Tony Amaral, a longtime Palm Coast builder, is seeking a seat on the Palm Coast City Council representing District 2. In a recent interview, Amaral discussed his background, his views on the city’s infrastructure challenges, development policies, and the rising cost of utilities.
Background and Decision to Run
Q: Why did you decide to run for City Council, and what do you do for a living?
Amaral: I am a builder. And I am proud to be a builder, not a developer. I’m a builder. I’ve built close to, I’m going to say at least 1,800 homes. It’s going to be closer to 2,000, I think, but predominantly on original plotted lots. So those 42,000 lots were going to be built on. Palm Coast started in the late 60s, early 70s. And that’s where I built most of my houses.
Amaral said the late Councilman Frank Meeker encouraged him to run years ago, but he declined at the time because his youngest child was only one or two years old. Now, with his older children approaching college age and beyond, he said he began asking what would bring them back to Palm Coast.
Amaral: I just don’t see what’s going to bring him back, what’s going to bring back my other son two years later, what’s going to bring back my daughter, my other daughter two years later. So it’s a chain. I think the next five to ten years are going to be a transition period where it’s going to define probably the next 30 to 40 years of what Palm Coast is going to be like.
He said the city needs to bring in clean industry and higher-end jobs so young people can return, make a living, and raise families rather than leaving because there is nothing for them.
Addressing Perceptions of Builders in Politics
Q: You know how some residents feel about builders, real estate agents, and developers running for office. What is your counter-argument to their stance?
Amaral: I would hope they actually look at the process, not the profession. The difference comes down to what’s the difference between a builder and a developer. I’m not grabbing large tracts of land, which were always set aside when ITT had them.
He noted that he voted for Palm Coast to become a city in 1999 because he believed it needed more independence from the county. He said he has worked with every city department except human resources and has seen what they do well while also questioning inefficiencies.
Amaral: I’ve got the knowledge on the basics of how the city runs already because of what I did for a living and what I do for a living. So that’s what’s driven me to say, guys, you know, you go to a doctor, a general practitioner for one thing. If you have a specific foot problem, you go to a podiatrist. If you have a shoulder problem, you go see the specialist for your shoulder.
Infrastructure as the Central Issue
Q: Where do you see the biggest issue with the most room for improvement among roads, utilities, the $330 million bonds, and stormwater?
Amaral: My platform is infrastructure. Our roads are falling apart. It’s just because they’re old. And it’s not even the roads, it’s what’s underneath the roads. All our stormwater is underneath. That system is clay pipes. It’s 70 years old. It’s a maintenance issue that we haven’t done. Councils in the past have been more worried about, oh, I just want my headline of I lowered taxes. They lowered millage rates, but they didn’t really lower taxes because the values went up.
He said the city is no longer striping roads, and residents have asked why they cannot at least get new center lines for visibility during nighttime driving and afternoon thunderstorms.
Amaral pointed to a past program that aimed to resurface 60 miles of roads per year, putting the city on a 10-year maintenance cycle. With over 600 miles of roads and only 22 miles of micro-surfacing completed last year, the current pace would take 30 years to address all roads.
He said he was pleased that Palm Coast Parkway is finally being resurfaced from US 1 to the Hammock Dunes Bridge, with the work being done overnight as he has long requested.
Amaral: They announced, they said it, it’s worse than it looks because they’re doing those ground penetrating surveys, so they’re seeing the disintegration underneath, which will be, if you imagine Palm Coast Parkway having a major issue where our roads are cut off, that’s a major thoroughfare. You thought traffic was bad now, but it’ll just be horrible.
Stormwater System Challenges
On stormwater, Amaral said the biggest problem is years of deferred maintenance. He noted that approximately 50 percent of the city’s canals are now only about three feet deep when they were originally over six feet, representing hundreds of millions of gallons of lost storage capacity.
Amaral: So we’re buying land to dig out to store water. At the end of the day, when these king tides happen, and we have a rain event, like when Milton came, and actually the weekend before Milton was that heavy rain event, the water just couldn’t go out because the intercoastal was too high. It just couldn’t push against it, or it slowed everything down. Major rain event, then Milton, major flooding on the roads.
Balancing Road Expansion with Maintenance
Q: How does the city move forward on major projects like Old Kings Road widening while still maintaining existing roads?
Amaral said the city grew even faster in the early 2000s, pulling 3,000 to 3,500 permits per year compared to about 2,000 annually over the last six years. During that earlier growth period, the city widened Belle Terre from two lanes and expanded Palm Coast Parkway.
Amaral: ITT, believe it or not, did a really good job because all the land is there already. We don’t have to go through and take people out of homes. We don’t have to use eminent domain to take people out of business or anything else. The land is there. We’ve just waited too long, I think, to start making that process.
He said he wants to establish a fixed percentage of the general fund dedicated to maintaining roads and stormwater infrastructure before addressing other budget items.
Amaral: That percentage has to stay firm for at least the next six, eight years to give us that momentum and to show the people that we’re actually sticking to it because right now it’s a project here, it’s kind of like a project there.
