A Year in Review: Take a look back at what happened in Flagler County, Palm Coast in 2024

Hurricanes, elections, and groundbreakings, oh my — here are the top news stories and events of 2024.

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JANUARY

Jan. 5

Flagler Palm Coast High School ninth grader K’imani Gervin-McCoy has been selected to sing the national anthem at the 2024 opening session of the Florida Legislature on Tuesday, Jan. 9.

Jan. 8

The Bulow RV Resort agreed not to evict residents until after July while the Flagler County government delays the code enforcement process that led the resort to threaten to remove residents whose sites contain unpermitted permanent structures.

Jan. 16

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office recovered over $19,000 of the $719,583 that was stolen from Flagler Schools in a cybertheft in the fall of 2023.

The Palm Coast City Council says no to a moratorium on infill lot building in the city, but elects to form a Citizen Advisory Committee to look for solutions to the flooding problem facing residents.

The Flagler Beach Democratic Club hosted a march for women's rights that began at Wadsworth Park, went across the S.R. 100 bridge and back to rally at the intersection of Wadsworth Park. Club President Sally Hirst said this is the third year that the Flagler Beach Democratic Club held its own march supporting women's rights.

Jan. 24

The Flagler County School Board fired Attorney Kristy Gavin 17 months before her contract was due to expire. Her termination letter did not include just cause.


FEBRUARY

Feb. 2

Economic growth, public safety and quality of life were just a few of the topics highlighted in Palm Coast's 2024 State of the City Address on Feb. 1. "It's the dawn of another year in our beautiful city," Mayor David Alfin said, "marking a time of renewal and revitalization."

Feb. 6

Ormond Beach and Flagler County representatives met to discuss potential resolutions that would avoid further litigation. Ormond Beach filed a lawsuit against the developer U.S. Capital Alliance, LLC and Flagler County on Oct. 27, 2023 over what the city calls violations to its development agreement with U.S. Capital’s Hunter’s Ridge development.

Feb. 14

The Flagler County Sheriff's Office arrested 35 people in connection to a year-long undercover investigation called Operation: Heartbreaker.

Feb. 26

Bronx House in the Hammock, with musician and rapper Robert Van Winkle, known professionally as Vanilla Ice, hosted a fundraiser for the nonprofit Little Smiles. The restaurant made almost $50,000 in sales at the Feb. 25 event and donated 100% of it to Little Smiles. The remaining funds were raised through donations.

Feb. 26

Palm Coast's new Southern Recreation Center, a 11,500-square-foot facility, officially opens for residents.


MARCH

March 7

The March 7 edition of the Palm Coast Observer, delivered accidentally in a black bag to the Flagler County Courthouse, incited a call to the bomb squad and was eventually exploded as a training exercise.

March 19

Flagler Beach City Commissioner Eric Cooley was reelected for another three years on the City Commission. Patti King, as the only candidate to file and qualify for candidacy, is Flagler Beach’s new mayor.

The Palm Coast City Council voted 3-2 to fire Denise Bevan as city manager, effective immediately, and without cause. Mayor David Alfin made the motion to terminate Bevan’s position without cause at the March 19 council meeting. Council members Theresa Carli Pontieri and Nick Klufas voted against terminating Bevan's contract.

March 25

Bunnell's historic Chicken Pantry restaurant closed its doors after 68 years.

March 27

With Flagler County School Board Chair Will Furry saying it is “time to stop the bleeding,” the board voted 3-2 on Tuesday, March 26, to convert the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club into a student-use only facility.

 

APRIL

April 2

Flagler County and Bunnell elected officials celebrated 20 years of work on Monday, April 1 when the county and city finally broke ground on the road that will connect State Road 100 to Highway U.S. 1.

April 12

A team of high schoolers from Jacksonville won first place at the University of North Florida and Palm Coast 2024 MedNexus Innovation Challenge. Second place went to Team Project Rethink, from Matanzas High School.

