- April 25, 2024
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After hearing from more than three dozen members of the community, the Flagler County Commission voted 3-2 to approve a new lease with Captain's BBQ that will let the restaurant build a new, 5,200-square-foot structure in the middle of Bings Landing to replace its current building on the southern side of the 7.4-acre county park.
Opponents of the proposal, who outnumbered supporters among the speakers at the commission's Nov. 19 meeting, said they thought the taxpayers were getting a lousy deal with the new lease because the rent is too low; that a plan to demolish the current restaurant building and add a new, larger one would degrade the park; and that the county administration was ramrodding the proposal — which had been placed on the meeting's consent agenda — through the commission in order to get it passed before commissioner-elect Joe Mullins takes office Nov. 20.
Supporters of the proposal said the restaurant's current building is falling apart and that it needs the new space; that it's an award-winning restaurant that draws tourism to the Hammock area; and that the county is getting a good deal on the lease because the restaurant's owners will be paying to construct the new building, which will be owned by the county.
The new lease will expand the restaurant's seating from the current 100 to 150 — the number needed to obtain a liquor license — and its square footage to 5,200, with a 4,500-square-foot building plus outdoor uses.
The building is currently owned by the county and leased by Captain's owners Chris Herrera and Mike Goodman at a rate of $750 per month.
The restaurant would build the new replacement building at its expense, turn it over to the county once it's completed, and then pay $1,000 a month in rent to the county under the new lease. That rate will continue for five years. Then it will increase 3% annually.
"It's going to work out better for the people using the pavilion, the kayakers, people just using the trails."
— CRAIG COFFEY, county administrator
Meanwhile, the county would add at least 30 additional parking spots — shell, not paved, with the exception of disabled access spots — and undertake septic system upgrades.
The lease would end in 2026, with options to renew it.
County Adminstrator Craig Coffey said the current building is not savable.
"You have rotting timbers and other structural failings of the restaurant that have caused other problems over time," he said. he mentioned one: A toilet had fallen through the restaurant's floor.
The county considered other locations for the restaurant, Coffey said, including moving into the other side of the Intracoastal. But that would have meant shutting down the restaurant for eight months, leaving the employees out of work, and would have also put the county at risk of legal action for breaching its lease because maintenance responsibilities for the current building fall on the county.
The county doesn't want to move the restaurant into the space now occupied by a large pavilion within Bings, he said, because that's the county's most popular pavilion.
The move that's proposed, he said, would require the removal of one living oak tree and one dead one, plus some palm trees. Captain's has pledged to plant 25 new trees to replace them.
He added that the county has arrangements with restaurants on two other county-owned properties, with similar rent payments: Highjackers Restaurant at the county airport, and the restaurant at Bull Creek Fish Camp.
Coffey thought the county could improve parking issues at Bings when the restaurant is moved.
"It's going to work out better for the people using the pavilion, the kayakers, people just using the trails, etc.," he said.
He couldn't provide an exact cost for adding the parking lot or working on the septic system, but said it could be up to $20,000 for the entire park, with most of the labor undertaken by county staff.
As to the new lease's placement on the consent agenda, he said, "There's no evil conspiracy; the reason it’s under consent is this is an updated lease. ... If the building is falling apart, we could potentially have some legal issues with that."
Local attorney Jay Livingston, representing Captain’s BBQ, said moving the restaurant to the proposed new location would have less impact on trees than building in the same location, because there are large oak trees right next to the current building that would not be savable in such a reconstruction process.
"The location that we chose was the most bare," he said. "This is pretty much the most vacant clear spot you can put a building in."
As commissioners allowed the public to comment, they lined up opponents of the lease on one side of the commission chambers, and — including a handful who spoke at the beginning of the meeting before the lines were formed — heard from more than 25 of them. Then they lined up supporters on the other side of the room, and heard from 19.
Local attorney Dennis Bayer urged commissioners to delay a vote.
