- April 19, 2024
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Palm Coast’s City Council voted unanimously April 1 to pass a resolution urging the Florida legislature to return regulatory control of vacation rentals to local governments.
The state preempted local governments from regulating the rentals with a 2008 law intended to allow struggling homeowners to stay afloat by renting out their homes.
But the law had unintended consequences.
“What nobody anticipated was that there are homes being built in single-family neighborhoods like unincorporated Flagler County, that have dining room that seats 24, 15 or 20 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms,” Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts said. “In my mind, that would be a very large family.”
After residents complained of "mini-hotels" sprouting up in their neighborhood, Sen. John Thrasher and Rep. Travis Hutson filed companion bills to undo the 2008 law, and Flagler County commissioners have supported their efforts, speaking before the House and Senate in favor of home rule.
Palm Coast's resolution supports the county's position on the rentals and will be passed onto Governer Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature, but will not alter any current Palm Coast regulations.
“We so far have not had any of these McMansions built in Palm Coast — doesn’t mean we couldn’t — but the bigger issue to me is home rule,” Netts said. “The land development code, zoning — those are local issues. It’s best left to local government.”
The Council struck from the resolution explicit references to the two bills currently under consideration — Senate Bill 356 and House Bill 307 — after a resident pointed out in public comment that the bills could change before a vote, and Councilman Jason DeLorezo suggested altering the resolution’s language.
Dog park to get a facelift
The dog park at James F. Holland Memorial Park will get a “major renovation” starting in June, City Manager Jim Landon said at the meeting after two residents complained about the park’s condition.
“You’re going to see — this summer — major, major changes occur out there,” he said. “The key to it is that we’re not just going in and try to fix it. We’re going in and redoing the whole thing. There will be a whole new location, much larger. We’re talking a whole new dog park that’s designed as a dog park, versus what we have now, which was designed as anything else but a dog park and converted to a dog park.”
The renovations have already been approved and budgeted for, he said.
