Chartreuse? Secure.
Pink? No problem.
If officials implement proposed changes to Palm Coast's Land Development Code, residents would no longer be required to paint their homes in traditional earth tones.
At a Jan. 14 workshop, the Palm Coast City Council reviewed a presentation to consider revisions to the township's existing ordinance regulating home exterior colors to allow so-called “light Bermuda” hues such as peach, pink, lavender and green Complement to traditionally permitted colors in shades of gray and beige.
The ordinance would have no impact on residents of developments with homeowner associations.
The proposal was developed through previous public hearings by directors of the city's zoning and code enforcement departments.
Mayor Mike Norris's initial reaction was to take a completely hands-off approach. “I say we get rid of it; “We’re getting rid of it completely,” Norris said.
Some have said that Palm Coast is a large residential condominium
According to Palm Coast spokeswoman Brittany Kershaw, Palm Coast has had a reputation over the years for being restrictive in its regulations and residents have almost compared the city to a condominium. For example, the city does not allow commercial vehicles or “work vans” to be parked in residential driveways.
Kershaw said the issue of paint colors has come up regularly over the years.
Nearby beaches Bunnell and Flagler Beach have no color restrictions.
In June 2024, a neighbor of a dark blue ranch house in the “F” section complained to the city about the darkness of the shade. City officials reviewed the current land development code and, in light of other municipalities' regulations, proposed expanding the color palette to include “light Bermuda” colors as well as aquamarine and deep peach colors.
The city is currently limiting the selection to earth tones such as brown tones, brown-taupe or sand-taupe, beige, terracotta, olive, sage and gray. Light pastels and whites are also permitted, provided they have a light reflectance value (indicated on most paint dabs) of 80 (more towards white) or higher. “Light Bermuda” colors would allow paints with LVRs of over 65.
However, four colors would still be banned: fuchsia, magenta, purple and orange.
Councilman Ty Miller agreed with Norris, saying, “I fall into the non-restrictive category. I think it’s people’s personal choice, and what I think is great, other people don’t, and vice versa.”
“How dare you tell me!”
Resident Robert MacDonald told the council that homeowners pay so much money for their homes that the government should have no say in choosing the color of their home.
“So I'm going to spend $400,000 and buy a brand new house, and some committee is going to tell me what color I can paint my house? It's my house! Will there be a regulation that dictates what car you have in your driveway? Or what color can you have in your driveway?
Miller acknowledged that he could understand the dispute with neighbors of a brightly colored house down the street who complained that it could drive down the value of homes in the area, and if the data proved that, he could Reconsider your opinion.
The draft revised amendments will be submitted for consultation
Fellow City Council member Charles Gambaro agreed with Miller that yellow should be added to the list of banned colors, and Ray Stevens, who initially said he favored leaving the code as is, joined the rest of the City Council in pushing for a public one next hearing. (Councilwoman Theresa Pontieri did not attend the workshop.)
As for Mindy Melendez, the resident of the navy blue house that sparked the recent debate over color choice, will be forced to paint her house a lighter color if the City Council doesn't change the code.
“I ask you to at least pay attention to the color of my house and put in the ordinance that it is an OK color,” Melendez implored the council.