- January 11, 2025
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Palm Coast will name a walking trail after the late community safety activist Al Krier.
The City Council voted unanimously to name the walking trail from Cimmaron Drive to European Village after Krier, who founded the Safety on Cimmaron group.
The council also approved a list of potential sites to name after the late Mayor Jon Netts.
Council member Theresa Carli Pontieri had filed an application to rename a city site after Krier, who died on Dec. 24, and Parks and Recreation staff proposed the trail at the April 11 meeting .
In the application, Pontieri wrote that Krier was “incredibly involved in the community, with specific focus on promoting safety on Cimmaron [Drive] and our other neighborhood streets.”
In the section asking why the location was relevant, she wrote that the trail would “be a good tribute to the efforts made to promote pedestrian safety.”
Krier fought for safety measures for Cimmaron Drive to help protect children, bikers, joggers and other pedestrians, his daughter Roseanne Dunn told the Observer.
She said her father was always worried about pedestrians using Cimmaron.
“This is a symbolic way to pay homage to him,” Dunn said after the April 11 meeting. “He would love to be on that trail.”
In the April 11 workshop, Parks and Recreation Director James Hirst also presented options for naming a community facility after the late Councilman and Mayor Jon Netts, who died in 2021.
Naming a facility in honor of Netts, who served on the council as mayor or as councilman for 15 years, is one of the City Council’s official priorities.
The City Council approved the following as facilities that could potentially be named after Netts: the Community Center, rooms within the Community Center, walking trails, the Community Center park and playground, and several sport courts and fields.
Hirst said at the April 11 meeting that staff reached out to Netts’ family to get an idea of what kind of facility the family would prefer. Hirst said that Priscilla Netts, Jon Netts’ wife, said naming the Community Center after Netts was her preference.
While city policy allows for the naming of city parks, trails, facilities, municipal buildings, specialized areas or other recreational areas after a nominee or organization, the policy does not apply to “core” city facilities like City Hall and fire stations fall, Hirst said.
The Palm Coast Community Center is not considered a “core” city facility.
Before a site can be chosen, Hirst said, a nomination must be filed, then approved by the Beautification Environmental Advisory Committee.
Once that happens, the City Council would vote on whether to rename the site.
The Palm Coast City Council hopes to close the circuit on its fiber network.
The city has operated a city-only network since 2006. There is a gap in the fiber network on U.S. 1 from Palm Coast Parkway to State Road 100, totaling about 35,000 feet, Palm Coast Director of Information Technology Doug Akins said.
The city has been unable to appropriate the $1.5 million needed to lay conduit underground to complete the network.
Akins told the council at the April 11 workshop that a company already laying fiber in the area — MetroNet — has agreed to let the city use MetroNet’s contractor to install the city’s conduit at the same time, saving the city money.
The City Council voted 5-0 to buy the conduits and transfer the necessary money from FiberNET’s reserves.
The project would cost a fraction of what it would have cost if the city did the work on its own, Akins said in the April 11 meeting.
The city will be able to pay for the entire project using FiberNET reserves and money already allocated to FiberNET in the fiscal year 2023 budget.
