Palm Coast will soon be home to a new fuel terminal, if a local company’s plans go through. Belvedere Terminals is turning its sights to a location off US-1 and Peavy Grade after abandoning a much-resisted effort to set up operations in Ormond Beach. The site would be a 78-acre development.
The total price tag of the project would be $85 million, with $10 million of that figure coming from state taxpayers subsidies. It would be up and running by the end of 2026 according to existing plans. The City of Palm Coast is touting the development as a way to diversify the city’s tax base to shift more of the burden off of residents and onto commercial businesses. It could also bring 30 to 35 ‘high-paying, full-time jobs’, the city says.
“This land is already zoned industrial in Flagler County,” said acting Palm Coast City Manager Lauren Johnston. “We’ve heard from our community that economic vitality is a top priority, as it will help us diversify our tax base. This project will help us start to balance our tax base more evenly and minimize the burden on residential homeowners.”
Even with these potential benefits, If Palm Coast is anything like its neighbor to the south then the project will likely face significant opposition from residents. Ormond Beach residents rallied last year to get the project relocated from a site on Hull Road. Concerns largely centered around the site’s proximity to facilities commonly used by residents. If there were an accident at the terminal, residents argued, it would be difficult for first responders to respond quickly enough.
The $10 million in state subsidies for Belvedere Terminals was granted as a result of the massive public backlash, allowing them to relocate to a different site in either Flagler, Volusia, or Brevard County. As things stand now, the state government will channel that money through Flagler County to contribute to the project.
“The Florida Department of Commerce grant will cover the land acquisition, site improvements, and the construction of critical infrastructure necessary to support a fuel storage and distribution terminal,” said Flagler County Administrator Heidi Petito. “It needed to be a county project, so that’s why we are involved. And, it needed to be in the Flagler, Volusia, Brevard corridor.”
What could possible go wrong with this idea? Put the residents lives at risk for a few hundred K. It will cost then a lot more god forbid something catastrophic goes wrong and people get sink or die.