Naples developer reverts to 129-home plan after pushback, cuts affordable housing share

After a Naples developer’s plans to build 205 apartments prompted an outcry by neighbors, the developer reverted to prior plans for 129 owner-occupied homes in Golden Gate Estates — but with fewer affordable houses to make it financially viable. 

However, that didn’t come without more demands from neighbors at Valencia Trails, who also were successful in opposing a proposed 250-child day care center within its 50,000-square-foot commercial section, while losing demands for larger setbacks. In their nearly yearlong fight, hundreds of residents signed petitions opposing the development, spoke out at meetings and flooded commissioners’ mailboxes with emails — prompting numerous plan revisions.

The Board of County Commissioners on July 8 unanimously approved a growth-management plan amendment and an ordinance to change affordable housing requirements from 100% to 30% and to allow 50,000 square feet of commercial uses, including several restaurants, on 24.4 acres on the southwest corner of Immokalee Road and Catawba Street, 1.6 miles west of Wilson Boulevard. 

The amendment will be transmitted to the state Department of Commerce, and if there are no challenges, it becomes final in 31 days, when construction can proceed.

HAA Capital LLC’s plans, originally approved in 2021, didn’t move forward because construction costs increased significantly, limiting what the homes could be sold for. This time, about only 39 owner-occupied homes will be affordable, and must remain affordable for 30 years. 

“This is the first for-sale project that’s not Habitat [for Humanity]-related so we brought forward that same 30% commitment,” land-use attorney Rich Yovanovich said, referring to the county’s requirement for 30% affordable homes in exchange for increased density.

Collier County’s area median income is $113,600 and 15% of the affordable units will be sold to households whose certified incomes at time of purchase are 140% or less and 15% to those whose certified incomes are 120% AMI and less. 

Yovanovich noted Valencia Trail residents “were fine with” the original plans and the developer is willing to add a gated pedestrian and bike pathway into the commercial section from Valencia Trails, and drive-thru restaurants won’t be allowed. 

The development is bordered by Crawford Landscaping and agricultural uses to the east and The Club at Twin Eagles golf course and preserve areas to the north. Valencia Trails is to the south and west, where there’s also open space. Valencia Trail’s first phase of 300 homes is still under construction, but the 550-acre gated 55+ community will grow to 853 single-family homes — joining the county’s largest communities.

When it was approved in 2021, NC Square, a fully affordable for sale community, was the first project of its kind in the county’s rural fringe mixed-use district, which didn’t allow affordable housing density bonuses or commercial development on Immokalee Road. Two years later, the county amended its growth management plan to allow both in a mixed-use project.

During a commission meeting in April, Valencia Trails residents opposed a change to 205 apartments, including affordable units, and a reduction in commercial space from 44,000 to 36,500 square feet, with no day care. That prompted HAA Capital LLC, led by Naples Realtor Antonio Brown, and Peninsula Engineering to return to the original approved plans, with a reduction in affordable homes. The new plans allow pickleball courts, which were prohibited in the apartment plan.

As he has for two other recent projects, Brad Cornell, who represents Florida Audubon and Audubon Western Everglades, questioned why transfer-of-development rights credits weren’t required for the market-rate homes, contending it results in a “significant reduction” in protections for wetlands, panther and other listed species’ habitats. 

In 2023, when the county’s Rural-Fringe Mixed-Use District plan was updated to allow affordable housing and increased density, the provision said TDR credits could not be utilized. 

The 77,000-acre district, an area east of Collier Boulevard created in 2002, allows TDR credits. Areas designated as “sending” are areas of higher-quality habitat to direct growth away from, while “receiving” areas are more suitable for development. Landowners in sending areas can voluntarily use the program to obtain and sell TDR credits to developers in receiving areas. 

“Audubon views this reduction … as an abuse of the county’s affordable housing incentives in the Rural-Fringe Mixed-Use District,” Cornell said, contending the exemption is only for affordable homes. “We don’t believe the intention is to exempt market-rate housing units from the required TDR credit purchase.”

Commissioner Bill McDaniel Jr. has requested that commissioners discuss TDR concerns in the future. Cornell said Audubon recommends clarifying and amending the policy to only exempt affordable housing units from the TDR-credit purchase requirement.

In emails to commissioners and county staff, residents cited increased traffic on already congested Immokalee Road, the impact on their housing values, the strain on the fire department and sheriff’s office, and concerns about safety, privacy, noise and light pollution.

Commissioner Rick LoCastro praised residents for continuing to work with the developer on their concerns, calling them “rockstars.” 

But residents say they still have more concerns to iron out on the site-development plan.

“We are very pleased that the Collier County Commissioners heard our collective voices, sent the developer back to revise the four-story apartments at our entrance to the original 129 owner-occupied townhomes at 30% affordable for local service workers,” Sue and Dave Hooker said in an email after the hearing. “However, we hope to achieve compatible buffers between us, which were not really committed to by the lawyer, compatible vendors in the commercial space and continued work on resolving the dangerous traffic situation that exists on Immokolee Road and will only get worse with this development and the Bear Creek Elementary School due to open soon on our western border.”