Flagler County historian Bill Ryan in his 2006 book, The Search for Old King’s Road, refers in its opening pages to one of many examples of the obliteration of history along that oldest of Florida roads.
There’d been Native American relics and mounds possibly up to 6,000 years old in what is now Flagler County. “For over a hundred years, the great Indian mounds were explored by Flagler residents and many private collections exist,” Ryan wrote, before quoting an archeologist’s account from 1978 about the fate of the what had been known as the Eastman Mound. ITT was leveling the area for roads and lots that became Palm Coast.
“The mound which had stood the test of perhaps 2,000 years was destroyed in probably less than 15 minutes,” James Miller wrote in his 1978 “Palm Coast Cultural Resource assessment.”
The city was itself responsible for an obliteration of its own, a dozen years ago, when it carved a new, four-lane Old Kings Road just west of the old roadbed. It did so to give room to what it thought would be a Walmart Supercenter in an area the city designated as ripe for commercial and high-intensity residential development: there never was any intention to preserve the area’s historicity, so no developer can be blamed for piling–or building–on. A Walmart never came. Other developments slowly have.
The historical nature of the old and no longer readily visible Old Kings Road was a matter of discussion Tuesday evening at the Palm Coast City Council as developers presented their plans for a seven-building, 246-unit apartment complex off the new Old Kings Road, just north of State Road 100, paralleling the historic roadbed.
The apartment complex is, ironically, called The Tribute, “because of the historic nature of the Old Kings Trail, which runs on the western boundary of our property,” Ravenshill Holdings’s Neel Stacy told the council. “It is the inspiration for the design of the project and we tried to weave it through all aspects of what we’re going to present to you today.”
The gated, higher-end development is leaving in place the trail itself, leveling the acreage east and south of it. The council in September approved rezoning the development’s 22 acres. Tuesday evening, it approved on a 3-1 vote the development’s site plan, a more detailed rendition of what the apartment complex will look like.
“You have a lot to protect,” Mayor David Alfin told the developer after referring to the historic nature of the grounds. “We consider the Graham Swamp area as a very important amenity to our community. And it looks like you’ve done a good job to buffer against any degradation to the Graham Swamp resource itself.”
Council member Eddie Branquinho was the dissenter: he isn’t opposed to development, but to apartment complexes. He would have favored single family homes in the area.
Its name aside, the historically-oriented nature of the development isn’t readily apparent from plans submitted so far: The Tribute is an apartment complex similar to many being built these days, with the usual amenities, clusters of buildings, required garages, and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The orientation of some buildings do emphasize natural views.
Two of the seven buildings will be four stories high (at maximum height of around 55 feet). The rest will be three stories. The complex will offer 77 one-bedroom apartments of less than 1,000 square feet (some will have a den, some will not), 146 two-bedroom apartments of between 1,0982 and 1,159 square feet, and 23 three-bedroom apartments of 1,308 square feet. The complex will have its own 5,000 square foot clubhouse, pool, “Amazon package room,” car charging stations, 90 covered garages, a fully equipped gym, a dog park and walking and biking trails–among them the old Old Kings Road.
Stacy was conversant with the general history of Old Kings Road. “We wanted to use that as the inspiration for the architecture,” he said, displaying the renderings of the buildings. “So you’ll see different types of design,” he said, from different window structures to balcony placements to touches of asymmetry “to provide a little bit of architectural nuance.”
“The landscaping is also going to be slightly different, which you might see in a lot of Florida,” he said. “We’re going to have fewer palms, and that’s in correlation with the overall theme of the project being a little bit more old Florida. So you’ll see the magnolias and the crape myrtles more than palm trees, and live oaks will be in there as well, bringing that native look.”
The project will provide public access to a small part of Old Kings Road, with a brick trail and benches, and kiosk and historical marker. The development will be responsible for maintaining the community pathway.
The marker’s language could be lifted word for word from Ryan’s book: “Old Kings Road is a highway built before the American Revolution. Here is a road pronounced a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. This ancient highway once ran from Colerain Georgia, to Cow Ford (Now Jacksonville), thence to St. Augustine, south through what is now Flagler County, and south to New Smyrna. It was once one of the most important roadways in America. Here were immense plantations,” now more accurately referred to as forced labor camps, “here was one of the worst wars in our history lasting longer than World War Il, here was the route of armies, frightened settlers, Minorcan refugees, rough men seeking wealth in the live oak trade, and new settlers hoping for their dream in Florida. Could a highway built in 1767 still exist?”
