- April 26, 2024
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Instead of a concession stand, the Bull Creek Fish Camp could be getting a new restaurant building on site.
The funding for the project would come from the state-funded Florida Hurricane Recovery Program, County Administrator Heidi Petito said. The $350 million grant program was funded the state legislature in 2023, after Hurricanes Ian and Nicole, and is designed to fund hurricane recovery projects that do not qualify for funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Flagler County applied for funding for two projects — $55,000 to remove a concrete seawall south of Varn Park and $1.2 million for a drainage project in Marineland. But, Petito said, since the county needed to begin work on the Marineland project before grant funds could be allocated, the county needed to find a new project for the $1.2 million.
Petito said staff decided to expand the Bull Creek Fish Camp project, rebuilding a restaurant on the site, and has received tentative approval from the state. The Flagler County Commission unanimously approved the request to apply the funding to rebuild the Bull Creek restaurant as part of the commission’s consent agenda at its March 18 meeting.
The Bull Creek Fish Camp’s restaurant was flooded from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole and sat in several feet of water for several weeks. The county inspected building and determined it would need to be demolished, as it would be too expensive to fix.
The fish camp’s restrooms and camping area were able to be salvaged. The county, after working with District 4 residents in west Flagler County, originally planned to build a walk-up concession stand to replace the demolished restaurant.
“I would say, just by the feedback I get out there, that they're going to be actually more excited about this than what we were actually intending to do,” Commissioner Leann Pennington said.
The county had already set aside $290,000 of general fund revenue and $69,000 of park impact fees for the concession stand and other improvements. Petito said the $1.2 million from the state program would likely cover the site improvements and building the restaurant without dipping into the county’s own funding.
Should the project get approval by the state, the new restaurant building will be around the same size as the previous one, 2,500 square feet, with a prefabricated kitchen of 960 square feet, dining space inside and out, air conditioning and a screened-in porch area, Petito said.
The construction will also place three feet of fill on the site before adding concrete slabs, she said.
The restaurant would be quick-service, Petito said, and the prefabricated kitchen would be set up much like a fast-food restaurant.
While rebuilding the restaurant, the county has also planned to replace the dock, repair the seawall caps and replace the septic drain field at Bull Creek.
