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Independent Reporting · Palm Coast, Florida
Seminole Woods  ·  Other Investigations

Seminole Woods: Did He Lie?

The board asked the water question. Point blank. They got an answer. The board voted six to nothing. Hold on, though.


The Seminole Woods fight is on fire. Long lines at the mic, hearing after hearing. Traffic, flooding, schools, the tree canopy — the room had plenty to say. But with the water mess this town is already in, one question rose above the rest. Is there enough to go around.

So the board asked. Point blank.

Transcript — December 9, 2025 — 1:02:57

Board member: “Capacity meaning that the city of Palm Coast does have the capacity for water and sewer.”

County planner: “Correct.”

Board member: “For the numbers you just gave.”

County planner: “Correct.”

The question, named exactly, answered twice. The board did its job.

Then Michael Chiumento took the next hearing. The applicant’s attorney put the city’s assurance up on the screen for the whole room to see.

Transcript — February 10, 2026 — 0:43

Chiumento: “On 12-9, the city utility department reviewed the application and the PUD and determined that there was sufficient capacity in their plan to serve it.”

Chiumento: “So we don’t have any issues of water, sewer, or reuse in the area. And that the project can be handled by the city of Palm Coast.”

Letter on projector screen, February 10 2026
Click to enlarge

There it was. The town’s one question, answered — with a paper on the wall to back it. The board voted six to nothing.

Hold on, though.

He wasn’t waving around the answer to the question. He was parading a service availability letter — and that’s a different animal. It says Palm Coast is the utility. It encloses maps of the pipes already in the ground. It says nothing — not one word — about whether there’s any water in the plants those pipes run back to.

Document — Obtained via Chapter 119, Florida Statutes
Click to open
Borges Service Availability Letter, December 9 2025

That’s the whole letter. Who the utility is, and where the pipes run. The word capacity is not in it. No gallons. No finding the system can carry 502 homes.

Hoodwinked. Twice now.

Just like how we got stiffed on the loop road.

Must be something in the water.


Video — Official County Recording
Flagler County Planning Board — December 9, 2025

Board member asks capacity question. County planner confirms. Item continued to future meeting with water question considered resolved.

Video — Official County Recording
Michael D. Chiumento III — PLDRB — February 10, 2026

Attorney for applicant MPC Lots LLC presents the December 9 letter and tells the board the city utility department determined there was sufficient capacity. Board votes 6–0 to recommend approval.

Document — Chapter 119 Public Records
Service Availability Letter — December 9, 2025

Produced by the City of Palm Coast in response to a public records request for the utility capacity determination for the Seminole Woods Mixed Use PUD. This is the document Chiumento displayed to the board. The word “capacity” does not appear in it.

Related Story — PalmCoastStorylines.com
How Taxpayers Got Stiffed on the Tab for the Loop Road

The first time. A Palm Coast City Council voted to approve an MPD agreement that extinguished $97.5 million in developer road obligations in a single recital clause. The council did not know what they were voting away. The roads were never built.

Source Video — Flagler County Official Recording
Flagler County PLDRB — December 9, 2025 — Full Meeting

Complete recording of the December 9, 2025 Planning and Development Board meeting. Seminole Woods Mixed Use PUD capacity exchange begins at 1:02:40.

Source Video — Flagler County Official Recording
Flagler County PLDRB — February 10, 2026 — Full Meeting

Complete recording of the February 10, 2026 Planning and Development Board meeting. Chiumento presents the service availability letter beginning at 0:57 of the full meeting.

— Johnny Diamond  ·  PalmCoastStorylines.com