The vast acreage between Airport Auto on one side and Wawa on the other, along State Road 100, is being razed to make room for two independent developments: Storage King will be a 100,000 square foot self-storage facility owned by Storage King USA, a national firm. The facility will be on the parcel closest to Wawa, to the east. The other development is Town Center Commons, a 39,000 square foot office retail center represented by Daryl Grubbs of Neptune Beach and Kelly Corsmnier of Ponte Vedra Beach.
Wood piles are being burned on site, with authorization from the Florida Forest Service, as any pile larger than 8 feet in diameter requires. It’s another aspect of the torrid pace of development, residential and commercial, that’s been jackhammering Palm Coast for the past few years.
But on Monday and Tuesday, the burning produced enough smoke and ash to cause concern on the nearby campus of Flagler Palm Coast High School as track athletes on Monday trained through the smoke, and on Tuesday had to compete through it as FPC hosted nine schools in the district track and field championships, a qualifying round for next week’s regionals–also at FPC. Smoke marred the meet even though school officials had contacted local authorities on Monday to try to get a pause on the burning for the duration of the meet.
“All of us were kind of taken by surprise Monday because it smelled like we were inside a barbecue pit in here,” says David Halliday, FPC’s hall-of-famer track team coach. He was a bit more hopeful as Tuesday began, but burning resumed in late morning. “There was ash like falling over the track, falling on the ledge of the concession stand” while the meet was under way, he said. “Nobody had to go to the trainer , go to the hospital or whatever, but it certainly wasn’t ideal.” Halliday said the “optics” for the district weren’t good, either, since the district was hosting the event for schools from St. Johns and Duval counties.
Parents and students complained. Steven’s 15-year-old son was competing in the 1,600 and the 3,200 meter races, strenuous under any condition. (For his son’s privacy, Steven’s last name is being withheld.) Arriving at the school a little after 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, “I saw the smoke and I could smell it like, when we got out I thought there was a wildfire,” Steven said. “Then then when I got onto the track after I paid admission, I looked in the distance and I could see you know, smoke billowing up into the air.” The parcel where the burning was taking place is across the street from Bulldog Drive, just beyond Wawa. “It began to upset me, I started asking around, talking to people to see what’s going on with this fire. Does anybody know? ‘Oh, it’s a controlled burn,'” he was told.
“I was at the little concession stand where they’re serving food, and ash–ash was in the air where they were serving food. Ash was coming past me and I’m like, this is ridiculous,” he continued. “I had talked to several parents and they were upset because they heard that it was a control burn. I was just really livid that they would allow that.”
By they he did not mean the school: the school and the district had attempted to prevent the burn that afternoon and evening–and thought they’d succeeded. The meet began at noon on Tuesday and was scheduled to run until 9 p.m. There was also a baseball match on campus, between FPC and Deltona. Halliday reached a contact at the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, who then contacted Thomas Wooleyhan, the school district’s safety specialist, who called County Emergency Management Chief Jonathan Lord.
Lord spoke with Palm Coast’s Fire Marshall, Randy Holmes, who was to “reach out to forestry and reiterate the concerns / impacts that the burn has on the FPC campus for outdoors activities,” Lord wrote Wooleyhan before noon on Tuesday.
Lord also spoke with Anthony Petellat, the Forestry District Manager, who said he would contact the contractor on the site–Bunnell-based J.W. Site Development Inc. “Hopefully between Randy and I sharing concerns with Forestry there may be a change in behavior with the burn contractor,” Lord wrote. (Josh White, president of J.W., did not return a call or an email before this article initially published.)
The clearing operation has received four authorizations (or permits) to burn on site so far, Petellat, who is based in Bunnell, said. Tuesday’s complaint was the first he’d received about the project, he said. “FFS had the operation and restrictions in place evaluated and an additional restriction of no eastern winds was placed on the burner,” he said today.
