Palm Coast, once booming, sees growth slow down

[thelakelander]

Something we've been mentioning for a while now is finally moving into our area:

During the first decade of this century, Palm Coast was the country's fastest-growing metro area, more than doubling in size as it became a magnet for retirees and exurbanites during the boom years.
No more.

Its slowdown in recent years is part of a national trend pointed out last week by the Census Bureau. It said that outlying suburban areas â€" known as exurbs â€" are losing some of their luster since the economic recession.
And for the first time in at least 20 years, the annual growth rate in cities and surrounding urban areas is outpacing that of the exurbs.

full article: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-04-07/story/palm-coast-once-booming-sees-growth-slow-down

[Charles Hunter]

Palm Coast grew enough that it will become part of the Daytona urban area - development is pretty much continuous now from south of DB up to Palm Coast.

[ChriswUfGator]

My Dad's law partner developed palm coast off timberland he got as a fee in the 70s. It was never meant to be sustainable. The builders would pay a bit more than the logging companies, and that was all there was to it. Also initially they attracted Vincent Pace to open Newsweek Publications' customer service center that eventually became Palm Coast Data. I mean, a bunch of really nice folks, but the thing was never meant to be particularly sustainable.

And FWIW the family home is on North Halifax in Daytona, I'm familiar with the area, Palm Coast isn't Daytona and nobody thinks it is. It's a good 50 minute drive up US-1, it's worse than Jacksonville and the beaches. It's not the same metro area at all, nobody thinks it is.

[tufsu1]

It's a good 50 minute drive up US-1, it's worse than Jacksonville and the beaches. It's not the same metro area at all, nobody thinks it is.

well the U.S. Census Bureau begs to differ

[ChriswUfGator]

It's a good 50 minute drive up US-1, it's worse than Jacksonville and the beaches. It's not the same metro area at all, nobody thinks it is.

well the U.S. Census Bureau begs to differ

They can differ all they want. I'm just telling you the view of, you know, the people who actually live in the area. But you're right, I'm sure a 45 minute drive each way doesn't matter, as long as its lumped into the MSA statistically.

[Tacachale]

For one thing, Palm Coast isn't lumped into Daytona's metropolitan area, it's its own MSA. The Census Bureau has lumped it into Daytona's urbanized area, which is different, by the same voodoo magic that makes Daytona part of Orlando's "Combined Statistical Area" and Martin County a separate urbanized area from the Miami MSA.

While the bureau goes overboard with the "urbanized areas" and "Combined Statistical Areas" are pretty silly, MSAs are much more grounded. They're based on things like commuting patterns and economics. It's a stretch to lump Palm Coast (and all of Flagler County, really) into other MSAs, but it's pretty obvious that a lot of people who live in Palm Coast commute elsewhere for work. I've known several people who lived there and work in Jax, for example, and even one person who lived in Jax and worked in Palm Coast.

[ChriswUfGator]

For one thing, Palm Coast isn't lumped into Daytona's metropolitan area, it's its own MSA. The Census Bureau has lumped it into Daytona's urbanized area, which is different, by the same voodoo magic that makes Daytona part of Orlando's "Combined Statistical Area" and Martin County a separate urbanized area from the Miami MSA.

While the bureau goes overboard with the "urbanized areas" and "Combined Statistical Areas" are pretty silly, MSAs are much more grounded. They're based on things like commuting patterns and economics. It's a stretch to lump Palm Coast (and all of Flagler County, really) into other MSAs, but it's pretty obvious that a lot of people who live in Palm Coast commute elsewhere for work. I've known several people who lived there and work in Jax, for example, and even one person who lived in Jax and worked in Palm Coast.

Thank you, you know I forgot for a minute that I was dealing with Tufsu.

I should have remembered to fact-check every word he writes before letting him off the hook.

[KenFSU]

"They had a lottery for all of the lots in one of the subdivisions during the boom, where they pulled your name out of a hat and you were able to buy a lot," Baxter said. "The lots were going for $400,000 apiece, and now you can buy them for $15,000."

Mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

[tufsu1]

For one thing, Palm Coast isn't lumped into Daytona's metropolitan area, it's its own MSA. The Census Bureau has lumped it into Daytona's urbanized area, which is different, by the same voodoo magic that makes Daytona part of Orlando's "Combined Statistical Area" and Martin County a separate urbanized area from the Miami MSA.

While the bureau goes overboard with the "urbanized areas" and "Combined Statistical Areas" are pretty silly, MSAs are much more grounded. They're based on things like commuting patterns and economics. It's a stretch to lump Palm Coast (and all of Flagler County, really) into other MSAs, but it's pretty obvious that a lot of people who live in Palm Coast commute elsewhere for work. I've known several people who lived there and work in Jax, for example, and even one person who lived in Jax and worked in Palm Coast.

Thank you, you know I forgot for a minute that I was dealing with Tufsu.

I should have remembered to fact-check every word he writes before letting him off the hook.

the Census Bureau decides urbanized areas based on densities....and they made Daytona-Palm Coast into one area because there is contiguous density the whole way.

MSAs are defined based on size of an area and whether the county contains a central core....surrounding counties may be added to a central core county based on social/economic integration (which is often measured by commuting patterns)....so, for example, St. Augustine is its own urbanized area (non contiguous density with Jax.) but is part of the Jax. metropolitan area.

As of 2009, Palm Coast is its own MSA...but it most likely will now get lumped in with the Daytona MSA when the new MSA's (based on 2010 Census) are announced next year....the announcement of urbanized areas kind of sets that up....If you are curious about how metro areas are defined, here's the official source

http://www.census.gov/population/metro/