Board grants 50% tree‑protection variance for US‑1 auto sales/repair site after wetlands mitigation

The Flagler County Planning and Development Board on March 11 approved a variance that effectively reduced the tree preservation/replacement requirement from 70% to 20% for a proposed auto sales and repair site at 3825 U.S. 1 (Project 2025020045).

Simone Kenny, county planner, told the board the parcel is about an acre and was roughly 97% wetlands prior to mitigation. The applicant obtained mitigation and permits from the St. Johns River Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) in 2023. Those state‑level permits and the engineered site design preceded an update to Flagler County’s tree protection ordinance (Ordinance 2406) that increased required preservation/replacement from 20% to 70% on Sept. 16, 2024.

Kenny said the site design includes a 5,000‑square‑foot stormwater retention pond, a 5–6 foot retaining wall with 3–5 feet of fill in portions of the site, required septic and drain field area, a building footprint of about 6,000 square feet and 31 parking spaces. Because the engineered site could not hold trees within the retaining wall and fill limits, the applicant proposed preserving about 96 caliber inches and planting about 165 caliber inches for a total of roughly 261 post‑development caliber inches — a plan that would have met the old 20% standard but not the newly adopted 70% requirement.

Kenny told the board staff found the property to present extraordinary conditions due to wetlands and fill requirements and that the applicants had acted in good faith: the mitigation permitting and engineering work predated the county ordinance change and the applicant did not submit a county‑specific application until months after the ordinance update. Staff recommended the board consider a variance under the county tree ordinance and the board’s authority as the protected tree board of adjustment.

Lena Goldfarb, speaking for the property owner, said the owner purchased the land in 2021 and discovered wetlands during permitting. Goldfarb described a lengthy, costly mitigation and permitting process through state and federal agencies and said the project would be financially infeasible if required to meet the new 70% standard or make a substantial tree‑bank contribution.

Board members discussed the change from 20% to 70% and asked staff to confirm timing; staff reiterated that the applicant’s state permitting process began almost two years earlier and that engineering and wetland permits were in hand before the county application was filed. A board member noted the tree‑bank option exists but that the board can only prescribe tree‑bank contributions through the variance mechanism and that a requirement to fund a tree bank could be a financial burden on applicants who already undertook mitigation.

After discussion the board moved and seconded approval of the variance (described in staff materials as a 50% variance to reduce the county requirement back to 20%). The motion passed unanimously. The board approved Project 2025020045 for a variance reducing the minimum required 70% preservation/replacement of protected trees to the previously applicable 20% for the site at 3825 U.S. 1. Staff noted pending engineering and health‑department comments would be addressed prior to county commission consideration.

The planning board’s approval will be forwarded to the Board of County Commissioners as the applicant’s next step for county site plan permits and final approvals.