Peter Johnson, Palm Coast Mayoral Candidate, recently submitted his answers to the last interview before the primary election, and early voting this month. You can read our questions in bold, followed by Mr. Johnson’s answers.
- Primaries are right around the corner; you are currently running against Alan Lowe, Incumbent David Alfin, Mike Norris **, and Cornelia Manfre. What reasons should voters choose you over the other candidates? David Alfin has only served himself and his special interests. This was abundantly clear when he voted himself a huge pay raise while simultaneously spearheading the reckless overdevelopment taking place in Palm Coast.
Cornelia Manfre, is everyones worst nightmare – as you later acknowledge; and is just another candidate who has deep ties to real estate and development.
Alan Lowe has ran countless times and while I commend his prolonged and continued effort to enact change locally, he has never won in any of his election bids and has lost voters confidence.
Mike Norris has had absolutely zero impact / influence on any meaningful policy change, nor did he have the courage to stand up and defend the residents fighting against developers. Additionally, I’m not sure Mr. Norris has the necessary temperament to successfully govern the city or himself accordingly – ultimately prohibiting any progress for Palm Coast.
- Many people are concerned about electing a candidate with ties to real estate and development; what connections do you have to the real estate and development communities? None
- Residential development in Palm Coast has been a major concern; in what ways are you planning to balance that out to a manageable level so that the City can catch up on overdue and necessary infrastructure needs? The city has done an extremely poor job of managing growth on the residential side. We have seen a significant decline in property quality; more stick-built houses are being constructed than block homes; lots in new developments are much smaller with houses much closer together; parcels of land are being clear-cut in droves and native plants and animals are being displaced. The current council is paving the way for excessive residential development with little commercial development to balance the tax base, nor the updated infrastructure to handle the influx of new and future residents.
Adjusting the LDC (Land Development Code), attracting business to the area to help balance the tax base, properly assessing impact fees for new development, seeking proper state appropriations to offset shortfalls in funding of major projects, and curtailing wasteful spending is essential to alleviate the financial burden and stressors Mayor Alfin has created by adding 1000’s of new homes.
- Environmental conservation of our green space in Palm Coast is also a top concern in the community. In what ways are you planning to conserve our green spaces, trees, wetlands, and other natural resources? I often tell people – conservation is my special interest. I am an avid outdoorsman who grew up in the woods and on the water in Palm Coast/Flagler. I have a deep understanding of our natural resources and their contribution to preserving our quality of life. My plan is simple – start with the basics, including but not limited too; natural vegetation buffers, identifying old growth tree canopies (instead of preserving young planted pine), increasing conservation minimums for new development, stop the clear cutting of infill parcels, change density regulations to limit excessive construction, implementing a land donation program directly to the city, partnering with land trusts to acquire environmentally sensitive parcels, and introduce incentives to meet and exceed those goals. Prior and current administrations have not made land conservation a priority – I will.
- Taxes are among the top-tier hot topics this election year. Our tax base is 93% residentially funded with only a small percentage coming from commercial tax bases. What plans do you have to diversify the tax base without hurting the residents with added taxes, fees, or other financial burdens? My goal as your mayor will be to reduce or, at worst, neutralize taxes. Keeping taxes low should always be a top priority. However, the spending patterns of current and previous councils, improperly assessed impact fees, and inappropriate state funding requests have made it difficult to guarantee this.
City officials cannot continue to ask residents to shoulder the tax burden. I plan to review every city department to ensure that every tax dollar is used appropriately. This is one of the main reasons I am running for office. I believe the city is misallocating tax funds through wasteful spending practice’s and not doing enough to attract more quality businesses / employers. This has resulted in a tax base that is 93% residential and only 7% commercial. We need to work towards a more balanced 70% / 30% split.
There are too many variables to make a firm commitment on specific funding sources right now. The concept is simple: don’t spend money we don’t have. By reducing wasteful spending and attracting businesses that residents actually want, we can better manage our city’s finances and reduce the tax burden on residents, while retaining sales tax dollars locally.
- Economic development: many claim that to be a successful city, there have to be economic opportunities for residents who live here; meaning quality jobs with higher wages. How do you plan to grow the economic base for Palm Coast and bring in more high-paying jobs for residents? I plan to completely reevaluate the way the city is going about their business. Palm Coast has done an extremely poor job of selling the city as a business friendly community. Perception is everything, and being younger is a huge advantage in simply understanding how to better retain a younger (workforce) demographic. We have to shift the focus and thought that we are merely a retirement community and acknowledge we are a full fledged city, in fact the 27th largest city in Florida. I will aggressively pursue economic opportunities and recruit business to the area, not only to diversify the tax base, but also to provide a livable wage to the residents who have invested in our community.
