CCPC Minutes 10/18/2001 ROctober 18, 2001
TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE
COLLIER COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION
Naples, Florida, October 18,2001
LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Collier County Planning
Commission, in and for the County of Collier, having conducted
business herein, met on this date at 8:35 a.m. In REGULAR
SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples,
Florida, with the following members present:
CHAIRMAN:
Joyceanna J. Rautio
Russell A. Budd
Kenneth L. Abernathy
Paul Midney
Lindy Adelstein
Lora Jean Young
David J. Wolfley
NOT PRESENT:
Dwight Richardson
Mark P. Strain
ALSO PRESENT:
Marjorie M. Student, Asst. County
Attorney
Susan Murray, Chief Planner, Planning
Services
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CLERK TO THE BOARD
MAUREEN KENYON
AGENDA
COLLIER COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION WILL MEET AT 8:30 A.M., THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18,
2001, IN THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING ROOM, ADMINISTRATION BUILDING,
COUNTY GOVERNMENT CENTER, 3301 TAMIAMI TRAIL EAST, NAPLES, FLORIDA:
NOTE: INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS WILL BE LIMITED TO 5 MINUTES ON
ANY ITEM. INDIVIDUALS SELECTED TO SPEAK ON BEHALF OF AN
ORGANIZATION OR GROUP ARE ENCOURAGED AND MAY BE
ALLOTTED 10 MINUTES TO SPEAK ON AN ITEM IF SO RECOGNIZED
BY THE CHAIRMAN. PERSONS WISHING TO HAVE WRITTEN OR
GRAPHIC MATERIALS INCLUDED IN THE CCPC AGENDA PACKETS
MUST SUBMIT SAID MATERIAL A MINIMUM OF 10 DAYS PRIOR TO
THE RESPECTIVE PUBLIC HEARING. IN ANY CASE, WRrFTEN
MATERIALS INTENDED TO BE CONSIDERED BY THE CCPC SHALL BE
SUBMITTED TO THE APPROPRIATE COUNTY STAFF A MINIMUM OF
SEVEN DAYS PRIOR TO THE PUBLIC HEARING. ALL MATERIAL USED
IN PRESENTATIONS BEFORE THE CCPC WILL BECOME A
PERMANENT PART OF THE RECORD AND WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR
PRESENTATION TO THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS IF
APPLICABLE.
ANY PERSON WHO DECIDES TO APPEAL A DECISION OF THE CCPC
WILL NEED A RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS PERTAINING
THERETO, AND THEREFORE MAY NEED TO ENSURE THAT A
VERBATIM RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS IS MADE, WHICH
RECORD INCLUDES THE TESTIMONY AND EVIDENCE UPON WHICH
THE APPEAL IS TO BE BASED.
1. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
2. ROLL CALL BY CLERK
3. ADDENDA TO THE AGENDA
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - SEPTEMBER 20, 2001
5. PLANNING COMMISSION ABSENCES - MARK P. STRAIN, DWIGHT RICHARDSON
6. BCC REPORT - RECAPS OF SEPTEMBER 25, 2001
7. CHAmMAN'S REPORT
8. ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARINGS
VA-2001-AR- 1311, John Enlow, representing Adam Hubschman, requesting an after-the-fact 1-foot
variance from the required side yard setback of 7.5 feet to 6.5 feet and an after-the-fact 0.4-foot
variance from the required side yard setback of 7.5 feet to 7.1 feet for property described as Lot 9,
Block C, North Naples Highlands, in Section 22, Township 49 South, Range 25 East, Collier County,
Florida. (Coordinator: Chahram Badamtchian)
B. PUDZ-2001=AR-986, Karen Bishop of Project Management Services, Inc., representing Kenneth P.
Saundry, Jr., Trustee, requesting a rezone from "RSF-3" and "A" Rural Agriculture to "PUD" Planned
Unit Development to be known as Walnut Lakes PUD permitting a 4.5 acre Village Center, a
maximum of 612 residential dwelling units and Adult Living Facility units, and a 9-hole golf course
with related lakes and open space, for property located on the north side of U.S. 41, approximately 3
miles east of Collier Boulevard (C.R. 951), in Section 12, Township 5t South, Range 26 East, Collier
County, Florida, consisting of 2044- acres. (Coordinator: Ray Bellows)
