The picture in the email said it all: a cork exploding out of a champagne bottle. City Clerk Penny Overstreet included it in her email to Flagler Beach city commissioners when she forwarded a confirmation from Ken Belshe that Veranda Bay, the large development along John Anderson Highway that could potentially double the size of the city, agreed to voluntarily annex into Flagler Beach.
The city had been assiduously pursuing Veranda Bay to annex, amending its annexation ordinance to make it possible, courting Belshe with what amounted to a love letter, and with not a little bit of anticipatory drool, sharply increasing its development impact fees that would disproportionately be generated from Veranda Bay.
Flagler Beach had not sought annexation just to reap the bigger tax base from the higher-end development, but also to buffer itself from Palm Coast in what, in retrospect, may have been exaggerated fears that Palm Coast was also courting Belshe. The city did not want Palm Coast zoning on its borders. Palm Coast said it wasn’t seeking annexation.
Either way, while the Intracoastal may ensure that the annexation will not change the physical, rustic character of Flagler Beach on the beach side–only city commissioners and their ordinances can do that–the annexation will increase the city’s political and economic clout while eventually swelling its public safety agencies and, inevitably, the size of the city administration. The city’s political center of gravity could also shift once residents from the mainland’s population center get elected to the city commission.
The city’s population is 5,280, according to the Census Bureau. An impact-fee analysis conducted this year by a city consultant projects the population to increase by nearly 7,000 over the next 10 years, not including a seasonable population of about 2,000 more. The growth is projected to be almost entirely from the kind of single-family homes Veranda Bay will built–3,100 more in 10 years in the consultant’s projection.
Veranda Bay would account for 2,700 of those. The Preserve, an apartment complex recently built, accounts for 248 units, and Beach park, another complex, accounts for 112 units, developments the city approved swiftly in 2021, indicating that its brawling with development was over.
On Feb. 22, Belshe appeared before the city commission. “Our local team of 12 employees and the many contractors and consultants that we also employ say thank you for your letter,” he told the panel. He said the company was performing its due diligence. “For the last 120 years or so developers and municipalities in Florida have created relationships,” he said. “Some of these relationships are harmonious and result in great places to live and work and raise families. Unfortunately, others are also acrimonious and difficult. We are only interested in the first kind. If we choose to accept your invitation, we will strive to be a great corporate citizen and to aid and assist the city any way that we can to ensure that the long term goals of its citizens and its leaders are achieved. You have assembled a great team here in Flagler Beach. And so have we. I believe that those two teams working together is likely the best option for all of us.”
He promised to be back in a few weeks with a final decision.
On April 17, he wrote Drew Smith, the city attorney, that Veranda Bay was ready to annex in. “Please allow this email to serve as notice that both companies are intending to formally petition the City of Flagler Beach for voluntary annexation, of the property referenced above, very soon,” he wrote, making reference to Palm Coast Intracoastal and Veranda Bay Investments. “Our professional team is currently drafting various documents, including a Pre Annexation Agreement and a Draft MPD Agreement that we will present to the City as soon as possible.” (MPD is the acronym for master planned development, a form of development that allows the developer and the city to frame certain controlling guidelines.)
Resistance gave way to resignation, then acceptance, then embrace and courtship, a courtship led especially by Rick Belhumeur, whether he was on or off the commission (he was “de-commissioned,” as he put it, in March 2022, and “re-commissioned” the following year).
“I’m feeling good about it. It’s not carved in stone yet,” Belhumeur said today, recalling the odyssey over the years. “I’ve been talking to Ken since before he closed on the property, and brought him over to meet with the city manager at the time, who happened to be Mr. Newsom, and Larry said, ‘I don’t know anything about annexation. So that didn’t get very far.” Newsom’s successor, William Whitson, was focused on other issues, Belhumeur said. He stayed in touch with Belshe, and when he saw possibilities of annexation into Palm Coast, reached out to him again, with results.
“I’m excited. It means a lot of good revenue for the city, which we’ve been unable to establish any new revenue because of being pretty much built out,” Belhumeur said. Veranda Bay represented the “last good chance” at a sizeable annexation that makes a difference, with a commercial component, and “hopefully it’ll help slow down their perpetual tax increases, at least for a while.” (Belhumeur is chronically disenchanted at budget time, when the commission finds it necessary to increase taxes, however modestly, to keep up with demands for services and an aging infrastructure.)
Pre-annexation steps aside, annexation will entail rezoning and an amendment to the city’s comprehension plan. The steps are laborious but, at this point, and surprises aside, closer to formalities than obstacles.
Laurel says
RIP last of the small, Florida beach home towns. You were great while you lasted.
BMW says
Amen! Best to control than accept what would have been built on the remaining land parcels. The Veranda Bay site-plan is less than appealing and hopefully not a model for the remainder of the residentially zoned land.
gw says
Great, more housing that working class families of Flagler Beach cannot afford…
Billy says
Yes, let’s destroy all the woodlands for money! Great idea! Wow!
It doesn’t have to happen says
Rick Belhumer loves growth. He’s pushed hard for this. The residents should fight it because annexation is illegal per Florida statute. There is a little hole that happens that creates a gap where it’s not contiguous. It’s well known. It would have to stay in the county.
Stop The Insanity says
Write emails to Rick and the rest of the crew. How can they alone make decisions that will affect the ecosystem of that precious area? Isn’t it in a flood zone? Ask Rick. [email protected]
TR says
If annexation is illegal like you state, then why do city government do it all the time to get what they want?
Mark says
Next up a couple parking garages beach side and the widening of A1A or re-routing it. That’s progress people.
John stove says
I am so sick of neighbors complaining of growth…
If you wanted to preserve any parcel from development, form a group and buy it from the owner and then deed it to the city or county as open space.
Otherwise, the owner of said parcel has a right to sell it for any purpose to include any development it is zoned for
Keep Flagler Beautiful says
Residents shouldn’t have to buy a parcel of land to prevent it from being irresponsibly developed. It’s the commissioners’ responsibility to represent the best interests of their region, although in our city and county, they do a woeful job of it. Just wait till the first big flooding event happens in Veranda Bay and all of the deeply-rooted trees have been bulldozed. It’s not an if, it’s a when. The developers were very quiet — borderline secretive — about showing those lots on grand opening day. Maybe they didn’t want locals coming around to warn the Yankees about what they might be facing if another Matthew or Irma were to come through.
john stove says
Commissioners cannot legally deny a lawfully platted or zoned piece of property from being developed if the developer has met all the building and permitting criteria as set forth within the city technical documents. If the commissioners where to do so, they would be sued and lose.
Also commissioners do not have any funding sources to unilaterally purchase large parcels of land for preservation.
Grass roots taxpayer funded undeveloped lot purchase is the only way to preserve these lots. Other citys tax themselves an extra penny or so for open space preservation and have bought up many parcels for the creation of an open space buffer.