Flagler Beach residents will get an opportunity this week to weigh in on an annexation-and-development proposal that could more than double the city's with more than 2,700 homes plus commercial sites. Developers of Veranda Bay, a sprawling mixed-use development, are asking Flagler Beach to bring in 899 acres to the city's west, south of State Road 100 and straddling John Anderson Boulevard well into what many locals say is a pristine "Old Florida" landscape. The developer is Palm Coast Intracoastal, LLC, which shares an address with SunBelt Land Management, the company that brought similar plans dubbed The Gardens, in 2019, where it was met with .
The developer can expect more opposition this week. A poll on the Flagler Beach for Friends Facebook page, with 698 votes as of Saturday evening, showed 94% opposed to adding 2,700 new homes to the city. Elizabeth Hathaway, president of Preserve Flagler Beach & Bulow Creek Inc.
, said she is hoping the development can be scaled back to include more preserve land or a passive park. “John Anderson is a scenic highway and it’s part of the Ormond Loop on both sides. There’s some really beautiful hardwood hammock canopies,” she said.
“The west side (of John Anderson) is the one we as a group are most concerned about, because of the ecological value.” Some of the development extends to Bulow Creek, one of Florida's paddling trails, and designated an Outstanding Florida Water by the state as a measure of protection. “We are co.