- December 4, 2025
The Palm Coast City Council has unanimously denied a rezoning application that would allow a concrete batch plant company to build on Hargrove Lane.
This was the second reading for the application. The first reading was initially approved on Aug. 6 in a 3-2 vote, with Vice Mayor Theresa Carli Pontieri and Councilman Ty Miller voting against it.
On Aug. 19, the council, after hearing from the applicant, current Hargrove Lane business owners and considering requiring deed restrictions for the applicant, voted 5-0 to deny the rezoning.
The application was for 11 Hargrove Lane to change zoning from Light Industrial to Industrial 2, which allows a larger variety of and more intense industrial uses. The site was previously approved for a luxury car condo facility in January 2024.
The businesses at 15 Hargrove Lane, which are adjacent to the site, are zoned Light Industrial and would share the one dirt access road and cul-de-sac as an access road with dump trucks and concrete trucks if the application were approved.
Alongside concerns from residents about air quality and water usage, the business owners pleaded with the council to consider how the zoning change and concrete batch plant would impact the businesses already in place.
Pontieri said her concerns were not against the specific application but what the rezoning might open the door to in the future.
“When I read our code, and I go through the possibilities of what this could be and what this could admit, I have a lot of concerns,” she said.
SRM Concrete business development manager Brian Hercules said the company would agree to a deed restriction that only allowed the use for a concrete batch plant, excluding all other uses.
But any future IND-2 zoning requests would not consider deed restrictions, only precedent. It is something the council needed to consider immediately: A second application to rezone to IND-2 at 56 Hargrove Lane for a concrete batch plant by a different company is under review by the Palm Coast Planning Board.
Pontieri said she felt an approval would be “lazy” and “shortsighted” and, from a legal perspective, that it would make it “harder and harder” to deny future IND-2 applications intended for even more industrial-intense businesses.
“You have a less ‘compatibility’ argument at that point,” Pontieri said.
Mayor Mike Norris – alongside Councilmen Charles Gambaro and Dave Sullivan – swapped sides from approving the first reading to reject the application on Aug. 19. But, Norris pointed out, that the city is growing and does not have much in the way of industrial-zoned land.
“Less than 3% of our properties within the city are designated for industrial,” Norris said. “So we're in a tight spot as far as industrial development.”
Since the initial reading, Councilman Dave Sullivan said he had some additional concerns and questions. Primarily, Sullivan wanted to know why a traffic study had never been conducted, especially if there are future applications pending.
“I'd say there is a safety concern at the intersection of Hargrove and Route 1,” Sullivan said. “I just think that actually having the facts of what the traffic flow is currently would be worthwhile.”
Sullivan asked his fellow council members for consensus to have a traffic flow study conducted on the road and, though the application was denied, the remaining council agreed.
