- October 10, 2024
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The Ormond Beach City Commission has unanimously found the Hunter’s Ridge development violated several agreements with the city and is requiring Flagler County and Hunter’s Ridge fix the issues or water utilities will be shut off to the Flagler County Hunter’s Ridge development.
City staff found five areas that U.S. Capital Alliance allegedly violated within the city’s Hunter’s Ridge development agreement, the biggest concern being a roadway easement the developer granted Flagler County within Ormond Beach boundaries. The city issued U.S. Capital Alliance a notice of noncompliance in September and held a special meeting on Wednesday, Oct 25 to discuss the matter and vote on whether Hunter’s Ridge violated the agreement or not.
Ormond Beach Mayor Bill Partington said he feels bad for the current owners of Hunter’s Ridge — who bought the development, and these problems, in April 2021 — but said he ultimately didn’t see enough evidence to dispute the violations.
“I have to protect Ormond Beach residents and make sure we're following our rules. And that we're following state law,” he said.
Originally, the noncompliance resolution included a 60-day timeframe for Flagler County and the developer to address the issues before utilities were shut off. City attorney Randy Hayes said that the city since removed the time constraint to allow for the parties sufficient time to address the issues.
Hunter’s Ridge is a 32-year-old, 3,534-acre development that encompasses land in southern Flagler County and in northwest Ormond Beach. Both Flagler County and Ormond Beach each have their own separate development agreements with the Hunter’s Ridge development.
In 2009, Flagler County and Ormond Beach also entered into an interlocal agreement where Ormond Beach would provide utilities to the Hunter’s Ridge development in Flagler County.
Flagler County doesn't have the authority to legislate in Ormond Beach on the subject matter." — Randy Hayes, Ormond Beach attorney
Ormond Beach city staff and Hayes said the developer violated the following conditions: First, that Hunter’s Ridge failed to convey a 300-acre parcel of conservation land to the city. Second, that the developer granted Flagler County a 60-foot-wide road easement on the conservation parcel.
Third, granting a public road easement on conservation land violated Ormond Beach’s comprehensive plan for conservation land use. The final two items referenced a hydroperiod restoration plan and work that the developer agreed to do as part of the development agreement. The city alleges the developer did not complete that work.
The biggest issue debated at the special meeting was the granted road easement through the conservation parcel.
“Flagler County doesn't have the authority to legislate in Ormond Beach on the subject matter," Hayes said. “You just can't do it.”
The 60-foot-wide road easement covers an existing unpaved fire trail known as 40 Grade that starts at State Road 40 and goes into Flagler County.
In 2009, Flagler County updated its development agreement with Hunter’s Ridge and required the easement as part of it. Hayes said the developer didn’t have the power to grant that easement, which was issued in 2016.
Hayes previously told the Observer the easement could be built out to a four-lane road, but Ormond Beach Planning Director Steven Spraker told the City Commission it could only accommodate a two-lane road.
Flagler County Deputy attorney Sean Moylan attended the meeting and said that the easement, while broadly written, was only intended as both an emergency access point and for maintenance of Flagler County conservation lands.
Moylan said the county felt it more prudent to use the already existing path than to clear any additional conservation lands. Moylan said he believed the Flagler County Commission would be willing to consider narrowing the scope of the easement to prevent any concerns about paving or developing the 40 Grade into a public road.
“One of my main points here tonight is to tell you that we have no plans in Flagler County to pave [that road],” Moylan said. “It’s not getting paved by us.”
The attorneys representing U.S. Capital Alliance told the commission, that not only has work been done for the required hydroperiod restoration — a process that restores water levels in previously drained wetlands — but easements similar to the one granted to Flagler County have been accepted practice in other cases in the state.
As for the conservation parcel, the city claims the developer, in the 32 years since both parties signed the development agreement, has not conveyed the land to the city and St. Johns River Water Management District
U.S. Capital Alliance attorney Philip Crawford said the land has not been conveyed because the developer is required to give it to both the city and the water management district, and the district has told the developer it is not able to take on the parcel yet.
We're going to need to evaluate how to enforce the rights that we're entitled to.” — Philip Crawford, U.S. Capital Alliance attorney
The developer can’t convey the parcel until the water management district is ready to accept it, too, he said.
“We’re in a Catch-22,” Crawford told the Observer. “What do we do when one party that has to get the deed is not ready to accept it? How do we comply?”
Hayes said that requirements to convey the land does not have those conditions listed.
After the meeting, Crawford said the legal team and their clients will need to look at their options.
“We're going to evaluate the enforcement of our rights. We have no choice,” Crawford. “We're going to need to evaluate how to enforce the rights that we're entitled to.”
Editor's note: This story was updated at 11:50 a.m. Friday, Oct. 27, to reflect the correct timeframe of U.S. Capital Alliance's ownership of Hunter's Ridge. The master developer purchased the property in April 2021. A previous version of this article reported the developer had owned it for over a decade. Additionally, the story was updated to report that the easement, included in the 2009 amendment of the development's DRI for Flagler County, was issued in 2016.
