Flagler County government and Hammock Harbour, the company owned by Bob Million that plans to develop a 240-boat dry-storage facility next to Hammock Hardware on State Road A1A, have reached a settlement in a year-old federal lawsuit Million filed.
It will cost the county $550,000, and Million will be allowed to build without having to secure a “special exception” or meet further conditions the county wanted him to follow. The County Commission will consider the proposed settlement at its meeting on Monday. It may yet reject it, but only at the cost of further litigation and the likelihood of a trial.
In November 2024, Assistant County Attorney Sean Moylan appeared before the County Commission to recommend that the county approve a settlement with Hammock Harbour. That settlement had been crafted by a special magistrate after a mediation session between the county and Hammock Harbour reached an impasse. The settlement would have cleared the way for the nearly 50,000-square-foot development at 5658 North Oceanshore Boulevard, which would also have shops, a restaurant and a marina.
Specifically, the settlement would have removed a requirement that Hammock Harbour secure a special exception for its development. The special exception would have had to be approved by the county’s planning board, and could have included conditions.
The 2024 settlement would not have cost the county any money. But it was sharply opposed by neighbors of the site and by the Hammock Community Association, which has argued since the project’s inception that its footprint and the building of a warehouse are incompatible with the Scenic A1A Overlay District.
That’s why Moylan also told the commission at that November 2024 meeting: “Regardless of how you vote tonight, there’s a very high probability that this item ends up in litigation on one side or the other.”
The County Commission in a 4-1 vote declined the settlement in 2024. It did not bar Hammock Harbour from building the development. But it maintained the special exception requirement. Hammock Harbour sued the county in federal court, alleging a regulatory taking, and filed a separate action under the state’s Bert Harris Act, seeking damages.
The dispute is now seven years old. It has already been successfully litigated by the Hammock Community Association, but on a technicality (whether the county’s growth management director had the authority with the evidence he had at hand to make a land use determination in place of regulatory boards; the court ruled he did not), not on whether a boat-storage facility could be built there.
On Jan. 7, Hammock Harbour and the county held a court-mandated mediation and reached a proposed settlement.
The proposal will not please anyone not connected with Hammock Harbour–not the county, not the Hammock Community Association, certainly not taxpayers.
“That is insane,” Dennis Bayer, who has represented the Hammock Community Association, said. “All Mr. Million had to do was apply for a special exception. He delayed the process by not applying. He also torpedoed the county’s good faith effort to adopt a marina ordinance.”
“To us, the settlement is awful, unless there’s a smoking gun somewhere that we don’t know about, and I guess that’s possible,” Kathy Viehe, the property owner immediately to the north of the Hammock Harbour parcel, said today. “Who knows what has been uncovered in this process. But to us, it’s just a terrible settlement, and it just continues more of the same. I think it’s costing taxpayers, and it’s reducing the value of residential property. And I don’t see it stopping, if they settle.” In other words Viehe does not see the settlement stopping further development she considers incompatible with the area.
The settlement agreement calls for the county to pay Hammock Harbour $400,000 in exchange for the company dismissing the lawsuit. The county will also award Hammock Harbour a $150,000 credit the company may apply to building permit fees or site plan applications, which are expected. And of course Hammock Harbour gets to build what it wanted to build in the first place.
The settlement is not as expensive as the $1 million the county paid at the end of 2023 to settle a lawsuit by Captain’s BBQ at Bings Landing, after opposing the restaurant’s construction plans. That was a breach-of-contract lawsuit. As part of the settlement, Captain’s was granted the right to build a 5,000 square foot structure, but not in the center of the park, where it had originally wanted to build.
The key part of the proposed settlement reads: “Flagler County acknowledges that Hammock Harbour’s Proposed Use of the Property is consistent with the County’s Comprehensive Plan, Land Development Regulations, and Manatee Protection Plan. Moreover, Hammock Harbour’s Proposed Use is a permitted principal use in the C-2-General commercial and shopping center district. The Proposed Use is also consistent with the strictures of the Scenic Corridor Overlay District.”
