- February 24, 2026
The Flagler County Commission has put to bed the threat of a possible lawsuit with Flagler Beach over the Summertown development.
In a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Kim Carney, voting against, approving the agreements negotiated between Flagler County and Flagler Beach staff and attorneys. The county began the conflict resolution process on Jan. 29, listing five specific areas it felt the rezoning of the Summertown development went against the county’s and Flagler Beach’s comprehensive plans.
Summertown is one of two major developments that has been undergoing the annexation process into Flagler Beach from unincorporated Flagler County. The 500-acre development lies along the west side of John Anderson Highway and would add 1,600 residential units, a hotel and a commercial area.
The five specific items of conflict outlined by the county in regards to Summertown are over a reclaimed water facility to service the development, protecting floodplains, and three areas of potential impact to John Anderson Highway.
Four out of five of the problems were agreed to in a meeting with staff and attorneys on Feb. 13. At a special meeting for the Flagler County Commission on Feb. 23 to vote on the agreed terms for the conflict resolution, County Attorney Michael Rodriguez said the last item, that of the environmentally sensitive wetlands, was finalized after an additional meeting with the developer.
“All five issues that were in conflict between the city and the county have therefore been resolved,” Rodriguez said.
To resolve concerns over the potential impact to John Anderson, Flagler Beach and the developer agreed to pay the county a proportional amount of transportation impact fees, Rodriguez said, reading from the resolution. The resolution also confirms that Flagler Beach will provide water, sewer and reuse reclaimed water services to both the Veranda Bay and Summertown projects.
The final problem revolved around the sale of 153 acres of environmentally sensitive floodplains on the neighboring Bulow Creek area. Flagler County has been in talks with the developer to purchase the land for months. Developer Ken Belshe has said multiple times on the record he is willing to sell the property to the county, but the main concern in the dispute was if the sale did not go through.
This was resolved by the developer guaranteeing a three-year time period for the parties to iron out the details of the sale. Flagler County hopes to purchase the land through the Florida Forever program.
Carney said she still had concerns over the issues with reuse water in Summertown. She said it seems that the city is depending on $11 million of impact fees to be able to fund a portion of its future reclaimed water facility.
Carney said the developer had said at a past Flagler Beach Commission meeting that Summertown and Veranda Bay would consume “almost all of,” the available reclaimed water, while the city is planning on spending millions to get the reclaimed water used in the city.
“There does not seem to be real clear communication,” Carney said. But, Carney admitted, that’s a Flagler Beach issue to figure out.
Despite Carney’s reservations, the majority vote puts an end to Flagler County possibly filing a lawsuit against Flagler Beach.
“I want to thank everybody, staff, for getting this done,” Commissioner Andy Dance said. “We gave them the direction to get together and come to an agreement that was acceptable to the city. I think, through us and with the applicant, I think the process worked out.”
Flagler Beach is set to vote for a second and final time on the Veranda Bay development, located on the east side of John Anderson Parkway, at its Feb. 26 City Commission meeting.
The City Commission approved the first vote for the annexation, rezoning and land use for the 234-acre development in January, and tabled the second reading until the prospective lawsuit with Flagler County was cleared up.