Michael Roberts of the Forest Service had in fact before 2 p.m. informed Randy Holmes, a Palm Coast government official in the city’s development division: “I have updated the restrictions for this burner to include ‘No Eastern Component’ as well as the ACI. If the problem continues please let us know and we will look at further adjustments,” Homles wrote Roberts by email. That meant no burning operations if the winds were from the east, in addition to the condition already in place–burning only with an Air Curtain Incinerator, a portable furnace designed to contain a lot of the smoke and particulates produced by the fire. See it explained here:
“When FFS first evaluated the site we restricted burning to be only with an Air Curtain Incinerator,” Petellat wrote in an email today. “If you are not familiar with this equipment, it is a forced air operation that provides increased air to have the material burn hotter reducing the particulates in the air. This is true during hours of operation, but at the beginning of the day and the end of the day with the equipment not running smoke and ash will be more prevalent because the pit is being cleaned out, the operation is starting up for the day, or it is the end of the day with the unit shut off and consumption will continue for a short time.”
What remains unexplained is why school personnel and athletes on Monday and again on Tuesday for several hours, and through the meet, saw smoke and ash, and why the burning took place at all after Roberts’s added condition against burning with winds from the east.
“Maybe the message didn’t get to the right people working the site, but I do know forestry will go out and intermittently inspect when there’s a burn,” Lord, the emergency management chief, said today. “I’m going to assume that that entity doing the burning will be abiding by the forestry’s conditions.”
Petellat said it’s a balancing act between developers and the community. “We work with the operator of the burn following Florida statutes and we work with complainants to reduce or eliminate issues,” he said today. “With yesterday being the first issue reported to FFS, our first step was to impose a wind restriction. As for the length of the operation, it is unknown due to many factors that could delay it.”
As it is, FPC’s athletes did well. “Our kids performed well despite the conditions, but it certainly wasn’t ideal,” Halliday said. Everybody who needed to qualify for the regionals did. But now FPC and the district are looking to May 7, when the regional meet is hosted again at FPC, for qualification to the state championship.
“The one on May 7 is very important,” Halliday said. “If they’re still burning next week, if they could stop on Thursday or Friday, that would be beneficial for us. And the optics: Flagler schools is putting on this event.”
Smoke, in other words, is getting the eyes of visitors–athletes and parents–who may leave Palm Coast with an acrid taste in their mouths otherwise.
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Land of no turn signals says says
This practice should be stopped immediately.People with breathing issues suffer so much worse.A similar situation happened next door to Old Kings Elementary when the developer burned piles trees to make room for hundreds of houses on postage size lots and the inside of the school was full of smoke.Ridiculous.
Jeff Miller says
Another storage business, when will it end. How many of these stupid things does Palm Coast need. Make no since. Was wondering what was going there. Now we know.
Dennis C Rathsam says
Once again the Mayor & council has done a bang up job. These poor students, & their family enhaled more smoke, & soot for a life time! Ignoance, is not bliss…Some body really screwed up! Comunication in this city is poor at best!
Lou says
Please, one or more of you conservatives explain to me the justification to pollute and us liberals inhale all that un-burned particles the developer create in order to save money for their profit oriented enterprise?
I would like to know so I can stop bitching about it.
Land of no turn signals says says
Hey Lou,grow up.
Billy says
We are building the next Orlando! All pavement, gas stations, strip malls, no trees or natural area are to be left.
Disgusted with overdevelopment says
Yes, rather than use any of the trees or foliage we mow down and destroy to build more and more houses and storage units, we just bulldoze it into a pile and burn it. What a wasteful, uncaring, greedy way to do business. Profit is all that matters. Soon Florida will be a desert wasteland like California. It might cost these “developers” a 1/2 percentage point from their profits to try using any of it or recycling or composting.
Steve says
Was over there a few weeks ago. To the East of US1 You all are just gutting that place. It’s too bad because FPC has a different feel to it . It’s not country anymore. Palm Coast is going to look like every other Community. Overbuilt
Steve says
Really SSE But hey ..
Celia Pugliese says
Is like I say it over and over again these developers run their Floriduh making a mess of this beautiful state for us all already residing here. They have no consideration or respect for the existing residents when it comes to development and the Florida Forestry Department should be ashame of itself approving burns permits contaminating the lungs of children and all attending the event as well as residents exposed to contaminating ash falling on them evry so often with any approved new project.
This is nothing new…many complaints by residents go ignored all the time…and when we call DeLorenzo at the city community development, he says the Department of Forestry give the permits. Then Tallahassee needs to end this practice. If developers have enough $$ to apply for the project they need also to have the funds to haul away (no greed) and not burn the forest they uproot so close to already developed areas. Why do we let them get away with it..? The existing residents have no rights to breath clean air or quality of life versus the profits of greedy developers and their approving minions in our state and local government?