Regarding Hammock Harbour’s planned development, the settlement states: “It is the intent and effect of this Agreement that Hammock Harbour’s use of the Property shall be consistent with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations. Therefore, Flagler County approves the Site Plan for the development of the Property. Hammock Harbour may apply for all applicable permits and approvals to construct the Proposed Use consistent with the Site Plan; and, on the condition such applications are consistent with the Site Plan, Flagler County will approve same and cause all such permits and approvals to be issued in a timely manner.”
With the site plan explicitly approved with no further review, the special exception is history.
“We’re pretty frustrated because we think the county is not following their own laws. So in that sense, seeing them come up with a settlement that says they are following those is very upsetting,” Viehe said.
From 1982 to 2014, the 4.3-acre Hammock Harbour site was the manufacturing facility for Newcastle Marine, which built one boat at a time there. In 2000, the property was rezoned commercial, but the County Commission at the time limited uses of the property to boat yards and related uses. It could not be a shopping mall, a bar or a bowling alley. The deed restriction is still in place, as is a manatee protection plan adopted by the commission. The protection plan in 2015 anticipated “that this would be the spot where there would be dry boat storage,” Moylan said. Neither courts nor county regulators have held that a boat storage is inappropriate at that site.
At the same time, Moylan back then explained why the county’s planning board had insisted on maintaining the special exception: “They had the community here, the stakeholders, the neighbors, and they were very much opposed to this,” Moylan said. “Both sides are very entrenched. Neither side was very willing to compromise, if I may be frank, and I think the Planning Board was trying to strike a balance. They said, Yeah, you know what? This isn’t prohibited, but you ought to do the special exception procedure. Special exceptions are intended for uses of land that are a little more intense than what zoning would normally allow, but it’s not so intense to be kicked up to industrial. So that’s the purpose of a special exception. So I don’t think what the Planning Board did was unreasonable, but the magistrate was looking at the cold letter of the law, and not so much concerned about the community stakeholders as I think he was looking at the comp plan, the statutes, the zoning words.”
Moylan stressed at the time that Hammock Harbour’s site plan, without a special exception, met requirements of the county’s land development code, including overlay requirements.
That’s also where the proposed settlement lands–plus the money owed.
Gina says
So , there goes THE HAMMOCK, the county should oppose and go to court at this point , its all about THE BENJAMINS! GO FOR BROKE AND FIGHT LIKE HELL , HIRE A CREATIVE ATTORNEY , FIND THE LOOPHOLES AND TRY TO SAVE THE LAST PIECE OF SCENIC BEAUTY THIS COUNTY HAS, MORE TRAFFIC, MORE POLLUTION IN OUR WATERWAYS, COMPROMISING OUR WATERWAYS AND WILDLIFE , ALL FOR AN UGLY BOAT STORAGE FOR THE WEALTHY WHO COME OUT TO PLAY AND FREQUENT SEASONALLY! This is not to benefit your taxbase year round citizens!
Laurel says
Deja Vu. Captain’s BBQ all over again. Just another hostile *neighbor,* trying to make money, with no regard for the community. F**k the Hammock.
Isn’t there a residence right next door? My God, developers are greedy! One can only hope for karma.
The traffic will be awful, and the boat traffic will be ridiculous in the narrow channel. I feel for the residents who will have to listen to the beeping, and engine sounds of the vehicles loading and unloading of boats. Why does the county allows so many businesses immediately next door to residents?
Another business to boycott, and another business that the Hammock residents can’t enjoy.
FedUp says
I agree with your comment 100%; however, we know the people who will be using this facility will be seasonal snowbirds who don’t give a rats azz about you, me, or anyone who has lived here for decades.
DEKA says
This is yet another example of poor planning from a governmental agency and a developer taking advantage of that. This project is obviously AGAINST the desires of us folks that live on the Hammock but the development company does not care, they found an opening and jumped on it. This developer does not and never will live here on the Hammock but wants to build something that the folks that actually live here do NOT want. If allowed, they will ruin what we have here and they don’t care, they just want to make a profit and ruin this special place!
I do hope the residents of the Hammock are prepared for an all out fight to stop this project, we are going to need EVERYONE!
JoB says
The settlement agreement will be voted on at the Board of County Commissioners meeting on October 9. Meeting starts at 5:00.
Attend the meeting and/or email the commissioners.
Harriet says
February 9th NOT October……
JoB says
Oops. Thank you for the correction.
Raymond Royer says
I’m very familiar with Flagler County not following due process procedures or their own written rules and guidelines.
