THE HAMMOCK
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 1, NO. 37
RUNWAY RACERS PAGE 1B
FREE ON NEWSSTANDS | THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2026
Flagler County hopes bill will help fund the beach With one last remaining Senate Bill in play, Flagler officials say there’s a ‘slim’ chance for state’s help. PAGE 8A
At Petito’s exit, staff wears black
What projects are ongoing in the Hammock?
County leader’s last day will be July 14.
SIERRA WILLIAMS
PAGE 3A INSIDE NEW WALMART
Walmart confirmed as new retailer for SR 100, west of BJ’s Wholesale. PAGE 5B
CARNEY’S TAKE
Flagler County Commissioner calls controversial Veranda Bay development an ‘illegal annexation.’ PAGE 6A
ELECTION RESULTS R.J. Santore, Scott Spradley take home Flagler Beach Commission election. PAGE 6A
INDEX
Business..................... PAGE 5B Calendar..................... PAGE 2B Cops Corner................PAGE 2A Crossword.................PAGE 10B Letters.......................PAGE 12A Public Notices............ PAGE 5C Schools....................... PAGE 4B Sports......................... PAGE 8B Tributes ...................... PAGE 4C Real Estate................. PAGE 6B
Hammock Community Association hosts Q+A with county employees. STAFF WRITER
Hammock residents had an opportunity on March 3 to talk to county employees about projects going on in The Hammock. The Hammock Community Association invited HCA members and Hammock residents to the MalaCompra Community Center on March 3 to hear from Flagler County employees about projects ongoing in The Hammock. HCA President Lora Stillman said this was a great opportunity for Hammock residents to get to know who works for them at the county and to ask questions. “A lot of the residents in The Hammock either don’t have time and the capability to get into the County Commission meetings,” Stillman said. “And at the County Commission meetings, you don’t generally get the department heads speaking.” Three department heads came out to the HCA meeting to answer questions: Parks & Recreation manager Denny Bobik, Public Lands and Natural Resource and Environmentally Sensitive Lands manager Erick Revuelta and county engineer Hamid Tabassian. Commissioner Greg Hansen was scheduled to attend but had to cancel at the last minute. Tabassian’s department deals with construction projects and the beach management projects.
In The Hammock, his department is working on a road improvement project in Jungle Hut Road that will begin construction in 2029 and he is working on submitting a grant for a pedestrian hybrid signal at MalaCompra Road and A1A. The drainage improvement project for First Avenue is now in the permitting phase, and is anticipated to send the project to bid over the summer and construction completed “by the end of the year.” The MalaCompra Canal expansion is still in the design phase, he said. Once the design is finished, he said, they will likely have another public workshop with Hammock residents. The Hammock falls into Reach 3 of the county’s beach renourishment plan, Varn Park to Washington Oaks State Park, which is still in the design phase. “That work is going to be challenging, to be honest, to get that done, because we have a lot of hardbottom in this area,” Tabassian said. In the meantime, the county has submitted paperwork to designate Reach 3 as critically eroded. If approved, that will give the county more state funding for the renourishment of that area of shoreline. “We are very optimistic that that is going to go through,” Tabassian said. “Out of the 18 miles of the coast, a little bit over 10 miles is already designated as critically eroded.” Revuelta said the Land Management Office was recently moved over to the River-to-Sea Preserve. Their office manages invasive species on conservation lands in the county, and works on procuxring
“A lot of the residents in The Hammock either don’t have time and the capability to get into the County
FREE
Commission meeting, and at the County Commission
ON NEWSSTANDS.
meetings, you don’t generally get the department
$1/WEEK
heads speaking.”
ON YOUR DRIVEWAY.
LORA STILLMAN, President of the Hammock Community Association
County engineer Hamid Tabassian speaks to the Hammock Community Association about local projects. Photo by Sierra Williams
more conservation land for the county. The ESL program has acquired around 6,000 acres of conservation land. In The Hammock, he said, they are working on buy land from JDI Marineland and 40 acres of land between the Intracoastal and S.R. A1A near the Beach Haven development on the north end of the county and the 21-acre Cedar Point property. In the case of the 40 acre property and the Cedar Point property, the county is not looking to turn those into a park, Revuelta said, but instead place a conservation easement. Conservation easements limit the type and amount of development that can occur on a property and are less expensive while still preserving land. “So it stretches your money while still having some protection, but it’s not going to be a park,” he
said. Parks and Recreation maintains the trails and parks across the county, including the 32 parks, with a crew of just 12. Bobik said he gets a lot of emails from The Hammock residents and it helps his team tremendously. “There are times where we need y’all’s eyes on to let us know this has happened or a tree has fallen,” Bobik said. Stillman said listening to the projects under the county’s eye, she is always thinking of other areas of improvement, especially when it comes to land conservation. For every oak tree cut down, she said, the environment and wildlife on the barrier island is impacted. “It’s just something that we on the board of directors feel really, really committed to making sure that we try to preserve the nature, try to preserve the lifestyle,” Stillman said.
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