To Palm Coast’s Anti-Growth Movement: Be Careful What You Wish For.

PALM COAST, FLA. – August 28, 2026 – Egged on by an army of NIMBY activists that dominates social media and the public comment segments of council meetings, City Council Mayor Norris and Vice Mayor Pontieri, with a largely compliant council, have successfully put the brakes on residential growth. City staff has been complicit. But at what price?

Several recent news items are the direct result of their efforts.

Western Expansion

Radient abruptly withdrew its application for its Western Expansion master plan after encountering stiff opposition from city council and anti-growth residents.  In a nutshell, the plan would have abandoned two existing mixed-use DRI’s totaling 12,000 entitled residential units and defined a new master-planned development, doubling the acreage and increasing the residential entitlement to 22,000.

The withdrawn plan was comprised of three separate areas:

1. Existing Neoga Lakes DRI (6,410 acres)
2. Existing Old Brick Township (approximately 4,500 acres)
3. Unincorporated Flagler County land to be annexed by Palm Coast as part of the agreement (approximately 9,000 acres)

Palm Coast was in the driver’s seat, so it could dictate any approved master plan. Pandering to a vocal anti-growth minority- that’s exactly what they did, and Radient walked.

So, what’s next?  Here are a few options Radient might consider:

Deal directly with Flagler County

Radient could leave the two approved DRIs intact. These agreements are still alive and define the broad scope of development: residential density, commercial square footage, wetlands and environmental acreage, commitments for public use (schools, parks, etc.), and infrastructure, but do not commit to more granular elements like street layout and building types.

Rather than annexing the unincorporated acreage into the city as part of an overall Western Expansion rezoning and master-planned community agreement with the city, Radient could work with a compliant county commission and staff to design the unincorporated acreage into an overall plan that ties into the existing DRIs. Annexation would remain as an option later.

The power of preemption – Enter Florida’s Agricultural Enclave legislation

What if the county is not a willing partner?  (Picture Pontieri as a Flagler Commissioner)  

Florida’s Agricultural Enclave Statute prevents local governments from using restrictive future land use maps or “anti-urban sprawl” policies to permanently lock surrounded agricultural parcels into low-density rural zoning. Recent local conversations have raised questions about whether this statute applies to the Western Expansion. Potentially, up to 4,480 acres of the unincorporated agricultural land would be eligible for development under the enclave provisions. Beyond the 4,489 acres, Radient would still be dealing with the county, but the enclave designation would have let the camel’s head under the tent.

A major qualifier for enclave status is being surrounded by entitled or developed property.  The majority of the unincorporated land is bounded by the two DRIs on the south and west sides and by the Palm Coast Park DRI on the east side. See the maps below. 

Western Expansion Plan Map

Unincorporated County Land Surrounded by Entitled DRIs

Impact Fee Lawsuit Loss

The Flagler Homebuilders Association prevailed in a lawsuit that challenged the legality of recent increases in impact fees. The city must return millions of dollars in improperly collected fees. The city has announced that it will contest the decision.

A companion lawsuit alleging sloppy impact fee calculation methodology is moving forward. Facts uncovered during discovery highlight the risks associated with the city’s overreliance on unregulated impact fee consultants as buffers.

This outcome was completely preventable. Long before the fees increased, the HBA presented evidence that the increase exceeded lawful limits and that it would be forced to sue the city. The city chose to be arrogant and greedy, two words too often hurled at builders and developers. The HBA supports impact fees and would have quietly accepted an increase within legal limits.

Town Center Developer Settlement

The developer of Town Center sued the city because it denied projects within Town Center, citing a lack of water and sewer capacity. After a year of litigation, the city agreed to a settlement requiring it to purchase the developer’s remaining Town Center holdings (23 parcels totaling 359 acres) for $17M.

By settling, the city avoided additional legal fees and potential losses estimated at $15-35M, without getting any land in return if the plaintiff prevailed. The city assumes the property’s remaining CDD bond debt of $1.9M and the remaining development rights associated with the parcels. The transaction will also remove the parcels from the tax roll, reducing city revenue by over half a million dollars annually.

Once this transaction is completed, the city will face increasing pressure to relieve financial pressures by selling the property to tax-paying buyers. They will find themselves in the role of developers. It will be interesting to see how they will confront the development hurdles that they consistently placed before Allete.

Byrndog Files Bert Harris Lawsuit

The developer of Cascades, a development in Seminole Woods, filed a Bert Harris Act lawsuit against the city, claiming the city reneged on a staff and administration agreement that would allow an additional 416 density units if the developer agreed to annex into the city. City Council later denied the increase. The lawsuit seeks to recover the lost property value estimated at $12.2M. The result of this lawsuit is still too early to call. Regardless of the outcome, the city’s attorneys will get paid.

We cannot let the noise in the room prevail. We need to read the law. Local government does not like preemption. I warned several years ago that if we failed to deal with our local housing and land use issues effectively, Tallahassee would step in. That’s exactly what is happening, and it’s costing us a bundle.