PALM COAST
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 16, NO. 36
CALIENDO LEADS FPC, 38-7 7B
FREE ON NEWSSTANDS | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2025
Last minute budget cuts fall flat Palm Coast Councilman Charles Gambaro advocates for rollback rate at final 2026 budget hearing PAGE 4A
Should we have metal detectors at school?
Party continues Flagler Beach Creates hosts Fall Family Day PAGE 1B
One parent says yes. Flagler School Board to hold workshop to discuss installing metal detectors on campuses PAGE 3A INSIDE CHARTER REVIEW
Animated, thoughtful discourse permeates first public workshop on Palm Coast charter. Should we have a strong mayor system? PAGE 4A
BOSTON WHALER
Letters from local officials to Brunswick invite company to sit down for ‘exit interview’ after the announcement that Boston Whaler is leaving. PAGE 7A
DANCE SELECTED
Flagler Commission Chair Dance selected as 1st Vice President of NEFRC PAGE 7A
MATANZAS FALLS
Mainland overcomes halftime deficit to topple Matanzas PAGE 6B
FPC SHINES
Flagler Palm Coast boys win fourth consecutive Five Star Conference cross country championship PAGE 8B
Cannen Crave, Mike Crave, Lauren Crave, Chance Crave and PJ Crave at the Centennial Fall Family Day. Photo by Hannah Hodge
Palm Coast is ‘prepared to defend’ itself vs. FHBA
Shopping plaza planned at Belle Terre and SR 100
Flagler Home Builders Association instructs members to pay newly increased impact fees but mark as ‘under protest.’
The site plan is still under revision but includes plans for two quick service restaurants.
SIERRA WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
INDEX
Business..................... PAGE 3B Calendar..................... PAGE 2B Cops Corner................PAGE 2A Crossword.................. PAGE 8B Letters........................ PAGE 9A Public Notices............ PAGE 5C Sports......................... PAGE 6B Real Estate................. PAGE 4B
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Palm Coast is standing by its recent impact fee increases, according to a letter officially responding to an Intent to Sue notice sent by Palm Coast developers. Palm Coast received the 19-page notice on Aug. 27 requesting the city repeal its recent impact fee increases or face a lawsuit. In a one-paragraph response sent on Sept. 10, attorney Jeremiah Blocker, an attorney at Douglas Law Firm, the legal firm contracted with Palm Coast, said the city disagrees that its impact fee ordinances violated Florida law. “The City is prepared to defend the Impact Fee Ordinances in any future lawsuit filed against the City,” wrote Blocker. Palm Coast received the letter from attorney Daniel Webster of Daytona Beach. Webster is representing the Flagler Home Builders Association and seven other businesses and individuals in the potential lawsuit. The FHBA chose to take up legal
action after the city dramatically increased its impact fees in June. During the lengthy process reviewing the increases, the city argued the recent extreme growth and increased inflation costs over the last six years qualified as the “extraordinary circumstances” required to increase impact fees by about 100%. Florida state law prohibits municipalities from increasing impact fees by more than 50% of the current rate and any increase must also be phased in over a two- to four-year period and the fees can only be increased once every four years. For a single-family home, the impact fees increased by $5,881. FHBA Executive Officer Annamaria Long declined to comment on the city’s response. On Sept. 24, Long sent an email to FHBA members, asking them to pay their impact fees separately from other city fees and write “under protest” on the memo section of a check. The email said this was the FHBA attorney’s recommendation. “Doing so will make it easier to recover funds when the suit is over and we prevail,” the email said. The Observer is a member of the FHBA. Long wrote that the FHBA has already put in over $50,000 into the fight on behalf of its members. She wrote the case will be filed “next week,” the week of Sept. 29.
SIERRA WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
A new shopping center could be coming to the vacant 6.65-acre lot across the street from the Starbucks on State Road 100 in Palm Coast. The lot, located at the southwest corner of Belle Terre Boulevard and State Road 100, is owned by Gray Enterprises Inc., located at 500 N. County Road 115, in Bunnell. The lot is currently zoned high intensity commercial with a Mixed Use future land use designation, according to the project’s site plan. The applicant — listed as Craig Boisseau, an engineer in Tampa, Florida, according to the city’s website — submitted a technical site plan to the city in August, which is still under review by city staff. The site plan states the proposed use as a mixture of fast food restaurants, office space, retail and flex/industrial space. The preliminary site plan has space for two retail shops of at least 2,800 square feet, three “flex” buildings ranging from 2,400-2,900 square feet and two quick service restaurants. Each quick service restaurant has a
drive-thru, the smaller of which could have a two-lane drive-thru. The plaza would be accessible through three separate entrances. One would be a right turn going east on S.R. 100 and the other going south on Belle Terre Boulevard. The Belle Terre Boulevard entrance shows plans for a dedicated right turn lane into the plaza and being able to right turn out of the plaza. A third entrance and exit from the plaza will be at the south end of the property. People will be able to turn right into the plaza from the southbound Belle Terre lane, and both left and right turn out of the plaza onto Belle Terre, according to the preliminary site plan. A dedicated left turn lane into the plaza from the northbound Belle Terre lane is also in the site plan. The designs for the entrances and exits along Belle Terre Boulevard would mirror those on the west side of Belle Terre Boulevard. The site plan has not been finalized, and is still undergoing reviews and is subject to change, according to the email from city planner Dylan Rodriquez.
IN THE PLAN 2 retail shops 3 “flex” buildings 2 quick service restaurants with drive-thrus