April 16

The winning bid for a pig at the Flagler County Fair and Youth Show was $74 a pound as the  community banded together to help the family of 4-H member Riley Lauremore, who suffered a traumatic head injury in a boating accident.

Imagine School at Town Center hosted one of its first pep rallies as a rousing send as its Electro-Lions robotics club heads to an international championship competition in Houston, Texas.

April 27

The city of Flagler Beach has extended its moratorium on new building applications for an additional six months if the commission does not agree to lift it sooner. The City Commission later held a joint workshop meeting with the city’s Planning and Architectural Review Board to review the city’s 35-foot building height policy.


MAY

May 2

At the first day of the sentencing hearing for former Matanzas High School student Brendan Depa who attacked a paraprofessional, the judge heard from victim Joan Naydich for the first time. “I’m just not the same person that I was,” Naydich said. “…Everything was taken away from me that morning at 10 o'clock.”

May 15

Multiple schools throughout Flagler County received threatening phone calls, resulting in lockdowns and an increased law enforcement presence on school grounds. Flagler Schools would receive more hoax phone calls in the following days and weeks.

May 21

The Flagler County Commission has unanimously approved an emergency order that makes damaging the county’s sand dunes a second-degree misdemeanor. Violating the order is punishable by a fine of up to $500 and up to 60 days in jail.

May 27

For the first time in several years, the Flagler County Sheriff's Office hosted a Torch Run for Special Olympics Florida and the athletes who compete in the games.

May 29

Palm Coast's Stormwater department launched a pilot program to help with swale regrading. Stormwater & Engineering Deputy Director Lynn Stevens said the pilot program is meant to provide support for the city's regular swale maintenance crew.


JUNE

June 5

Flagler County School Board member Sally Hunt announces she won’t be on the board by November, which likely means Gov. Ron DeSantis will appoint a new board member to complete her term.

June 14

Flagler County's five constitutional officer seats were won in unopposed elections after candidate qualifying closed on June 14.

June 17

After over 20 years, Flagler County officials, alongside multiple agency and state and local representatives, broke ground on the county’s beach renourishment project with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Indian Trails Middle School students became Future Problem Solving world champions. Two Community Problem Solving projects — Tyson Landon and the Project BOSS team —placed first in their Community Problem Solving divisions at the international competition.

June 19

Flagler County and Palm Coast netted collective $132 million in state appropriations, with $82 million of that going to Palm Coast’s westward expansion projects.

The Palm Coast City Council passed a resolution requiring any future City Council to place any potential utility franchise fee up for public vote before that council can begin negotiating a contract. The language in the resolution makes the outcome of that vote binding.

 

JULY

July 2

Former Flagler County engineer Faith Alkhatib filed a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against the county over her termination. Alkhatib worked for the county for almost two decades but filed a lawsuit stating she was unjustly terminated.

July 12

Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin, city staff and project owners broke ground on The Promenade at Town Center, a future collection of six, four-story commercial and residential buildings. The Promenade will be located directly across Central Park at Town Center.

July 16

Flagler Beach Commission unanimously adopted a new curfew for minors, prohibiting them from public spaces unattended after 11 p.m. From Sunday through Thursday, excepting legal holidays, a minor — defined in the ordinance as those 16 and under — can not be in a public place between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. the next day. On Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, the curfew is extended to the hours of 12:01 a.m. and 6 a.m. the next day.

July 23

A South Florida Youtuber bought 10 used police cars for $13,500 — including five retired Bunnell Police Department cruisers. The cruisers still had official city decals on them, as well as police lights and sirens, and several still had internal attachments: PA systems, a police radio system, laptop holders and ticket printers.

July 24

Almost a year after a fire tore through the Flagler Playhouse's main building, destroying the theater, the burned remains of the historic church building were torn down.

July 25

Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly announced the arrest of an 11-year-old Virginia boy in connection to over 20 swatting phone calls multiple Flagler schools received in May 2024. The 11-year-old of Henrico County, Virginia, is facing multiple second-degree felony charges for the swatting calls.