The TRC does good work for the applicate in building codes and points out if any variances or special application requirements are required.
I’ve been trying for over a year to reach an approved 96 sqft. building next to a pool. The problem is it’s going back to a third TRC to follow a forth Planning and Zoning Board hearing. This was sent back after a second appeal in front of Flagler County Commission that I was trying to resolve three tie votes resulting in a no vote.
The setback variances were approved and the 8 x 12 concrete slab for the building. I was told it can go 12’ by TRC and I requested 10’ and the Planning and Zoning Board approved only 4’ in height.
I also tried to just pull the permits from the start of day one as permitted by State Law as a Property Owner. The State Law states Property Owner is equal to a General Contractor when it comes to applying for permits.
Unfortunately Flagler County actually has a two tier permit process. One for Contractors and another for Property Owners who are subject to a long process with additional fees before entering into the permit process.
So not only are we taxed forever on our property but we are subject to never having the freedom to build our dreams.
Harriet says
Yes the TRC is very pro developer and does a lot of the work for them. Not too concerned for the citizens.
Good old boys club says
Wow, someone else see their is and has been a cozy relationship between contractors and the building department. It’s no secret that the building Chief has many friends that have got away with anything they want, whenever they wanted.
JimboXYZ says
$ 550K Additional, $ 400K cash & $ 150K reduction of fees. Growth paying for itself in action at the expense of taxpayers, no value added for getting sued for the era Bidenomics. Another $ 1 million to lose/settle for the BBQ debacle. Does Flagler County ever win ? Add in the Splash Pad millions and the waste the cities & county have done Holland, Alfin & anyone else for failed leadership is just astonishing. Anyone’s Quality of Life really improving.
The irony of it all for this particular boating storage facility, Boston Whaler will shut down their 300 job manufacturing facility by Summer 2026. Here’s a novel approach for a solution for a concept of an idea ? Maybe Boston Whaler sells off that property & that’s where the boat storage is allowed ?
Lance Carroll says
I agree with the Boston Whaler idea.
The parcel is much larger than the Hammock parcel and a boat storage facility would already be, mostly built. Facility could also serve some manufacturing and services.
Jan says
“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” Joni Mitchell
Only in this case it’s a 240-boat storage facility. Ugh.
Gina says
They should be given PIMP CANES
Pat says
“Plant” gopher tortoises or other “endangered .
Look at Holland Park.!
John Stove says
Glad it is being built
Many of us in Flagler County arent rich enough to own homes in the Hammocks or can afford to keep our boats in the Hammock Marina or Palm Coast Marina. I will now be able to store my boat at this location and then launch/retrieve it directly into the ICW without driving thru all the Palm Coast traffic with my trailer.
If this former boatyard site was such a “jewel” then the folks of the Hammocks should have collectively gathered funds to purchase the lot and then deed it over to the county as open space/never to be developed.
Looking forward to my day on the water from this location!!
Mark says
Exactly John, thank you!
Laurel says
John Stove: Ah, you’re all heart. Two things you don’t realize. One, there are a lot of trailers and small homes here in the Hammock, so your “I’m not wealthy enough” is out the window. Second, this island is a Maritime Hammock that has its own microclimate, flora and fauna, that is being torn down as fast as money worshipers can do it. This barrier island protects your mainland, for now.
There are good launches on the ICW without huge, commercial development. There are too many commercial businesses here directly next door to long time residents.
You don’t give a damn about any of that as long as you can drop your boat directly in the river, and you somehow think it’s going to be affordable! It won’t be.
Now, let’s see how we can screw up your neighborhood. You won’t mind, will you?
JoB says
Appraisal done for Hammock Harbour for the lawsuit indicates monthly rental of $660 per month. Is that less expensive than Palm Coast Marina? (I am asking because I do not know how much it costs to rent at Palm Coast Marina.)
The “jewel” has been an eyesore for years. The current owner bought the property in 2018. It gets mowed maybe once a year. The 18,000 SF building was demolished in the summer of 2024. Piles of concrete and rusty rebar are still there.
I don’t think that a 43,000 SF warehouse and 120 paved parking spaces belong in the Hammock. Just my opinion.