Ryan answered his own question: The bulldozers and construction cranes swept away the remaining artifacts of the Flagler County past. As the existing forest and swamp lands vanished, only a brick or two, or perhaps a trimmed cypress log would emerge from the rubble to hint that someone else was here.”
Click to access The-Tribute-MSP-Presentation_v2-Applicant-Presentation.pdf
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erobot says
Why apartments instead of condos? Makes no sense.
Dennis C Rathsam says
Can raise the rent on a condo, with an apt the skys the limit.
Shark says
Time for 10 gas stations – 20 more pizza joints – five dunkin donuts and 50 more deputies !!!!!!!
Bob says
Don’t forget a Starbucks or two
Joe Stolfi says
STOP YOUR INSANITY ..
How about More Storage Facilities ???
Keep Flagler Beautiful says
Monstrous! As ugly as the artist’s rendering looks, I can just imagine how prison-like the actual building would look.
Land of no turn signals says says
Yes to more apartments,yes to more storage facility’s,yes to more care wash’s.LOL did anybody think about the intersection of town center road and Old Kings? 1000 more cars coming out of this eye sore.The powers in charge never think about more than a year in advance about roads.Case in point no right turn lane on town center road to go south on Old Kings.365% pay raise?Not worth a nickel.
Wow says
Will it disrupt the Masonic Cemetery? Seems like the property will be right next door.
FlaglerLive says
The development is a significant distance from the cemetery.
Kathy says
What will the rents look like for these apartments?
Dennis C Rathsam says
Welcome to Palm Coast…we used to be the tree city, now we are traffic jam USA! Air cleaning trees,replaced by more & more rooftops. Ellections are coming, dont forget to vote out these BOZO,S
SHARONMI says
We do not need apartments. It over crowds our schools and roads. Every piece of vacant land is being raped. These greedy builders get the money and leave us with the fallout. We’re going to be Orlando North. Time to get rid of this city council and vote ones in that care what the people want.
Alonzo says
Wow, growing pains. Welcome to the big times P.C.
Jack Howell says
It appears that the building of these apartment complexes is getting out of hand. When I was a member of the City Council, I wanted to see that the building of apartments was tied to the economic development of Palm Coast. There has to be a balance. Yes, you need affordable housing for the increase in the workforce which will be driven by attracting more business to our town. Not fast food joints but a business that employs 50 or more workers. We don’t want to end up with a surplus of apartments. I can see the owners of these surplus apartment complexes being forced to rent to questionable individuals that would trash these units over time. Not a good deal.
Claudette says
Where are all these people going to work, and where are all the kids going to go to school?
Deborah Coffey says
No objection to progress and growth BUT, what a stupid idea without the needed infrastructure. Old Kings road is a two-lane road that has supposedly been promised to be four-lanes for years! Two new huge boat and RV storage places approved against the will of residents at Toscana, now 246 apartments, growth planned in Town Center…and NO widening of Old Kings Road. This is horrifying for those of us living in Toscana and Hidden Lakes, who will be assessed to pay for the widening of Old Kings Rd. if it ever even happens…so say our documents! Shouldn’t all these developers pick up this cost?
Donald J Trump says
City Planners and Development Officials. should all be fired. I only see three possible reasons for so many consecutive screw-ups and mistakes, dereliction of duty, just plain stupid, and unqualified or being paid off.
Rudy Schmidt says
Have you ever paid rent? If you have, why wouldn’t you like others to have the same options on the path to homeownership you had? If you have not, you are a statistical anomaly and your opposition to apartments is equally atypical.
The Geode says
Just like the “duplexes”, the owners (who most likely don’t live here) will start catering to the easy section-8 money and HERE. WE. GO!…
Flatsflyer says
Can you imagine the “Shit Show” that will occur when the city finally wakes up and straightens out OKR and widens it adds the required lanes from both directions on to Town Center Blvd. Traffic will backup 24 hours dally daily, OKR will be a single parking lot all the way from PCP to Rt 100. No more development should be allowed in Palm Coast until required infrastructure is done. Do things right for once, build the infrastructure before approving the first sholve of dirt that only adds to already existing problems.
Leila says
I agree with Mr. Howell 100%. This is NOT how you improve a community. Nobody wants to live in an overpopulated ant hill. This doesn’t do anything for the community. And hopefully is not the future of this community. You can build affordable housing without making it high density, destroying the environment, and creating a traffic nightmare.