‘Significant Reservations’ About Approving 2,735 Homes at Veranda Bay as Development Advances on 4-1 Vote

The Flagler Beach City Commission is slowly, carefully moving toward approval of annexing Veranda Bay, the 900-acre development along the two sides of John Anderson Highway that could potentially double the population of Flagler Beach with 2,735 new houses, apartments and condos, change its character as a small town and upend its political center of gravity.

The commission is doing so with continuing, amicable negotiations with Ken Belshe, the developer, who so far is agreeing to most of the concessions and assurances the city is asking for. But there are two major sticking points, one of them a possible deal-breaker: “There are significant reservations about 2,735” homes, in the words of City Attorney Drew Smith. There is also disagreement as to when the developer should build a “spine road” connecting John Anderson with State Road 100. But that does not appear to be a deal-breaker.




At least two commissioners–Eric Cooley and James Sherman–want a lower number of homes regardless. Commissioners Jane Mealy and Rick Belhumeur have voiced no objections to the 2,735. Rather, they’ve voiced significant support for the development as a whole. As so often in the city’s most contentious matters, it will fall on Scott Spradley, the commission chair and its most deliberative member, to be Solomon.

Spradley doesn’t make categorical declarations. He’s liked the development and has been supportive of annexation, but he’s also been uneasy with the high number of homes–five times more than what the 453 homes approved by county regulations, if the development were to stay in the county.

He’s also been listening to the public, where there’s been some strong, at times shrill, opposition to that total, as there was when the commission last discussed the development last week, though there has yet to be anything like a rebellion against the development from from Flagler Beach proper. Some city residents are voicing opposition, to be sure, but the bulk of the opposition has coalesced around residents on the city’s rim, mobilized by the non-profit group Preserve Flagler Beach and Bulow Creek, just as some of the supporters who spoke in favor of the project last week were from Palm Coast.




“That is the central point that we hear from those who object is to the density. So it would be that’s the white elephant in the room,” Spradley said of the number of homes. “Is that a hard number, or is there any leeway at all? Because you’ve heard from a lot of folks who commented in this meeting, at the one before, and if the answer is, there’s flexibility, let’s discuss it. If the answer is, that’s a hard No, well, let’s hear why.”

For now, and to the dismay of the slightly whiplashed developer and his attorney, Michael Chiumento, the commission is alternately advancing the project and pumping the brakes, as it did last Thursday: it voted 4-1 to approve the 900 acres’ rezoning and development order, but only on first reading, and only to keep the negotiations and the clock going–not as an endorsement of the plans as submitted, since those plans continue to change. The vote was also contingent on the commission holding another workshop to further negotiate and refine the plan. That will take place in early to mid-November.

In the red-lined plan submitted before last week’s meeting, which reflected negotiations up to that point, the developer would build the spine road connecting State Road 100 to John Anderson Highway before the 600th housing unit is completed. If not, the city may stop issuing building permits. Commissioners want that road built much sooner. Belshe is reluctant. It’s a $10 million commitment.  “I don’t know how I agree to that,” he said, though the 600-home threshold may be negotiable.

There will be a natural buffer along John Anderson and of Bulow Creek of a minimum of 25 feet, and an average of 50 feet. There will be no connection, pedestrian or otherwise, from the development to Palm Drive. No wells will be allowed. There will no longer be any open burning in the development zone. The maximum number of units–single-family houses, apartments, condos–is capped at 2,735. The site plan will be approved by the City Commission, not just administratively.




There are vaguer plans for a fire station and a park, in the sense that the development will have both, but where and when is unclear since the location of a fire station on Colbert Lane, for example, which the county is considering, might negate the need for one in the development.

The development will have two Community Development Districts, those internal governments that elect their own boards and are run like homeowner associations, but with more discretionary and taxing. “They will govern and manage the day-to-day operations of the projects, they will be responsible for the storm water maintenance, the interior roads, open-space maintenance, landscaping,” Chiumento said. “So if you can consider that all these things that typically are done throughout the city that is the burden on the city and its residents to the tax base, this HOA and CDD will not only pay the taxes, but they’ll also burden themselves with paying for that through their assessments.”

The developer is also pledging to keep it green: “We’ll have a robust tree planting program during and after development,” Chiumento said, “and so you’ll hopefully turn out to look very similar to what you see in places like Grand Haven, with their tree canopy program, Palm Coast Plantation, which is one of Mr. Belshe’s prior developments.”




Commissioners want better defined conservation land and open-space designations. “Basically, anything that doesn’t have a building on it or asphalt, they’re calling it open space, and then they’re cumulatively adding it up,” Cooley said. He doesn’t agree with that.

The city planner, however, specified that it wasn’t that vague. Of the 899 acres to be developed, almost 91 acres would be in conservation,  45 acres would be landscaped wetland buffers, almost 65 acres would be open common spaces, 6 acres would be for active recreation (which Cooley considers too low), and 152 acres would be dedicated waterfront land. Commissioners want more active-park acreage, and want to ensure that all the acreage won;t be in a single park. Belshe is willing.

“So those are the changes that we made as a result of our first meeting with you all, and the series of people that came up and made comments, we tried to address,” Chiumento said. “Most of them, I think we made a good faith effort in order to accommodate your concerns.”

There was strong opposition, but it wasn’t overwhelming. Twenty-six people addressed the commission. Exactly half were opposed to the development in one regard or another, mostly to the number of units to be built, though none rejected the development on its face. Ten people spoke with various degree of support, some of it reluctant, some of it resigned, some of it pragmatic, and some with cheer. Three people were non-committal or addressed technical issues (such as the spine road) without clearly seeming for or against the development, though from the tenor of their comments, they weren’t thrilled about it.




