Landmar marina project at old cement factory rezoning request moving forward slowly.

Recommended for approval by Planning Board but delayed by Flagler County Commissioners.

The Landmar marina project at the old cement factory site was approved for a rezoning change by the planning board, making way for the vast new marina. However, the final approval required by the Flagler County Commissioners ran into a stumbling block. Commissioners seem hung up on the issue of contaminated soil found in some site testing. The soil was contaminated during the period that the cement plant was in production. The Lehigh plant dumped Cement Kiln Dust (CKD) south of the cement factory site. The Planning Board was content with Landmar’s plan for mitigation which involved moving the effected soil to another location on their property . Per recommendations of the Florida Environmental Control Commission, the dirt was to be encased in plastic film for containment.

Local environmental activists lobbied the Board to delay their decision. The Board capitulated. Lost in the local print media coverage was the fact that Landmar, a developer of an adjacent project and the Searay Boat division of Brunswick worked for over a year to reconcile objections Searay had to the original development plan.

Update – This project received the green light along with an adjoining project for single family homes, Grand Reserve East. However, the CKD issue still dogs the other sister project, Grand Reserve West. Final approval awaits a county approval of a satisfactory solution to the CKD problem. Commissioners do not want the contaminated soil moved to another place within Flagler County.