Flagler Beach May Sell Ocean Palm Golf Course, Where Owner Plans Building the Size of Palm Coast City Hall

Flagler Beach government is considering selling the 40-acre, nine-hole Ocean Palm Golf Course at the south end of town to Jeff Ryan’s KTS Holdings, the current leaseholder of the property. 

Ryan would sign a deed restriction that would ensure the grounds remain a golf course in perpetuity. But Ryan is proposing to build a two-story, 30,000-square foot clubhouse and restaurant (the footprint would be 15,000 square feet, the building height 30 feet). The existing clubhouse is a one-story 1,560 square foot building built in 1961. 

A new building of that size would significantly change the landscape there: The 30,000 square-foot building would be nearly equal to the size of Palm Coast City Hall, also a two-story building (without the 8,000 square foot Community Wing.) Put another way, the 15,000 footprint would be twice the size of Miller’s Ale House on State Road 100, in the BJ’s Warehouse shopping center. The course is rimmed by single-family houses for most of its squarish shape. It is shadowed to the east by garish high-rises of 10 stories each. 

The city’s planner is recommending approval of the conceptual site plan. 

The city secured two appraisals so far, both reflecting the city’s conditions that the property’s use be restricted. One appraisal put the value of the property at $794,000, the other at $810,000. 

“Restoring the 9-hole course and constructing a new clubhouse with a banquet facility offering a variety of golf-related entertainment options is part of the new management concept,” the appraisal by Cooksey and Associates states. “Along with its location near the ocean, this concept would offer a unique, open to the public, golf venue in the market.”

The city bought the golf course in 2008 and reopened it in 2015 under a new leaseholder. The relationship between the leaseholder and the city was fraught with conflict, ending with an out-of-court settlement in June 2023 after the city severed the lease and the leaseholder sued the city. Ryan took over in January 2024. 

The relationship with the city has been smoother. The city has been charging rent of around $3,200 a month. 

According to the conceptual site plan Ryan submitted to the city last August, the golf course would be regraded. The parking lot off South Central Avenue would be expanded to 117 spaces, up from the 40-odd spaces there now. Though those details are not in the proposal, he would also build an indoor electronic driving range in the new building, along with meeting space, among other indoor amenities. Under the tentative terms of the sale, Ryan would be responsible for maintaining the city’s elaborate stormwater system on the property. 

Mark Imhoff of Ocean Palm Drive is part of a newly formed citizen group of about 15 to 20 properties. “We’re concerned and aware of what’s going to happen down at the golf course,” he told the City Commission in late March. “I totally get the problem that’s been with the other lessee, and what you can do with that amount of property. We just would like to have some input into the decision that will eventually be made on that golf course or excuse.” 

Imhoff said the group is “extremely concerned about possible negative impacts, not just to our neighborhood, but also as to the city as a whole,” and called for the commission to hold a workshop on the matter. 

Richard Phelan, another Ocean Palm Drive resident since 2012, said he is seeing the character of the city change from what had attracted him to the city. His concern is the proposed building at the golf course. “I think with that magnitude of a building that we are no longer looking at a golf course,” he said. “The focus is going to be on what happens within that building and how it’s going to generate money. That property was, was supposed to remain as purely recreational, and if we’re looking at a 30,000 square foot building that’s no longer focused on recreation, then we’re not even conforming to the current zoning, and it bothers me.” 

Commissioner Scott Spradley tried to reassure the concerned citizens. “My understanding is that if there is a sale of that property, it not only will be accompanied by deed restriction, meaning that it can only be used for recreational,” he said, “it’s going to be even a further restriction to recreational, to be a golf course. Meaning that if someone buys it, there will be a permanent deed restriction having to do with its use being a golf course.”

He said the buyer would invest a significant amount of money. But if there is a proposed sale, it would first have to go before the City Commission at two public hearings, and possibly a workshop.  

“Anything that is going on now is just simply different concepts at staff level,” Commissioner Eric Cooley said. “Nobody’s even approached commission. There hasn’t been any decisions made.”