- April 24, 2024
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City Councilman Eddie Branquinho walked off the City Council dais in the middle of a council workshop meeting the morning of July 12, saying he'd be rethinking his role with the city.
Branquinho had objected to the way his council colleagues want to handle proposed resident survey questions on multifamily housing.
"I'm here on the side of [the] people," Branquinho said. "And if you think anything different than what I'm thinking, then you're not on the side of the people, you're on the side of something else."
Branquinho, who'd first proposed that the city survey residents about their thoughts on multifamily housing and who consistently opposes proposals for new apartment complexes, wants the multifamily housing questions to make up their own stand-alone survey.
But other council members, following the suggestion of city staff members at the workshop, said they preferred to instead bundle the multifamily housing questions into a broader resident survey on growth in the city.
"I don't belong here. I'll rethink my future today," Branquinho said at the workshop as he gathered up his belongings and stepped away from the dais. "Because I don't belong here. I don't want to do this to the people of Palm Coast. I don't belong here, and I'm going to think with my family as to what I want to do. Being here — and not caring for the people of Palm Coast, because that's exactly what you're doing."
Turning to Mayor David Alfin, he added, "Let me think about my future, sir, and I'll have an answer for you by the end of next week."
If Branquinho resigns from his council seat, the remaining council members will have the option to either leave the seat open until the November general election or appoint someone to serve as an interim council member. Once of the council's current members — John Fanelli — is an interim councilman, serving in the District 2 seat vacated as a result of former Councilman Victor Barbosa's resignation.
As Branquinho walked off the dais, Alfin asked city staff members if they understood the council's direction regarding the survey.
Branquinho, on his way out of the room, interjected: "Not my direction, though! Not my direction."
Branquinho had proposed two survey questions:
1. Are you in favor of additional multi-family housing developments in the City of Palm Coast? Yes or No
2. Are you in favor of the City of Palm Coast allowing single-family homes to be built on lots:
City staff members also want to ask residents additional questions about their feelings about population growth and housing in the city, and thought it would make sense to include Branquinho's questions in with those others, once staff members compose them, city Director of Communications and Marketing Brittany Kershaw said at a staff presentation at the workshop.
Branquinho immediately objected, saying that waiting and adding additional questions on housing would just distract people.
He added, "And, most likely, from what I see, I'm not going to be here by that time."
Branquinho's term as the council's District 4 councilman ends this year, and he is not running for re-election.
"I think we should just, at least, send these [questions] out there, and listen to what the people of Palm Coast have to say," he said.
Some council members suggested potential tweaks to the questions' wording, and Alfin proposed prefacing the survey question about whether there should be more multifamily housing with a statement explaining how much already exists.
"We're kind of asking, 'Should there be more,'" Alfin said. "More than what? I don't even know, myself, at this moment, how much there is. ... It's hard to know how much there should be if you don't know what your starting point is."
Councilman John Fanelli and Councilman Ed Danko said they favored including Branquinho's questions in a broader survey on the city's Comprehensive Plan, rather than holding a standalone survey.
When Alfin said he thought he was hearing a council consensus in favor of including Branquinho's questions in the broader survey, Branquinho said, "Then I don't belong here," and started gathering up his papers.
Branquinho has steadfastly opposed new proposals for multifamily housing in Palm Coast, saying that he believes more apartment complexes would degrade the city's quality of life and lead to rising crime rates.
"I invested all of my life savings in a home over here in Palm Coast because I thought I was a going to get rid of the Newarks in my life," Branquinho said at the workshop. "And if we keep on building this, we're going to have a Newark here — and I can say this, because came from there."
He's voted against virtually every proposed multifamily development that's come before the City Council for approval, and has sometimes been the sole vote in opposition.
In some of those cases, his council colleagues and the city's attorney have warned that the City Council would have no legal grounds to deny the developer's proposal for multifamily housing, and that doing so would invite a lawsuit.
Branquinho has insisted that the City Council should have the authority to restrict multifamily housing.
In March, he proposed a moratorium on the construction of any multifamily housing in Palm Coast east of U.S. 1.
That proposal drew warnings from the city's attorney, and Branquinho canceled his call for a moratorium, deciding instead to address the multifamily housing issue though the city's review of its Strategic Action Plan.
He proposed his survey questions as part of that process.
"I'm here on the side of [the] people," Branquinho said at the workshop. "And if you think anything different than what I'm thinking, then you're not on the side of the people, you're on the side of something else — no idea, I don't even want to venture, to say what it is."
