The Palm Coast Planning Board on Wednesday recommended approval of a pair of land-use changes that will eliminate the potential for apartment buildings on 39 acres just west of the B.J.’s Wholesale shopping center on State Road 100. That land is slated for another retail-commercial strip similar to Airport Commons further west. Because of a new law that overrides local regulations, the zoning change doesn’t mean apartments couldn’t still be built there.
Flagler Landing, as it is referred to in current documentation (the name could change), is expected to have a 171,000-square-foot “big box or groceries” store and a gas station, according to Jay Livingston, the attorney representing the land owner, and a conceptual plan submitted to the city. (“Big box or groceries” sounds suspiciously like Walmart. But the identity of the coming store has not been revealed.)
There would be three or four additional businesses along State Road 100, as with the BJ’s property. There are no further details yet on those businesses.
The land is in the process of being annexed into Palm Coast from Flagler County.
“In February, I went before the City Council for the first reading of the annexation petition,” Jay Livingston, the attorney representing Flagler Pines, said, “and City Council was rightfully concerned that, oh well, you have residential entitlements here, and we don’t necessarily want residential there. So if you want to come into the city, we’re going to want a commitment that it’s not going to be residential.”
The council was concerned about adding more residential units on the rim of the airport, Senior Planner Jose Papa said, only to hear complaints from those residents once they move in. An apartment complex would also have been practically difficult since it would not have been able to rise to three or four stories, with the airport nearby.
The rezoning application followed.
There is a caveat: though zoned exclusively commercial, an apartment complex could theoretically be built there under the Live Local Act, which removes a lot of the usual local regulatory rules and “allows for residential uses in commercially designated areas,” Papa said, as long as the project meets requirements of the relatively new law.
There are no apartments or residential uses in the land’s future, based on the site plan the land owner has submitted to the city. But Live Local is still a concern, because the powerful law may be invoked to pre-empt and override local authority.
“Technically from my perspective, that’s kind of irrelevant to what we’re trying to do,” Livingston told the planning board of the Live Local Act. “We’re trying to determine consistency with your comp[rehensive] plan and with your land development code, and [Live Local is] a state-level law, but as written, it trumps local provisions, and so it is a legitimate concern.”
Flagler Pines is owned by Jay Gardner, the Flagler County property appraiser. While Livingston is listed as representing Flagler Pines, he is representing the developer, Ken Atlee of Jacksonville-based Tidelands Investments and the Atlee Property Group.
“I spoke to my client. If it does come down to a concern that somebody could still sneak in a residential project that’s not wanted because of the preemption standards,” Livinsgtson said. “We would be willing to restrict the property through some kind of deed restriction to make sure that that doesn’t happen. So because that’s not our intention, our intention would be to get this approved and start going through the site planning process to get this constructed as soon as feasibly possible.”
Planning board members still had concerns. “We could approve this tonight, and city council could still deny the annexation,” Planning Board Chair Sandra Shank asked Livingston, “because ultimately, Live Local is in place, and even a [commercial zoning] designation won’t prevent a Live Local project if it meets all the criteria.” She worried about possible litigation “by a developer who is experienced” with Live Local.
Livingston reiterated that the intention is to build the commercial development “so the actual use of the property ends up being the constraint. Because we’re not going to convert it once that’s developed and all that investment goes in. That’s the best I can tell you, because the unfortunate kind of impediment that the Live Local act brings into local governments, you guys have limited control.”
Shank was not opposed to additional housing. “It could potentially be a great property for a senior complex,” she said. “There are developers that are developing absolutely beautiful projects for seniors in locations just like that, and with all of the amenities in the area to really almost be forced not to agree to have a residential development on there, I have concern about that, because we have a need for senior housing here, 55 and older.”
She wanted the City Council to understand that even with Planning Board approval of the land use changes (or its recommendation), restricting the use of the land away from potential housing under Live Local may be an issue.
The city administration, in any case, doesn’t want deed restrictions: “I just want to be clear for the record that it is not a condition of staff’s recommendation for approval that a deed restriction be placed on the property,” Papa said.
The eventual development will include three new turn lanes to ease traffic concerns, including a connection from the proposed development into Airport Commons to the west, and an eastern access point into the BJ’s shopping center.
The acreage currently includes 28 acres for commercial use and 10 for apartments. Flagler Pines hosted a neighborhood meeting in late April. The city requires those meetings to give the public a heads-up on what’s coming, and give applicants the chance to amend their applications, if need be, before it is submitted to the regulatory boards. No one attended.
“You could potentially see an increase of up to almost 500,000 square feet of commercial use,” Senior Planner Jose Papa said. The rezoning could also potentially bring an increase of 1,500 vehicle trips per day along one of the busiest arteries in the city, and more at peak hours, as well as an increase in water usage of over 23,000 gallons, while sewer use would decrease by 3,000 gallons.
“The mixed use is very consistent with everything that’s found to the north of State Road 100, those properties are all designated mixed use,” Papa said. “The rezoning will provide opportunities for employment and consumer services to what we can agree is a growing population in the city and actually Flagler County.”
The planning board unanimously recommended approval of both measures related to the land use changes (5-0).
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