OBSERVER
PALM COAS T | ORMO ND BEAC H MARC H 2016
PALM COAST
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INSIDE: Find out how Palm Coast and Orm have welcomed ond home graduate s to be part of the Beach business (PAGES 2B and 5B), or businesses (PAG to start their own family E 3B).
INSIDE BUSINESS OBSERVER
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 7, NO. 8
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THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016
Bringing home the bacon
Palm Coast and Flagler County asked for financial help from the state. Check out how we did: PAGE 3A CRACKER DAY 2016
Better bull-ieve it: Cody family continues tradition JACQUE ESTES STAFF WRITER
Dan Cody said he doesn’t remember too much about Cracker Day 1971, even though that’s the one and only time he entered the bull riding competition. “I probably didn’t stay on for five seconds,” he said. “A bunch of us just got together and decided to try it. Back then, if you wanted to ride, they just said, ‘Go ahead.’” Cracker Day now finds Dan Cody helping out as Randy Buckles cooks barbecue, something that is as big a draw as the rodeo. Dan Cody’s son, Dowlin, participated in the activities for 24 years before joining his father and Buckles with the barbecue. “I started riding calves when I was 4 years old and rode until I was 24,” Dowlin Cody said. “There’s quite a bit more to it now. Both of my boys ride.” The one time he will leave the barbecue during this year’s SEE THE BULL PAGE 4A
COUNTRY FUN What: 61st-annual Flagler County Cattlemen’s Cracker Day Where: Flagler County Fairgrounds, 150 Sawgrass Road When: Saturday, March 26. Rough rider games at 8 a.m. Rodeo begins at 11 a.m. Cost: Admission $10 (includes barbecue lunch). Children under 3 free admission
YOUR TOWN HAVE WE REACHED THE
END OF THE ROAD FOR THE MATANZAS WOODS GOLF COURSE? The Code Enforcement Board recommends the city start foreclosure proceedings. The Golf Group of Palm Coast has sued the city. JONATHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
“We have been more than patient. I think the neighbors would agree that we have been more than patient.” JIM LANDON, city manager
F
or most property owners, getting a bit behind with the mowing isn’t a big deal. But The Group Golf of Palm Coast LLC isn’t just any property owner, and its failure to keep the closed Matanzas Woods Golf Course’s grass groomed to city standards is now costing it: The city has been levying fines of $500 a day, totaling $97,500 as of a Code Enforcement Board hearing March 9. The Group Golf hadn’t paid up, so the Code Board took the next step: Recommending the city start foreclosure proceedings on the property, as first reported by gotoby.com. “Our goal is to bring the property into compliance, City Manager Jim Landon said in an interview March 23. “We have been more than patient. I think the neighbors would agree that we have been more than patient.” The foreclosure doesn’t mean that the property would become
the city’s, Landon said. Instead, it would be put up in a tax sale through the county, and would go to the highest bidder; the payment from the bid would go directly to the city to cover the accumulated fines. The city could enter its own bids, but, “The city is not interested in owning the property,” Landon said. Instead, it would hope someone would come forward and maintain the course to the city’s standards. The property’s current land use designation is recreational, and that would be maintained if there were a foreclosure sale. The Group Golf still has an opportunity to bring the property up to the city’s code standards to avoid the foreclosure, Landon said. Meanwhile, the Group Golf has filed suit against the city, seeking to stop the proceedings. And, in a March 10 email to City Attorney Bill Reischmann, Group Golf representative Michael Yokan suggested another use for the property: agricultural. “We have an established organic farming group which is ready to hit the ground running and the sooner we develop the propSEE FUTURE PAGE 5A
MATANZAS WOODS INTERCHANGE RIBBON CUTTING SCHEDULED A ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Interstate 95 Interchange at Matanzas Woods Parkway will be held at 3:30 p.m. March 28 at the western on-ramp from Matanzas Woods Parkway. The interchange will remain closed until after the ceremony, so those planning to attend should take the parkway, which will be open. “This is a very exciting day for our county,” said Flagler County Commission Chair Barbara Revels. “Besides the safety that having another interchange in the county provides, it also opens a lot of avenues for economic development and convenience for our citizens.” The need for the interchange became apparent in July 1998, when wildfire consumed more than 84,000 acres and destroyed 71 houses. Former Gov. Lawton Chiles ordered a mandatory evacuation for Flagler County – about 35,000 residents.
INSIDE
Track champs! PAGE 13A-14