Collier planning commissioners recommended amending the county’s growth-management plan to develop 423 homes, including affordable townhouses, on a citrus grove near Picayune State Forest.
Fifteen percent of the townhouses in the Sabal Palm Road Residential Subdistrict — 63 two- and three-bedroom townhouses — will be sold as income-restricted, like Habitat for Humanity homes — a first for Collier County.
The Planning Commission voted 4-1, with Commissioner Paul Shea voting nay April 17, to recommend the Board of County Commissioners approve SWJR Naples I LLC’s amendment to allow a community of owner-occupied homes on 169.19 acres on the south side of Sabal Palm Road, about 1.4 miles east of Collier Boulevard. Shea cited environmental concerns, contending it’s not compatible with surrounding areas.
“The affordable housing component really will serve those major employers in the area and help provide some necessary housing for those employees,” certified planner Wayne Arnold, of Q. Grady Minor & Associates, told planning commissioners.
Within a 10-mile radius, he said, there are three major hospitals, 15 schools and “dozens of major employers,” including retailers, Publix, shopping centers and home improvement stores, the county government center, Naples City Hall, 15 sheriff’s, fire and EMS stations and the Naples Police Department, hotels and country clubs.
A report by Cormac Giblin, the county’s director of Housing Policy & Economic Development, noted the University of Florida Schimberg Center for Housing Studies reports there are 51,368 cost-burdened households countywide and 25,687 spend more than 50% of their monthly income on housing expenses, so this will address Collier’s continued need for affordable housing.
The recommendation tentatively goes before the Board of County Commissioners on May 27.
This vote only involves amending the county’s growth-management plan. If county commissioners greenlight that, state Department of Commerce approval is required. Plans to rezone the agricultural land for a planned-unit development of town homes and single-family homes still must go before planning and county commissioners, when the unit breakdown will be finalized. South Naples Citrus Grove, an orange grove and retail nursery, has operated on the land since the 1970s.
SWJR Naples I LLC is headed by developer Jon Rubinton, who was involved in Mangrove Bay, Treviso, Bonita Bay and other communities over several decades. Other project team members include transportation planner Trebilcock Consulting Solutions, Q. Grady Minor & Associates, Turrell, Hall & Associates environmental consultants and Blueshore Engineering, the civil engineer.
The agricultural parcel is bordered on the west and south by a conservation easement in the Hacienda Lakes community, mostly agricultural land on the east and Picayune Strand State Forest to the south.
“Groves are not what they were,” Arnold said, adding the grove is still operating. “The citrus industry has been decimated, and I think long-term citrus is probably not the most viable use for the property.”
The plans originally called for 450 homes, with 110 townhouses and 340 single-family homes, prompting county staff to initially recommend denial due to density and open space concerns. However, the developer agreed to eliminate 27 units to decrease density, resulting in 2.5 units per acre; add two amenity centers for homes and townhouses; and increase open space from 55% to 60%.
“We’re not getting everything that we had asked for,” County Planning & Zoning Director Mike Bosi said of not getting a reduction to 1.5 units per acre. “But we’re comfortable with the density reduction, with the increase in open space and the public benefits that are being provided for.”
The income-restricted homes will go to qualified buyers at income levels between 80% and 120% of Collier’s $104,300 area-median income. That will be audited by the county’s Community & Human Services Division.
Land-use attorney Rich Yovanovich explained the only way to achieve increased density by amending the growth-management plan is by providing another public benefit, selling income-restricted homes or a transfer of development rights, allowing property owners to sell development rights from their land to a developer who can use those rights to increase a development’s size on another parcel.
SWJR must maintain the affordable-housing restriction for 30 years. If an owner wants to sell a home before that, it should be offered to another income-qualified buyer. Yovanovich said a homeowner can earn only 5% appreciation yearly and any further profits will be split between the seller and county, which will use it for affordable-housing programs.
State regulations dictate AMI sales prices by room. Collier’s median condo sales price is $466,000 — higher for new homes — and these would be sold for less.
The townhomes will have a separate entry gate and community center, meaning residents can’t drive into the single-family home community but could walk or bicycle there, a feature seen in other communities. The affordable townhomes will have the same look and finish as the market-rate townhomes, Yovanovich said, and aren’t isolated, while single-family homes will be large, from 3,000 to 4,000 square feet.
No nearby residents spoke at the hearing, but at neighborhood information meetings they cited concern over the effect on bears and panthers and impacts on traffic and stormwater. Part of the site will serve as a flow-way to move water north to south, and Sabal Palm Road and its swales will be improved.
Board Member Michelle McLeod said she’d like all the townhomes to be affordable units, but Yovanovich said due to impact fees and other costs, that’s not economically viable for private developers.
