- March 9, 2026
The Flagler County Commission will not file dispute Flagler Beach's annexation of the Veranda Bay development.
The County Commission voted 4-1 on March 9 against moving forward to dispute the annexation of the Veranda Bay development into Flagler Beach. Commission Chair Leann Pennington was the sole dissenting vote.
“[Flagler Beach] are the ones, at the end, who will bear the burden of proving that they're right,” Pennington said. “At the same time, I'm not comfortable with it. I'm not comfortable that we're doing the best thing in the interest of the people that currently reside in there.”
The issue at hand was specific to the 121 existing homes in the 234-acre development.
When those homeowners purchased their homes, the deed included a covenant agreement that outlines the rights of the developer to annex into another municipality. County Attorney Michael Rodriguez said the declaration in the deeds signed by the homeowners explicitly gives the developer the right to annex into any of the Flagler County municipalities.
“They don't need to give the developers a consent annex, they've already done so,” he said, explaining the covenant.
Florida Statute states developers need signatures showing the agreement of existing homeowners in a development before that development can be annexed. Flagler Beach and the developer’s opinion is that the covenant is sufficient agreement from the homeowners.
The legal argument was whether that covenant falls in line with the statutory interpretations. In annexations, Rodriguez said, the Attorney General’s opinion is that the statute should be interpreted very narrowly.
No Florida court has ruled on a statutory interpretation similar to this before. If the residents were to sue, it would be against Flagler Beach, not Flagler County.
Commissioner Kim Carney, who is opposed to the annexation but ultimately voted to drop the dispute process, said the project was pure “over development.” She said she did not feel the covenant was in line with Florida Statutes on annexation.
She said it’s important to ensure the spirit of the Attorney General’s opinion is being followed: are those impacted signing off on the annexation?
“I don't think it [the covenant] says they agree to annexation,” Carney said.
Commissioner Greg Hansen said in his understanding if the existing property owners knowingly signed a document agreeing to the annexation, there is no need to go forward.
“If that’s the case, then this whole discussion is moot,” Hansen said.
Commissioner Andy Dance agreed with Hansen and said the county has the opinion of the Flagler Beach and developer attorneys that this meets the legal requirements. Going forward with the dispute could further alienate the developer.
“There’s a lot of dominos to this,” Dance said.
Dance also said that alienating the developer could put the purchase of 153 acres of environmentally sensitive lands at risk. Flagler County is trying to purchase that land from the Veranda Bay sister development, Summertown, to preserve it.
The two parties have thus far worked out a deal to allow Flagler several years to get the funding together to purchase it.
“I think we'd be naive to not think that taking 164 action doesn't affect the negotiations that we have worked out with the developer,” Dance said.
But developer Ken Belshe unequivocally said he would not be going back on the agreement made with Flagler County.
“I will not, will not back out of that agreement,” Belshe said during public comment. “I want to state that right here today. It would be unreasonable. It would be unfair on my part, and it would be, I feel, unethical on my part to do that.”
Carney also said she did not feel the two decisions should be intertwined, and to do so was “quid pro quo.”
“It should not be the way we do deals in Flagler County,” Carney said.
During public comment, Flagler Property Appraiser Jay Gardner pointed out that none of the 120 homeowners in question were present at the meeting.
“The fact that we don’t have 120 something people waving their fingers at us,” Gardner said, “I don’t think it’s appropriate for our commission to step on the city of Flagler Beach.”
Though the commission decided against going forward with a dispute and potential lawsuit against Flagler Beach, the board requested Rodriguez send out for the Attorney General’s opinion on the matter, for future reference.
“It would be there as a guidance in the future for other people,” Pennington said.
