Board clears White Eagle site for convenience store and gas station at US‑1 roundabout

Flagler County commissioners approved a future land-use map amendment and companion rezoning on June 15 that will clear the way for redevelopment of the former White Eagle bar property at 5530 U.S. Highway 1 into a convenience store and fuel station.

Consultant Kristen Reid (Kimley-Horn), speaking for the property owner, told commissioners the site sits at a recently improved roundabout and that a traffic study submitted with the application showed no intersection deficiencies under the projected trip generation for a roughly 4,000-square-foot store with multiple pump islands.

"Being located with access off of that roundabout is good because the traffic is slowed by the roundabout function," Kristen Reid said, adding the feature typically reduces conflict points and can improve access safety compared with a standard signalized intersection.

Staffpresentations documented a worst-case analysis of approximately a 52,000-square-foot increase in commercial floor area (a conservative metric applied by planning to measure the maximum template the new designation could allow) and an estimated net increase of about 1,500 daily vehicle trips. The applicant said the proposed site design includes driveway improvements on County Road 325 and an extended right-turn lane on U.S. 1.

One nearby resident urged the board to consider cut-through traffic on County Road 325 (a corridor that connects to interior Palm Coast neighborhoods) and asked the county to anticipate shortcutting behavior where local side streets feed to the site; staff said the city and county coordinate on access and that the site will proceed through TRC and health-department permitting for well/septic if the land-owner keeps private utilities.

The board approved both the future land-use amendment and the rezoning to C2 (general commercial) by roll-call votes; site development review will follow as a staff-level technical review for a parcel under five acres. Building permits and health permits for commercial septic/well systems must be satisfied before construction can begin.