The Palm Coast Planning Board in a 5-2 vote that reflected some sharp resistance to the project recommended approval of a master plan for a nine-building, 216-apartment complex lined along Old Kings Road’s two lanes, halfway between Palm Coast Parkway and Town center Boulevard.
It would be by far the largest development visible from the road south of Utility Drive, changing the complexion of what, but for a storage facility and an assisted living facility, had been one of Palm Coast’s last remaining greenways. But the corridor has long been zoned for development, and more of it is ahead.
The Toscana and Hidden Lakes subdivision are building out just south of the planned apartment complex, but buffered by wide swaths of conservation land, so they remain invisible from Old Kings Road. Eight of the apartment complex’s three-story buildings will replace the greenery along Old Kings Road, rising wall-like, in succession, along 2,400 feet of the road, buffered only by parking spaces and a sidewalk. Put another way: Old Kings Road South is on its way to looking more like Old Kings Road North.
Three Planning Board members raised concerns about the complex, but not on aesthetic grounds. The concerns are focused on its impact on traffic on Old Kings’s two lanes, and one planning board members objected to the apartment complex being so close to two single-family home subdivisions–a recurrent objection to apartments in Palm Coast and elsewhere based far more on assumptions, if not prejudice, than evidence that apartment complexes hurt single family homes.
“I don’t feel comfortable with this kind of project so close, you’re really close to Tuscany,” Board Member Larry Gross said. “If I lived in there, I wouldn’t feel good about this kind of development coming that close to that kind of community. That’s one of the things in Palm Coast that we need to start looking at. We get a developer that builds a beautiful community, and then we squeeze in apartments or something near it. And I just don’t think that’s fair.” It wasn’t clear, from Gross’s comments, what, in that apartment complex, would be damaging to the Tuscany community–or any more or less damaging than, say, nearby I-95.
The developer notified the homeowner associations at Toscana and at the Hidden Lakes subdivisions of a neighborhood meeting with the developer. No one showed up. Planning Board member Sybil Dodson-Lucas found that hard to believe and wanted more outreach to them.
But Residents from the two subdivisions, who tend to be active and vocal in developments in their vicinity, had in fact been involved at a previous stage of the development, and were very concerned about the heights of the buildings, back when they were to be higher than they are planned to be now, Bob Million, a local developer involved in the project, said. The heights of the buildings was lowered in response to their concerns. That also lowered the total number of apartments that would be built.
Palm Cost is severely underserved by apartments, driving up rent costs and forcing those who can’t afford them to live further away, creating commutes and larger impacts. This will not be an affordable-housing complex. The developer markets its brand as luxury apartments.
The planning board’s 5-2 vote is only a recommendation. The application next goes before the Palm Coast City Council for approval. If it clears that hurdle, the developer will have to get Planning Board approval of its site plan, the more specific development blueprint for the complex. But by the time a project reaches that stage, site plans are more formalities–open to some conditions–than hurdles.
The apartment complex is on 29 acres on the east side of Old Kings Road (10 of those acres are conservation or wetlands), 2 miles south of Palm Coast Parkway and 2 miles north of Town Center Boulevard. The city has wastewater rapid infiltration basins east of the site. The distance between the building at the south end of the complex and the closest lot in the Toscana subdivision is 1,100 feet.
The complex would consist of 216 apartments split between nine three-story buildings, each numbering 24 apartments and rising 36 feet. The development was entitled to 255 apartments. The complex would have its own pool and clubhouse and walking trails, including a 12-foot wide sidewalk along Old Kings Road, which currently has no sidewalks along either side. Trails will circle two ponds behind the buildings.
There will be 24 one-bedroom apartments, 130 two-bedroom apartments, and 60 three-bedroom apartments. The one-bedroom apartments will be around 1,100 square feet.
“The project will provide housing for elderly residents and also younger residents that provide essential and key services for our residents,” Senior Planner Bill Hoover said. “One advantage of rental homes is new people that might consider moving here or retiring here.” The complex would also be “the opposite of urban sprawl as this is infill development, which all planners encourage,” Hoover said. “It will be located in reasonable proximity to numerous retail and service opportunities for its future residents.”
The buildings will have small balconies and gables. Score USA, the developer, has specialized in apartment complexes in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee for the last 20 years, a representative for the developer, ScorUSA, said. “We want to work well with the community, we want to be here, we’re a developer and owner, so we’re not building it to sell it off and trade off somebody else. So we plan to be here a long time,” Dan Nibblett said. (According to Florida Division of Corporations records, ScorUSA was incorporated in Florida last August and Alabama last May. A website for the company may exist, but a search of several minutes could not locate it.)
