- June 21, 2025
In an effort to slow growth and reduce the demand on city infrastructure, the Palm Coast City Council wants to scrutinize of the development application process.
The decision came up at the May 6 City Council meeting as the council was reviewing a final plat application for the second phase of the Colbert Landings development on Colbert Road. Due to legal constraints, the Colbert Landings final plat received unanimous approval from the council, but it wasn’t without debate.
Is there any step of the development process when it is legal to challenge a development? Mayor Mike Norris wanted to know.
“We are being overburdened,” Norris said.
'YOU CAN'T SAY NO'
Plat reviews are mostly an administrative process, and comes after a development has received approval for any zoning or land use changes, as well as master plan applications and technical site plans. During each phase of the application process, city staff review the details and ensure that an application meets certain criteria.
For an application to meet city land development code, it has to comply with five criteria, City Attorney Marcus Duffy said: The proposed final plat must not be contrary to public interest, it must be consistent with the comprehensive plan and LDC, it must not pose a significant financial liability or hardship for the city, it must not create an unreasonable hazard, nuisance, or concerted threat and it must comply with all state and federal laws.
The developer has to prove it meets those criteria to staff in the application process and city staff reviews the infrastructure and technical data to ensure that the applications meet the criteria.
But, Duffy said, property owners have rights and the city can only deny a plat application if it has the data to prove criteria are not being met.
“As long as they’re following the land development code, as long as they’re following all the rules and there’s output data that says they can do this,” Duffy said, “you can’t say no.”
A final plat is the last step in the development application process. Legally speaking, there is not much the city can do to stop a development at that stage, Vice Mayor Theresa Carli Pontieri said at the May 6 City Council meeting.
“Largely, we don’t have a choice,” Pontieri said.
Norris wanted to know when in the application process the city is able stop a development, and a workshop will be held on May 20 for the council to review the development application process.
But going forward, the council asked that staff include the data it reviews in its plat presentations so the council members can see for themselves. Pontieri said that without seeing the data, the council can’t meet the legal burden to deny applications.
“Only staff has those numbers right now,” Pontieri said. “So we can’t legally make a decision that would be upheld in court.”
SENATE BILL TO STREAMLINE PLAT PROCESS
But a bill currently awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature may make any efforts by Palm Coast to more thoroughly review plat approvals superfluous.
Senate bill 784, if approved, would require county or city governing bodies to designate an “administrative authority” — meaning a department or agency under the municipality’s purview — to review plat or replat submissions. If the administrative authority finds the submission meets the legal standards, it would be the one to issue a “final administrative approval,” not the city or county governing body itself.
The bill also states that this administrative authority would have seven business days after a plat or replat application is submitted to provide written notice the application has been received and identify any missing documents and provide a timeframe for the review process.
The designated authority is then required to either approve, approve with conditions, or deny the application within the timeframe provided to the applicant. The bill only applies to plats or replats.
Palm Coast’s Land Development Code currently requires administrative approval for specific instances. These include: preliminary plats, Tier 1 applications, nonresidential projects of up to 40,000 square feet of building or residential projects under 40 units, Tier 2 developments with an approved Master Site Plan, Tier 3 developments with an approved Master Site Plan and Subdivision Master Plans for nonresidential projects and for residential projects of up to 100 units.
SB 784, if approved, would mean that all plats and replats — not just preliminary plats or plats under the above categories — would only need this administrative approval, and not need to go before the county or city boards.
The bill is intended to streamline the application process. If approved by DeSantis, it would go into effect on July 1.