Regarding State Road 100, Amaral acknowledged it is a state road and praised Councilman Ty Miller’s work at the Transportation Planning Organization. However, he said Flagler County is always tied to Volusia County in funding decisions.
Amaral: We’re always seen as the little brother. And I think Ty has been making the comments, and he’s fighting and says, hey, that’s great, but we’re disproportionately losing money compared to you guys. Like, yes, you have more miles of state roads, but that doesn’t mean you should get all the money because we still have priority roads. State Road 100 is one of them.
Impact Fees and the Property Tax Ballot Measure
Q: Do you feel the current council is actively utilizing the increased impact fees for projects, or could there be a better way?
Amaral said he has supported impact fee increases because they are required by law, but he questioned how the funds have been used. He said the transportation impact fee study from the recent increase was largely copied from a 2018 study.
Amaral: If you actually compare the two side by side, it’d say, oh, we have to go to four lanes, oh, we have to do this. There’s only one item that changed to ask for more lanes than what they originally asked for in 2018. So was that a realistic request in 2018, or did they just want to collect money to use for other projects?
He said he plans to file a public records request to track impact fee collections and expenditures year by year.
On the potential property tax exemption ballot measure, Amaral said he spoke with the property appraiser and learned Palm Coast could lose approximately $5.5 million if homesteaded properties became tax-exempt. Flagler County could lose around $12 million.
Amaral: So, where are we going to get it from? Are we going to literally cut our budget down by five million and keep it going? Or are we going to say, no, we’re going to use those five million, our property, home, our business owners’ taxes for the business, gonna go up to make up for it? I don’t know. Council’s gonna be talking about that this year, next year.
Utility Bills and the $330 Million Bond
Q: What is your take on Palm Coast getting control of utilities while mitigating monthly bills to residents?
Amaral said he owns a rental property that has been vacant for several months, yet the utility bill is over $120 with no water usage and no trash pickup. He said more than $60 of that is stormwater and trash fees alone.
He said approximately $200 million of the bond is for the repair and replacement of existing equipment with no added capacity, representing deferred maintenance that should have been addressed over time.
Amaral: Wastewater treatment plant number one is still operating at capacity. We have not exceeded capacity. The only time we exceeded capacity was when we had the major rain events because we had too much intrusion and infiltration. We’re bringing in just rainwater, going into the system.
He noted that even with unlimited funding, the city could not immediately expand treatment capacity because the system needs incoming water volume to function properly.
Amaral: We were without a utilities director for almost two years. If you don’t have a director, what staff member is going to say, oh, I’m going to go ring that bell at city council every week, going, hey guys, we have a problem? Luckily or unluckily, DEP said, you have a problem. So you have to set a plan in place, which we’ve done.
He questioned the timing of decisions, noting that in October 2024, just before the November election, the council declined to raise water rates. By February or March, it became a major emergency.
Amaral: Where was that disconnect? What happened? Where was the communication breakdown between the utility department and city council, and the rest of the staff, to say, guys, that’s not an option anymore? But it’s always an option because the council decides. And how much of that was because of the election? I don’t know, but I just find it convenient on the timing.
Development and Density Increases
Q: Do you think the way growth is happening now is the smartest way to do it? Do you think rezoning and changing lot sizes is part of the problem for older homes seeing more flooding?
Amaral referenced a recent development request to add 13 homes to an existing approval by reducing lot sizes below Land Development Code requirements. He said the code allows for density increases but emphasized the city should negotiate for public benefits in return.
Amaral: And they can do that. And I think the city in the past has always shied away from just getting it. So history has always said if you apply for it, they’re just going to give it to you anyway. I mean, I honestly can’t remember the last time they said no. The planning board has said no. The planning board has said no a couple of times. But council, as far as that type of density increases, hasn’t said no.
He said any density increase should come with written commitments, not vague promises.
Amaral: You want to go to 4.25, 4.5 units per acre? Okay. Well, that just means we have to negotiate that. What are you going to do? But not like, oh, we’ll maybe do this, or we’ll maybe put a park in. No. I want to see it. I want it written in a contract. I want it to be part of the deed and covenants that have to be there. Is it going to increase density? Yes. But do we get a benefit from it? That has to be yes also. It’s not yes and no. It has to be two yeses if you’re going to do it.
Amaral said growth is necessary because, without it, the burden of maintaining existing infrastructure falls more heavily on current residents.
Amaral: Just new construction alone that comes in, and historically, I believe we’re looking at somewhere between two and four million dollars a year in ad valorem taxes increase, just because of new construction. Nothing changed. You automatically, because you converted that land at a low rate to a house at a higher value, which brings in more money.
He noted that the city needs to pursue grants more aggressively, pointing out that Bunnell received over $40 million in grants for water and wastewater while Palm Coast received $5 million.
Amaral: Why aren’t we? What are we not doing? It’s something to look into.
The post Palm Coast Builder Tony Amaral Discusses Infrastructure, Growth, and Utility Challenges in District 2 Council Race first appeared on Flagler County Buzz.
