- November 19, 2024
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The Palm Coast City Council will be considering a 90-day pause on some residential builds in response to complaints from residences about flooding stemming from newer, neighboring homes that are built to a higher elevation than existing homes.
The proposal was met with varying degrees of support the other council members at the Jan. 2 business meeting and residents thanked the council for considering the action. But a moratorium, while potentially preventing more residents from experiencing the same flooding issue, would also have an impact on the city’s economy.
Annamaria Long, an executive officer for the Flagler Home Builders Association, said a moratorium would have long-term effects on the city.
“There’s no such thing as a short moratorium,” she said. “Because building happens every day.”
Council member Theresa Carli Pontieri made the motion to enact the short-term moratorium. She proposed pausing all construction on infill lots for 90 days or until the new standards of the city’s technical manual — the guide builders adhere to when building single-family residential homes — are adopted.
The manual is undergoing a review and update that has been in process since early fall 2023.
“I think a 90-day pause while we fix this is not overstepping, it’s protecting the residents of our city,” Pontieri said about her proposal.
Pontieri initially requested a vote at the Jan. 2 meeting, but the city lawyer, Anthony Garganese from Garganese, Weiss, D’Agresta & Salzman, said the more prudent method would be for staff to return to City Council with a written ordinance. The council unanimously decided to table the vote until Jan. 16 for staff to bring back the required documentation.
“It’s a big issue for residents,” Council member Cathy Heighter said. “I feel as council members, we need to listen.”
Vice Mayor Ed Danko had initially showed hesitance about a moratorium’s impact on local businesses and future homeowners who have purchased homes under construction, suggesting a shorter time period.
“We need to come up with a solution … with future builds in these infill lots, because it’s not working,” Danko said.
The manual was originally scheduled to be brought to council in February, City Manager Denise Bevan told council on Jan. 2. Stormwater Director Carl Cote told the City Council at the Jan. 9 workshop meeting that staff had accelerated their process at the council’s urging and the manual’s changes will now be presented to City Council at the Jan. 16 business meeting.
“We need to come up with a solution … with future builds in these infill lots, because it’s not working."
— ED DANKO, Vice Mayor
“Every day delayed, means money,” Long said in an interview with the Observer.
Implementing a moratorium will have both short and long-term impacts on Palm Coast’s economy, Long said, and not just for the builders.
A moratorium stops work for the every-day construction worker, causes complications on loans for property owners and impacts businesses tied to home construction, she said. Even city staff could potentially be impacted, she said, because of how closely residential builds are tied to the work city staff does.
“It’s easy to say this is a builder’s problem,” Long said. “But there are hundreds of people employed on each house.”
Bevan said if the city were to enact a moratorium, it would, by Florida Building Code, only apply to any new applications, not applications currently in progress.
“It’s easy to say this is a builder’s problem. But there are hundreds of people employed on each house.”
— ANNAMARIA LONG, executive officer with Flagler Home Builders Association
“We would not be able to pause anything that has an issued Florida Building Code permit,” Bevan said.
For builds with a permit, the city is looking at the circumstances of individual builds, and stopping the building before it proceeds to the next step to address any concerns, she said.
Long said a moratorium could even influence future business developers from coming to Palm Coast. When a location is pitched to developers, developers will do a Google search about the area, she said, and right now, the proposed moratorium is what shows up.
If approved, this would not be the first time the City Council has implemented a moratorium, or even proposed one.
In 2020, the then-council implemented a 150-day moratorium on small box discount stores. And in March 2022, then-Vice Mayor Eddie Branquinho also proposed a moratorium on multifamily housing along Highway U.S. 1, though that proposal never came to a vote.
Ultimately, Long said, the technical manual is what builders adhere to, and they are happy to follow a height maximum. She said the city is already being more stringent during inspections on the proposed height of a build, when a builder has padded the height to ensure the build falls in line with city requirements.
Bevan and Cote have said the same thing during the council meetings. Cote told the Observer that the builders have been very accommodating during the process when city inspectors and surveyors have asked the builders to lower the height.
That doesn’t mean the people who have these issues should be brushed aside, Long said.
“If the technical manual is being properly enforced, then there shouldn't be any of these problems,” Long said.
The flooding issue first began making waves when Birchwood Drive residents Mara Weurth and Paul Fink noticed the home between theirs was filled in noticeably higher than their own properties.
The crux of the issue is that new homes have to be built to a minimum 12-inches above the crown of the road, but the city had no maximum height requirement for lots. Since then, City Manager Denise Bevan formed a specialized task force to address the issue.
In the manual’s revisions, city staff have included a 22-inch height maximum with a 10-inch height differential for neighboring homes, Cote said in a December meeting. That means that a new build could not be more than 10 inches higher than the neighbor homes, and can not be higher than 22 inches above the crown of the road at all.
In a previous interview with the Observer, Bevan said the task force is first gathering data from each property by coordinating with resident to tour the property, collecting photos of flooding and other first-hand information. From there, Bevan said, the task force will compile the data and begin forming individual solutions for each home on a case-by-case basis.
At the City Council’s Dec. 12 meeting, the city’s task force was reviewing 83 individual infill properties with flooding and drainage problems. The number increased to 125 properties by Jan. 2 and to 148 by Jan. 9.
A moratorium, if implemented would not help residents who are already experiencing flooding they say stems from the new builds.
Candace Stevens, one such resident and the founder of the Facebook page Flooded in Flagler County, thanked Pontieri and the council at the Jan. 2 meeting she is happy to
“I’d almost lost faith,” Stevens said. “This is a very, very important issue … Just make sure you don’t forget those of us who are the existing people.”
In the meantime, residents are keeping on top of the matter themselves.
“I’d almost lost faith. This is a very, very important issue … Just make sure you don’t forget those of us who are the existing people.”
— CANDACE STEVENS, Palm Coast resident
Residents met over the first weekend in January at the Palm Coast Community Center to discuss the flooding issue, Birchwood Drive resident Mara Weurth said. Weurth said the meeting was for homeowners to meet and support each other while sharing their experiences with flooding and with the city.
“Our getting together is to just offer hope,” she said, “to let [the homeowners] know they’re not alone. … We’re all in this together.”
Many of the residents who have spoken up about their experiences have said the cost of fixing the flooding in their yards is out of their price range, or believe it shouldn't be their sole responsibility to fix the problems. Danko, in early December, proposed the city begin looking at ways to financially help residents who are already experiencing flooding.
At the Jan. 9 meeting, Danko again brought up that the city needs to look into avenues of financially supporting people impacted by this flooding problem. He asked his fellow council members to keep an open mind and brainstorm suggestions on the best way to help their residents.
“At some point we're going to have to take care of those folks in one way or another and offer some support,” he said.
"We want them to know we’re not backing down.”
— MARA WEURTH, Palm Coast resident
Weurth said their group has lost faith in the city staff, but while many of the homeowners are happy and supportive of a proposed moratorium, no one wants to cause harm to the city.
They’re looking for an equitable, fair solution, Weurth said, and the residents are not going to stop until action is taken, for both the residents currently suffering and to fix it for future residents.
“We want them to know we’re not backing down,” she said.
