THE HAMMOCK
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 1, NO. 47
Pirates prep for spring PAGE 9B
FREE ON NEWSSTANDS | THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2026
Two developments proposed on A1A One land owner has submitted applications for The Cottages (46 homes) and The Cove (27 homes). PAGE 5B
Q + A LORA STILLMAN, PRESIDENT OF HAMMOCK COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION Freytags receive Preserving The Hammock through advocacy Golden Eagle SIERRA WILLIAMS
ABOUT THE HCA
STAFF WRITER
Scouts honor philanthropists, future leaders. PAGE 1B INSIDE THE RAMIREZ Q+A
Flagler School Board member Lauren Ramirez talks A.I., vouchers and student success. PAGE 3A
PUBLIC SERVANTS
Flagler law enforcement officers honored during 20th annual Kiwanis awards luncheon. PAGE 5A
SCHOOL INSURANCE School Board adopts nonetwork health care plan. PAGE 5A
MULLINS SUES
Former Flagler County Commissioner Joe Mullins files defamation lawsuit against FlaglerLive and its editor. PAGE 6A
INDEX
Business..................... PAGE 6B Calendar..................... PAGE 2B Cops Corner................PAGE 2A Crossword.................. PAGE 2C Letters........................ PAGE 9A Public Notices............ PAGE 6C Schools....................... PAGE 3B Sports......................... PAGE 6B Tributes ...................... PAGE 4C Real Estate................. PAGE 4B
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The HCA meets every first Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. at the Hammock Community Center, located at 79 Mala Compra Road. The next meeting is at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 2, where the HCA is hosting a candidate forum for the Flagler County School Board Districts 1, 2 and 4 candidates. For more information about the HCA, upcoming meetings and the newsletter, the HCA website is TheHammock.org. Open to the public.
ature, beauty, community. Hammock Community Association President Lora Stillman sat down with the Observer to talk about the impact citizens can have on government.
What is the Hammock Community Association?
Our mission statement says that we are here to inform and to influence the community members and other organizations and government officials about the importance of protecting and preserving The Hammock. What we envision is a future of The Hammock looking like it does now, as much as possible, but adding responsible development in there. Having restaurants, having businesses, but for it to not become overwhelmed with all business. Who would you say is the right fit to join the HCA?
Anybody. I think most people live on The Hammock barrier island because of the trees, the nature, the animals — just the feel of it. It’s relaxed, it’s quiet, it’s not huge bright lights everywhere. I think most people like it that way, and that’s why they live here, whether they’ve lived here for 40 years, five years, inherited a home from a family member, or decided to build a new home. Come and listen to the speakers that we bring in that give advice on how to protect your property. I wasn’t here at the time, but apparently we had a wildfire, and people had to evacuate. Those who are new here, that was very enlightening. Talking about nature, we bring in the experts about the North Atlantic Right Whale and the scientific project that goes on every spring. How do you advocate for maintaining The Hammock?
All of the board members pay
attention to what’s going on by reading the local news, papers, by going to the [Flagler County] Commission meetings, by going to the subcommittees. And also keeping up to date on what the Florida legislators are doing. For example, in my neighborhood, there has been a significant increase of short-term rental properties. That’s one of the things that we have been keeping an eye on, making sure that the property owners are following the rules and the laws. Some of those rules, for instance, have to do with making sure that the lights are turned off at night that are within a certain number of feet of the beach, because it impacts the turtles that are nesting. Does the HCA have a real impact on the way decisions are made for the projects in The Hammock?
Let’s say it this way: We are going to try to have an impact. We might get frustrated; maybe sometimes we feel what we’re suggesting is not being considered. But then other times we feel like maybe we are making a difference. If for no other reason than to keep making sure that the Board of County Commissioners, the Planning and Zoning Board, all of the players at the county level, are at least getting reminded by us that there are codes, and it’s their codes that they’re supposed to be enforcing. It’s not supposed to be our job to do that. We’re the ones that keep raising the flag and saying, “Hold on, you need to go back to the codes, we don’t think the ordinances are being followed.” Those ordinances
Lora Stillman, president of the Hammock Community Association. Photo by Sierra Williams
are there to maintain the feel, the atmosphere of The Hammock. The HCA has in the past gone to court to advocate for The Hammock. When the HCA is deciding to file a lawsuit, what kind of thought process goes into that decision?
that the board of commissioners knows this is how we feel about it. We’ve got a couple of board members who have read through the land code so many times, they can quote it. Seriously, they can quote sections of it by a code number, and almost quote what it says in the land development code. We’re just constantly going back to them saying, “OK, this is coming, but have you looked at this?” Our board members who look at upcoming possible development, and they will go through the the plans that’s being submitted to the county by the developer. They’ll go through it detail by detail and and then submit to the county and to the Planning and Zoning Board where there are mistakes, where there are issues that do not, in our opinion, match with what the land development code says they can do, such as buffers between the property and the State Road A1A highway.
It’s not an easy decision, and fortunately we have some very educated and very intellectual people on the board who will think through all of the different angles. We’ll talk it through with an attorney, and then we’ll talk amongst the board members: Do we have a chance of winning? What is our goal for filing this? Does it really fit into our mission and vision statements? Is it really going to make an impact? Or is this maybe a lawsuit that we shouldn’t even bother looking at, but still [be] discussing it out in the public, making sure the public knows what’s going on, and then framing it in front of the commissioners? Maybe we don’t decide to do a lawsuit, but at least make sure
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