“I don’t think I’m alone in hearing the concerns of Palm Coasters about the overcrowding or what they feel is the increase in traffic,” Sybil Dodson-Lucas, a member of the planning board, said, asking about traffic projections. Ray Tyner, the city’s planning director, said the project meets traffic requirements, since Old Kings Road will not “fail,” or be beyond capacity, once the complex is in place.
Lucas was one of the two votes against recommending the project. Gross was the other. “How does it go that now we’re almost ready to pass an approval for this, and we’ve got so many other things going on Old Kings Road,” Gross said, “and in this in this presentation, they can sit here and honestly say that there’s no impact on Old Kings Road, when if you build this, there’s a definite impact on Old Kings Road. There’s no way that that can sell to me in my mind that this won’t impact one of our roads that’s terrible now. That’s my major concern with this.”
Gross said the city had long gone with little to no development, and now that it’s getting it, “we’re saying yes to everything,” and “adding too much, too fast,” clogging roads. His complaint is increasingly echoed by existing residents not used to the heavier traffic. Gross had just timed the amount of time it took him to make the left turn, from Old Kings Road to Town center Boulevard, on his way to City Hall for Wednesday evening’s Planning Board meeting. He was cued at the light for eight minutes. Old Kings Road’s two lanes from just south of the Parkway to Town Center Boulevard is “a hit mess,” he said, with only future plans to widen the road.
That would be dependent on the property owners along that segment of the road to generate enough money from a special taxing district–the city’s only such taxing district–to widen the road. Improvements to the Town Center Boulevard-Old Kings Road intersection will be accomplished separately, with city funds.
Dave Ferguson, another member of the planning board, is also concerned about traffic. The development, Tyner said, will generate $424,000 in transportation impact fees alone, money that may be used for road improvements there or elsewhere. The traffic problems along Old Kings Road itself, Tyner said, are being overstated. “I don’t know if I would call it a bottleneck,” he said, using the word Gross had just used to describe congestion on the road. “We do have some issues at the intersection with the light there. And those are from an operation standpoint. That’s something our traffic engineering or traffic engineers looking at.” (That’s the Town Center Boulevard intersection with Old Kings.)
“When it comes to this application, our planners and our technical review team that has reviewed this application–it meets the zoning and meets the future land use, it meets all of our standards of our land development code, and so thus we have a recommendation of approval,” Tyner said.
Board Members Hung Hilton, Charles Lemon, Suzanne Nicholson, David Ferguson and Clint Smith voted to recommend approval of the application, with Gross and Lucas-Dodson opposed. Lucas-Dodson did something odd: when her name was called out for the roll call vote, she asked to be passed over temporarily, apparently to see how th rest of her colleagues were voting. Once everyone had voted, she voted No.
Atwp says
Traffic problems on OKR. is being overstated. Does Tyner live there? Probably not. This city should be called little Jacksonville.
palmcoaster says
You got got that right Atwp! Tyner doesn’t care about the traffic already mad house in that area. Well he lives in one of those high fees gated communities for the very exclusive of Colbert and we should be wondering how afforded… Those city administrators are destroying this side of Palm Coast while we the very affected residents afford they them their pay! They brought the Wawa around the block from this project, to increase 200 vehicles per hour to already 9,000 a day in Florida Park Drive and Palm Coast Parkway…
Deez Nutz says
The Palm Coast Planning Board and City Council members who will no doubt vote for this project should all be voted out immediately. They have no clue what they are doing. Old Kings Rd was not meant for this high traffic demand and yet they have no plan to alleviate the current disaster at OKR and Town Center Blvd and Royal Palms and Town Center Blvd. Citizens of Palm Coast deserve so much more than what these idiots in charge are doing. Speak up and let Alfin and his chipmunks know we are not going to take this anymore!
TR says
There is a realtor on the PC planning and zoning board so this is no surprise to go along with Alfin (who’s also a realtor) Cathy Heighter a council woman for PC who is also a realtor and then there is Danko’s girlfriend who is a realtor. So the bottom line is no matter what developers want, they get it. But to say that this will not look like to picture tells me it’s going to look like a dump in a few years. I just noticed the other day the apartments on the north side of Belle Terre past the schools and thought how ugly are those things. They all look like a bunch or cardboard boxes painted nice. Stick construction is the dumbest thing to build in Florida and DR Horton is building home with stick construction all over town. How dumb is anyone who buys a stick home and then wonders why their house is gone with one really good hurricane.
Jan says
It was an oversight not creating a right-hand turning lane on Old King’s Road when driving south from Palm Coast Parkway, so that people could go west at the light toward Belle Terre. It would alleviate a long back-up on Old Kings. There is often a several minute wait at that light because no one can turn right if the first person at the light is going straight on Old Kings Road.
