The original plan for 320 townhomes as part of the Sawmill development’s sixth phase may not be moving ahead as planned.
Instead, the majority of the City Council April 21 signaled support to accept the developer’s request to change those plans — from the 320 townhomes to 244 single-family units.
The board’s decision isn’t final, as it was the first reading of a proposed amendment to the Palm Coast Park Master Plan Development agreement. The City Council will make a final vote in May.
But the board’s approval didn’t come without members expressing concerns and one of them, Councilman David Sullivan, full opposition to the proposal. The discussion included impacts to the nearby historical Hewlett Sawmill, a historical Revolutionary War-era site in the city.
The project’s Phase 6 is part of the Palm Coast Park Development of Regional Impact (or DRI) — which encompasses a nearly 4,700-acre area west of U.S. Highway 1, south of Old Kings Road. The DRI was approved back in 2004, and the development master plan agreement came in 2011.
Mayor Mike Norris, Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri, and Councilmen Charles Gambaro and Ty Miller approved the request’s first reading; Sullivan opposed.
What would Sawmill development Phase 6 look like with single-family homes?
The 320 townhomes currently approved would be located in 18-foot-wide lots within the subject tract of land. The detached 244 single-family units would be on 30-foot-wide lots, according to a presentation from City Senior Planner Estelle Lens.
The Planning and Zoning Board recommended that the City Council approve the request, but with two conditions: that the developer provides “an additional 20-foot-wide landscaping break every 12 lots,” as well as “a small amenity for the residents, such as a playground.”
According to Lens, the proposed amendment is consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan, which, among its goals, includes allowing “a variety of lot sizes and housing types to meet the needs of the citizenry through all stages of life.”
“The city has an overabundance of quarter-acre platted single-family lots and there is a need for different sized lots and different types of housing,” Lens read from the city code.
The senior planner also listed what the presentation described as “public benefits” provided by the development company, D.R. Horton, which are city code requirements.
Among those listed were preservation of more than 1,845 acres of wetlands and nearly 116 acres of gopher tortoise habitat; donation of land for public infrastructure, including 30 acres for a school site and 30 acres for the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant 2; as well as a donation “of up to 74 acres, a linear park on the west side of (U.S. Highway 1), and an east-west trail system connecting the DRI with nearby schools.”
Other phases of the DRI are still being developed into residential communities. Some of those areas include Sawmill Creek, Freedom at Sawmill and Sawmill Branch.
Council members voice concern, ask for solutions to ‘damaged’ Hewlett’s Mill
Another “public benefit” Lens listed included the builder’s 2008 donation of Hewlitt Mill to the Florida Agricultural Museum, according to the Flagler County Historical Society’s website.
But over the years, work on the land led to what Councilman Sullivan described as irreparable damage to the historic site, which he said “has been ruined.”
“Essentially what the developer has done, if you’ve been out to where Hewlett’s Mill is … they put in a retention pond there with a sluice,” Sullivan said. “The sluice dumps water directly on top of Hewlett’s Mill.”
He said he has visited the area in past years, while he served on the Flagler Board of County Commissioners, and saw the site’s condition deteriorate.
“There is no way to save it now,” he said, adding that this is the reason for his opposition to the development. “It’s gone. That’s the only Revolutionary site we have in the county.”
Representing the developer at the meeting, attorney Michael Chiumento said he was surprised by Sullivan’s comment, saying he has been with that team since the development early stages.
“And your issue — it is the first that I’ve heard of that,” Chiumento said.
Sullivan said there were attempts from officials to bring the issue to the development team’s attention, but they didn’t receive responses.
Mayor Mike Norris said “that retention pond should have never been placed” in that area. Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri said she also tried bringing the museum’s concerns over the site’s condition in 2023.
“I don’t know if there’s anything that can be done now, but this is certainly not a novel issue,” she said, asking for the developer, Robert Porter, and his team to “go out and look at this sawmill site and see what can be done to mitigate the damages.”
Porter and Chiumento said they would “look into” the issue and the possibility of repairs between now and second reading, which is set for May 5.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Sawmill development could go from townhomes to single-family units
Reporting by Brenno Carillo, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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