Flagler Beach Annexes Over 200 Acres for Housing Development

The Flagler Beach City Commission on Thursday approved the annexation of 211 acres for the Veranda Bay housing development. Along with the January approval of the 545-acre Summertown development, the two annexations represent a momentous increase in the size of Flagler Beach. The vote to approve the annexation - divided into three separate items - was 4-1. Commissioner John Cunningham was the lone dissenting vote. The majority was formed by commissioners Rick Belhumeur, Eric Cooley, James Sherman, and Scott Spradley. With the addition of two major new pieces of land to Flagler Beach's city limits, the city has grown from 2,624 acres in size to 3,380. That marks an increase in the area of the city by 28.8% over what it was before the annexations. The last piece of the puzzle for the City Commission to approve annexation was the resolution of potential litigation by the Flagler County government. The two parties endured a disagreement over impact fees, preservation area, and utility services before reaching a resolution earlier this week. The main opponent of the annexations has been John Tanner, a representative of the nonprofit Save Flagler Beach and Bulow Creek. Tanner and his organization have advocated throughout the process to limit the overall size of the developments. He was present at Thursday's City Commission meeting, as well as at a negotiation between the county and city earlier in February. The developer behind both Veranda Bay and Summertown is Ken Belshe, who's also attended the series of City Commission meetings with his attorney Michael Chiumento. Belshe has made commitments to lower the Summertown unit count in accordance with potential conservation purchases made by the county.