No objections to apartments, but why not more built in Town Center with all the sidewalks already in place? And then, build all the restaurants and stores that were discussed 15 or so years ago? It would be great to have a walkable/bikeable/drivable community of varied housing with all kinds of amenities in close proximity. I would patronize it; and I’m sure others would, too.
Billy says
We want greenspace! Not buildings like every other crap hole city! Vote all the idiots out of city council asap!
Who Cares says
Sad, Palm Coast should rename itself, maybe Palm Ghost, because if they keep this crap up, this town will become a ghost town. Since ive been here, i have seen only idiots running it, into the ground! People in Tuscana are complaining!… Ya think, they know whats coming, and they wont be safe in their own neighborhoods, everyone, including the developers, know this, doesnt matter to them, they will make their money, and move on to destroy the next plot of “GREEN” land,. Why in the world would this town allow conservation land to be developed??? I would like a couple of acres for myself, and my family, i mean thats ok now…right? Please…we need new people running this town, not developers, and greedy council members.
Per I’ll popolo says
Florida State Statute Chapter 100 section 361 is our answer. Recall all of the politicians and vote in someone else.
https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2021/0100.361. Then you can get the bureaucrats that keep feeding the commissioners false information like adding another 1,000 cars to a two lane road wont effect traffic!!!!!
Alexia says
STOP BUILDING. How many people have to say it before someone listens! I moved here because there were so many trees and so much land. Now the lots are just big enough for a house and more and more apartments/condo’s are going up. I should have stayed where I was. Can hardly tell the difference anymore. And still NOTHING to do here. No Place To Work! CRAZY
Kenneth Davis says
Correct, Wawa , Pizza joints and Walmart don’t pay enough to live here. This is headed in the wrong direction. Affordable housing is needed. Not more senior housing for 400 k with people that don’t work and will complain about paying for services needed. The city is bipolar.
bill says
this city is turning into a sad, pathetic joke you’re putting apartments next to homes worth 800,000 to over 1 million dollars. The traffic is already a big friggin abortion on old Kings Road. These idiots who are running this city probably have no experience in running a city wherever the hell they came from. 20 + years here very saf what it is turning out to be.
when Landon was city manager, he had these plans of stores and shops in town center. What happened now you got apartment buildings apartment buildings apartment buildings I don’t know about anybody else, but I am looking to get the hell out of here.
Jay Tomm says
And just how are people going to pay to live in these apartments? There are no real jobs in PC or Flagler. These will not be $900/month units. These will be $1500+. With the lack of trees, the amount of cars, PC pollution will go up.
Tired of crap says
You know Alfin the realtor mayor, will push this through. “Luxury Apartments “ for younger people is a ridiculous statement. Old Kings Road definitely cannot handle the traffic as it is. And as someone that travels it daily, yes, it is a bottleneck. But you know Klutzus and Alfin will push it through like every development. They think they will get another pay raise justified by the increase in population.
JMOS says
FYI the developer of Toscana has full control of the HOA and administers it’s activities. As a member of that Association I was not notified of this meeting. It is disingenuous to say that the HOA was notified knowing that the developer probably did not notify the residents.
Lin says
You are absolutely right. I lived in Jacksonville and I saw it happen. There were nice neighborhoods and when mega stores and apartment complexes moved in the traffic and crime became unbearable. I moved (to Flagler County) 15 years ago. I don’t know where the next move will be.
Lori Dyer says
My husband is on the BOD of our HOA in Hidden Lakes. The board wasn’t notified either. We first learned of it after the fact from neighbors wondering why the board wasn’t at the meeting representing our neighborhood.
palmcoaster says
Mr. Tyner totally ignores the existing traffic in that area…as they ignored the 200 additional vehicles per hour that their approved Wawa will bring to Florida Park Drive with already 9,000 cars a day and clogged Palm Coast Parkway! He lives tucked away in his exclusive gated community of Colbert Lane. This city administrators are destroying our side of Palm Coast of Palm Coast Parkway and Palm Harbor Parkway with their pre approved plans asking for a yes vote of council. We need change in 2024…and Ray Stevens in our council!https://www.voterfocus.com/CampaignFinance/candidate_pr.php?op=cv&e=37&c=flagler&ca=661&rellevel=4&committee=N
Think it Through says
I”ve got mine, everyone else stay out!! Did all of you transplants think that the gates would be locked once you got in. We didn’t want you either, but we have learned to accept you.
Dunn says
Unless you are a member of the Seminole tribe, guess what? Everyone is a transplant with families that moved here from somewhere else. Leave the ugly human virus at home please.
