. I stopped buying new clothes because I got tired of driving to Orlando to find what I wanted. I would be at Whole Foods at least once a week if we had one in the area. But we have nothing. Just tacky, junky shops. Winter Park and the Nocatee development in Ponte Vedra are ideal models that combine retail, entertainment, dining and soft businesses. We could do the same. Or we could remain the poor stepchild of central Florida.