Sawmill Branch Will Add 425 Single Family Homes in West Palm Coast as Planning Board Approves Latest Phase

The Palm Coast Planning Board last week cleared the way for 425 single family homes in the Sawmill Branch development’s fourth and latest phase on U.S. 1, a month after approving 320 town houses for a separate phase

The single-family home phase–a master planned development–is on 213 acres west of U.S. 1, about half a mile south of Old Kings Road North. The town houses are on 65 acres, with lot size of 2,000 square feet.




The Sawmill Branch community is a multi-phase development that will ultimately have 1,300 homes, with seven phases in all, not proceeding in chronological order. Phase 5 is expected before the Planning Board either in August or September. The project is part of the 4,700-acre Development of Regional Impact known as Palm Coast Park was approved in 2004 and amended numerous times since, adding more entitlements for houses along the way.

Phases 1A and 1B previously approved were for 232 and 261 lots, Phased 3, which the Planning Board approved just last March, was for 278 single-family homes on 143 acres, upcoming Phase 5 is for 275 lots, and Phase 7 is for 411 lots.

Last Wednesday’s approval of Phase 4 was only a conceptual approval of what’s to come, with details of the development such as construction plans to be submitted to the Planning Board at the platting process, though by then construction will have been under way. The new phase is not expected to be much different from previous built out segments. The project needed approval only of the Planning Board. It will not go before the City Council until final plat approval–the time when actual lors are numbered and recorded and home sales begin.




The Phase 4 segment will have homes on lots no smaller than 4,800 square feet, with minimum width of 40 feet. The site includes 62 acres of wetlands, with lots built around three large ponds. The 425 houses, when built out, are expected to generate an additional 4,008 daily trips , with peak-hour spikes of 298 in the morning and 400 in the evening. The developer is currently building right and left turn lanes at the intersection of Sawmill Branch Boulevard and U.S. 1. Sawmill Branch Boulevard is a so-called “spine road” that runs the length of three phases, north to south, then turns toward U.S. 1. There will be additional traffic lights at that intersection.

The developer–D.R. Horton is building the houses–is responsible for building and maintaining the roads within the subdivision, inside of which there will also be sidewalks connecting the various neighborhoods and to the 10-foor-wide pedestrian trail along the west side of U.S. 1. The developer is also responsible for all the essential infrastructure inside the subdivision, including utilities, sewer lift stations and stormwater.

The city is requiring a set of conditions, among them the requirement that the developer ensures the amenity center being built in an earlier phase are shared by residents across Sawmill Branch, as are all passive amenities in all phases. The city is also requiring the completion of the spine road before any certificates or occupancy are issued for homes in phases 3, 4 and 5. The developer will also be required to work with the school district on determining the best place for a school bus stop.

When the Development of Regional Impact was initially approved, it included a requirement that the developer dedicate a 30-acre site for a school, which was done: the school district took possession of the parcel in 2020. The site is bordered by Sawmill Branch Boulevard to the north and fronts U.S. 1.




In the city’s planning staff’s view, “This project will provide alternative choices in housing in Palm Coast by providing recreational amenities for the residents and a variety of smaller lot sizes.” Retirees especially have been favoring smaller homes, smaller lots to maintain as they sell properties elsewhere and ove south. Older residents have disproportionately accounted for the surge in new residents in the city in the past decade.

The staff’s conclusion continues: “Construction of this project will assist in providing for numerous construction jobs over the next few years, assist the city in reducing its significant housing shortage, and the additional rooftops will encourage commercial services in northwest Palm Coast.” The development is poised to be a bridge to the city’s planned westward expansion.

The clearing of the land will take place later this year. But construction will take place “whenever we can, whenever we get to that stage,” a representative of the developer told the planning board. The board approved the plan unanimously.

The approval occurs at a time when housing in Palm Coast and Flagler County has cooled somewhat for town houses and a bit less so for single family homes, according to figures released by the Flagler County Association of Realtors today. For example, there were 60 percent more active listings for town houses and condos in June than there were a year ago, with almost eight months’ supply of town houses in the market, compared to just under six months’ supply a year ago. The median sale price of town houses has fallen 12 percent year over year, from $327,250 to $287,500. The median time to contract has doubled.

Single-family homes are still selling robustly, with small increases in inventory and small increases in median sale prices, to $379,000 in June, compared to $362,700 a year ago–but still not back across the $400,000 threshold of July 2022, when prices peaked. New listings continue near the same level that’s prevailed for most of the last four years.

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