- December 4, 2025
Bunnell Vice Mayor John Rogers and Mayor Catherine Robinson. Photo by Sierra Williams
The Bunnell City Commission. Photo by Sierra Williams
Bunnell City Commissioner Dean Sechrist voted for the Reserve at Haw Creek development, alongside Commissioner Pete Young and Mayor Catherine Robinson. Photo by Sierra Williams
Flagler County Commissioner Leann Pennington urged the Bunnell Commission to table the Reserve at Haw Creek application. Photo by Sierra Williams
It was standing-room only at the new Bunnell chambers meeting room as residents came to protest a 2,700-acre development. Photo by Sierra Williams
A map of the Reserve at Haw Creek development. Courtesy of Bunnell
A map of the Reserve at Haw Creek with the proposed phases of development. Courtesy of Bunnell
It was standing-room only in Bunnell’s new City Chambers meeting room on Sept. 9 as Bunnell residents again came out in force to protest a proposed development called the Reserve at Haw Creek.
“This is a three-legged stool, this process,” resident Stephen Woodin said. “There's the city, there's a developer, and there's the residents. And from what I can see, especially this meeting here…the residents don't want a development of this size.”
But, despite the protests of the majority in attendance, Reserve at Haw Creek, a 6,100-home, 2,700-acre development proposed for Bunnell has been approved by the Bunnell City Commission. The Reserve will also have 625,000 square feet of commercial space and 850,000 square feet of industrial space.
The property is located in the northwest area of rural Bunnell, near Daytona North, and stretches west between west State Road 100 and State Road 11. It would be built in four phases, with phase one, on the east side, including a shopping center.
The development has been in the public eye for over a year. In June, the commission voted 4-1 against the development, which at the time was proposing a 8,000-home maximum.
Since then, the project was revived by Mayor Catherine Robinson and, in August, the first reading to approve a future land use map amendment, a land rezoning and a development agreement was approved 3-2 with just Vice Mayor John Rogers and Commissioner David Atkinson dissenting. Mayor Catherine Robinson and Commissioners Dean Sechrist and Pete Young voted to approve.
On Sept. 9, the vote was the same, 3-2, with Rogers and Atkinson against.
According to staff documents, if all 6,100 units are built, that would equal an estimated population of almost 14,400 people. Bunnell’s current population is just over 4,000, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
For most residents, the concerns were based on the number of houses proposed by the developer and the potential flooding issues that would come with a development of this size.
Resident Cheryl Trujillo said the residents should also be considered experts on the land, as many of them have lived near it and seen how it floods.
“I can tell you more about that property than they’re ever going to be able to tell you, because I've been there 40 years,” Trujillo said. “We lived it, we ate it, we slept it.”
Flagler County Commissioner Leann Pennington, who was speaking at the Bunnell City meeting as a resident, urged the board to table the matter until Flagler County and Bunnell could catch up on infrastructure projects and the Florida legislature can review bills eroding local government rights.
“This state is actively eroding local authority over development. Once you give approval, your ability to deny future changes will be weakened,” she said. “A process that looks acceptable today can become a nightmare tomorrow, something you never intended when you first approved it.”
Large scale development is not always a benefit to local government, she said.
Other residents were concerned that not enough studies had been conducted on the property. Community Development Director Joseph Parsons said during his presentation that site-specific investigations – such as for stormwater, traffic, soil and environmental impacts – are conducted during a later stage in the process.
Because of the sheer size of the proposed development, Parsons said, and its potential impact, it will undergo “thousands of individual reviews and approvals.”
“The goal is to ensure that the development mitigates potential impacts and complies with all the critical environmental and safety standards before the construction begins,” he said.
Robinson told residents that the developer had addressed the concerns over the multi-year process it took to get to this point, including reducing the maximum number of homes on the property from 8,000 to 6,100. And 6,100 is just the maximum they are allowed, she said.
“It doesn’t mean they will,” Robinson said. ”There are too many things between now and moving forward before that is decided.”
Rogers urged Commissioner Young, who made the motion to approve, to even just reduce it further to 5,500 homes, the number approved by the city's planning and zoning board. Young said he did not see that 5,500 would make much of a difference.
“They said that the development could hold 12,000 residences,” Young said. “What I’d like to see is we go ahead and vote and whatever happens, happens.”
Rogers said the project was “a city within a city,” and would create a burden on the roads, schools and community. There was nothing in Bunnell compatible with it, he said.
“I’m not trying to stop growth, but it's about ensuring smart growth,” he said.
Robinson said she did not want residents to feel that their voices had not been heard. The development will next be reviewed by the state to receive its recommendations.
“It's still not done yet,” she said.
