- November 23, 2024
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The Palm Coast City Council voted 4-0 to expand the neighborhood notice requirement for developers from 300 to 500 feet.
Development applications like comprehensive plan amendments, rezonings and tier 2 and 3 applications — nonresidential projects over 40,000 square feet and residential projects over 41 residential units — are required to send a notice to the neighborhoods within a certain distance of the property's borders and host neighborhood meetings.
The expansion from 300 to 500 feet means more residents will be notified of an impending development in their area. The council approved the change in its May 7 meeting.
“In summary,” Mayor David Alfin said, “we are expanding the radius and being more inclusive of those that would be in proximity to projects in the future so we don't overlook someone that might be directly affected.”
For subdivisions neighboring a future development, the notification requirement only extends to those individual properties within the 500 foot radius, not the whole subdivision, Deputy Chief Development Officer Ray Tyner.
But, Tyner said, the ordinance change is just “one tool in the toolbox” for notifying residents of pending projects in their area, including legal advertisements and signs at the development lots themselves that have the neighborhood meeting information.
The 500-foot radius was decided on based on the Flagler County Property Appraiser’s Office, Chief of Staff Jason DeLorenzo said. The Property Appraiser automatically generates a list of properties surrounding another property within that radius.
Creating a larger radius that is not automatically populated runs the risk of missing someone within that area, he said.
Council member Theresa Carli Pontieri, attending the meeting virtually, pointed out that the city can always change the ordinance further if it needs to.
