- May 3, 2024
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Pointing to market conditions, the owner of a 146-acre parcel on the east side of U.S. 1 south of Belle Terre Boulevard sought the city planning board's approval April 21 to nix plans for a combined industrial, multifamily and single-family development in favor of an exclusively single-family development.
"... The residential market is extremely hot, so I can not swim upstream any longer. I need to go with the flow.”
— DAVID BLESSING, Palm Coast 145 LLC
The Palm Coast Planning and Land Development Regulation Board approved two measures for the parcel — a Future Land Use Map amendment and a zoning designation change — 7-0, with little discussion.
Board member Sandra Shank asked the owner about the reason for the shift.
“It appears to be an impact on the economy, because we’re losing commercial," Shank said. "So I was just wondering what is the rationale behind why are you switching it now, 4 years later?”
"I love the site plan; I think it was a great community," said David Blessing, a managing partner of Palm Coast 145 LLC, the firm that owns the land. "... I just did not have a lot of enthusiasm from investors with the conditions the market is in. As you are all aware, the residential market is extremely hot, so I can not swim upstream any longer. I need to go with the flow.”
The property had initially been designated in 2017 as a master planned development with 52 aces of industrial use and 82 acres of residential, with residential development to include multifamily and single-family and capped at 348 units, while nonresidential would be capped at 350,000 square feet. The remainder was to be greenbelt or conservation land.
The FLUM and zoning changes that won the planning board's approval eliminate the nonresidential and multifamily uses and convert the entire property to single-family-residential, but raise the cap on the total number of dwelling units from 348 to 450. The conservation areas will remain.
"What we have here is an applicant wanting to meet the market demand as he sees fit for the housing market," Palm Coast Senior Planner Jose Papa said. "... Rezoning the entire property to single family zoning provides a more consistent zoning designation with the adjacent single family neighborhood.”
The proposed changes are expected to decrease the development's impacts on traffic, water and sewer demand while increasing impacts on schools and solid waste facilities, Papa said, and will require the approval of the Palm Coast City Council as well as review by state agencies such as the Department of Environmental Protection.
