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.
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