Outraged says
Oh my God! This sounds like another environmental massacre. Nobody cares about the animals and nature anymore. Those who care feel too small to impact anything. I wish there would be more information on these upcoming meetings posted in many places so the community have chance to react…but unfortunately it seems that the city leaders don’t want us to be involved too much… just enough for them to say, yeah we asked and nobody came to the meeting… I’m glad at least someone is questioning this. And how about the Woodlands neighborhood?? They also will be heavily impacted. Someone needs to be in a watch out for the meetings that matter and get the community fired up. I didn’t get the part about 10 acres being conservation…does that mean they will build around it or that will be gone too??
palmcoaster says
Council needs to vote NO on this project! One of the reasons; the increased traffic that will be added to the Wawa generated 200 per hour vehicles as reported in the developer traffic study (probably skewed as usual to minimize residents view of impact)).
Michael Feldbauer says
The city and the boards need to require lie detector test when these developers speak. Maybe should also require them for the city employees and those elected
jeffery c. seib says
Welcome to the big city. Yes, as they all tell us we need more apartments. But the residents here and now must have the ultimate say in this matter. Not the city planners who, as I have said all along, are way too cozy with the developers and their hired gun attorneys. Not the Planning Board who are a rubber stamp for the city planners and developers, and not anyone else but us. People have to remember these mistakes when election time rolls around. Next year come summer, we will be getting beautiful ads in the mail showing the candidates giving a plaque to the Boy Scouts or a fire fighter, and that will be enough for them to get the resident’s vote. Pretty photo-ops, presentations and the like make up 75% or more of the city councils’ job, and that’s all-good stuff. The other 25% is like this, and more, and taxes and utility and stormwater and drainage, and votes for inappropriate developments. Tough decisions that go against residents’ wishes are what we should make our choices from. Not pretty photo-ops.
CELIA PUGLIESE says
To stop all these projects we need more Pointieri’s in the city council in 2024, like : https://www.voterfocus.com/CampaignFinance/candidate_pr.php?op=cv&e=37&c=flagler&ca=661&rellevel=4&committee=N
Leila says
The Palm Coast City Council have never met a project they won’t approve. And sadly, several now want to move to the County Commission.
We need to find competent candidates to run against them. And Mr. Tyler, retire, please.
Jason says
I never got a notice from the senior planner as attached in the document… If I had I would have been there. I don’t recall seeing a sign on the road about the meeting as is the public notice. Road safety is a concern of mine given the unfortunate death of the young lady back in October. I was told years ago the road was going to be widened to match from town center road to RT100?
CELIA PUGLIESE says
Jason I totally agree with you! Further more planner chief Mr. Tyner says: “When it comes to this application, our planners and our technical review team that has reviewed this application–it meets the zoning and meets the future land use, it meets all of our standards of our land development code, and so thus we have a recommendation of approval,” Tyner said. Darlene Shelley of Hidden Lake in minute 16.23 explainning how in Halloween were not able to get in or out of thei HD community into Old Kings Road. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv6Au_LMyl0 . Meanwhile more multifamilies like this one are approved in Old Kings Road based on the incorrect words of Planner Mr. Tyner the city’s planning director, said “the project meets traffic requirements, since Old Kings Road will not “fail,” or be beyond capacity, once the complex is in place”: https://flaglerlive.com/old-kings-road-apartments/#gsc.tab=0 will not affect OKR! Our problem are the city administrators basing themselves in unrealistic facts for this damaging planned growth! Then in 2024 is vital we elect to council Ray Stevens district 3 to represent us along councilwoman Pointieri! We can’t afford to be ignored any longer by city council or FCBOCC when their decisions deny too often the preservation of our health, safety, value of our homes and the quality of life that we moved here to have!
Concerned Citizen says
What are the people on the Palm Coast City Council thinking when they continue to consider project after project on Old Kings Road?? Where are the hearings? Where are the environmental impact studies? Where are the traffic studies? Where is the logic in this over-development? Where are the jobs to support these new homes/apartments?? We’re letting unelected bureaucrats on the planning board make decisions that will affect the community negatively and forever. Taken from the article: It would be by far the largest development visible from the road south of Utility Drive, CHANGING the complexion of what, but for a storage facility and an assisted living facility, had been one of PALM COAST’S LAST REMAINING GREEN WAYS. But the corridor has long been zoned for development, and MORE of it is ahead. When is everyone going to realize that we’re already built out and our natural resources are tapped out? Let’s not forget Coquina Shores, the 750 new homes approved on the south side of Hidden Lakes, located on Old Kings Road. There needs to be a moratorium on building.
David Boccabello says
The property was originally zoned for Offices, which is good. BUT, the city council changed the zoning for the property so they could build these apartments. They will be 1,000 feet from the million dollar homes in gated Toscana and apartment residents can walk through the woods into Toscana…not good. The builders did not notify the Toscana and Hidden Lakes HOA boards. This zone change should never have happened, but our city council is made up of many realtors, so go figure.
Bob Riddell says
What is the current status of this development? Been almost a year.