Palm Coast City Council voted unanimously Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025, to deny a zoning map amendment that would have reclassified 36.65 acres at Hargrove Lane from light industrial (IND‑1) to heavy industrial (IND‑2), a change the applicant said was needed to site a concrete batch plant on the parcel.

Council members said compatibility with existing businesses, unanswered traffic and infrastructure questions, and community concerns outweighed the applicant’s mitigation commitments. The council voted 5‑0 to deny the ordinance after more than three hours of staff briefings, developer testimony and public comment from nearby business owners and residents.

The applicant, GEL Corp, represented by engineer Kurt Wimpay of Alliance Engineering, and SRM Concrete representatives led by Brian Hercules, presented technical plans and environmental controls they said would limit dust, recycle wash water and keep most operations well inland from property lines. ‘‘We want to be a steward of that as well,’’ Hercules told the council, describing truck‑wash systems, dust collectors and internal paving the company plans to install.

City staff’s presentation, delivered by Michael Hansen, community development staff, summarized the land‑use question: a concrete batch plant is listed specifically as an IND‑2 use under the Land Development Code, so the applicant sought rezoning rather than a special exception under IND‑1. Hansen also relayed the city’s water‑resources review: the applicant discussed needing 10,000–14,000 gallons per day; the city’s contracted hydrogeologist estimated that using that volume in a 15‑hour daily window would be an average of about 16 gallons per minute and ‘‘would not interfere with the operations of the city’s nearby water wells,’’ Hansen said.

Opposition focused on traffic, dust and incompatibility with an established cluster of light‑industrial businesses on Hargrove Lane and Hargrove Grade. Speakers said Hargrove has limited egress to U.S. 1, existing flooding on Hargrove Grade and repeated hazardous‑materials incidents at nearby companies. ‘‘By converting it to heavy industrial, we’re not adding opportunity, we’re removing it,’’ said Keith Larratt, owner of units at the adjacent 15 Hargrove Lane industrial condominium development.

Developers and some contractors argued the proposed plant would reduce truck miles and local construction cost by supplying concrete closer to new building sites. The applicant provided trip estimates: approximately 150 trips per day at maximum service for the batch plant, compared with a previously permitted warehouse development scenario that the engineer said could generate about 1,272 daily trips. The applicant also offered site buffers well beyond the minimum code requirements and said it would increase the cul‑de‑sac buffer to about 40 feet in the plan.

Council members debated whether to continue the item to let the applicant provide additional guarantees. One motion to continue for a traffic analysis did not pass. Later there was a motion to table while the applicant worked with staff on deed restrictions and a traffic study to return Oct. 7; that motion was amended and then withdrawn. The final prevailing motion on the dais was to deny the rezoning request; the roll call after debate was a unanimous yes from Vice Mayor Pontieri, Council Member Gambarro, Council Member Miller, Council Member Sullivan and Mayor Michael Norris.

Council also directed staff to run a traffic‑count study for the Hargrove corridor to inform future applications. Several council members said a city‑conducted traffic counter and a focused study of the culvert, roadway condition and peak‑hour queuing should be completed before similar rezoning requests are considered.

What comes next: the denial preserves the property’s IND‑1 (light industrial) zoning; the applicant may revise plans and pursue a use compatible with existing zoning or return with additional mitigations. The council’s action also prompted a separate direction to city staff to study traffic and infrastructure conditions on Hargrove Grade and report findings to the council.

(Reporting by City Council meeting transcript and onsite presentations.)