- January 15, 2025
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The decision of what to do with the Belle Terre Swim & Racquet Club becomes murkier by the day for the Flagler County School Board.
The school district refers to the site at P73 in reference to its address of 73 Patricia Drive. As cost estimates are adding up at the site, the district is finding homes elsewhere for the programs it had planned to move to the property.
At the April 19 School Board workshop, Paul Peacock, the district’s chief operations officer, said the price to fix the club’s parking lot has swollen from about $150,000 to $420,000 because the base is not sufficient to pave over.
“What is the movie, “Money Pit? That just shows, going forward it will be almost a million now before we put anything there.”
PAUL PEACOCK, District operations chief
“What is the movie, 'Money Pit'?” Peacock asked. “That just shows, going forward it will be almost a million now before we put anything there.”
Peacock said the district has found a home for the TRAIL Transition Program at Rymfire Elementary School's building 2. And iFlagler Virtual School will share portables with Flagler Technical College at the Central Services Annex.
“It’s a good marriage,” Peacock said, with iFlagler using the portables during the day and FTC using them in the evening.
The Step-Up program will remain at its current location for now, Peacock said.
Board member Colleen Conklin asked Peacock, for the purpose of informing the general public, why iFlagler would need portables.
“It’s an opportunity for teachers to collaborate. You need to have office space,” Peacock said. “It’s not an exorbitant amount of space that’s needed.”
Peacock and Dave Freeman, the district’s director of plant services, said a study should be complete by the end of next week assessing the life expectancy of the swim and racquet club’s pool and gym equipment.
With local swim teams urging the City Council to approve a new aquatic center, Conklin asked if there were conversations about sharing facilities.
Peacock said there have been ongoing conversations and suggested an interlocal agreement would be the best path forward.
