- January 21, 2025
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Flagler County is paring down how many projects it plans to send to the Florida legislature next March for funding requests in preparation for a tough fight for state money.
“There's not a lot of money this year,” Special Projects Director Holly Albanese said. “So we're trying to be real cautious on how many [projects] we put forward, and we want to make sure the ones we put forward are the ones we really want.”
The Flagler County Commission is only sending forward four projects, totaling $19.3 million for the legislature’s consideration during the March 2025 legislative session — significantly less than the $460 million total Flagler County and its municipalities jointly sent forward for the March 2024 session.
But in previous sessions, the county was able to rely on former Speaker of the House and Rep. Paul Renner and Sen. Travis Huston for help in pursuing its requests. Now, the county’s new representatives — Sam Greco and Tom Leek — are junior members with less legislative power.
“We don't want them to make the decision for us which one they're going to fund and not fund,” Albanese said.
The commissioners settled on the following four: a $3 million request for a new Flagler County Sheriff’s Office district branch on the barrier island that would allow for a marine unit; a $3.3 million request to design and construct a drainage system for the Black Branch North area; $10 million to relocate and build a new University of Florida IFAS office; $3 million for the Tourism Development Center’s Regional Trails & Conservation Center project.
Among the rejected proposals are a $15 million request for a county-run animal shelter and an expansion of the Flagler County Supervisor of Elections Office.
The Flagler County Legislative Delegation — Greco and Leek — will meet with Flagler County and municipality representatives on Jan. 8, 2025, from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. in the Flagler County Commission Chambers at the Flagler County Government Services Buildings.
The proposed new barrier island for the FCSO was one of three first responder projects considered, but the only one moving forward.
A three-acre parcel of land to the south side of the Hammock Dunes Parkway bridge has been earmarked for the site. The original proposal for this project was to build two buildings on the site, one for the district office and one for a Community and Cultural Center, for a combined total of $8 million.
The district office would be a 6,000 square foot facility and allow direct access to the intracoastal for the FCSO’s Marine Unit, Albanese said. The proposed community center building would be 9,000 square feet, with rentable space for various events and space for “art, cultural education programs and library related activities,” according to proposal details.
Albanese said these services are not readily available to the Hammock Community now, and the state is not likely to approve a library services request on its own, which is why the Community Center project was tied to the FCSO district office.
But Flagler County Commissioners were skeptical about the need for such a facility and how prepared the county was to staff it.
“My question is, are we ready to operate a community and another library center? Because this would be a staffed Community Center,” Commissioner Leann Pennington said. Pennington suggested the community center side would be better implemented in stages.
Instead, the commissioners — sans Commissioner Greg Hansen, who was absent from the Dec. 2 meeting and sent in his top choices directly to Albanese — agreed to limit the request to just the district office, cutting the project request from $8 million to $3 million.
Old Haw Creek Road has a history of regularly flooding, impacting surrounding residences as well.
According to proposal details, Old Haw Creek Road overtops at a cross drain 2,300 feet south of West Moody Boulevard. The proposed project would construct a wet detention facility on county property with a bypass weir to direct water into a pond for detention and treatment. The stormwater would then be released back into the existing canal at a controlled rate.
Albanese said the county also applied for a grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for this project as well as several others. It will be January before the county knows if it receives funding from that grant for the project, she said.
The drainage system would be installed near where the Florida State Guard is building its new training facility, near the Flagler County jail.
“This could potentially protect that training facility as well,” Albanese said.
Flagler County’s UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences office, located near Flagler County Fairgrounds is over 20 years and needs upgrading, from parking to space for programs and gardens.
The UF IFAS office serves as a space for students and farmers to research and learn about best growing practices. This funding request is for $10 million, the largest on the county’s docket for the next legislative session.
The proposed projects would relocate the office and build a new 20,000 square foot building with extended parking and a teaching garden for hands-on demonstrations of sustainable practices.
The conservation center is a project with Flagler County’s Tourism Development. The facility has been in the works for several years, and will be located on the west side of the State Road 100 Pedestrian Bridge and connect to a future Bulow State Park and trails.
The project was on the legislative requests for Flagler County last year, and received approval from the legislature for $5 million, only for Gov. Ron to veto it.
The discovery would function as an information hub, with interactive educational displays, a gift shop, a ticket sales counter for local events and maps and guides to the local trails, parks and waterways.
“TDC is already in the process of moving forward with this,” Albanese said.
Albanese said the TDC is designating $10 million from its own funds to help fund this project. Because of that, the county would only need to request $3 million from the state for this, instead of the $10 million request it made last year.
While the plan is exactly the same, between the reduced request, a large local match and a focus on aligning the project with more with the Florida Association of Counties’ legislative priorities on trails, Commission Chair Andy Dance said suggested the commission send in the request.
“We’ve done all the legwork to get it up there,” Dance said. “That may get us home.”
