East Naples grove housing plan heads to county hearing

Plans to build 423 homes, including 63 affordable townhouses, on an East Naples orange grove head to the Board of County Commissioners for a hearing Tuesday — and neighboring residents and businesses are gearing up to oppose development.  

South Naples Citrus Company, a retail nursery and former orange grove at 341 Sabal Palm Road, has operated on 169 acres there since 1979 and is one of the last privately owned non-preserved properties along Sabal Palm Road before it turns to gravel. It doesn’t sell home-grown produce due to citrus disease, but features Southwest Florida produce.  

Commissioners on Jan. 13 will hold a public hearing to discuss amending the county’s growth management plan, which lists the property as “sending land,” protected because it’s environmentally sensitive. The developer is asking to change that designation in the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District and to rezone the agricultural land to a residential subdistrict, allowing a density of 2.5 units an acre, an increase from one home per 40 acres. 

“This will be a continuing fight,” said nearby resident Chris Briggs, who started a change.org petition opposing the development last year. “Hopefully, the community and conservation prevail.” 

The plans were submitted by SWJR Naples I LLC, a company headed by Naples developer Jon Rubinton, who developed Mangrove Bay, Treviso and other communities. The development would be built about 1.4 miles east of Collier Boulevard, near Picayune Strand State Forest. 

Residents from nearby communities Verona Walk, Tamarindo and others plan to attend, along with environmental groups. Briggs is hoping the community will gather together, as it did in the 1960s, when the National Audubon Society, Nature Conservancy and former Collier County Conservancy galvanized the community to prevent a land purchase for a road extension and causeway — leading to Rookery Bay’s designation as a National Estuarine Sanctuary and Research Reserve. 

As it did in its infancy, Conservancy of Southwest Florida alerted and educated nearby residents.  

“The development is inconsistent with the growth management plan because the applicant is asking to increase density in an area where increases are not allowed,” the group wrote. 

Plans will increase affordable housing 

Collier County staff say the development will provide needed affordable housing in the county, where one-third of households are cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on housing expenses. The development also is supported by many area employers, the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce, NCH Healthcare System, The Housing Alliance and HELP. 

But many neighbors, the Conservancy, Florida Forever, Florida Audubon and Audubon Western Everglades and other groups oppose it, citing traffic, flooding, water quality and wildlife concerns. They point out it’s part of the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a statewide network of connected lands and waters designed to support wildlife movement, preserve biodiversity and enhance ecosystem resilience. 

The developer, meanwhile, addressed residents’ concerns and plans to create a flow-way to manage water, upgrade the road, add sidewalks, stormwater drainage improvements, a traffic light and landscaped buffers between neighbors, and provide more open space than required, 60% of the property. 

“He’s made some concessions that he thinks address the concerns about flooding, but they don’t address the concerns about the proximity to the Picayune Strand State Forest and the inappropriateness and the failure to preserve land,” Briggs said.  

“Developers are no longer setting aside land that won’t be developed,” she added. “In the last three years, there have been only four instances of [Transfers of Development Rights] because builders can claim they’re doing affordable housing — and thus, conservation and the environment now are in a terrible losing battle.” 

In 2023, when the county’s Rural-Fringe Mixed-Use District plan was updated to allow affordable housing and increased density, county staff agreed TDRs would not be used with affordable housing.  

Nearby residents oppose plans 

Last spring, county commissioners heard opposition from neighbors and environmentalists but voted unanimously to send the rezoning request to the state Department of Commerce, which approved plans to amend the growth management plan and change the land from sending to receiving. 

After a roughly 90-minute public hearing on Oct. 2, planning commissioners voted 2-2, with several members absent. Commission Chairman Joe Schmitt and Commissioner Mike Petscher supported it, while commissioners Paul Shea and Charles Colucci opposed plans.  

“This is not land that anyone will ever want,” Petscher said. “This is the best use.” 

But Brad Cornell, of Audubon Western Everglades and Audubon Florida, said the land should remain agricultural or be restored. 

“Agriculture is compatible with panthers,” Cornell said. “Roofs and house tops — the residential — is not.” 

Rich Yovanovich, the developer’s land-use attorney, branded it a “good project” and urged planning commissioners to reconsider, but the nay voters wouldn’t budge. Colucci suggested opponents urge the property owners to sell to an entity they support, such as Conservation Collier. More than 1,200 residents signed Briggs’ change.org petition asking the property owner to consider selling the land to Conservation Collier for wildlife protection. 

Citrus industry “decimated” 

Certified planner Wayne Arnold, of Grady Minor and Associates, told planning commissioners it’s not environmentally sensitive land, noting Florida’s citrus industry has been “decimated.” 

“It’s really in bad shape financially,” Arnold said. “There’s a lot of disease that’s affecting them … The owners have told me that they have to import oranges to sell at their retail center because they can’t grow the oranges because of some of the diseases.” 

He noted the property is centrally located, close to many large employers, including hospitals, schools, hotels and country clubs. Of the 423 units, 75% will be single-family homes and the rest will be town homes. 

County staff said the density increase is justified because the developer will sell 63 town homes as affordable, sold to households whose certified incomes total 120% or less of the county’s Area Median Income, $113,600. The developer also agreed to provide $2,000 in down payment assistance for each affordable home sold to an essential worker, including teachers, nurses, firefighters, military personnel or veterans, as part of Pulte Homes’ Hometown Heroes program. The affordable-home requirement will remain for 30 years. 

Briggs and other neighbors hope Conservation Collier will purchase the land, but she noted the property is owned by five relatives who must apply together. She plans to research local millionaires and billionaires who support conservation and could help defray a Conservation Collier purchase. She also noted there’s an orange tree that tolerates citrus greening and produces fruit that could be grafted with diseased trees, allowing that property to become a productive grove. 

“It could be a functioning citrus orchard, where they explore whether grafting these trees can help the industry survive,” Briggs said. “My vision is that they keep the citrus orchard because it’s the last one.” 

The county spent $20.7 million in September — including $11.9 million from Conservation Collier — to purchase a 2,247-acre agricultural property in northeastern Collier County, adjacent to Lake Trafford, after seeking 150 acres for a regional park near Immokalee. It was one of Southwest Florida’s largest and most lucrative land deals this year. Briggs added: “That similar model could be done in East Naples.”