- April 19, 2024
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The City Council also approved a land use change that will allow commercial construction near the Palm Coast Methodist church.
New apartments or condo buildings may soon tower over Colbert Lane as a developer prepares to transform vacant land near the Sea Ray plant into a development with 615 homes — including, potentially, the highest residential buildings in the city’s limits.
Of the 615 planned units, 154 would be single family homes, and another 461 would be in multifamily buildings which are expected to be 95 feet high, with ground-level parking topped by seven stories. An additional 45,738 square feet of land would be developed for commercial uses.
Palm Coast’s City Council voted unanimously at an Oct. 17 council meeting to approve the zoning and land use changes that will allow a developer to build the units on a vacant plot of land off Colbert Lane and Harbor View Drive. The land is near, but not on, the Intracoastal Waterway, and some of it fronts the canal Sea Ray uses to test its boats.
“It’s an opportunity to diversify the housing stock in the city,” city Senior Planner Jose Papa said at the meeting.
The land, totaling about 109 acres, was recently annexed into the city of Palm Coast from unincorporated Flagler County, and currently has Flagler County land use map and zoning designations. It is owned by Sunbelt Palm Coast Marina and WGA Investments.
The City Council opted unanimously to approve changing the land’s zoning from the Flagler County designation of “planned unit development” to the city of Palm Coast designation of “master planned development.”
The council also voted unanimously to approve changing the land use map designations — 88.9+/-acres of residential-medium density (88.9+/- acres), 3.5 acres of commercial-low intensity and 17.5+/- of conservation — to their equivalent Palm Coast designations of residential, mixed use and conservation. While doing so, the city is requiring that the development not exceed 615 units — seven fewer than would have been allowable under county regulations.
But other entitlements for the property, such as building height, were put in place under county guidelines, and will remain in place as the land comes into the city.
Mayor Milissa Holland objected to the height, but there wasn’t much the city could do to change it.
“This just seems extraordinarily high,” she said. “That is ... just a little bit concerning.”
She proposed having city representatives meet with the county government to discuss creating some form of “consistency” for Colbert Lane in the future. City Manager Jim Landon agreed.
Previously called Harbor View Marina, the development will be renamed Marina Del Palma.
The city’s Planning and Land Development Regulation Board supported the changes, as did city staff.
The Palm Coast United Methodist Church has six more acres of land than it needs, and it’s preparing sell the excess and relocate. The City Council at its Oct. 17 meeting approved a zoning change to allow for the sale.
The church, now located on Belle Terre Parkway just east of the Flagler County Library, bought a parcel of land on the southeast corner of Matanzas Woods Parkway and Belle Terre Parkway from ITT in 1999, and plans to relocate there. It has already built recreational facilities and a retention pond. But the 22.33-acre plot of land is more than the church needs, and it hopes to sell off 6.2 acres .
The church initially proposed rezoning it from its current public/semi-public zoning to general commercial, but amended its request to neighborhood commercial after city staff members expressed concern that some of the uses allowed in general commercial zoning — like fast food restaurants, motorcycle dealerships and large gas stations — wouldn’t be compatible with the largely residential area.
About 35 residents signed a petition delivered to the city opposing the zoning change, but only one spoke in opposition at the meeting. City Council approved the change unanimously.
