- April 26, 2024
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A new commercial development may be added in northern Palm Coast across from Matanzas High School.
The proposed development, which may be anchored by a Publix Super Market, is enabled by a land swap involving the city and county governments and the developer. The Flagler County Commission approved a final portion of the exchange at its Oct. 1 meeting as part of the meeting's consent agenda.
The arrangement is expected to be finalized sometime in November. The design, permitting and construction process for the development will likely begin in 2019 and take a couple of years, city spokeswoman Cindi Lane said.
"What the developer has told us is that they’re hoping to develop a center that we’re calling a 'regional center,'" Lane said. "Because this one is next to the [Interstate 95] interchange, we are also considering it to have highway commercial uses that would serve customers passing thorough Palm Coast."
County Administrator Craig Coffey called attention to the land deal agenda item after the County Commission passed it without discussion at the Oct. 1 meeting.
"We don’t get enough credit for working through various issue, and it’s a positive thing," Coffey said near the end of the meeting. "It’s not really earth-shattering, news-wise, but we gave the city a bunch of land, several hundred acres up there; we gave them the Matanzas Woods Parkway right of way, and this is part of the exchange. We're required to approve, or sign off, on some of those things. And this is going to allow a development to move forward right across from the high school, which will probably be a Publix and some other things."
A parcel on which the development would be built was previously county land, which the county deeded to the city of Palm Coast last year. But it contains a retention pond that developer Matanzas Holdings wants to fill in and relocate in order to make way for the development process, conducting a land swap with the city of Palm Coast. The county government was required to approve the land swap.
A parcel of land the city is receiving in the deal contains healthy wetlands and may be used for pedestrian and bicycling trails, Lane said. Once the land agreement is finalized, Lane said, the developer is expected to request a rezoning for a master planned development.
The land swaps are being conducted without any exchange of money.
"This property exchange would benefit both Palm Coast and Flagler County through increased taxable property values related to the developable land," a Flagler County government meeting backup document states.
