'This is your opportunity to have a voice': Imagine 2050 begins with public open house

Residents mingled with ambassadors for the comprehensive plan update, discussing their thoughts and opinions about what the city needs.

By Sierra Williams
| 1:09 p.m. October 14, 2023

Agnes Lightfoot (left) and Patricia Bottoms (right) read comments left by fellow Palm Coast residents. Photo by Sierra Williams

Palm Coast hosted an informational and interactive open house on Oct. 11 at the Palm Coast Community Center about the Imagine 2050 comprehensive plan update. Photo by Sierra Williams

Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin and resident Celia Pugliese. Photo by Sierra Williams

Resident Kathy Duffy peruses a discussion board. Photo by Sierra Williams

Ana DaAlmeida, president of the Flagler County Association of Realtors, is an ambassador of the Imagine 2050 project. Photo by Sierra Williams

Palm Coast site development coordinator Jackie Gonzalez helps residents use an interactive map display at the open house. Photo by Sierra Williams

Palm Coast residents listening to the informational presentation on what a comprehensive plan is. Photo by Sierra Williams

Palm Coast resident Jean-Pierre Dumas and city planner Phong Nguyen. Photo by Sierra Williams

Consultant Allara Mills-Gutcher, with The Planning Collaborative firm, talks to residents Agnes Lightfoot (left) and Jean-Pierre Dumas (right) at an interactive station. Photo by Sierra Williams

Planner Silvia Vargas with Calvin, Giordano & Associates leads a presentation to Palm Coast residents at an Imagine 2050 open house. Photo by Sierra Williams

Planner consultant Silvia Vargas, with Calvin, Giordano & Associates, answers questions from Palm Coast residents about the comprehensive plan update. Photo by Sierra Williams

Resident Denise Perugini debates how to answer one of the questions posed to residents about city parks and recreations. Photo by Sierra Williams

Jeffery and Kathleen Seib talk with Celia Pugliese. Photo by Sierra Williams

The different stations asked residents to leave their thoughts and experiences. This board asks residents why they moved to Palm Coast and what keeps them here. Photo by Sierra Williams

Parks and Recreation Director James Hirst talks to resident Kathy Duffy. Photo by Sierra Williams

Brandy Hyder (left), Agnes Lightfoot (center) and council member Cathy Heighter chat during the open house. Photo by Sierra Williams

Palm Coast Observer
News

What should Palm Coast look like decades from now? That’s what city staff asked locals to think about during an Oct. 11 open house for Palm Coast’s “Imagine 2050: City on the Rise” comprehensive plan update.

Palm Coast residents were invited to the Community Center to hear a brief educational presentation on comprehensive plans and then tour the different interactive and informational displays around the room. Each “station” was staffed by an Imagine 2050 ambassador ready to answer questions and help residents leave behind their ideas of what Palm Coast should look like.

Jackie Gonzalez, a Palm Coast site development coordinator and planner, manned the event’s “welcome station,” where participants marked on a map what areas of Palm Coast they live, work and play in. That data helps determine how the city plans future growth, she said.

“When you’re planning the next 30 to 50 years of the city’s growth, you want to know what areas people are wanting to grow in,” Gonzalez said.

The project began with a joint meeting between the Palm Coast City Council, the Planning Board and contracted consulting firm JBPro on Oct. 10. A consultant likened a comprehensive plan to a roadmap for how a city grows and develops.

Gonzalez said some of the topics that need to be discussed during a comprehensive plan update can be a little intense, but the whole point is for residents to learn about it and enjoy themselves as they do.

“It is a serious subject,” she said. “But at the same token, I want them to understand why we’re doing this.”

Gonzalez said it is important that residents participate in the process.

“Now you have opportunity to write the rules to change something,” she said. “This is your opportunity to have a voice. I’m all about people having a voice.”

Kathleen and Jeffery Seib said they want topics like environmental conservation, safety, lack of recreational opportunities, community development and design, infrastructure and growth discussed during the process.

The two said they were impressed with the consultants hired by the city to lead the project and the engagement opportunities planned.

“I think the community will reach out and get involved after seeing what they’re planning,” Kathleen Seib said.

Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Brittany McDermott said the responses on the interactive displays at the open house will be compiled to identify trends and common themes of what residents want.

“We want to see a communitywide perspective — what do people really see in the bigger picture for Palm Coast? — so that we can make sure we’re doing our part,” she said.

Jeffery Seib said his biggest concern is whether the staff and City Council will actually use the information and feedback gathered from residents as the plan is rewritten. Still, he said, it’s important for residents to participate.

“You’ve got to [participate] or otherwise, it’ll just be steamrolled over and then a group of people will be happy, and others will be unhappy,” he said. “If we all just work together, then the product will be something that could be called a win-win for everybody.”