- March 17, 2026
A new 90-seat restaurant planned to replace the Fusion 386 in The Hammock has hit a roadblock with its application with Flagler County.
The owners of Modern Mexx are planning to move the former Fusion 386 restaurant at 5949 N. Ocean Shore Blvd. into the north east corner of the L-shaped lot. The existing building will be demolished and a new 2,800-square foot building with a 1,800-square foot dining space will be built.
Co-owner Michael Goodman said the restaurant will have around 90 seats. But because of the size of the lot and an existing large oak tree Goodman said they are trying to preserve, they have applied for a parking space variance. Instead of the required 41 parking spaces, the owners would like approval for 33 spaces, plus room for six bicycles.
Goodman argued that the 33 spaces and the legal parallel parking available along the shoulder of State Road A1A is enough to accommodate the restaurant.
“It’s justified parking,” he said. “It’s allowed.”
For their employees — of which Goodman said there will be around five, total — the owners have worked out an agreement with the neighboring business Debra Jean’s to use five of its overflow parking spaces in the back.
But Flagler County Commissioners were unconvinced that was enough, voting 4-0, with Chairwoman Leann Pennington absent from the meeting, to table the application.
Commissioners Andy Dance and Greg Hansen had specific reservations. Hansen said the board has been “hornswaggled” every time over parking at the restaurants in The Hammock, and it’s time to have them comply with county regulations.
“We have an opportunity here to put our foot down on this parking issue and send the applicant back to the drawing board to refigure it, make it smaller, whatever, to reach the number of spaces that our regulations require,” he said. “I don't think that's too much to ask.”
Parking has been a long-standing issue in The Hammock, with many businesses along State Road A1A having minimal parking. Overflow parking along the shoulders of S.R. A1A is legal, but in the past Hammock residents have found cars parked along residential streets or even in front of driveways.
For Dance, the information was lacking. He said, per his own research on industry standards, a restaurant of this size would have between 10-15 employees from hosts to management.
“I've got a math problem that I can't get past,” Dance said. “I can't approve this until I get verification from the applicant that references an industry standard for employees.”
Hammock residents from the local Hammock Community Association and Scenic A1A Pride organizations showed up to ask commissioners to require a smaller building that meets current codes with the required parking.
“We are looking forward to the tacos,” HCA representative Ed White said. “That’s a true statement. We need another restaurant, we just need it built in the right way.”
Goodman and Lads Coastal Construction’s Jeffrey Ladman said they had no problem removing the oak tree and moving back the building to gain the extra parking.
“If the commissioner's plans are to deny this project over the parking spaces,” Ladman said, “our plan is to move that building back to our setback limit, removing the tree, and picking up six more parking spaces.”
As for the building size, Ladman said the existing restaurant seated 64 in a 1,900 square foot dining room, but only eight parking spaces on site.
Vice Chairwoman Kim Carney said nearly all the businesses in The Hammock, much like Flagler Beach, do not have enough parking or fail to meet the county requirements in some manner.
“Every restaurant in the hammock has violations,” she said. “100% of them.”
The application will return at the April 6 business meeting, allowing the applicants to present more information about the available parking and proposed number of employees.