- Stormwater, flooding, swales, and canals are considered undermaintained by many in the community. What are your plans to ensure that our unique system of canals and swales gets caught up on maintenance and stays maintained in the future? The Saltwater Canal project, by the time final estimates come in, will cost in excess of $100 million, which is roughly one third of our general fund operating budget. The complexity of the canal problems predates Palm Coast, as they were constructed before the city was incorporated. In the meantime, we need to explore all possible funding options, including applying for grants and seeking state, local, and federal funding. Realistically, we must plan for the possibility that we may not secure enough external funding. This project must be paid for regardless. My goal as your mayor would be to find the most effective way to reduce the burden on our residents while ensuring the proper maintenance of one of the most critical aspects of our stormwater management system.
In regards to swales -we have 1200 miles of swales / 40 miles are covered a year = 30 years. Taking three decades to make a full pass around the city is unacceptable… this is per the city’s own admission. The swale maintenance program has been a total disaster and should be outsourced to the private sector, in order to cut costs and shift the city employees internally to help better serve other departments. Done right, this will be more efficient and less costly in the long run, while drastically enhancing the level of service residents receive. We must also ensure that we have an adequate amount of wastewater treatment facilities before allowing any more development to take place.
- Some have questioned your qualifications for the position of mayor, wondering what exactly you do for a living, what expertise you bring, and experience, and whether you have the qualifications to handle budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars; what response would you like to give? Resumes may be impressive, but results are what really matter. By all measures Mayor Alfin was the most “qualified” candidate last election cycle. Almost everyone now agrees he is the least qualified person to run any city, never mind the 27th largest city in the state of Florida, Palm Coast.
Since filing to run I have successfully worked with the residents of Seminole Woods to prevent high density apartments from being constructed, in addition to working with residents of both
Hidden Lakes and Toscana in regards to similar concerns. Both of which ultimately led to changes in the notification process for developers with in the city. I have also helped outline and guide flooding policy, airbnb policy, as well as many other aspects the city makes decisions on. I have also been a constant presence at City Hall speaking on behalf of my fellow neighbors and residents about a long list of concerns that residents bring to me daily.
Admittedly, Im not a politician, I’m a self employed handyman and a trained paramedic. Yet I have done the groundwork, I understand the issues at hand and possible solutions better than any other candidate, and I have talked to thousands of residents about Palm Coast and the direction we are headed. Just to be on the ballot I had to receive signatures amounting to 1% of the registered voters in the prior election. I personally spoke to every single person who signed one of the 711 petition slips I needed to qualify. Not only did I get it done, I garnered all of the signatures within two months of filing to run. No other candidate in the mayoral race can say that – they either paid a fee to be on the ballot or had a team who assisted them in collecting signatures over a period of a year. Being successful in our local government means being ready to put in the hard work to enact meaningful change locally and lobby at the state level to fund shortfalls in our budget. I will do just that as your mayor. I plan on treating this position as a full time job. I understand our city; I understand its residents ; and I understand how we need to get back to the fundamentals of local governments to protect Palm Coast. Open dialogue with the residents is paramount and I pride myself on being honest and being transparent. I am committed to continue that once elected! Our success as a city depends on civic engagement and community support. I will work diligently to regain the faith in our local elected officials. The consensus among the residents and myself is clear, our shared concerns for our city’s future will be my top priority from day one.
Some consider my age and my lack of prior political experience a flaw. I consider it my greatest strength. I’m not entrenched in the local bureaucracy nor do I owe unwavering allegiance to anyone other than the residents of Palm Coast. That allows me the freedom to tackle issues without needing approval from anyone except the people who live here and are invested in our community. We need new blood and a fresh perspective to address the multitude of challenges our city faces due to the poor leadership we have endured recently. Having a younger mayor like myself would foster a culture that embraces and retains younger residents, making the city more attractive to businesses and balancing the tax base with working age residents. This missing workforce is crucial in our cities economic viability and will enhance the services the residents ACTUALLY need. Perception is everything and addressing issues from a fresh perspective – something this area has lacked for some time – is desperately needed.
**Original copy of the questions and answers submitted contained a typo. Below is the original question and answer complete with the typo. All answers submitted by the candidate have not been edited for grammatical correctness or clarity per candidates request.
- Primaries are right around the corner; you are currently running against Alan Lowe, Incumbent David Alfin, Peter Johnson, and Cornelia Manfre. What reasons should voters choose you over the other candidates?
David Alfin has only served himself and his special interests. This was abundantly clear when he voted himself a huge pay raise while simultaneously spearheading the reckless overdevelopment taking place in Palm Coast.
Cornelia Manfre, is everyones worst nightmare – as you later acknowledge; and is just another candidate who has deep ties to real estate and development.
Alan Lowe has ran countless times and while I commend his prolonged and continued effort to enact change locally, he has never won in any of his election bids and has lost voters confidence.
(The question has my name listed as the last candidate, but I think you meant Mike Norris)
I understand it can often be easy to forget that he is even running, as Mike has had absolutely zero impact or influence on any meaningful policy change. Additionally, I’m not sure Mr. Norris has the necessary temperament to successfully govern the city or himself accordingly – ultimately prohibiting any meaningful change from taking place.