AUGUST

Aug. 6

Brendan Depa, the former Matanzas High School student who attacked a paraprofessional, is sentenced to five years in a state prison and 15 years of supervised probation.

Aug. 8

Matanzas High School junior Logan Pacarro, 17, helped a neighbor escape from a burning house. Pacarro tossed a ladder over his fence to help his neighbor escape from where the man was trapped in the back yard.

Aug. 13

Flagler County broke ground on its new Nexus Center, a $16 million facility that will include a state-of-the-art library, Health and Human Services wing and a multipurpose conference room with caterer's kitchen.

Aug. 19

Palm Coast City Council member Cathy Heighter has resigned from the City Council. Heighter’s resignation was effective Aug. 23, just under two years into her term. She submitted her resignation letter to Acting City Manager Lauren Johnston via text on Aug. 18, according to Director of Communications Brittany Kershaw.

Aug. 21

The Flagler County School Board has agreed to lease the historic county courthouse for a minimum of two years. The 100-year-old building will provide space for various programs while freeing up 10 classrooms for other uses.

Two races in Flagler County in the Primary Election on Aug. 20 triggered a recount when the votes were less than .5% apart. On Aug. 26, a recount of the ballots determined Pam Richardson defeated Palm Coast Vice Mayor Ed Danko for a Flagler County Commission seat and Palm Coast City Council District 3 candidate Ray Stevens bested Mark Stancel. Stevens would later face opponent Andrew Werner in the November election.


SEPTEMBER

Sept. 3

A multistate district of the United States has 17,000 workers went on strike across the Southeast. In Palm Coast, around 15-20 technicians protested outside AT&T’s Palm Coast Central Office at 5 Clubhouse Drive since the start of the strike in early August.

Sept. 10

An international military packaging company will make Palm Coast the home of its first U.S. manufacturing, production and testing facility. The global company Astor Defence is currently the sole-source supplier of metal ammunition containers for the British Army and provides critical services for armed forces across the NATO alliance.

Sept. 17

The Flagler County Commission has agreed to give a Flagler Beach pier boardwalk project the full $745,000 of a county tourism grant, despite concerns about the project's timeline. The project includes three phases, totaling over $3 million, to renovate the pier's bathrooms, boardwalk, surf radio station and bait shop and add a promenade area.

Sept. 21

Former Palm Coast Mayor candidate Alan Lowe filed an injunction in the Flagler County court system to remove the Palm Coast Charter Amendment from the Nov. 5 ballot. Lowe said the charter amendment, which aimed to remove limitations on the city’s borrowing power, was “misleading and confusing.”

Sept. 25

The Palm Coast City Council voted 3-1 to adopt a $421.5 million budget for the 2025 fiscal year, including $61 million for the city’s general fund, which is primarily funded by property taxes.

Sept. 27

Around 20,000 people in Flagler County had their power knocked out from Hurricane Helene and the county also saw a peak of winds as high as 63 mph. Damage in most areas were minimal, with multiple reports of downed trees and damaged fences county-wide.


OCTOBER

Oct. 2

U.S. Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Charles Gambaro Jr. was appointed to replace former District 4 council member Cathy Heighter with a 3-1 vote. He was immediately sworn into the office and took up the seat and will serve for the remaining two years of Heighter’s elected term.

Oct. 4

Palm Coast will have the first disc golf course in Flagler County, thanks to park land donated to the city by a development. The nine-acre course, located at the southwest corner of Pine Lakes Parkway and White Mill Drive, will have 18 holes, water stations, a 20-30 spot parking lot and be connected to the Pine Lakes Parkway multiuse trail.

Oct. 8

The Palm Coast City Council unanimously approved preserving the 50-year-old fire station while still adding 90 parking spaces to the Palm Coast Community Center. The city began exploring options to expand the Community Center’s parking spaces in February 2023 when an analysis from an architecture firm showed the fire station needed expensive refurbishments to meet current codes.

Oct. 15

Hurricane Milton caused at least $19 million in residential damage across Flagler County, according to preliminary numbers from the county’s damage assessment.

