- April 29, 2024
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The Bunnell City Commissioners alongside Bunnell Mayor Catherine Robinson, City Manager Alvin Jackson Jr. and Bunnell Police Chief David Brannon at the breaking ground ceremony for Bunnell's new administration and BPD complex. Photo by Sierra Williams
The Flagler County Commission and Bunnell City Commission at the Commerce Parkway expansion groundbreaking. Photo by Sierra Williams
A rendering of the new Bunnell city administration and Bunnell Police Department complex. Image courtesy of Bunnell
A map showing the route of the expanded Commerce Parkway connection. Image courtesy of Flagler County
Bunnell Mayor Catherine Robinson. Photo by Sierra Williams
Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly. Photo by Sierra Williams
Flagler County Commissioner Andy Dance and Bunnell Mayor Catherine Robinson. Photo by Sierra Williams
The Bunnell County Commission tossing dirt at the groundbreaking for its new administration building. Photo by Sierra Williams
Flagler County elected officials, first responder chiefs and county staff at the Commerce Parkway groundbreaking. Photo by Sierra Williams
Members of the Bunnell Police Department shovel dirt at the site of their future Bunnell Police Department home. Photo by Sierra Williams
Flagler County and Bunnell elected officials celebrated 20 years of work on Monday, April 1 when the county and city finally broke ground on the road that will connect State Road 100 to Highway U.S. 1.
“I did not see that this road would ever get built,” Bunnell Mayor Catherine Robinson said. “As time has gone on, the dream has resurrected itself. We worked through the nightmare of negotiations and funding. And here we are today: a beautiful dream.”
Commerce Parkway currently begins at S.R. 100 at the Wendy’s and then turns into Sheriff EW Johnston Drive as it curves around west toward the county government buildings. The expansion project will extend Commerce Parkway south along the east side of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office’s Operations Center and continue for 1.7 miles until it connects to U.S. 1.
The road will have of two undivided 11-foot lanes with 8-foot roadside shoulders, five feet of which will be paved, a Flagler County press release said. There will be open drainage swales on both sides of the roadway and a 5-foot sidewalk along the eastern side. The total right-of-way will be 80 feet, and it will be flanked on both sides by 15-foot easements.
We worked through the nightmare of negotiations and funding. And here we are today: a beautiful dream.”
— CATHERINE ROBINSON, Bunnell mayor
The final project cost is just over $12 million, County Commissioner Andy Dance said. Half of that money comes from $6.8 million in state funds Bunnell received in 2022 from the state legislature.
Work on Commerce Parkway should be completed in August of 2025.
The idea for an expansion began almost 20 years ago. Robinson credited the idea to the Oar family, and specifically Carol Oar, who donated funding and right of ways to bring the project to fruition.
“We wouldn't be standing here today if it wasn't for Carol Oar and her dedication,” Robinson said. “…I can't wait until I can walk the 1.7 miles and pop up on U.S. 1 and see the beauty of the country we live in through those woods.”
Charlie Faulkner, a friend of the Oars and the former chief engineer of the project on behalf of the Oar family, said the idea of the parkway was always to help Bunnell prosper.
“They wanted Bunnell to grow,” Faulkner said. “They wanted it to be prosperous.”
City manager Alvin Jackson said the expansion will add opportunity for a mixture of commercial, retail, light industrial and residential development along the 1.7-mile road.
“Organically, what is happening, is that this is going to become the economic center for the city,” Jackson said.
Already, interested parties have reached out and are working on permits or designs for land along the expanded Commerce Parkway, he said.
“When you talk about a walkable community, the whole intent is for individuals to be able to work in this area and walk home,” Jackson said.
Dance said during the groundbreaking ceremony that this has been a long time in the making, and the work of multiple people and organizations.
Organically, what is happening, is that this is going to become the economic center for the city.”
— ALVIN JACKSON, Bunnell city manager
As the project completes, he said, the county will see the area along the new Commerce Parkway “bloom” with development, especially as it is centered around the county government buildings, the FCSO Operations Center and the site of the county’s future library and administrative building.
“That's going to really bring life to this corridor,” Dance said. “...Any services that the public will need will be available right here in this area.”
CONSTRUCTION ON NEW BUNNELL ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, BPD STATION BEGINS
Just up the road from where work on Commerce Parkway has begun, Bunnell also broke ground on its new city administration complex on April1.
The 19,000-square-foot building will sit directly across from First Baptist Church of Bunnell on Commerce Parkway. The facility will be home to the city administration offices, the Bunnell Police Department and a meeting hall and comes with a $10.5 million price tag, according to the city’s website.
The building will be completed the summer of 2025.
“We’ll push a little, hopefully,” Robinson said.
The city has been renting space at a strip mall at 604 E. Moody Boulevard, behind the Chicken Pantry, since 2021, when it was forced to move after discovered leaks and mold in its building at 201 W. Moody Boulevard.
It really will give us what I call home, a home base for our operations as a police department."
— DAVID BRANNON, Bunnell Police Chief
The Bunnell Police Department has been operating out of a modular office trailer behind the county emergency management building since 2022. BPD Chief David Brannon that while the space has been enough to get by, it doesn’t have the facilities a police station needs.
“To see this, the groundbreaking occurring, after months and months of assisting the team and developing a design for the building, it is very exciting,” Brannon said.
The BPD has 14 officers who share the 300-square-foot office space. The new station will have just under 6,000 square feet of space dedicated to the BPD, Brannon said.
The upgrade in space gives officers room to hold indoor training sessions, offices for detectives and command staff, a lobby for members of the public and a workout room for the officers.
“It increases a lot of capacity for us,” Brannon said. “…It really will give us what I call home, a home base for our operations as a police department, where the community will know that this is where the Bunnell Police Department is located.”
