Collier to buy 625-acre ranch, head off development

After two years of negotiations, Collier County agreed to purchase Wildflowerz Ranch, 625 acres of preserve land in Immokalee with a cattle lease and shooting range, for $7.8 million. 

The purchase averts development of 52 ranchettes, each on 10-acre parcels along the north and south sides of Oil Well Road, east of State Road 29. A 2024 ad branded 10.1-acre lots at 14010 Oil Well Road as “The best deal in Naples!” 

“It’s like buying 5 acres and then you get 5 acres free!!” the Amerivest Realty ad says, describing them as “pristine 10-acre estate lots” starting at $289,000 and ranging up to $479,000. 

“Our preference is that Conservation Collier buy it,” attorney Rich Yovanovich told the Board of County Commissioners at a Sept. 22 public hearing. “If not then we’ll just move forward with the development.” 

Commissioners unanimously directed county staff to pursue acquisition based on seller Greg Zaino’s revised asking price of $7,813,564.70 after he conveys an additional 14 acres to Lee County Electric Cooperative. Records show LCEC offered Zaino $825,000, and he agreed to build an 8-foot wall and landscaped buffer shielding that property from the county property. 

Although Conservation Collier’s purchasing policy was recently updated to use the lower of two independent appraisals, $7,030,000, commissioners agreed to a higher price — closer to the higher appraisal of $7,990,000 — because of the land’s environmental value. It received a score of 331 out of 400 for ecological value and ecosystem connectivity. The board gave County Manager Amy Patterson, or her designee, authority to sign the agreement rather than bringing it back before the board. 

Commissioners also agreed to a cattle lease on the property that was to expire Dec. 31 but was extended through Dec. 31, 2027. The property is a mix of undeveloped and developed land with fencing, a cattle pen and chute area, a shooting berm, a covered shooting area and a pole barn. 

Commissioner Bill McDaniel Jr., whose district covers the land, made the motion to approve, which was seconded by Commissioner Burt Saunders. 

“This is a wonderful piece of property, it fits,” McDaniel said of Conservation Collier’s requirements. “It’s been said multiple times, ‘It checks all the boxes.’ I’m happy with keeping the cattle lease on there and then we can negotiate with the operator on the cattle lease after-the-fact for any renewals as we go forward.” 

Since the tax-funded Conservation Collier land-acquisition program began in 2003, more than 6,672 acres have been acquired, including lands for recreation and hiking. On their county tax bills, residents pay nearly 18 cents per $1,000 of taxable value to support it, or $177.20 yearly for a homeowner with a $1 million home and $35.44 for a $200,000 home. The program helps protect water quality and wildlife habitat while providing recreation areas, including Freedom Park, Pepper Ranch and Gordon River Greenway. 

Program’s purchase policy changed  

In a memo to commissioners, Jennifer Belpedio, the county’s property acquisition manager, said the revised asking price is derived from the higher county appraisal, not the lower appraisal used under Conservation Collier’s current purchasing policy. If acceptable to the seller, she wrote, staff would develop an agreement reflecting the exclusion of 14 acres from the original $7,990,000 price. 

Over the two years of negotiations, county records show Conservation Collier purchasing policies changed several times. In September 2024, the county offered $6,700,500, representing the average of two independent appraisals, the policy at the time. 

As policies changed and time elapsed, updated appraisals were obtained to reflect current market conditions. In December 2025, they valued the land at $7,030,000 and $7,990,000. A month later, county officials offered $7,030,000, representing the lower of the two independent appraisals, the policy then. 

But Zaino, 67, of North Naples, rejected that and countered at $12.8 million, with the county proposing $7,445,000 for about 634 acres, representing the average of the two appraisals. Zaino pointed out he could develop it into ranchettes. 

But the county’s two independent appraisers, RKL Appraisal & Consulting and Carroll & Carroll, concluded that was speculative. RKL noted the land is located within the Big Cypress Area of Critical State Concern, so sales of the smaller lots weren’t comparable to the property as a roughly 640-acre tract. 

Zaino didn’t return an email seeking comment. 

During the public hearing last week, Jaime Cook, the county’s development review manager, told commissioners the property is within an Area of Critical State Concern, a conservation area established in 1973 to protect environmentally significant lands within and surrounding Big Cypress National Preserve. It’s also in the Rural Land Stewardship Area Overlay, is adjacent to conservation lands and is within the Okaloacoochee Slough, a 32,000-acre freshwater wetland system spanning Collier and Hendry counties. 

The slough functions as a critical north-south overland channel and natural drainage system that collects rainfall and slowly moves it southward. Cook noted that, in addition to agricultural fields, the property contains freshwater marshes, pine flatwoods and scrubby flatwoods, with mixed wetland hardwoods predominant on the north side of the property. 

It’s home to wading birds, caracara, gopher tortoises, Big Cypress fox squirrels and bonneted bats, and telemetry shows Florida panthers in the area. For those reasons, Cook said, it was ranked on Conservation Collier’s A-list for purchase by the Conservation Collier Land Acquisition Committee and county commissioners in June 2024. 

Environmentalists urged commissioners to approve it, including representatives of Audubon Florida, Audubon of the Western Everglades, Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation and a CCLAC member. 

“Protecting this 620ish-acre parcel would help close an important gap in the regional habitat connectivity and safeguard the natural flow ways that support wetlands, wildlife movement, water storage, and aquifer recharge,” Audubon Florida Policy Specialist Marissa Figueroa said. “As an organization committed to protecting birds and places, Audubon has a vested interest in conserving lands like this that connect habitat across the state and provide lasting benefits for both birds and people.” 

Commissioners noted the seller wasn’t that motivated, but the property was worth purchasing to prevent development. McDaniel contended the shooting berm likely had lead and would need remediation. He questioned whether the county could use it as a public shooting range, and Cook said that was possible.