- October 10, 2024
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The city of Ormond Beach is at odds with the developer of Hunter's Ridge.
After three years of conversations, the city issued a notice of noncompliance to U.S. Capital Alliance LLC on Sept. 18 regarding alleged violations to the Hunter's Ridge Development of Regional Impact, a matter that will be discussed at a special City Commission meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 25.
The city claims that U.S. Capital Alliance violated the DRI — originally issued by the state in 1991 — because the developer failed to grant almost 300 acres of conservation lands to the city, issued neighboring Flagler County a 60-foot wide public road easement in 2016 through those conservation lands, and failed to prepare a hydroperiod restoration plan for the conservation lands as outlined in the development order.
"We've had lots of discussions with the developer and Flagler County about this issue, and nobody wanted to resolve it," City Attorney Randy Hayes said. "So we said, 'That's a problem.'"
Why? Because Flagler County could potentially build a public road in the future through land designated as open/space conservation in Ormond Beach's comprehensive plan. The road could also connect the Flagler County portion of Strickland Road to State Road 40.
"Which means that as Flagler County develops out portions north of Ormond Beach, that all of those residents would have direct access to State Road 40," Hayes said. "... There's one way to the beach right now and that's through downtown, and that's the potential of what we're looking at here. So that's why it's critically important, I think, that people understand what's at stake here."
The Observer reached out to Kim Booker, the attorney acting as the registered agent for U.S. Capital Alliance.
"My client has not authorized me to respond other than to state affirmatively my client denies all allegations," she wrote in an email.
The notice of noncompliance may have been directed to U.S. Capital Alliance, but it has an impact on Flagler County as well, said Adam Mengel, Flagler County growth management director.
"It's been a bit interesting here because Ormond Beach, from basically the onset of the development, had been the intended water and sewer provider," he said.
When the state issued the development orders for the 3,534 acres that make up Hunter's Ridge (one for Ormond Beach and one for Flagler County), the city of Ormond Beach was designated as the utility provider. County governments typically don't provide utilities.
In about 2009, the city and Flagler entered into an interlocal agreement for utilities, and to date, 354 meters have been activated in the Flagler County portion of Hunter's Ridge. According to the community's website, about 1,100 homes have been built in Hunter's Ridge. The DRI allows for 1,931 more homes.
At the Oct. 25 meeting, the commission will hear presentations from city staff and U.S. Capital Alliance. Flagler County representatives plan to also be in attendance to speak with the commission.
If the commission formally determines the developer to be in noncompliance, then the city will stop all utility permits or agreements with home builders until the matter is resolved.
"Certainly, our biggest concern is the status of Ormond Beach's obligations, both with the county and with the developer," Mengel said.
"The victims are the residents of Ormond Beach because they've been deprived of this valuable resource for many, many years." — RANDY HAYES, Ormond Beach city attorney
No public road has been constructed by Flagler County through the conservation lands, he added, disputing Ormond's claim in the notice of noncompliance. What's there is a logging road, Mengel said.
"We've done some very limited work that we've had within the limits of the easement to be able to keep that passable for the logging trucks," Mengel said. "There is no formal road that's there, though. It was referred to as a 40-grade, and that's how everybody locally knows it."
The developer granted Flagler County the easement during a Board of County Commissioners meeting on Dec. 5, 2016. It was formally recorded in April 2017. Hayes said that the easement would accommodate the construction of a four-lane paved road with utilities and a median.
Mengel said Flagler County isn't the only one to have an easement for the 40-grade road.
"There are actually, historically, other easements that preceded our easement that we were granted," Mengel said. "How that plays out with the city and who's on first, I would be hesitant to say, because they still exist. Those easement rights have not been extinguished."
About three years ago, the city was discussing with Flagler County options to build some wells on their land to help service the homes on the Flagler side of Hunter's Ridge, Hayes said. The developer then approached the city and offered an easement to build wells on land on the Ormond Beach side.
Land that was supposed to be conveyed to the city for conservation in 1991.
That's where the issue began and grew complicated, Hayes said, as the developer had plans for wetland mitigation involving those lands. During the course of those conversations, the city discovered that the road easement had been granted to Flagler County.
"The conservation area is designated as open space/ conservation under the city's comp plan," Hayes said. "It does not allow for any development — there's no roads, no utilities, no nothing."
The city's DRI instead requires the conservation lands be "used and managed for the maintenance, preservation, and restoration of native upload and wetland ecosystems that are historically existent on the conservation lands and used for compatible environmental purposes," according to the notice of noncompliance.
"... We want to be able to continue to have a great relationship with the city of Ormond Beach. We definitely had." — ADAM MENGEL, Flagler County growth management director
The only construction permitted is for educational facilities and nature trails.
"The victims are the residents of Ormond Beach because they've been deprived of this valuable resource for many, many years," Hayes said.
How did the city not notice that conservation lands hadn't been granted in 32 years?
When Flagler County's development order was amended in 2010, there was a public noticed published in a newspaper. Part of the "fine print," Hayes said, was the 40-grade easement. It went unnoticed.
"On our end, there's nothing unusual with our DRI," Hayes said.
In the '90s, there was conversations between the developer's attorney and the previous city attorney, but there was no follow up, Hayes said.
It's the developer's responsibility to correct the issue, Hayes said. U.S. Capital Alliance needs to go back to Flagler County and reverse the easement granted within 60 days if the commission finds them in noncompliance. The developer would then need to convey the conservation lands to the city, and prepare a plan for and complete the hydroperiod restoration work.
The easement was one of the obligations outlined in Flagler County's 2010 amended development order, Mengel said.
"Our concern is we have development underway in Flagler County, and we have existing agreements with the city, aside from the developer, where the city is serving as the utility provider," Mengel said. "... It may not be in the end where we're all getting everything we want, but we want to be able to continue to have a great relationship with the city of Ormond Beach. We definitely had that in the past and don't see any reason why it can't continue now."
The developer had an obligation to tell Flagler County it couldn't grant the road easement, Hayes said.
"They should have come to the city and said, 'Hey, this is what Flagler County wants us to do, and we can't do that,'" Hayes said. "Instead, they went ahead and did it anyway, so it created an additional problem for them in that regard. So we can't fix it for them. All we can do is hold them in noncompliance."
If the commission agrees with city staff and finds the developer in noncompliance, the city is willing to enforce that through litigation, if necessary, Hayes said.
"They will be required to pay the city's attorney's fees and costs associated with that, so it's in their interest to try to get this resolved," Hayes said. "It's in our interest to get it resolved as well because we need to do this for the benefit of our own residents."
