PALM COAST
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 16, NO. 29
FPC’s preseason test PAGE 6B
FREE ON NEWSSTANDS | THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2025
Growth spurs need for alternative water supply City staff says we have enough drinking water now. But, alternative sources must be in place by 2030. PAGE 4A
INSIDE FURRY ENTERS RACE
Flagler County School Board Chair Will Furry enters the race for Florida’s 6th Congressional District. PAGE 2A
School year begins! Flagler Schools administrators greet students on their first day back to school. PAGE 1B
NOT A NURSE ...
FCSO arrests Palm Coast woman who posed as a registered nurse at AdventHealth. PAGE 2A
INFIGHTING
Flagler County state senator expresses concern about ‘infighting’ during overtime legislative session. PAGE 3A
LIABILITY?
Flagler Beach boardwalk is ‘teetering on a liability,’ Commissioner Cooley says. PAGE 4A
HURRICANE PREP
As Tropical Storm Erin looms in the gulf, Flagler agencies come together for disaster prep expo. PAGE 5B
PIRATE NATION
Matanzas football coaches are encouraged heading into the kickoff classic. PAGE 8B
Flagler Palm Coast IB coordinator Anabella Giuliano introduces herself to new students on Day 1 of school. Courtesy photo
18,883 homes have been approved. Can Palm Coast handle them? INDEX
Business..................... PAGE 5B Calendar..................... PAGE 2B Cops Corner................PAGE 2A Crossword...................PAGE 7B Letters.......................PAGE 12A McMillan....................PAGE 12A Public Notices............ PAGE 6C Sports......................... PAGE 6B Tributes ...................... PAGE 3C Real Estate................. PAGE 4B
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With planned expansion projects, our waste water treatment facilities will have plenty of capacity, according to city staff. SIERRA WILLIAMS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
As of April 1, 2025, Palm Coast has 18,883 residential units in the pipeline, some from development orders issued in the 1990s. Of those, 13,335 have a final plat and technical site plan approval and could go into the ground immediately. The data was part of an Aug. 12 presentation to the Palm Coast City Council, detailing the development approval process at the city and the city’s remaining waste water treatment capacity. Deputy Development Director Ray Tyner said the approval process for just the subdivision platting phase — not including technical site plans or final plats — can take up to three years on its own. A whole team of staff members from different departments reviews the
applications, he said. “When we’re doing a presentation,” Tyner said, “you’re probably just seeing one or two people, and it seems pretty quick. But this is a very long process.” The approved projects include a remaining 1,820 units in the Town Center Development of Regional Impact, 3,104 units in the Palm Coast Park DRI, 6,829 units in a mix of other projects approved between 1999 and 2025, and over 7,000 remaining ITT lots. The Town Center and Palm Coast Park DRIs were approved in 2004. The 7,080 remaining ITT lots would not need to go through the city’s approval process and could feasibly begin work immediately, senior planner Jose Papa said. Palm Coast Utility Deputy Director Peter Rousell said that despite this number of projects, the city’s waste water treatment plants will keep up with the demand, once the planned expansions are completed. Over 13,300 of the approved projects will be serviced by Waste Water Treatment Facility 1 while the remaining 5,400 units will be served at WWTF 2. WWTF 1 has a current average
daily flow of 6.3 million gallons per day, and needs another 2.4 MGD to support the additional 13,300 units. But, Rousell said, the city has planned an expansion to WWTF 1 that will be completed in 2028 and bring the facility’s permitted capacity up to 10.8 MGPD. That would leave capacity for an additional 2 MGPD, or for an estimated 11,496 additional units, he said. The recent upgrades to WWTF 2 added an additional 1.4 MGPD to its capacity, bringing its total capacity to 4 MGPD. That leaves 1.6 MGPD, or room for 8,974 additional units. Vice Mayor Theresa Carli Pontieri wanted to know the city’s current capacity without the expansion. Rousell did not have that number on hand, but, Tyner said, as part of the application approval process, utility staff have to sign off that there is currently capacity for the developments. Staff would not recommend approval to any project that the city does not have waste water capacity for, he said. Councilman Ty Miller said the city still needs to complete its expansion and other other projects
APPROVED UNITS
1,820
units in the Town Center Development of Regional Impact
3,104
units in the Palm Coast Park DRI
6,829
units in a mix of other projects approved between 1999 and 2025
7,080
remaining ITT lots.
but it was good to know projects are not approved without having capacity. “This, to me, paints a less bleak outlook in terms of capacity,” Miller said, “once we get through these expansions that we need to do.” Email letters to the editor to brent@ observerlocalnews.com.