Vacant lots in Marineland, waiting to be built

Few lots, and fewer for sale

Between the oceanarium, the marine laboratory, the marina and the preserved land around them, Marineland leaves little room for houses. The empty lots that remain sit along A1A on the ocean side or the river side, and they change hands rarely.

Many were bought years ago by people who loved the coast and planned to build a beach house or a retirement home. Some still plan to; some have passed the lots to children; some are waiting for the right time.

Whatever the plan, the owner is usually far away. The coast these lots sit on is described in the Beverly Beach and Marineland guide.

Coastal land grows back fast

A coastal lot left alone becomes coastal scrub. Saw palmetto, sea grape, wax myrtle and yaupon fill in the open ground, vines climb whatever they reach, and young cabbage palms come up everywhere. On the ocean side, the dune plants spread inland; on the river side, marsh grasses and shrubs edge up from the bank.

Within a few years, a lot that was cleared can be thick enough that its frontage is a wall of green from the road. That may suit an owner who wants it left natural; it may not suit one who plans to build soon or keep it looking tended.

Pictures from the road a few times a year show how the frontage is changing. What a road set includes is in the street photo set guide.

What the road shows of an empty lot

From A1A, a picture of an empty Marineland lot shows its frontage: the edge of the vegetation, any marker or stake at the corners, the shoulder of the road, the drainage along it, and as far into the lot as the plants allow.

That frontage is what neighbors and passers by see, and it is where change shows first: a tree down along the road, brush piled at the edge, overgrowth reaching into the shoulder, something left by a passing truck.

Because the photographer stands in about the same spot each time, each picture can be laid beside the last. How to read a frame is explained in reading the photos you receive.

What the air shows

For a lot whose road side is a wall of green, the view from above is the only practical way to see the whole parcel. A drone launched from the public road and kept over the owner's lot records one pass: the extent of the vegetation, any clearings, standing water after rain, fallen trees, and, on the ocean side, the dune at the back of the lot; on the river side, the bank and the marsh edge.

Framed on the owner's land, the video leaves the neighbors and the preserve to the margins.

Many owners of vacant Marineland lots take a flight once a year, and again after any strong storm. How the aerial visit works is explained on FlaglerPropertyWatch.com.

Storms and an empty lot

Storms change empty coastal land as much as they change houses. On the ocean side, a storm can cut the dune at the back of a lot and push sand inland. On the river side, high water can flood the low part of a lot and leave wrack and debris across it. Anywhere, wind can bring down trees and scatter branches.

For an owner far away, the question after a storm is simple: is the lot much as it was? A flight once the wind drops answers it at a glance, and pictures from the road show the frontage.

How storms reshape the coast of the county is set out in hurricane season preparation, and how to read pictures after one in after the storm.

When something is left on the lot

Empty lots along any busy road sometimes collect things people want to be rid of: yard waste, construction scraps, a tire, an old appliance. On a quiet stretch of A1A with few neighbors, a pile can sit for a long time before anyone mentions it.

The owner is generally the one expected to clear it, and the first word may come as a letter from the town or the county. Regular road pictures show when something new appears at the frontage, so it can be hauled away quickly.

Pictures show what is there and where, never who left it. How dated pictures help answer a letter is laid out in letters and notices from afar.

Before a house is designed

An owner who plans to build in Marineland will work with an architect, a builder, a surveyor and, on the oceanfront, people who know the state's coastal construction rules. All of them will visit the lot. Before that, the owner often wants to understand it better from far away.

Pictures and video from different seasons help: where the trees stand, where water gathers after summer rain, how the dune or the bank behaves in a storm year, how the light falls. They never take the place of a survey or a site study, and make no claim about what can be built.

A year of them, though, makes the first conversations with the professionals much richer. Vacant land elsewhere in the county is discussed in the Bunnell and west Flagler guide.

Heirs and coastal lots

Many vacant Marineland lots now belong to heirs who live far away and may never have seen them. A tax bill arrives for land on a coast they know only from photographs, in a town they may not be able to find on a map.

A first round of pictures from the road and a flight over the lot give an heir a clear, dated starting point to share with family: what the lot looks like, where it sits between the ocean and the river, what has grown on it.

From there, the family can decide whether to keep it, build on it or sell it. The first steps with an inherited property are set out in managing an inherited Flagler County home from out of state.

Clearing, or leaving it natural

Some owners keep their Marineland lot cleared and mowed, so it reads as a lot waiting for a house. Others leave it natural, as scrub and dune and marsh edge, until construction begins. Local rules can limit clearing, especially near the dune and the river, and a contractor should know them before any work begins.

Either choice changes what the owner wants to see. A cleared lot needs its frontage and its regrowth followed; a natural lot needs mainly its edges and anything left at the road.

Pictures and video show the lot as it stands, whichever way the owner goes. Outside work ahead of a sale is discussed in keeping a property presentable.

When the lot next door is built on

In a town with so few lots, a new house going up next door is a big event for an owner holding an empty lot. Trucks and equipment come and go along A1A, materials are stacked near the line, and clearing on one lot can change the look of the frontage on the next.

Most builders keep to their own lot, and most neighbors are considerate. Still, an owner far away likes to see that their land and its frontage stayed as they were through the work next door.

Road pictures every few weeks while the neighboring house is built, and a flight when it is finished, show the empty lot beside it on each date. Pictures never say where a line runs; that is for a surveyor. For owners who split the year, the usual rhythm of pictures is described in snowbird season.

A rhythm for an empty lot

For most owners of a vacant Marineland lot, a light rhythm is enough. Road pictures every two or three months. A flight once a year, in late spring, and another after any storm that reaches the dune or floods the river side. An extra round after any letter from the town or the county.

Repeat visits keep the road pictures going without reminders. Over the years, they become a history of the lot that helps with whatever comes next.

To begin pictures of an empty lot in Marineland, visit FlaglerPropertyWatch.com.

Which side of the county line

Because Marineland straddles the Flagler and St. Johns county line, owners of an empty lot sometimes need to confirm which county it is in. The tax bill answers it, and so does the main site's address lookup, which sets a lot against official boundary maps and says if visits reach it. Lots on the Flagler side are; lots north of the line are not.

The parts of Flagler County where visits are made are shown on the service area page.