Tim Aten Knows: Collier to rule on proposed beach club

Q: I enjoy all your posts and follow all your social media. Just heard about the private beach club coming to Vanderbilt Beach. As a longtime owner and full-time resident of Vanderbilt Beach, can you shed some light on what’s going on? – Carrie Mascio Pippen, North Naples 

A: Rezoning and conditional use petitions for the proposed Paraiso Beach Club are on the Oct. 14 meeting agenda for the Collier County Commission. County staff recommends approval of the proposals, which unanimously were approved Aug. 21 by the county Planning Commission. 

The private beach club is proposed across two small residential lots totaling 1.3 acres on Gulf Shore Drive near its intersection with Bayview Avenue, immediately north of the La Playa Beach & Golf Resort in North Naples and just south of Vanderbilt Beach Access No. 4. 

One of the two lots has a two-story home built in 1957 and remodeled in 2021 with the addition of a swimming pool. It would be demolished to build the club. Until razed in early 2023, the other vacant lot next door had a single-family residence built in 1968, county property records show. 

As opposed to two large single-family homes that could be built on the parcels under existing zoning, the beach club proposal “actually creates better view corridors for the community,” said Rich Yovanovich, land use attorney with Naples-based Coleman Yovanovich Koester law firm, who is representing the applicant — Paraiso Beach Club LLC, a company managed by general partner and executive officer David Tingley of North Naples. 

“We are in the urban residential subdistrict, which allows for what we’re requesting, which is to rezone the property from RSF-3 to RT, which is residential tourist; with very limited or only one use allowed in the RT zoning district that we’re requesting, which is the right to come and ask for a conditional use for a private beach club,” Yovanavich said.  

The proposal essentially extends the boundary of RT zoning district north from La Playa to include the two parcels, he said. The petitioner also seeks conditional use for the private beach club on the property, which is a use permitted within the RT zoning district.  

Plans for the private club at 10025 Gulf Shore Drive show a swimming pool and dining options. Beach umbrellas, chairs and cabanas supplied by the club will be used only in the beach area in front of the club.  

Restaurant spaces, kitchens, bars and private dining rooms are planned on two floors. Both open and covered outdoor dining are planned on the club’s rooftop, architectural plans by Bowman Consulting show. 

“It looks like a large, single-family home, and it was designed specifically with that in mind,” said Bob Mulhere, senior vice president and Naples branch manager for Bowman. 

The project will not generate a lot of traffic because members would be transported to the club from various communities, which have yet to be designated. For instance, The Floridian Club, a similar but smaller private beach club on Vanderbilt Beach, serves some of the buildings in The Dunes. 

“Basically, the members of this club will not be permitted to drive to the club. They’ll either have to walk to the club or they’ll have to take a shuttle to the club,” Yovanovich said.  

Near the end of August’s Planning Commission meeting, all eight of the public speakers spoke in favor of the beach club, which proposes hours of operation from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. 

Sally Hughes, who has lived in the Vanderbilt Beach neighborhood for more than 25 years, is supportive of the proposed beach club. Noting that her family’s love affair with Naples began in 1972, Hughes vividly remembers her early days in Naples when it had the “charm of a quiet, untouched coastal town” with light traffic and just a handful of restaurants, namely Witch’s Brew, Pippin’s, Kelly’s Fish House and The Pewter Mug, she said. The tremendous growth of the Naples area during the last few decades includes Vanderbilt Beach, of course.  

“The increased development, the parking structures and influx of visitors have brought more energy, but also more congestion. While I understand and appreciate progress, it’s been bittersweet to see the tranquil charm of Old Florida slowly fade. The situation will get much worse once The Ritz-Carlton Residences are completed,” Hughes said. “And, as a result, we had planned on selling our condo in the Vanderbilt Beach area and leaving for a different part of Naples. But that’s why I was so excited to hear about the Paraiso Beach Club and learning about the vision, the membership structure and the thoughtful and ongoing planning behind it. We’re now wholeheartedly committed to joining.” 

On the other hand, Naples Park resident Phil Wisler has questions and concerns regarding the beach club proposal.  

“Before the club, residents, their family and guests, and tourists could recreate on the dry sand in front of the proposed site by biking, walking or being dropped off and using Public Access #4,” Wisler wrote. “After the club, residents, their family and guests, and tourists will not be able to recreate on the dry sand in front of the proposed site. Is the process and outcome surrounding this private club a foreshadowing of a systematic effort to actually fully privatize Vanderbilt Beach or other areas like it where high-value private homes and condominiums and clubs have frontage on the Gulf?” 

Delineating where public and private beachfront property begins and ends is an age-old issue. Florida law has established that the beach is public only up to the high tide line, but that’s a moot point in coastal stretches such as Vanderbilt Beach where long-standing public access to dry beach areas has become “customary use” and public funds have been used for beach renourishment. Collier commissioners even enacted an ordinance in 2018 designating customary use for Vanderbilt Beach.  

“Vanderbilt Beach shall include not only that part of the beach seaward of the mean high water line but shall also include the dry sandy area adjacent to the mean high water line up to the vegetative line,” the ordinance reads, noting that Vanderbilt Beach extends from the southern end of Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park to a point south of Vanderbilt Beach Road. 

It will be interesting to hear next week what commissioners have to say about Paraiso, which means “paradise” in Spanish. 

The Tim Aten Knows weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at tim.aten@naplespress.com