By Toby Tobin
I recently discovered an Orlando Sentinel article about Palm Coast written in 1988. It lauds the concept of a large master-planned community “in which all of the basic needs of the community were planned before the first spade of earth was turned.” Did this 37-year-old article inadvertently unearth the root cause of Palm Coast’s infrastructure issues? The answer is Yes.
This is a timely issue. Palm Coast is under a state consent decree to expand its sewer capacity by 2028. And Palm Coast Holdings, the successor developer of Town Center, has filed a lawsuit against the city alleging it has reneged on a commitment to provide water and sewer capacity for Town Center’s remaining unsold parcels.
Today’s infrastructure issues are not in dispute. Heavy rains repeatedly allow rainwater to infiltrate the original clay sewer pipes that feed Wastewater Treatment Plant #1 in the Woodlands. The cure is to replace or line the clay pipes (to prevent infiltration) and to expand treatment capacity. For years, this necessity was largely ignored as the city council failed to listen to funding requests from its Utility Department that would have allowed it to keep up with the system’s aging and maintenance needs. The cure is now underway, but it is expensive. Residents, many of whom are on fixed incomes, are not happy.
Flagler County had an estimated population of only 5,000 when plans were drawn for the master planned community of Palm Coast. When the Orlando Sentinel article appeared in 1988, Palm Coast was still part of unincorporated Flagler County, which was dominated by agriculture interests.
Should officials have seen this coming? They should have. However, Palm Coast did not become incorporated until 12 years later, and during those years, county leadership lacked awareness of established rural planning principles. It was sufficient that they were learned in methods to extort endless concessions from the far remote ITT Corporation, which founded Palm Coast.
In the late 1960s, ITT envisioned a city of 600,000. By 1988, ITT’s downsized master plan was still pegged at a final community population of 225,000 residents. The Orlando Sentinel wrote, “… instead of building houses and businesses and then worrying about how to build – and pay for – adequate city services, the developer built the streets and the schools and the sewers first. Now a community of 11,000 people sits atop an urban infrastructure built to serve a population of 225,000.”
The article states in 1988, “Beneath the streets is a network of water and sewer lines that will handle the needs of the community until at least 2050.” And “An amazing 533 miles of streets wind through what appears to be mostly unsettled forest. Under those streets are 529 miles of water lines and 508 miles of sewer lines.”
The article makes no mention of the massive stormwater management system, which includes 23 miles of saltwater and 46 miles of freshwater canals.
Palm Coast assumed responsibility for city street maintenance upon incorporation in December 1999. The city purchased the water and sewer utility system in 2003 for $82.3 million when the city’s population was 37,463. So, 37,463 residents became responsible for maintaining an existing infrastructure built to support a population of 225,000.
Thankfully, the city has grown, but its population in 2025 is still only half of the 225,000 planned. Each unimproved lot represents a tax parcel that is not paying its full share of taxes and utility rates. Existing residential and commercial taxpayers and utility customers are supporting a system of streets and in-ground pipes designed to serve a much larger population. Think of a family of three living in a 3,900-square-foot house with six bedrooms and four and a half baths.
Cities that developed over centuries grew their infrastructure piecemeal. Each organically developed phase has its individual life cycle, making periodic maintenance easier to schedule. Built at the same time, Palm Coast’s entire infrastructure is on the same life cycle. Components tend to fail systemwide at the same time.
Yes, infrastructure maintenance schedules have been accelerated, and water and wastewater plants are being expanded. Still, anti-growth advocates should be mindful that adequate funding for ongoing maintenance and the expansion of the city’s infrastructure depends on continued new construction to generate development impact fees and additional utility ratepayers. Lacking population growth, utility budgets will continue to be strained, chasing too few taxpayers and ratepayers, as the system ages.
Toby Tobin, a Realtor, is the editor of GoToby.com, where this piece originally appeared.
T says
P sec is sinking folks
FedUp says
Palm Coast is living up to its name of ‘Cesspool’.
Can you say says
… Ponzi scheme?
One Red Light says
After living here for over 35 years, could of told you thats one of the reasons ITT bounced. They didn’t want to deal with these headaches THEY perpetuated.
Pig Farmer says
It is those same impact fees that no builder wants to pay, and thay spend lots of time “convincing” our leaders to waive them.
