PALM COAST
Observer — 2026 STANDING O edition —
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 16, NO. 49
FPC STARTS 9-6 PAGE 8B, 11B
FREE ON NEWSSTANDS | THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2026
Kidnapping suspect arrested
YOU DESERVE A STANDING O! Dr. Erika Equizi and seven others are recognized in this year’s edition PAGE 10A
11-year-old boy said he was tied up and threatened by sex offender. PAGE 2A INSIDE FURRY WITHDRAWS Will Furry drops out of the US-6 Congressional race, will run for reelection to Flagler School Board PAGE 12A
FIRST MAYOR DIES Jim Canfield, first mayor of Palm Coast, dies at 96 PAGE 12A
DEPUTY ARRESTED
Flagler Sheriff’s Office detention deputy arrested on domestic battery charge by Daytona Beach police PAGE 2A
CONGRATS, COACH! Flagler Palm Coast’s George Butts now Volusia-Flagler’s winningest basketball coach PAGE 11B
PIRATES WIN BY 3
Matanzas holds off Seabreeze 54-51 to end Sandcrabs’ 10game win streak PAGE 10B
INDEX
Business..................... PAGE 5B Calendar..................... PAGE 2B Cops Corner................PAGE 2A Crossword.................. PAGE 4C Letters.......................PAGE 12A Public Notices............ PAGE 5C Sports......................... PAGE 8B Tributes ...................... PAGE 2C Real Estate................. PAGE 4B
Dr. Erika Equizi. Courtesy photo
City to add 135 new parking spaces to Indian Trails Sports Complex The spaces will include 101 asphalt and 34 grass parking spaces. Adding lighting to more fields is next on the city’s list.
is in the city’s five-year capital improvement plan for the north multiuse fields around the track and two other fields, but the budget will need to be revisited after this project and the expansion of parking at Waterfront Park. Only two of Palm Coast’s parks have field lighting, limiting the number of parks that can be used by local sports teams during the evenings. Indian Trails Sports Complex
SIERRA WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
Over 130 new parking spaces will be added to the Indian Trails Sports Complex by June 2026. The city of Palm Coast has a budget of $1.5 million to complete the project, but, stormwater and engineering architect Eric Gebo said, they believe the project will come in well under budget. The Palm Coast City Council approved the project unanimously at its Jan. 6 meeting. The project will be performed in-house, by the Public Works Department’s special projects division, and will add, based on the city’s rendering, 101 asphalt park-
In this Palm Coast government rendering, dark gray represents new paved parking behind the original fields, at the southern end of the Indian Trails Sports Complex; green represents grass parking.
ing spaces and 34 grass parking spaces, roughly doubling the number of available parking spaces at the complex. The funding for the project will come out of city impact fees. The project will begin construction in February and is expected to be completed by June. The expanded parking area will remove some of the
land outside of the T-ball area. Just by doing the project in-house, instead of outsourcing the work, Gebo said, the city will save $350,000. Parking has been an issue at Indian Trails Sports Complex “almost since its inception,” Parks & Recreation Director James Hirst said. Last June, he said, the com-
plex had 150 lacrosse teams come out to the complex, each with 13 players, plus parents, and other sport events occurring at the same time. Lighting is still on the city’s list for Indian Trails, too. Stormwater Director Carl Cote said the city has just added lighting to four baseball fields; additional lighting
City accepts 5 acres from Flagler County Flagler County has transferred 5.4 acres of land to Palm Coast that will eventually be added to the city’s Waterfront Park and Linear Park Trail System. As part of the agreement, Palm Coast will pay the transfer closing costs, $6,000-$8,500, from Palm Coast’s Parks Impact Fee
is the largest and most used for sports and tournaments. “We have to check to see how, if we can afford the lights, can we do one field? We do two or three? How quickly can we advance that,” Cote said. “We’ll have to explore those options as we work through this year before next year’s budget, if we can advance one or two or three fields.” Email sierra@observerlocalnews.com.
fund. Flagler County originally purchased the land through its land acquisition program. The land is located on the west side of the Matanzas Riverbank and on the north side of the Hammock Dunes bridge. Parks & Recreation Director James Hirst said $30,000 in maintenance items will be needed to be completed: fencing repairs, walkway repairs and ditch maintenance.