"My concern is, this has been percolating in the county since the spring; all of a sudden it comes out on a consent agenda," he said. "It does raise a lot of questions." He listed a few: had an archeological analysis been conducted on the new preposed site? Is the lease fair to the county, financially? $1,000 a month, he said, seemed low.
"I paced out the new building footprint, and was appalled at how big it will be. ... It completely changes the character of the park."
— DENNIS CLARK
"I really think that you shouldn’t rush to judgement tonight," he said.
Marge Rooyakers, president of Hammock Community Association, said she'd asked a few real estate agents about what would be a fair price for a commercial restaurant in the Hammock, and they'd told her $20 to $25 per square foot.
"Have you analyzed [the lease] to make sure that you are getting the best deal for the citizens of Flagler County?" she asked commissioners. "The citizens of Flagler County ... deserve a better, fair deal, money-wise."
Dennis Clark said he lives down the road from Bings and walks his dog there twice a day.
"I paced out the new building footprint, and was appalled at how big it will be," he told commissioners. "So if you haven’t done that, you should before you approve this. ... It completely changes the character of the park."
Speakers who backed the proposed new lease with the restaurant emphasized Captain's BBQ's reputation both in the community and outside — it was rated the sixth-best BBQ restaurant in the nation by Trip Advisor in 2015 — and the importance of supporting a successful small business.
"We don’t have that many iconic businesses in the county, and these guys have turned this into one of them. I’m as big a tree hugger as anyone, but this looks like it’s been thought out."
— JOHN BIRNEY
"What they’re trying to do is an awesome example of the partnership we’re trying to do all the time between government and business," John Birney said. "We don’t have that many iconic businesses in the county, and these guys have turned this into one of them. I’m as big a tree hugger as anyone, but this looks like it’s been thought out."
Robert Garcia said he thought the new lease was a good deal for the county because maintenance costs would be shifting from the county to the restaurant owners.
"This is definitely the right way to go," he said. "Captain's is a point of destination. ... Let’s not take away something great from our community."
Abbie Romaine, a recent candidate for County Commission, said she was a fan of Captain's, and of tourism and putting the county on the map.
"It is indeed in sorry shape," she said of the current building. "And dismantling it and doing a rebuild on that location would dramatically affect trees that abut that particular building." With the proposed new location, she said, "I think that the ecological damage is not great. There's one tree that’s already dead that would be taken down; a small oak; and then replanting of multiple trees in the area."
Four of the five county commissioners voiced concerns about either the proposed lease with Captain's BBQ itself, or the manner in which it had been presented to the commission.
Commissioner Nate McLaughlin was most vocally in favor of the change.
"The success of that restaurant is evidence to me that Flagler County wants it there," McLaughlin said. "It’s a great welcome; it’s our best foot forward. ... I think we’ve done a good thing here for Flagler County all the way around. I think it’s good for the residents. I think the residents recognize that, as a whole."
Commissioner Donald O'Brien said he was torn on the issue.
"We don’t want to limit the access to the park as a result of a successful restaurant, and that's what we have — a successful restaurant." He said that one of his fondest memories is swinging his granddaughter in a swing at Bings.
"I worry about are we going to affect that character of the park," he said. "I just need some more convincing that it's the best deal for the taxpayers."
Commissioner David Sullivan didn't object to the proposal, and said he was inclined to move forward with it. But, he said, "This is a tough one for me, too. … This is coming forward now with not a lot of advance warning or information for a lot of the population."
Commission Chairman Greg Hansen had similar reservations, and Commissioner Charlie Ericksen wanted to wait a few weeks before holding a vote.
"I think we should have gotten more information on this presentation before we came in here tonight," he said. "Is what's proposed the only way that we can go, or are there other options now that people have heard this discussion? I wouldn’t want to punish the owners of the reatsaurnat for what I think is a lack of information here ... and I think we should work with them to come up with something that’s amenable to all of us."
But McLaughlin was ready to call for a vote. The commission approved the new lease 3-2, with Ericksen and O'Brien dissenting.