Oct. 16

Palm Coast receives a state demand from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to upgrade its Wastewater Treatment Facility 1 by 2028. The demand comes because the facility was found to be averaging at or higher than its permitted amount of water flow in at least four of the last 12 months.

Oct. 29

Palm Coast broke ground on its first new fire station in nearly two decades, and it is already predicted to be the city’s third busiest station. The new station will be located at 72 Airport Commerce Center Way and dedicated to the Seminole Woods and Quail Hollow areas. The station will serve approximately 7,000 households and respond to almost 3,000 calls for service annually.


NOVEMBER 

Nov. 1

A second Chick-fil-A is confirmed for Palm Coast, to be located on State Road 100 in the BJ’s Wholesale shopping plaza. According to a site plan submitted to Palm Coast and sent to the Observer, the Chick-fil-A will be almost 5,000 square feet in size and seat 70 inside, with an additional 16 exterior seats.

Nov. 4

Flagler County officials, alongside State Rep. Paul Renner and State Sen. Tom Wright, broke ground at a new Florida State Guard training facility that is being built in Flagler County. The facility will become a regional, multi-agency training facility that will allow for state-of-the-art training.

Nov. 5

After a Flagler County judge denied a lawsuit demanding votes on a Palm Coast charter amendment be tossed out, Palm Coast residents ultimately ousted the amendment at the ballot box. Over 58% of 52,500 Palm Coast voters voted against the charter amendment.

Mike Norris was elected as Palm Coast’s new mayor in a record-setting election in Flagler County. The 2024 general election had a record-breaking turnout of 83.37%, the county’s highest turnout in an election since 1996.

A Flagler County Court judge has found the owners of the Old Dixie Motel in contempt for not making a court-ordered payment. The motel owners are now required to pay a $250,000 deposit owed to Flagler County, and file missing paperwork regarding their financial situation within 14 days of the court’s ruling. If the property owners fail to comply in time, they will owe an additional $1,000 per day until the deposit is made.

Nov. 13

The Palm Coast City Council voted 3-1 to censure Vice Mayor Ed Danko for allegedly working with citizens to sue the city over a Nov. 5 charter amendment while also representing the city in that same lawsuit. The ensure was mostly a parliamentary procedure.

Nov. 19

The new Flagler School Board, Flagler County Commission and Palm Coast City Council members are sworn into office. The new school board members are: Derek Barrs, Lauren Ramirez and Janie Ruddy. On the Flagler County Commission, commissioner Andy Dance took his oath again for the second time while Pam Richardson and Kim Carney were sworn in for their first terms. Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris and council members Ty Miller and Ray Stevens filled the seats on the city council.


DECEMBER

Dec. 3

The Flagler County Commission approved in a 4-0 vote a resolution that would open the door for a new property assessment tax in unincorporated Flagler County on the barrier island, the first step in funding the county’s beach management plan.

Dec. 10

Palm Coast’s Knights of Columbus Notre Dame Council #10514 is donating over $41,000 to install a Safe Haven Baby Box at Palm Coast Fire Station 25. The box is installed in the wall of a first responder facility and a person on the outside can place a baby safely inside the box, which then alerts first responders to come retrieve the child.

Dec. 11

A new high school and a new middle school are both on Flagler Schools’ 10-year infrastructure plan, according to district documents presented to the School Board at a Dec. 10 workshop. The design phase for the new schools is scheduled to begin in 2029 with the construction projects continuing into the 2033-34 school year.

Dec. 15

The controversial annexation of the 899-acre Veranda Bay development was postponed after the Flagler Beach City Commission received a legal letter stating the annexation would violate state statutes. A law firm sent the Flagler Beach City Commission a letter stating that adding the 899 acres to Flagler Beach would create an enclave — or “pocket” — of unincorporated Flagler County land within Flagler Beach city limits.

Dec. 18

The annual Palm Coast Open tennis tournament — a USTA pro-circuit event — will now include a women’s tournament, as well as its men’s tournament. The tournaments will be held at the Southern Recreation Center in January.

 

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