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In Rare Rebuke, Palm Coast Planning Board Denies Application for Self-Storage Business on Pine Lakes Parkway

March 21, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 16 Comments

A rendering of Hillpointe Way Storage, planned for Pine Lakes Parkway.
A rendering of Hillpointe Way Storage, planned for Pine Lakes Parkway.

Over the past few years it looked as if every application for a new self-storage facility sailed through planning boards at the county or in Palm Coast. The streak ended Wednesday when the Palm Coast Planning Board in a 4-2 vote denied an application for an 850-unit, 100,000 square foot self-storage facility on Pine Lakes Parkway, halfway between Belle Terre and Palm Coast Parkway. The facility would have 26 outdoor recreational vehicle and boat storage spaces.

The decision is not final and may not have been reached within the legally permissible parameters of the Planning Board’s responsibilities. Rather, it appeared to reflect increasing if subjective frustrations with the sprawling explosion of self-storage facilities over the city landscape rather than violations of the land development code the board members could point to. As such, the decision may not withstand legal scrutiny and is likely to be overturned by the City Council.




The applicant has 30 days to file an appeal to the City Council. No appeal has been filed yet.

The applicant for the Hill Pointe Way Self-Storage, near the Pine Lakes apartment complex, is seeking a special exception that would allow construction there. Self-storage facilities are allowed in high-density commercial zones, but must secure a special exception if they are located in mixed-use zoning districts. In other words, “by right, a self storage facility is not a permitted use,” City Planner Michael Hansen said.

The land is owned by the Miral Corporation but is under contract to Johnson Development Associates, a Spartanburg, S.C. developer that specializes in light industrial, self-storage and apartment construction. Johnson has 21 self-storage facilities in Florida.

The self-storage facility would have been a third of a mile from another like it on Pine Lakes Parkway, another one at the intersection of Pine Lakes Parkway and Commerce Boulevard, and a third on Bridgehaven and Palm Coast Parkway. Many more operate elsewhere in the city.




The Planning Board overrode a recommendation by city staff to approve the special exception. “At this point to deny a special exception for something that is not permitted by code is not a violation of the property rights,” Planning Board Chair Sandra Shank said.

After seeing a map showing a dozen-odd storage facilities in Palm Coast, and more coming, Larry Gross, one of the planning board member who was most skeptical of the application, wondered whether yet one more on Pine Lakes Parkway would be a “good fit.”

Jessica Gow of Cobb Cole, the Daytona Beach law firm representing the applicant, compared it to the multiplicity of rental car companies at an airport. “Everyone has their preference. I always use Enterprise. Other people always use Hertz,” Gow said. “So there’s a little bit of personal preference in play.” She then cited market analyses “on how far individuals are willing to drive to their storage units. What is the density of the residential population directly in this corridor, what routes would they take to get to those other competitors? Tie-ins to the interstate system if they’ve got a boat and they want to take it across to enjoy the natural resources. So they definitely do not want to invest in an area where that market demand isn’t there.”

Still, Gros pressed on, reflecting a widespread perception in Palm Coast that there are too many storage facilities as it is–itself another example of the last two years’ backlash against development in general. He spoke of his own experience and observations. “Are we just building another storage facility?” he asked. “And when you drive down Palm Coast Parkway on that end, there’s a lot of storage places, then now there’s Colbert lane, and there’s going to be others. So in my opinion, I’m thinking that we have enough maybe.”




But for all the perceptions and frustrations, it isn’t the planning board’s role to play gatekeeper to one type of construction or another. It may only determine whether a given application is follows code and is compatible with the city’s land rules. Ray Tyner, the city’s planning director, tried to make the point. “These are questions the citizens would want you to ask,” he said, “but really, the legal basis, your mandate, is to make sure that whatever decision you make fits within that five review criteria. That’s a statutory obligation.”

“We may think that there is too many facilities throughout Palm Coast,” Planning Board member Garrett Decker said. “We’re trying to see if it fits in this location only.” Repeatedly challenging objections based on personal observations, he said self-storage facilities make few demands on city services but generate a lot of economic activity.

Shank didn’t see it that way. She read from the Land Development Code to underscore the board’s responsibility to look at planning from a more comprehensive perspective, balancing needs. There’s a need for retail in the area, but not self-storage, she said. “We don’t have a market analysis here to prove that there’s a demand, a need for it,” she said. “So we would not be meeting a community-wide demand, even if that were a storage facility. There’s absolutely no retail.” To Shank, the board has to look at permitted use from a “community-wide” perspective.




Gow objected to setting one type of business against another as being part of a legitimate test by the board. “The decision before tonight is, are the conditions in place to support this use on this site–not, do we rather want it to be retail. I don’t think that can be the determination.”

The city’s building department had set out nine conditions for approval ” to make it a little bit more compatible with the surrounding area,” Ray Tyner, the city’s planning director, said. Those included building an eight-foot decorative fence on Pine Lakes Parkway, in front of the storage area for recreational vehicles. Operational hours would have had to be limited to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Heavy duty trucks, semi tractor trailers, dump trucks, full size busses and the like would not be allowed there. Repair or maintenance would be limited to washing or changing tires and batteries. The applicant had no objections.

