- November 7, 2024
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A vacant parcel of land that could have held multifamily housing with 348 dwelling units won't be rezoned to allow that change — at least, not for now.
About 40 people showed up to a Palm Coast City Council meeting March 7 to say the proposed apartment building or condo complex would affect their quality of life or the value of their homes.
The triangular parcel of land in question is situated south of Belle Terre Boulevard, east of U.S. 1 and west of the residential Karas Trail in the city's far south. Many of the people opposed to the rezoning were Karas Trail residents.
"We don't need this in our backyard," Karas Trail resident Pete Petroski said during the meeting's public comment period. "We don't need to have them in a residential single-family area." He said that adding multifamily housing would create too much traffic on U.S. 1 near Karas Trail.
Karas Trail resident Terri Howe called the rezoning an unfair hardship on Karas Trail residents who'd bought their homes with the understanding that the land behind them would stay natural or be used for single family homes, and "relied on the parameters already set in place by the city of Palm Coast" when choosing to buy. "Please don't change the rules on us," she said.
The Flagler Chamber had supported the proposed rezoning, which could have helped diversify the city's housing options. Right now, it's mostly single-family homes, with limited options for renters.
Gretchen Smith, representing the chamber, said that the chamber's business issues committee had just talked about the city's lack of affordable housing.
"We talked about how it's pretty much impossible to find a rental property for under $1,000," she said. "We need more of those. We need more of those for our community; we need more of those to attract businesses that want to come here and establish themselves. We need more of an inventory of housing options. We don't have that right now in Flagler County. We've got a really small inventory of homes, and we need to expand, because growth is coming."
Some residents resented the Flagler Chamber's choice to take such a public position.
"I am amazed at the Chamber of Commerce," Palm Coast resident Vincent Liguori said. He noted all the major city issues the Chamber has not taken a public position on in the past, saying, "So I am somewhat confused at their stance. ... What's going on?"
Other residents suggested that Palm Coast 145 LLC, which owns the vacant land, could use it for single-family homes on small lots, rather than for multifamily housing. One woman said that apartments would attract drug addicts and young people living together to split the rent, rather than married families that would take pride in their property. Others said they feared the apartments would be rented out to Section-8 housing voucher recipients who'd drag down the quality of the area.
Representatives of Palm Coast 145 LLC said that there would be buffers between any multifamily development and the Karas Trail homes and that Section-8 units would be limited.
Councilman Steve Nobile pointed out that adding more multifamily housing should help lower prices in the city as a whole. But he thought the parcel was the wrong spot to add multifamily housing, and that the change would be unfair to nearby homeowners.
"I really believe the people in this town are going to be hurt by this," he said. "And I wouldn’t want this in my area."
Councilwoman Heidi Shipley agreed.
"When they’re trading up, going from multifamily to single family, that’s good," she said. "But when we're trading down, it’s not fair. I wouldn’t want it to happen to me."
There proposed change would have taken two separate votes from the council: one to change the land's Future Land Use Map designation to 81 acres of residential and 9 acres of industrial from a combination of industrial (43 acres), greenbelt (91 acres) and conservation (13 acres); and one to change the zoning designation to master planned development from a combination of high intensity commercial, light industrial and estate-1.
Councilman Nick Klufas suggested that the council might approve the Future Land Use Map designation change — increasing the number of residential acres and decreasing the number of industrial and greenbelt acres — but not approve the zoning change that would also be needed to add an apartment complex or condo building.
Nobile said he didn't feel comfortable voting for the FLUM change and "opening that door" to further residential development, and potentially multifamily residential development, in the future.
Mayor Milissa Holland suggested Palm Coast 145 LLC review its proposals and come up with something that would be more compatible with the area.
The council didn't deny the measures by vote, which would have barred Palm Coast 145 LLC from returning with an amended plan for at least a year. Instead, the council tabled the motion without voting on it, eliminating the one-year time limit.
