- April 29, 2024
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A $2.5 million roundabout is planned for south Old Kings Road as part of the Radiance development planned for the area.
The roundabout and development would be located on the east side of the intersection of Audubon Way and Old Kings Road, located near Flagler County’s southern border. A left turn lane is required at the development’s entrance because of the amount of traffic the Radiance development would generate with over 1,200 units, Growth Management Director Adam Mengel said.
“A roundabout would do that better, in staff’s opinion,” Mengel said.
The roundabout will not be funded by the county. The decision the Flagler County Commission approved — in a 4-1 vote with Commissioner Leann Pennington dissenting — on Feb. 5 was to allow the developer, Venture 8, LLC, to build the roundabout and receive transportation impact fee credits for the cost of building it.
The $2.5 million cost estimate — which Mengel said will very likely increase overtime with construction costs — equates to roughly 1,600 units-worth of impact fee credits. The Radiance development was approved for just over 1,200 units. Each residential unit in a development accrues an impact fee.
The cost of the roundabout is more expensive than the Radiance's impact fees. The remaining credits will be transferrable and can be used elsewhere, Mengel said, so long as it is within the same expenditure district east of the Florida East Coast railroad right-of-way.
“The idea here with this those credits have to be used first by Venture 8, or their successors, and then they can be transferable,” Mengel said.
Mengel said the roundabout was previously approved as part of the Radiance development’s previously approved Planned Unit Development agreement with Flagler County.
Some locals attended the Feb. 5 commission meeting to express concerns about the danger of installing a roundabout. Flagler County resident Tom Hudson said he and other locals have been trying to keep roundabouts from Old Kings Road.
"The residents in that area do not — do not —want roundabouts," he said.
Hudson also expressed concerns about the future of Old Kings Road, which will likely be widened to four lanes.
Commission Chair Andy Dance said that while expanding Old Kings Road is on the county’s priority list, there is not, at this stage, a timeline for that. Regardless, Mengel said it would be possible to expand the roundabout to accommodate four lanes.
Dance said he wanted to clear up miscommunications about roundabout safety — Old Kings Road already has a history of accidents, even without roundabouts, he said.
“Red lights have problems. Roundabouts significantly have less problems, but do have problems,” Dance said.
Because the idea of the roundabout was staff-generated, not from the developer, the commission is able to change it, Mengel said, likely during the final plat approval process, which is likely several months out.
Commissioner Dondald O’Brien said the idea of a roundabout at that location was settled with the PUD’s approval.
“Roundabouts work, they're safe,” O’Brien said. “You cannot deny the data that they're effective everywhere we've implemented them.”
