- May 20, 2026
The Hammock Community Association is a non-profit organization that advocates for preserving The Hammock's nature, beauty and community. HCA President Lora Stillman sits down with the Observer to talk about what it is the HCA does and why more Hammock residents should get involved.
What is the Hammock Community Association? What do you guys do?
Well, our mission statement says that we are here to inform and to influence the community members and other organizations and government officials about the importance of protecting and preserving The Hammock. What we envision is this Hammock community to be here forever and be able to live in balance with the development that's going on.
We know there's going to be development, and we are totally okay with that. We support responsible development, and responsible [in] that it is not knocking out of the picture the beauty, the wildlife, the trees. What we envision is a future of The Hammock looking like it does now, as much as possible, but adding responsible development in there. Having restaurants, having businesses, but for it to not become overwhelmed with all business.
When it comes to residents in The Hammock, who would you say is the right fit for the HCA, and why should they join?
Anybody. What I look at is I think most people live on the Hammock Barrier Island because of the trees, the nature, the animals, just the feel of it. It's relaxed, it's quiet, it's not huge bright lights everywhere.
I think most people like it that way, and that's why they live here, whether they've lived here for 40 years, five years, inherited a home from a family member, or decided to build a new home. I think everybody on the Hammock Barrier Island is interested in making sure it keeps that same feel. And if that's what they like, then why not be a member of the association?
Come and listen to the speakers that we bring in that give advice on how to protect your property. I wasn't here at the time, but apparently we had a wildfire, and people had to evacuate. Those who are new here, that was very enlightening. It was great to hear about that. So, that was one of our speakers, talking about emergencies on the barrier island. Talking about nature, we bring in the experts about the North Atlantic Right Whale and the scientific project that goes on every spring.
So I think everybody out here on the barrier island would be interested in being a part of the association. I didn't join until just two years ago, because I didn't know about it. That's why we're looking to increase our engagement within the community and make sure that people know that we're here, and we've got information to share with them.
When you say that you advocate for maintaining The Hammock, what kind of projects are you involved with?
We as a group, all of the different board members, we all pay attention to what's going on by reading the local news, papers, by going to the [Flagler County] Commission meetings, by going to the subcommittees of the Flagler County administration. We're always paying attention…to find out what's coming down the pipeline next. And also keeping up to date on what the Florida legislators are doing, so what bills are trying to be passed that might impact us.
For example, in my neighborhood, there have been an increase, a significant increase of short-term rental properties. There has been legislation going through at the state level about it, and there's conversations and legislation going through at the county level. That's one of the things that we have been keeping an eye on, and making sure that the property owners are following the rules and the laws that the county and the state have put into place.
Some of those rules, for instance, have to do with making sure that the lights are turned off at night that are within a certain number of feet of the beach, because it impacts the turtles that are nesting. So there's actually rules for short term rentals about informing the renters they need to shut the lights off outside at night, just to drill it down to more of a granular level.
We're constantly going to county meetings: What's coming along? What are the commissioners doing? What is the administration doing to make sure that any development or any changes out here in The Hammock are within the codes that are already in place on the books?
And you don't have to be a member to attend the meetings, right?
Yes, absolutely, correct. Except for two months in the summertime — because a lot of people do vacation — the other 10 months of the year we have a monthly public-slash-member meeting. It's free to the public, and we welcome anybody to come in to listen, ask questions. We always open up the floor to questions at the end.
Does the HCA have a real impact on the way decisions are made for the projects in The Hammock?
Let’s say it this way: we are going to try to have an impact. We might get frustrated; maybe sometimes we feel what we're suggesting is not being considered. But then other times we feel like maybe we are making a difference.
If for no other reason than to keep making sure that the Board of County Commissioners, the Planning and Zoning Board, all of the players at the county level, are at least getting reminded by us that there are codes, and it's their codes that they're supposed to be enforcing. It's not supposed to be our job to do that.
We're the ones that keep raising the flag and saying, ‘hold on, you need to go back to the codes, we don't think this is, we don't think that the ordinances are being followed.’ Those ordinances are there to maintain the feel, the atmosphere of The Hammock.
The HCA has in the past gone to court to advocate for The Hammock. When the HCA is deciding to file a lawsuit, what kind of thought process goes into that decision?
That's something that anybody who is trying to decide whether to file a lawsuit or take legal action has to go through. It's: do you even think that you have a chance of winning, getting advice from an attorney, who knows maybe some case law that says you don't have a chance, or yes, we think there is a chance that we can win and make an impact.
It's not an easy decision, and fortunately we have some very educated and very intellectual people on the board who will think through all of the different angles.
We'll talk it through with an attorney, and then we'll talk amongst the board members: Do we have a chance of winning? What is our goal for filing this? Does it really fit into our mission and vision statements? Is it really going to make an impact? Or is this maybe a lawsuit that we shouldn't even bother looking at, but still [be] discussing it out in the public, making sure the public knows what's going on, and then framing it in front of the commissioners?
Maybe we don't decide to do a lawsuit, but at least make sure that the board of commissioners knows this is how we feel about it.
We've got a couple of board members who have read through the land code so many times, they can quote it. Seriously, they can quote sections of it by a code number, and almost quote what it says in the land development code. We're just constantly going back to them saying, okay, this is coming, but have you looked at this.
Our board members who look at upcoming possible development, and they will go through the the plans that's being submitted to the county by the developer. They'll go through it detail by detail and and then submit to the county and to the Planning and Zoning Board where there are mistakes, where there are issues that do not, in our opinion, match with what the land development code says they can do, such as buffers between the property and the State Road A1A highway.
I don't want to give too many examples, but we have gone back to the county and said this development doesn't meet your land code, and here are the reasons, with even drawings showing it in detail. We just say, please take a look at this. Please try to follow what the laws are that the government is supposed to be following, and the developers.