Greg says
We never wanted Tim live in a big city. Palm Coast was livable 15 years ago when we moved there. Last week we moved to a small Pa town. Love the piece and quiet
James says
Speaking of articles found and lost.
I came across my old copy of “National Geographics Atlas of The World” (fifth edition, 1981), awhile back. As I thumbed through the oversized pages… pages I hadn’t looked through in perhaps twenty or more years… peering at the hundreds, if not thousands of dots that represented cities and towns both large and small that I’d never been to (and probably never will), my thoughts turned to an old forgotten one.
How much different would my life have been if I had lived (or were even born) here or there… or actually to be more candid, how much better would it be (in the then present sense) if I just took a dart and flung it at the map (of the USA) and just moved there? It was a somewhat appealing thought back then… and strangely enough, once again, unfortunately.
As I continued to thumb the pages, I came across an enlarged map of Florida. It was truly a different place back then, and as I looked upon the many now familiar, but then exotic, named dots… I briefly recalled the feeling of wonder, adventure and possibly that they represented to my younger self.
The many cities, the natural wonders, some familiar even then, many more obscure… even to this day… to me.
But for one…
Palm Coast.
As another is fond of saying here… “make of this as you will.”
Me.
It’s a telling sign of a places future prospects if an organization like National Geographic leaves you OFF their usually comprehensive maps.
To think… there would have been no chance of my dart hitting this mark.
Just an observation.
Bob says
Let’s see: we have critical problems created by developers, and the solution is more developers turning us belly-up and feasting on our livers. Does the phrase Late Stage Capitalism fit here, or is it that capitalist manifesto, “The Virtue of Selfishness”? I have no doubt that developers truly believe they are doing good. But of itself, the human mind has no power greater than self-deception. If we do not disabuse developers of the notion that citizens will lie quiet as they devour us, the city and the state, while excreting an intractable mess for the rest of us to clean up, we deserve it.
Lisa J Ferreira says
Wastewater infrastructure should be an enterprise funded program. This is separate and apart from general fund and other municipal services. Fee for service programs. Sewer lining is complicated with ground water infiltrate. And in most cases costly due to infiltrate. Basically the pipe must be dry to line. There are methods which may work… But are costly. Then dig replacement is the only option.
Happy Jax says
How about just consolidating Flagler County and Palm Coast? Already have fire and police services county wide. Consolidate the towns and accompanying governments and bloat and proceed forward. See Jacksonville, FL, the most successful consolidation in American history, right up the road.
Joe D says
What I THINK people are missing from this article, is that originally ITT was TRYING to do a “good thing,” by putting the sewer and waterlines and roads in PRE-NEED. BUT, that means ( as the article refers to) that when you have all the infrastructure construction being done at once for a 30, or 40, or 50 year lifespan, then ALL the infrastructure is going to start crumbling at the SAME TIME!
My local HOA put off expensive electrical supply updates for years, because of the predicted expense. The townhouses constructed in 1979 only needed a certain level of electricity back then. But NOW, the old system of line power supply and distribution panels have lived their lifespan. So there had to be a $2000 per home “special assessment” over and beyond the current HOA fees (ouch)!
So after that, owners had the Board( at the urging of MOST of the homeowners) calculate the cost to REPLACE THE NEW SYSTEM in 25 years ( and add a 2% annual inflation rate) increase the monthly HOA payment by $20/ month now (specifically earmarked as “ electrical power replacement reserve” )for the next major inevitable cost to upgrade…to prevent another STICKER SHOCK Special Assessment in 20-25 years. I more than likely will not be still alive at that point ( although I MIGHT see the 20 year point).
ITT doesn’t look like they DECIDED to let Palm Coast “holding the bag” on infrastructure replacement. We need to hold area planners and subsequent government officials accountable for PLANNING NOW for a replacement cost, based on the expected lifespan of the project. That doesn’t appear to have been done…most likely in the name of “Don’t raise MY TAXES.” The reality is…”stuff wears out” (roads, water treatment plants, sewer lines, etc). If you don’t want a future BIG BILL, you should consider putting a reserve aside, that is DEDICATED to specific infrastructure replacement, and not allow it to be RAIDED for other spending needs ( or “wants”).
Get kicks in says
oldies and the endless growth model. If line doesn’t go up house of cards collapses. Haha! With felons and pedos making policy this should be a spectacular collapse of the once great empire!