- November 23, 2024
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A site plan for the 750-unit Coquina Shores development has won the Palm Coast Planning Board’s approval.
The 505-acre development site is on the north side of State Road 100 a quarter mile east of Old Kings Road. The city’s Planning and Land Development Regulation Board voted 7-0 at its July 19 meeting to approve the site plan.
The Coquina Shores development was originally planned in 2006 as a mixed-use Development of Regional Impact with 2,400 single-family and multi-family units, plus 80,000 square feet of general retail and office space and a 150-room hotel, according to meeting documents.
In April, the board approved an application from the property’s new owner — JX Palm Coast Land, LLC — to develop the site as a master planned development and rezone the land from mixed-use and conservation to residential and conservation.
JX Palm Coast’s plans for the land reduced the number of residential units to 750 single-family units, removing all nonresidential use.
The lots in Coquina Shores will be a minimum of 40 feet wide and 4,800 square feet in area, with a maximum building height of 35 feet.
On July 18, the Palm Coast City Council also unanimously approved the two Coquina Shores applications.
The council also initially approved an ordinance to establish the Coquina Shores Community Development District. A CDD is a special-purpose unit of government created to aid in financing, operating and maintaining infrastructure within a large development, according to City Council meeting documents.
In a CDD, the developer, not the city, is responsible for the cost of the infrastructure.
“These are road and infrastructures that will be paid for — they’re all in self-sufficient communities,” council member Theresa Carli Pontieri said. “We will not be paying for ... these roads, this infrastructure.”
The council must read and approve the ordinance a second time for it to be adopted. That second reading will occur at the council’s Aug. 1 meeting.
These are road and infrastructures that will be paid for — they're all in self-sufficient communities. We will not be paying for ... these roads, this infrastructure.
— Theresa Carli Pontieri, City Council member
City planner Estelle Lens said during the July 19 Planning Board presentation that the development’s main entrance will be off S.R. 100, and the developer will be adding a secondary entrance on Old Kings Road.
Scott Lockwood, a consultant with England, Thims & Miller Inc., represented JX Palm Coast at the board’s meeting. He said the development will add a left turn lane from S.R. 100 to Coquina Shores and, in the future, will conduct a study with the Department of Transportation to see if a signal light is necessary.
Lockwood said Coquina Shores is intended to be an age-restricted community, maintained by a homeowners association.
Staff expressed concerns about the subdivision master plan application’s lack of defined recreational space.
A development of Coquina Shores’ size is required to have 14.4 acres of recreation and open space — 9 acres of active recreation space and 5.4 acres of passive recreation space, according to Planning Board meeting documents.
The board approved the subdivision application with the condition that the applicant meets the recreation requirements and provides a more detailed plan for them.
Lens said the developer plans to meet the recreation requirements in Phase 1 of the construction.
“Some of the amenities that they’re proposing will be an amenity center with a pool, pickleball courts, fitness area and active trails and paths,” Lens said.
Lockwood said the developer is working with a credible recreation research company to determine exactly what should be included. The developer is also considering turning the site’s borrow pits into ponds as an amenity for residents.
Lens said the developer has also been working with the city’s arborist to preserve the site’s historic trees.
“They are designing the site — to the roadways and the trails and the lots — to preserve the trees for the enjoyment of the residents,” she said.
