- April 16, 2025
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Mad Dogs Flag Football board members, including Jarrod Maxwell, center. Photo by Brian McMillan
Palm Coast City Councilman Charles Gambaro. Photo by Brian McMillan
Marian Petruzzi. Photo by Brian McMillan
Jarrod Maxwell walked forward, flanked by four boys, as if lining up for a play in a football game.
Rather than being on a field, however, Maxwell and the boys were in front of a crowded Palm Coast City Hall, on April 8, to make the case for the Mad Dogs Flag Football league’s continued use of Ralph Carter Park, despite the league’s noise, parking and use of lights that bother some neighbors.
Thinking back over the years, Maxwell said, “it’s hard not to get emotional about a field.”
Maxwell, who helped found Mad Dogs, has watched his own son grow up at Ralph Carter Park, where the league practices. He and many others, including the members of the City Council, extolled the contributions youth sports in general make to the community.
And yet, said City Councilman Charles Gambaro, who had requested that the matter be added to the agenda, the disruptions to the neighbors should be addressed. “It’s not OK,” he said more than once.
Gambaro expressed his own support of Mad Dogs, but also said the City Council should be consistent in its policy making.
In past meetings, the council has restricted short-term rentals, advocated for reduced noise at the airport, and has considered other matters that were negatively impacting the quality of life of some residents. If the city wants to defend others’ quality of life, why not the residents of Richardson Drive, with homes 22 yards from the park?
“We can’t have a double standard for quality of life in the city,” Gambaro said.
He said Ralph Carter Park is being treated like a sports complex, when it’s actually designated as a neighborhood park by the city.
The city needs a larger sports complex, but in the meantime, he said, “If these lights were in my front yard, I’d be screaming louder than Ms. Petruzzi.”
Marian Petruzzi has been petitioning the city for 14 years to put a stop to the lights, which now can be on till 8:30 p.m. The park also has a skate park and basketball court. Petruzzi successfully persuaded the city to put a fence between the park and Richardson Drive in years past, and some of the lights have been angled, but not enough has been done, she says.
After City Councilman Ty Miller said that he didn’t want to “throw any more money” at the park just to appease one person — Petruzzi — she spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting as well.
“The noise and light pollution are unbearable,” she said, calling the conditions “inhumane.” Agreeing with Gambaro’s point, Petruzzi said: “Ralph Carter is a neighborhood park, but the city continues to ignore this fact. … You are upsetting an entire neighborhood, and that’s wrong.”
Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri said, on the contrary, that it would be ideal for the lights to be allowed till 9 p.m. to help Mad Dogs continue their good work in the community.
She said she would be open to doing further study of options for lighting modifications, but, she said, “I’m going to be pretty hard pressed to make any changes.”
Pontieri and Gambaro came at the situation from opposite perspectives. While Gambaro said the situation was a chance for the city to show consistency in defending quality of life for all, Pontieri said it was a chance for the City Council to decide that it was on the side of young families, like those who were in attendance to support Mad Dogs.
“We should be in the news for encouraging these things,” she said.
In past years, according to Parks and Recreation Director James Hirst, the city has already completed several improvements to Ralph Carter Park, including the replacement of 7-inch visors on the light bulbs with 14-inch visors, at a cost of $10,404. The city also retrofitted the light poles for LED lighting for $485,000 and enhanced field lighting for $370,250.
Mad Dogs serves about 400 players in three seasons per year, making it one of the biggest sports leagues in Palm Coast.
Acting City Manager Lauren Johnston said she would have staff look into prices for lights that could be more easily dimmed or timed, as well as looking into the hours of operation of the park.
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