“Way too many houses,” Caleb Hathaway said. “Quite frankly, I don’t think this is beneficial to our community. This is a massive jump from the 450 units that was originally agreed upon when back in 2005.” Ralph Santore called it a “massive increase” from the original approval. “We already have a great downtown, bustling area. I don’t think we need to add all these homes to make it any better than it already is.” Barbara Revels, the former county commissioner, called it a “600 percent increase in what they have been approved on on that site in the county.” (It’s actually 500 percent.) John Tanner, the former state attorney and a John Anderson Highway resident, said “We’re concerned about the drastic change that is on the board here, that this this city will never be the same.”

Matt Hathaway, a leader of the opposition,  felt like “a broken record” and urged the commissioners to use their leverage to stop what “the majority of folks in this community do not want,” he said. “It has to be scaled back. Is anyone coming up here and saying, No, we don’t want development? That’s not a legitimate argument.” He repeated what he’s said before–reduce the number of residential units and increase space for commercial development. He also claimed that “they want to build something that the majority of folks in this community do not want, and that’s that’s not debatable,” adding, “there’s no one in this room that can stay, say, with a straight face that fact, Flagler Beach can handle 2700 homes.”

In fact, there were.

“The one thing that is appealing to me about this, and I don’t hear a lot of people talking about it, is what the development does to the economy of Flagler Beach,” a St. Augustine resident who said he’s bringing his business and move with his family to Flagler Beach told the commission. A local resident was supportive for the most counterintuitive reason: from an environmental standpoint. She said the development, because of its trickle-down effects on enabling the city to improve its wastewater plant, will help reduce pollution in the Intracoastal.




A few big names spoke in favor, too. Andy Dance, the county commissioner and Palm Coast resident, did not take a position on the development, but urged the commission to take advantage of the negotiated agreement with Veranda Bay to “set the stage as a proactive community and implement more strict and stringent stormwater rules to protect the Bulow headwaters. We don’t get a second chance at these projects to protect vital ecosystems that have long been established as the character of Flagler County and Flagler Beach.”

Jay Gardner, a Flagler Beach resident and the county’s long-time property appraiser, after noting that some 100 houses have already been built, reminded the commission and the audience of the city’s fight against an apartment complex that ended up being built anyway, with a Palm Coast address–and Palm Coast tax revenue–just west of the Publix on State Road 100. “If it’s going to be there, get the controls you want. Do as best you can with it. Answer the questions that the public has,” he said. But also “at least if it’s going to be there, I would suggest, as a Flagler Beach resident, I am for it being annexed. I didn’t ask for the development necessarily. It doesn’t bother me, honestly, and I live on that side. But we need, we need to make sure that if it’s going to be there, we are benefiting from it, just like the apartments that we fought.”

Then Gail Wadsworth, the former clerk of court who’s lived in Flagler Beach since 1949, when she was 3, said she’s watched the city an the region change and grow. She agreed with Gardner. “Annexing Veranda Bay is to flag your beaches benefit, not to its detriment.” She was the first to explicitly call for an approving vote on annexation.




As she concluded, someone in the audience blurted out an insult. The word “idiot” was used. It may have been preceded by the commonly vulgar sexual modifier, and a misogynistic word may have been used, but that’s not certain. That sort of outburst has become common in other local government meetings. It’s been very uncommon in Flagler Beach. Spradley, the board chair, immediately intervened: “If I hear one more negative comment spoken out loud, a personal insult to someone, we’ll stop this meeting,” he said. He didn’t have to. And from that point on, more people spoke for than against annexation and the development, including two Flagler Beach restaurant owners (Tortugas and Oceanside).

“I don’t think anybody has an expectation that all of the answers will be given tonight,” Drew Smith, the city attorney, cautioned the audience and the commission.

When it was the commissioners’ turn, they went through the latest red-lined documents page by page, paragraph by paragraph. Cooley also considers the 2,700 total of units too high. Commissioners also had concerns about the span over which the development would proceed, absent an expiration date on the development agreement. Right now, there is no expiration date. Commissioners want one. Commissioner Jane Mealy suggested 20 years.

“The importance is not as much when it is, is the fact that there is one,” Spradley said, with the understanding that it could be extended. Commissioners also want further information about docks on Bulow Creek, even though the developer doesn’t own any land on the water that would allow them to build docks. Belshe, however, said there’s been discussions of building a community dock.




The county is pushing its own request. Assistant County Attorney John Moylan said the county’s objectives were met by Belshe, but he renewed his call on the city to take ownership of John Anderson Highway, a county road that costs $11,500 a year to mow (in fuel costs) and will eventually cost $1.5 million to resurface. Addressing commissioners’ reluctance, he cleverly pulled a precedent from under their nose: it was Flagler Beach, after all, that took ownership of Lambert Avenue in 2000, when Lambert was a city road. “I don’t think anybody in this room or any of you at the dais would question Lambert being a city road,” Moylan said. He gave other examples and underscored how John Anderson will be surrounded by city boundaries.

It was more than three hours into the meeting, and with Mealy’s oxygen running out–literally, if not metaphorically: she has been recovering from an illness–that the commission finally voted, with Colley in dissent. He did not think the plan was ready even for a first reading. The date of the next negotiating session at a workshop has not been set.