The Bunnell City Commission has taken a massive and decisive step toward the expansion of their city in the coming year. Among items approved in Monday night's City Commission meeting is a 6,000-home development, which would increase the city's population exponentially.
The current population is 3,936 according to World Population Review. If even just one person moved into each new home, Bunnell's population would increase by over 100%. It will almost certainly be an increase much larger than that. The development marks a huge new direction for the city which puts it much more in line with the vision of its neighbor Palm Coast, which is already approaching a six-digit population with plans to multiply further.
Alongside its new development, Bunnell is also now aiming to create a town center area, something it's been missing in any meaningful way for most of its history. The city was built up around the Florida East Coast Railway, which runs along US-1 through Bunnell. Around the tracks, and their intersection with Moody Blvd, the current major town area grew up over the last century-plus.
Installing a new town center would create an extension of Bunnell's economic and commercial heartbeat, which consists largely of automotive shops, independent restaurants, and small chain locations. Bunnell's new plan would seek to extend that hotspot outward, and possibly give it an avenue to compete with Palm Coast's own commercial hub. Bunnell's town center has the chance to develop more quickly and efficiently than Palm Coast's has if city leadership is effective.
Most aspects of Bunnell's ambitious new plan boils down to various ifs. It'll require selling the idea to Bunnell's deeply-rooted residents, many of whom have ancestry in the city dating back centuries, as well as the ones who moved there to escape the rapid development in Palm Coast. Bunnell's goals are lofty, and their workload will be intense.