JOE STOLFI says
THANK GOODNESS:
Storage King will be a 100,000 square foot self-storage facility owned by Storage King USA, a national firm .
PALM COST NEEDS MORE STORAGE FACILITIES
Perhaps Palm Coast should consider giving the mayor & his cronies a Bonus ???
JOE STOLFI says
OH .
Smoke, in other words, is getting the eyes of visitors–athletes and parents–who may leave Palm Coast with an acrid taste in their mouths otherwise.
“I was at the little concession stand where they’re serving food, and ash–ash was in the air where they were serving food…”
“… the burning produced enough smoke and ash to cause concern on the nearby campus of Flagler Palm Coast High School as track athletes on Monday trained through the smoke, and on Tuesday had to compete through it as FPC hosted nine schools…”
‘Oh, it’s a controlled burn,’” he was told.
SCHOOL KIDS CAN’T STAND IN THE WAY OF PALM COAST PROGRESS .. .. Such a Shame
Christopher says
Remove city council
Crusta says
I’m going to become the next “character bidder” in the New Palm Coast Storage Wars. After the next BIG HURRICANE hits this town, those storage sheds will be filled and the owners “swept out to sea”……..
Jane Gentile-Youd says
Total apathy, inconsideration, ignorance and stupidity on the part of the elected officials who allow this abuse of our environment; the only thing that motivates them is ‘passing the buck’. We the people need to take back control to protect our quality of life to stop this before we have nothing left but concrete to look at.
Beyond Fed Up says
Why wasn’t Janet McDonald out at the burn site trying to stop THIS to “protect the kids from breathing in harmful air?”
It’s almost like her manufactured outrage wasn’t about protecting kids at all.
Oh wait – maybe she and her pro-censorship crew were there throwing books on the pile.
Anyway, what were we talking about again? Oh, right. Yet another failure of this area’s local government to actually help and protect people.
Everyone who says to vote everyone out, I hope you are willing to do that, even if it means voting for someone in another party. This party over all else mentality is what gets us stuck with this gaggle of ridiculous, ineffectual leaders who are too busy trying to solve made-up problems than actual real problems staring us right in the lungs, er, face.
Bill C says
How backwards! It’s not the 1950’s.
Christopher hotchkiss says
Fire the Mayor of palm coast
Jay Tomm says
GOOD!!!! STOP the building!
Hmmm says
Lets just put a storage facility at every street corner and be done with it. Seems to be the new craze here. This place is going to look like an industrial park. Palm Coast really knows how to waste prime real estate.
Mark says
Not sure why they don’t use industrial mulcher grinders in this “city”. No smoke and mulch can be laid around all the trees and islands in this “city” instead of paying for it. But what the hell that would cost the developer a little bit more to rent or own and god forbid they would do that when they can just burn at the expense of residents and guests.
Mark1 says
So covid is on the rise and group sports in schools are still being allowed? Did any of the track runners wear a mask I wonder?
Concerned Citizen says
The land clearing is getting out of hand.
Flagler County and Palm Coast Government will not rest until they have sold and destroyed every remaining parcel of vacant property. Some of which contain historical sites (Like Hewitts Sawmill) and Wetlands. Which is a whole other process in it ‘self. I tried to address the Wetlands concern with Flagler Officials the other day. And got quite the run around and the was rudely hung up on. Information has now been passed on to the Army Corps Of Engineers.
As a retired FF I know the value of controlled burns to manage eco systems. It is a necessity to mitigate the fire danger. And reduce fuel source. It also revitalizes the area after. Hell Native Americans knew the value of fire and used it for hundreds of years.
Land clearing burns however serve no purpose other than to reduce owner cost. And pollute our environment. And are a source of greed as developers don’t wish to incur the expense of taking the material down to ELS so it can be mulched. And used for other purposes. Novel idea eh? Remember the mulching program to reduce Hurricane debris? Same concept.
As I see no local officials responding to our angst on Flagler Live I implore you people to divide your time. Myself and family and friends have spent hours emailing and calling our local and county officials to address current events. And I hope you are as well.
It would seem that our representatives have been mostly bought and owned by the developers hell bent on destroying our environment. Come election time we need to remind them of who they really work for.