- February 10, 2026
Flagler County has approved a settlement agreement with Hammock Harbour, avoiding a lengthy and costly federal lawsuit.
Hammock Harbour is a development located at on State Road A1A on the north side of the Hammock Hardware store. Flagler County and the property owner, Bob Million, have been in dispute over plans to develop the property for the last six years, and have been in a federal lawsuit since early 2025.
The settlement offer not only would allow Million to build the boat storage facility without changes to his submitted site plan, but would also pay Million $400,000 as the settlement payment and credit him an additional $50,000 in building permit fees, according to Flagler County Commission meeting documents.
The offer also includes a “non-transferable credit” on applicable impact fees of a maximum of $100,000.
County Attorney Michael Rodriguez said given the application's history in Flagler County, he was not sure the county could win the lawsuit, and therefore it could be subject to multi-millions of dollars in a claim and attorney fees.
"The monetary amounts that are incurred in this settlement are far less than the exposure that the county was risking going forward to trial," Rodriquez said.
Additionally, the claim was not covered by the county's insurance, so the funds would have to come "out of pocket," Rodriguez said.
"The costs that were going forward would have been significant, and for a case where the likelihood of success is — my confidence level was not high," he said.
My confidence level was not high."
— MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ, Flagler County attorney
Though the Flagler County Commission ultimately approved the settlement offer in a 4-1 vote on Feb. 9. with District 2 Commissioner Greg Hansen voting against it, it was with seeming reluctance. No one was willing, at first, to be the one to motion for approval. Instead, Hansen motioned to deny the settlement agreement, but that motion died without a second.
Reading through the history of the project, Commission Chair Leann Pennington said she felt the lawsuit should never have happened, and apologized to Million.
"It reads like a tragedy," she said. "It's a shame and I apologize to you [Million] that you had bought this forever [ago], that you were here in this situation and it shouldn't have happened in my opinion."
Pennington added that not all of the history shows good faith on Million's part though, either. There were clear attempts on the county's part to find a way forward, she said.
"I think, had you had gone through the process, there would have been a happy medium to be met here and you would have already been built," she said.
In 2019, Million submitted development plans to the county that outlined a 240-unit, multi-story dry boat storage facility that would also have a restaurant and retail space. Also on the property, according to the previously submitted site plans, would be an above ground fuel storage tank.
Had you had gone through the process, there would have been a happy medium to be met here and you would have already been built."
— LEANN PENNINGTON, Flagler County Commission chair
The sticking point on the application was the argument that the dry boat storage was not an explicit use outlined in the county's land use code.
Million’s proposal went back and forth between Flagler County’s Technical Review Committee, Planning Board and Commission. The Flagler County Commission initially approved the dry boat storage facility, but that was reversed by a Flagler County judge after the Hammock Community Association appealed it in court.
A magistrate at one point said the dry boat storage was an approved use, but would need to be reviewed under the criteria as a special exception.
In February 2025, Million filed a federal lawsuit against Flagler County. The lawsuit argued the county had placed an unfair burden on the property, according to federal court documents, by requiring the property be viewed under a special exception criteria when it was not explicitly outlined as such in the code.
Rodriguez said that staff had, under discovery for the lawsuit, testified that the proposal, as a public-use marina, falls under the commercial recreation designation in the county's comprehensive plan, and is an approved use.
Flagler County Growth Management Director Adam Mengel said the last submission of the site plan met all of the county's land development code requirements, as well as the A1A Scenic Overlay District requirements. The Overlay is a special set of strictures meant to preserve The Hammock.
As part of the settlement agreement, Rodriguez said, the property will no longer need to meet the special exception requirement.
Million's attorney Scott Thomas told the Flagler Commission that this was not "a sweetheart deal" for his client either. They estimate the damages on their side to be around $6.9 million, he said.
I think you should realize by now, Hammock Harbour is not going to walk away from this."
— SCOTT THOMAS, attorney for Hammock Harbour
"I can assure you the dollar amounts we're talking about in this settlement are a fraction of the economic losses they've suffered while, for six and a half years, they've been denied what is simply a permitted principal use of their property," Thomas said.
Thomas said that everyone realizes this will be built — the question remaining is only how long will the delay continue.
"I think you should realize by now, Hammock Harbour is not going to walk away from this," he said, "and I'm afraid I think events show it only gets more expensive as we go forward."
Once the settlement offer is accepted in the courts, the developer will be able to continue through the building permit process to build his storage unit.
It will not be reviewed by the Flagler County Commission, as it is not a rezoning or land use change, and site plan applications of this scale do not come before the board. Mengel said the Florida Department of Transportation will review the driveway connections.
Rodriguez said that without the special exception requirement, the site plan would never have come before the board.
