- March 18, 2025
Can Flagler County streamline how it handles notices of annexation?
On Monday, March 17, the Flagler County Commission directed staff at a workshop to direct its legal and growth management departments to bring them a deeper analysis on statutory criteria for annexation, particularly involving the proposed Veranda Bay development.
Last December, a controversial vote to annex the 899-acre project into Flagler Beach was postponed after the Flagler Beach City Commission was put under a threat of lawsuit by an attorney representing Preserve Flagler Beach & Bulow Creek, Inc. The nonprofit's attorney argued that the annexation of the unincorporated land would create an enclave within Flagler Beach city limits, which is currently prohibited under state law.
"We're at a stage where annexations have run wild — and I don't mean that in a disparaging way, but their pace, their size, their impact, are growing, not diminishing," County Attorney Al Hadeed said. "And perhaps we need to wrap our arms around it and figure out how it can occur in a more accountable way and in a way that best represents the interests of Flagler County citizens, and eventually municipal citizens."
In a memo to the County Commissioners, Hadeed and Deputy County Attorney Sean Moylan highlighted that, as it stands, the only coordination between an annexing municipality and the county is the notice to the County Commissioners, which can be issued a minimum of 10 days prior to publishing a notice in a newspaper.
The county's new comprehensive plan, the attorneys explained in the memo, will require more coordination — a review by the county's legal and growth management departments, and an opportunity for the county to context the annexation through legal mediation to avoid a formal lawsuit.
"As the county has grown, much of the lands within municipalities are already developed and platted or are undevelopable," the memo states. "As a result, the cities are seeking unincorporated lands to continue their growth. At the same time, infrastructure of both the County and Cities are under strain."
The county's outlined criteria for annexation includes preventing the creation of enclaves during voluntary annexation, the filing of a feasibility study and referendums for involuntary annexations, and the establishment of a joint planing committee with municipalities to review proposed developments along jurisdictional boundaries and annexation petitions.
The commission also discussed the provision of utilities as part of annexation requirements. Commissioner Greg Hansen recalled the 2018 dispute between the City of Palm Coast and the county over the Airport Commons shopping center, where the city refused to provide water and sewer without annexation.
Hansen said the city "weaponized" the annexation process.
"I was really upset about that whole thing, that we were just steamrolled," Hansen said. "That should have stayed in the county."
In the case of Veranda Bay, Hansen said he believed the developer was afraid of stricter development standards if the property remained in the county. Flagler Beach may not hold the developer to same density standards.
"I think we'd be a lot tougher on them," Hansen said.
Commissioner Leann Pennington asked if the county has come to a conclusion about exerting any rights regarding Veranda Bay. Having read the attached case laws in the memo, she said she assumed the project didn't meet statute for annexation.
Moylan said the county is not sure what's going on with Veranda Bay.
"It is on hold, but we have to monitor the city's agenda," he said. "... We don't know if they're looking for Palm Coast versus Flagler Beach. We don't know if they're going to stay in the county. We don't know — we're out of the loop as to what is happening, but we can evaluate their proposal and bring it back to you instead of speaking off the fly."
