- May 5, 2024
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Jim Davis owns chickens. His neighbors take care of them when he and his wife are out of town, and they bring fresh eggs to those who share their street. Before he bought his home, he checked county and state ordinances to ensure that he could raise chickens and grow food on his property in Marineland Acres.
But his rooster begins to crow at 4 a.m. daily, and some of his neighbors aren’t happy. One of them, Barbara Hart, asked the Flagler County Board of County Commissioners on Monday to consider changing its codes, which currently allow residents to keep animals on lots with the same zoning as those in Marineland Acres.
“I don’t see how ‘animal’ could mean farm animals,” Hart said during public comment. “When I moved here, I thought my days of alarm clocks were behind me.”
But, Davis says, he has a right to own his rooster. He purposely stayed away from gated communities and neighborhoods with homeowners’ associations as he shopped for a home so he could enjoy certain rights.
“I don’t know how the staff is going to propose to solve this without trampling on private property rights,” Davis said.
Flagler County Administrator Craig Coffey said the matter is complicated, because zoning regulations for Marineland Acres superseded much of the area’s development.
Commissioner Frank Meeker said there were a lot of things in that neighborhood that must be addressed —from draining issues to zoning issues. The commission said they would examine the current codes for and zoning in the area.
+ County gains ownership of Graham Swamp
After completing a land assessment of its holdings, the St. Johns River Water Management District proposed the donation of several parcels of land to Flagler County.
On Monday, the County Commission approved one of those donations: the entirety of Graham Swamp Conservation Area, a 3,199 parcel. Flagler County had already been acting as lead manager of the property, and as such, has already been maintaining it.
The transfer of ownership will cost the county less than $200.
The county will consider the other proposed donations at a later date. The next, tentatively scheduled for August, is the proposed acquisition of Haw Creek Preserve, a 1,041 parcel. The third proposed donation is for 477 acres of the 3,121-acre Pellicer Creak Conservation Area. That donation is tentatively scheduled to come before the commission for approval in September.
+ Commission discourages youth access to flavored tobacco
Use of tobacco among teens is higher in Flagler County than it is statewide. In a survey, 24.3% of high school students and 9% of middle school students reported using some kind of tobacco product within the last 60 days of taking the survey.
In accordance, the County Commission on Monday approved a resolution supporting local businesses that limit youth access to the sale and to the marketing of such projects. Palm Coast and Flagler Beach have passed similar resolutions that discourage the sale of flavored tobacco, saying the candy-flavored products are targeted at youth.
