- April 23, 2024
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A day after the Palm Coast City Council defied resident opposition and voted 4-1 in favor of a self-storage facility on Old Kings Road near the Hidden Lakes community, the city's planning board has voted in favor of a second self-storage that may be constructed nearby.
"Palm Coasters pay about 50% more on average for storage. ... So pair that with the fact that we’re not putting our RVs or boats in our yards or in our driveways in Palm Coast, we have sort of like a captive market with this built-in demand."
— WALKER DOUGLAS, applicant
The Flagler County planning board also recently granted initial approval for a self-storage facility near the northern enhance to the Plantation Bay community.
The facility considered by the city's Planning and Land Development Regulation Board on Jan. 19 would be on the east side of Old Kings road just less than a mile north of its intersection with Town Center Boulevard and across from an Interstate 95 weigh station, near the Toscana neighborhood.
At approximately 13 acres, it would be smaller that the Secure Space facility that received the City Council's support on Jan. 18 for a 23-acre site at the northwest corner of Old Kings Road and Town Center Boulevard.
But like Secure Space, this second storage facility — referred to as "RF2 Storage" in city documents — would feature covered RV and boat parking spots as well as air-conditioned storage rooms.
Applicant Walker Douglas, of Douglas Property & Development, told planning board members at the Jan. 19 meeting that the land has been under the same ownership for 18 years, and that the owner had approached Douglas Property & Development about how best to monetize it.
"We saw the writing on the wall last year," Douglas said. "Palm Coasters pay about 50% more on average for storage than folks in Daytona or St. Augustine or Jacksonville. So pair that with the fact that we’re not putting our RVs or boats in our yards or in our driveways in Palm Coast, we have sort of like a captive market with this built-in demand and a pretty severe shortage — hence the 50% premium."
No one from the community spoke during the meeting's public comment period to oppose The RF2 Storage facility — a contrast to the meeting the previous day about the Secure Space facility, which drew opposition from neighbors who said they worried it would generate too much noise and traffic.
The RF2 Storage facility would be built on land that is zoned for general commercial use. The city allows self-storage facilities and warehouses in the general commercial district, but only if they submit, and receive approval for, a "special exception" application.
That was the step the planning board approved with a 6-0 vote on Jan. 19.
The RF2 Storage facility would have 127 boat and RV storage spaces, plus 698 storage units spread among six buildings covering 86,950 square feet of building space, city certified planner Estelle Lens told planning board members.
There would be two gated entrances.
"The site will be very well buffered — landscape and natural buffers around the perimeters," Lens said. A conservation easement to the east, about 650 feet and owned by the Toscana homeowners association, buffers the Toscana community, she said.
Douglas presented a traffic study showing that the facility would generate an annual average of 359 daily trips, including 40 p.m. peak-hour trips. In contrast, Douglas said, a 6,000-square-foot gas station and convenience store could be expected to generate 359 daily average peak-hour trips.
"It’s about as light of a trip generation as you’re going to get for any use in [general commercial zoning],” Douglas said. "... This piece of property, it's going to be important to get it in production, get some commercial taxpayers. If we can do that at the same time as we're reducing pricing for storage and opening up that market and increasing supply, I think we're doing a pretty good thing."
The proposal will have to return the planning board again once the developer submits a technical site plan for approval.
