- November 22, 2024
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After a year of disagreements between the Flagler County School Board and the County Commission, the two sides have agreed to a new interlocal agreement that needs only to be finalized.
The School Board, the county and the cities of Palm Coast, Bunnell and Flagler Beach have until Nov. 9 to approve the ILA.
The major piece of the agreement is the timeline for the school district’s proportionate share mitigation agreements with developers. The agreements are applied when schools are at capacity, enabling the district to create space for new students the developments would generate.
Lawyers working for the school district, the county and the City of Palm Coast drafted the ILA based on a compromise reached at the Aug. 4 oversight committee meeting.
Developers are to pay the district 30% of the total proportionate share agreement within 60 days of the plat or site plan approval, followed by another 30% within 21 months of the initial payment and a final 30% within 42 months. The remaining 10% is to be paid as impact fees at the time of the building permit application.
“We'll take this information back to the Board of County Commissioners as soon as possible and we'd like to get it done (at the Sept. 19 commission meeting), which is a signal to the other municipalities that we're moving forward on this.”
— DAVID SULLIVAN, Flagler County commissioner
Certificates of concurrency, allowing developments to proceed, are obtained through the agreements.
The draft was presented to committee members at a lightly attended meeting on Sept. 8. At this point, passage is a formality. Commissioners David Sullivan and Andy Dance represented the County Commission at the meeting and promised quick action.
“We'll take this information back to the Board of County Commissioners as soon as possible and we'd like to get it done (at the Sept. 19 commission meeting), which is a signal to the other municipalities that we're moving forward on this,” Sullivan said.
Other key points to the agreement include:
“This (agreement) is one of the pillars that helps move us from an excellent school district to an exceptional school district,” said Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin, the oversight committee chairman. “And I don't think we should ever lose sight of that. So, I think the legal team has shown us a good example of how much you can accomplish when you collaborate and work together.”
During public comment, Greg Blose, the president and CEO of the Palm Coast-Flagler Regional Chamber of Commerce, said he was pleased with agreement but had some concerns.
“We’re in a much better place than we started, which is we’re able to provide predictability to businesses and developments that come into our community wanting to build housing,” Blose said.
But he said he still foresees negative economic consequences coming out of the agreement.
“As a parent of school aged children, even if I personally don't agree with what the School Board's numbers are for population projections for students, I could very well be wrong,” he said. “(The ILA) provides money that I think we all can agree is needed for the school system if the worst case scenario happens.”
