- December 15, 2025
City officials want to limit the hours of operation and require transparent windows at the cafés.
With no action at the state level and a moratorium set to expire in nearly two months, Palm Coast officials have agreed to enact an ordinance that will regulate Internet cafés.
Some of the regulation proposed Tuesday included limiting hours of operations and requiring security guards, cameras and transparent windows.
Additionally, city staff suggested that no Internet cafés should be within 1,000 feet of churches, schools or parks. Six of the nine establishments currently are within that distance of one of the three.
The City Council agreed that the nine existing establishments, which are primarily clustered along Palm Coast Parkway, would be grandfathered in.
The Internet cafés offer Wi-Fi access and sell Internet phone cards for use on slot machines and online gambling websites.
However, the five City Council members remain split on what to do with the cafés overall.
Councilman Jason DeLorenzo and Mayor Jon Netts were in favor of permitting and regulating the Internet cafés. Councilmen Bill Lewis and Frank Meeker opposed the cafés entirely.
Meanwhile, Councilman Bill McGuire opposed any regulation, stating they have been harmless in Palm Coast.
“Unless someone can prove to me that an Internet café is a menace to the city of Palm Coast, I say we do nothing,” McGuire said.
According to data presented by city staff, there are only two cafés in town that have more than 50 terminals. Those two have produced the fewest Sheriff’s Office incident reports.
According to Jose Papa, senior planner for the city, seven of the nine existing Internet cafés would be nonconforming based on Tuesday’s proposed regulations.
The regulation would exempt any nonprofit Internet cafés that have five or fewer machines.
Allied Veterans of the World, at 50 Plaza Drive, Suite 201, is the largest establishment in town with 98 terminals. It isn’t located within 1,000 feet of a church, school or park.
Toward the end of the Tuesday meeting, Netts said: “It looks like we’re going down the regulatory route.”
Once the final ordinance is written, the City Council will vote whether to enact the regulation during its May 1 and May 15 meetings.
BOUNTY FOR BUSINESS PROGRAM STALLS
The Bounty for Business program took a step back Tuesday when city officials couldn’t reach consensus on details to a program City Councilman Frank Meeker feels could help fill vacated storefronts.
Meeker recommends a bounty, or reward, for Palm Coast residents who attract businesses to town.
Mayor Jon Netts and Councilman Jason DeLorenzo argued that incentives should not be given for bringing in a company that will simply compete with an existing company in Flagler County.
They’ll revisit the idea in two weeks.