Greg says
The county never learns. You would think that after Captains BBQ loss the county would tell Hammock association to butt out. So now the county loses again fog the tune if $500000. Maybe the county should sue Hammock Aoc for the $500000.
FedUp says
More boat traffic on the already free-for-all, “wild west” river, unnecessary vehicle and pedestrian traffic, and more unwanted individuals who have no consideration for the locals who have resided here for decades. I’m meeting with a realtor today to discuss listing my river property, which I’ve owned for nearly 50 years, and to get the hell away from these greedy transplants.
Stephen Edwards says
I hear you. I spent 30 years on a air boat in Flagler County. Working. Locals loved me cause they knew what I was doing. Not joy riding. I’ve seen Sea Ray test their boats for a long time, totally destroying the banks of the river with their wakes. Sorry things have changed so much. Every Fall and Spring I dealt with the cruisers plowing down the intercostal. But after a while i was not the ok guy. To many new people with lots of cash took over. I have tons of good memories on the river. Things chance as we know. Flagler Beach was a cool place in the day. And of course the Hammock, one of a kind.
Janet Sullivan says
A boat storage building is a warehouse. No other way to put it. Warehouses are not allowed in the Hammock, so this should have been a non-starter. But when this started (5-6 yrs ago), the county’s Growth and Planning director used his glib language and persuasion skills and somehow convinced all but one member of the Planning Board that this boat storage facility is NOT a warehouse. He also said that the intensity of a boat storage facility (boats coming in and out and the traffic on a 2- lane road) would be LESS than the business that had been there previously (a few employees every day building one yacht per year). So here we are: we have an industrial warehouse with its intensity and noises and industrial forklifts (have you seen those things?) and a 500 gallon fuel tank–between 2 residential properties. Other local boat storage facilities (St. Augustine and Daytona) are listed as warehouses, and are in industrial areas– not residential. A fire (look up the photos on the internet) in a building full of fueled boats would be horrific for neighbors AND the intracoastal waterway. The Growth and Planning Director is responsible for most of the debacles that impact the residents and the environment. It is his decisions and gift of gab that puts everyone, including the county, at risk. But by the time everyone gets 5 years down the road, they forget who/what started it all because they are embroiled in lawsuits and lawyers and huge expenditures. This needs to be fixed . The residents deserve better staff.
Harriet says
Why not say Adam Mengel’s name who is the Growth and Planning Director the article is referring to? Jane Gentile-Youd said he should have been fired countless times!
Good old boys club says
Yeah, maybe our elected commissioners will finally do something instead of approving every land development plan that comes up for a vote.
Mark says
It was already a boat facility for decades long before more than half the houses were built in The Hammock. The intracoastal is a public waterway, not just for Hammock residents though I’m sure more than a few will use this boat facility when it’s up and running.
Laurel says
Mark: It’s not about the ICW, it’s about destruction of the island. Everyone is looking for “old Florida” and then tear it up as fast as possible.
To think of this area as a boating area is comical. Not even close! The ICW (with no inlets in Flagler County) is a transportation route, not a playground.
As it is, the county doesn’t give a damn about residents or safety. The two businesses on the corner of A1A and 17th Rd are a nightmare. Cars parked all over the road, with people walking in between them. Turn in at your own risk. It’s just a matter of time.
Why should they, or you, care about launching boats in the small channel in between boat traffic?
Why don’t you care at all?
In this day and age, it’s all about the selfish individuals.
NJ says
WTF!!! Flagler County Taxpayers get SCREWED Again by another Greedy Developer. WAKE-UP Flagler County Taxpayers and organize ( RIFCO.org is an Excellent example of a “We the People” group that STOPPED a Very Powerful Realtor/Contractor/Developer CARTEL). Unite NOW! Help start a conservation group in Flagler County
JD says
Oh shit. You mean that this dilapidated piece of crap property that looks like a dump will actually have a use other than looking like crap? God forbid.
Ed P says
If we can’t stop him…..
Give the developers what they want, but tax the property at the real projected value.
Bought for $850,000 3 years prior, was more recently put up for sale at 5 million. Certainly once developed with the 57,000 square foot building and a full service restaurant it will be worth even more. Between the balance of impact fees and future taxes, the settlement will appear more like an incentive for him to develop. Firm, fair, and consistent.
Developers should be careful for what they wish for.