Gross motioned to deny the application, citing as a rationale that it doesn’t meet the criteria for general commercial office uses with “community demand for retail services, business and employment opportunities.”

Gross, Shank, Dave Ferguson–after a long pause–and Hung Hilton voted to deny the application. Decker and Suzanne Nicholson opposed the denial.

self-storage-application
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Billy B says

    March 21, 2025 at 1:37 pm

    Palm Coast should have a storage facility. Just pave over the town center. They could make millions !!!!

    6
  2. Keep Flagler Beautiful says

    March 21, 2025 at 2:25 pm

    Finally, good sense prevails. These awful eyesores have continued to litter Flagler County for way too long, with the same old commissioners green-lighting their construction. These sorts of buildings could easily go elsewhere in the county, but they always seem to be OK’d for areas where they don’t belong. That boat storage place that the former Flagler County Commissioners approved to be built right next to and across from nice residential neighborhoods at the southernmost end of Old Kings Road is really going to stink up the joint. Flagler’s beauty could have been preserved. Instead, much of it now resembles a low-end South Florida town. The mantra seems to be: Empty lot? Slap anything on it. Next? Repeat and rinse.

    16
  3. ELLEN says

    March 21, 2025 at 2:33 pm

    THERE ARE TO DAMN MANY IN FLAGLER COUNTY AS IT IS ALREADY…. NO ONE WANTS ANOTHER HERE

    17
  4. Endless dark money says

    March 21, 2025 at 2:58 pm

    Guess they didn’t bribe the corrupt republicon officials enough. Are all bribes legal now in amerikkka or only if your elected? Russia pays well!

    9
  5. Lorie Robinson says

    March 21, 2025 at 5:23 pm

    Why do I feel as if residents have no say in government matters. What is the point in coming to the meetings just to have your voice drowned out/ignored?

    14
  6. Dbhammock says

    March 21, 2025 at 5:39 pm

    Storage facilities of today are the malls of tomorrow. Malls are now trying to be reconfigured because they have lost their usefulness. Same thing is going to happen to storage facilities and we will be stuck with a bunch of empty, rat infested buildings. Thank goodness es they are now trying to stop the madness. How much junk do people need

    11
  7. Pogo says

    March 21, 2025 at 6:25 pm

    @Today’s storage facilities

    … will be a good head start on increasing morgue space to its likely required scale.

    MAGA

    4
  8. Mike P says

    March 21, 2025 at 6:42 pm

    The race is on! In Palm Coast, there are at least 2 Dollar Tree stores and 4 Dollar General stores. There are at least 11 storage facilities in Palm Coast! Ok next move….we don’t need any more of either!

    10
  9. No water needed says

    March 21, 2025 at 6:43 pm

    But a storage facility has basically no impact on the water or sewer issue BUT does pay impact fee for such and commercial rate property tax.

    7
  10. Pig Farmer says

    March 21, 2025 at 9:47 pm

    People will probably start living in these storage facilities when they can no longer afford their homes and Trump/Musk cuts their Social Security.

    7
  11. Robert Spano says

    March 23, 2025 at 8:23 am

    Pig Farmer..
    Your comment indicates a break from reality and a simple mind. Let me explain in simple terms for you. Trump/Musk have nothing to do with home prices in Florida. However, your inept town officials do.

    4
  12. Jane Gentile-Youd says

    March 23, 2025 at 9:07 am

    To Pig Farmer
    People already do live in storage facilities – Adam Mengel smiled when he told me , years ago, they all have bathrooms available…….
    Disgusting is too good a word for these almost non tax producing gold mines for the owners….

    2
  13. Mischa Gee says

    March 23, 2025 at 12:54 pm

    The rendering of what the proposed storage facility will look like was actually quite nice. There were trees and shrubs softening the look of the facility.

    Storage facilities don’t use much in the way of water and sewer, so they aren’t a strain on that part of our infrastructure.

    Since this city has decided to shrink the size of homes being permitted to be built and the size of the lots, you are going to find that there is not enough storage space available in either the home or yard, and renting a storage unit is going to continue to be the wave of the future.

    Also, the area in question has a lot of homes already in existence with more to come in the nearby Saw Creek area. Having storage facilities that are miles away, in other words you can get to them in 15 minutes or less, saves on wear and tear if our roads and personal vehicles and reduces emissions by limiting the trip’s distance.

    I see Nothing Wrong with permitting this facility to be built, and if you don’t think it will look pretty then simply have them modify the outside and add more vegetation.

    1
  14. Jay Tomm says

    March 24, 2025 at 9:32 am

    Half way between belle T & PC PW? That would what be where whirlway area? WTF does a storage place need to be there? It’s all residential with a golf course. Only thing there is the gas station. What a moronic place & if it did get approved you know for sure someone is getting kick backs.

    2
  15. Vincent Maccherone says

    March 24, 2025 at 8:57 pm

    Unless all the storage units we have here are full. We do not need anymore. Thank goodness they denied it.

    3
  16. Bottle neck says

    March 27, 2025 at 9:44 am

    As mentioned, what’s the current occupancy of the existing storage units operating in Flagler PC? Is there actually a demand for more, or is this just another effort to build for the sake of building?

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