- December 16, 2025
The Palm Coast City Council agreed to take more time developing a parks-and-recreation fee structure.
In soccer, there are penalty kicks; in football, overtime; and in baseball, extra innings. In any sport, organizations that run athletics leagues in Palm Coast just got an extension.
The Palm Coast City Council, at its Oct. 4 regular meeting, unanimously agreed to hold off implementing a parks-and-recreation fee structure. The 5-0 vote will send the entire proposal back to city staff for more review at a future workshop.
All the City Council members agreed the fees weren’t fair to the various organizations.
Palm Coast Little League and Phantom Flag Football had representatives at Tuesday’s meeting. Representatives agreed that they are nonprofit organizations, but are being treated by the city as business customers.
“We’re all about the kids; we’re not about the profit,” said Chris Howard, vice president of Phantom Flag Football.
Fred Lewers, who is a volunteer with Palm Coast Little League, said the fees seem like another tax on those who can least afford it.
“I would like to recommend that you table this proposal.” Lewers said to the council.
The proposal will go back to city staff. While most of the proposal seemed acceptable to council members, the athletics facilities fees were problematic.
Currently, the city does not charge for athletics teams to use the fields or to host tournaments. The new fee proposal, however, would change that.
A seasonal permit for soccer would be $40 per team, while baseball would be $13 per team. Additionally, lighting for fields would cost $10 per field per hour.
Hosting a tournament would come with a price tag, too. A security deposit of $250 would be required. Then, a field reservation would be $110 per day; two fields would be $85 per day; and three or more fields would be $60 per field per day.
City Council member Frank Meeker was vocal in his discontent with costs for lighting.
“I have a real problem with this,” Meeker said. “I would just rather not be charging period for this kind of stuff. ... I am not in favor of this at all.”
City Council member Bill Lewis made the motion to revisit the proposal.
Lewis said children competing on athletics teams keeps them off the streets.
“The thing is, I think we have to understand that money is important,” Lewis said “But something else is important, and that’s community participation and community involvement. And the city should be partnering with these organizations, and not trying to cover its expenses, but trying to work together.”
Contact Andrew O’Brien at [email protected].
