City Council recognizes 26-year Volunteer Fire Rescue member Charlie Esposito

Palm Coast Observer
News

Charles “Charlie” Esposito, a founding member of the city’s Volunteer Fire Rescue service, has volunteered for the city’s fire service in various roles for 26 years.

Branquinho to remain vice mayor

Councilman Eddie Branquinho is retaining his seat as the Palm Coast City Council’s vice mayor. He has already served in that position for a year.

His fellow council members selected him to remain as vice chairman in a unanimous vote at the council’s Nov. 16 meeting.

Council appoints liaisons to boards

The City Council has made its annual appointments to local boards and committees. Council members opted to retain their current appointments. They are:

River To Sea Transportation Development Council: Mayor David Alfin
Flagler County Tourist Development Council: Councilman Nick Klufas
Stewart-Marchman-Act Behavioral Healthcare: Councilman Nick Klufas
St. John’s Water Management District: Councilman Eddie Branquinho
Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Circuit 7 Juvenile Justice Council: Councilman Victor Barbosa
Affordable Housing Advisory Committee: Councilman Ed Danko

Palm Coast’s City Council recognized Esposito with a proclamation during a Nov. 16 council meeting, and Mayor David Alfin presented him with a plaque.

“He has made an indelible impact on Palm Coast Volunteer Fire Rescue members,” the plaque states. “As a Length of Service Awards Program founding member, countless lives have been changed and improved. Thank you for your 26 years of continued service and commitment.

Esposito, who’d worked for ITT Corp., helped start Palm Coast’s volunteer firefighter program and became a captain in the Fire Police, and served as president and vice president of the Volunteer Corporation, according to the text of the proclamation.

Mayor floats option of hiring firm for city manager search

Unimpressed with the batch of applicants for the position of city manager, Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin says the city might want to reopen the application period and hire an executive search firm.

“Based on my initial review of the applications, I am a bit disappointed in the quality of the applications,” Alfin said Nov. 12 on Flagler Broadcasting’s “Free For All Friday.” He noted that few of the applicants had relevant credentials and municipal government experience.

“I am afraid that when people are doing internet searches, they may not come to the right conclusion about where our city is going,” Alfin said. “So, if we are, as a group, not comfortable in coming together on what a shortlist of candidates might be, I may very well recommend that we suspend the search in favor of hiring a third party search firm that has expertise in municipal city personnel.”

He created the Length of Service Awards Program Board in his first year of service with Fire Rescue, and created a Helicopter Landing Zones Manual that’s still in use by Flagler County’s Fire Flight helicopter crews.

He’s now an associate member of the city’s Volunteer Fire Rescue service, and is retiring from the Length of Service Awards Program Board.

In other news at the meeting:

Homes planned for property south of boat plant

A 141.5-acre parcel of land on Roberts Road about half a mile north of State Road 100, just south of the Boston Whaler production facility, may soon become a community of up to 217 single-family homes.

The property, which is for now called Grand Reserve East (the name is expected to change), was annexed into the city from Flagler County jurisdiction in August. The property’s owner, M.L. Carter Services Inc., requested the annexation: The land is within Palm Coast’s utility service area, and properties in the service area must annex into the city in order to receive city utility services.

The homes will be on 50-, 60- and 70-foot-wide lots, attorney Jay Livingston, representing the owners, said at the Nov. 16 City Council meeting. It’s not yet clear whether the community will be gated, he said.

As part of the annexation process, M.L. Carter Services agreed to reduce the number of potential units in the development: When the land was under the county’s jurisdiction, up to 300 units would have been permitted, making the development’s density about three units per acre. The reduction to 217 units will make the development’s density approximately 1.8 units per acre.

City Council members at a Nov. 16 meeting voted unanimously to approve a Future Land Use Map and Zoning Map amendment for the land, which will now have a FLUM designation of Residential and Conservation and a Zoning Map designation of Single-Family Residential and Preservation.

The development will need to undergo state review and submit a subdivision master plan to the city for approval before construction.

Grand Landings North land rezoned for single-family

A wooded 70.2-acre property about a mile east of Belle Terre Boulevard and south of the Flagler Executive Airport — another property annexed into Palm Coast from Flagler County — may become a 138-home development.

The City Council on Nov. 16 voted 4-1, with Victor Barbosa dissenting, to rezone the land from its current county zoning designations of Industrial and Planned Unit Development to the city designation of Single-Family Residential.

The developer has presented the city government with a preliminary site plan showing 138 single-family detached homes on lots with a minimum width of 50 feet and area of 6,000 square feet each.