C. RZ-2001-AR- 1050, Crreg Jeppesen, P.E., of Jeppesen Engineering Corporation,representing Michael G.
Iaconelli and Joan Iaconelli, requesting a rezone from "C-4" to "C4" to remove a restriction for access
for property located on the east side of U.S. 41 East, between Martin Street and Broward Street,
further described as the South ½ of Lot 5, and Lot 6, Block 1, Naples Manor Lakes, in Section 29,
Township 50 South, Range 26 East, Collier County, Florida, consisting of 0.85 acres.-t:. (Coordinator:
Fred Reischl)
D. RZ-2001-AR-1376, Carlos Morales, representing La Quinta Homes of SW Florida, Inc., requesting a
rezone from RSF-3 to RMF-6 for property located at 5211 24th Avenue S.W., in Section 21, Township
49 South, Range 26 East, Collier County, Florida, consisting of 0.284- acres. (Coordinator: Chahram
Badamtchian)
E. CU-2001-AR-990, Robert Duane, of Hole, Montes, Inc., requesting conditional use for a fire station
in the "E" Estates Zoning District per Section 2.6.9.2 "Essential Services" for property located at the
southwest comer of Immokalee Road and Everglades Boulevard in Section 30, Township 47 South,
Range 28 East, Collier County, Florida, consisting of 4.7 acres. (Coordinator: Chahram Badamtchian)
F. CP-2001-1, R. Bruce Anderson of Young, van Assenderp, Varnadoe & Anderson & D. Wayne Arnold
of Q. Grady Minor & Assoc., representing LDJ Associates, requesting an amendment to the Golden
Gate Area Master Plan text and Future Land Use Map to change the designation from Residential
Estates Subdistrict to Neighborhood Center Subdistrict, and modify standards, for 5 acres located on
the northwest comer of Collier Blvd. (CR-951) and 11t~ Avenue SW, in Section 15, Township 49
South, Range 26 East. (Coordinator: Aaron Blair)
G. CP2001-2, Karen Bishop of PMS, Inc. of Naples representing Buckley Enterprises, requesting an
amendment to the Future Land Use Element and Future Land Use Map to create the Buckley Mixed
Use Subdistrict allowing 172,500 s.f. of office and retail commercial uses, and 345 dwelling units, and
changing the designation from Urban Residential Subdislrict to Buckley Mixed Use Subdistrict, for
22.84 acres located on the west side of Airport-Pulling Road, 300' north of Orange Blossom Drive, in
Section 2, Township 49 South, Range 25 East. (Coordinator: Amy Taylor)
H. CP-2001-3, Terrance Kepple of Kepple Engineering, Iq.c. representing Northside Construction Co.
requesting an amendment to the Future Land Use Element and Future Land Use Map to change the
designation from Urban Residential Subdistrict to Livingston/Pine Ridge Commercial Infill Subdistrict
to permit a maximum of 40,000 s.f. of commercial development, for 10.47 acres located on the
northwest comer of Pine Ridge and Livingston Roads, in Section 12, Township 49 South, Range 25
East. (Coordinator: Jean Jourdan)
2
CP-2001-4, D. Wayne Arnold of Q. Grady Minor & Assoc. representing Warstler-Schrage
Development Co., LLC, requesting an amendment to the Future Land Use Element and Future Land
Use Map to create the Henderson Creek Mixed Use Subdislrict allowing 325,000 s.f. of commercial
uses and up to 500 dwelling units, subject to the Density Rating System, and changing the designation
from Urban Coastal Fringe Subdistrict to Henderson Creek Mixed Use Subdistrict, for 83 acres located
on the east side of Collier Blvd. (SR-951) and the south side of U.S. 41 East, in Section 3, Township
51 South, Range 26 East. (Coordinator: Aaron Blair)
CP-2001-5, Comprehensive Planning Section, representing the Board of County Commissioners,
requesting an amendment to the Future Land Use Element to establish the Research and Technology
Subdistrict within the Uiban Mixed-Use District. (Coordinator: Aaron Blair)
9. OLD BUSINESS
10. NEW BUSINESS
11. PUBLIC COMMENT ITEM
12. DISCUSSION OF ADDENDA
13. ADJOURN
10/i 8/01/CCPC AGENDA/SM/lo
3
October 18, 2001
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to
call to order this meeting of the Collier County Planning Commission
for Thursday, October 18th, 2001. Please stand and join me in the
pledge of allegiance.
(The pledge of allegiance was recited in unison.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Next item, roll call. Mr. Midney.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: Here.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Mr. Adelstein.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Here.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Mr. Budd.
COMMISSIONER BUDD: Here.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Mr. Abernathy.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Here.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Ms. Rautio, present.
Mrs. Young.
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: Here.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Mr. Wolfley.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: Present.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Mr. Richardson, absent but excused.
Mr. Strain, absent but excused. We do have a quorum. Is there any
addenda to the agenda, Ms. Murray?
MS. MURRAY: No, Madam Chair.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Next item would be approval of
the minutes for September 20th.
COMMISSIONER BUDD: Move to approve.
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: Second.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: We have a motion by Mr. Budd, a
second by Mrs. Young for approval of the September 20th, 2001,
minutes. Any discussion? Hearing no discussion, I'll call the
question. All those in favor say aye.
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October 18, 2001
(Unanimous response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Those opposed, same sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Thank you. Do we have any Planning
Commission absences that you're aware of?. Okay. The next item
would be No. 6, the Board of County Commissioners report, recap of
September 25th. Do we have any specific questions of staff?.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Yes, Madam Chairman.
Susan, on page 6, top of the page, that item I was interested in about
Eagle Creek and their storage, personal storage lockers, it sets it out
there, but it doesn't say what happened to it.
MS. MURRAY: The board denied that petition.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Oh, good for them. Thank
yoH.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Any other questions, or did you have
any highlights you wanted to cover, Ms. Murray?
MS. MURRAY: No. I did want to mention that we had our first
public hearing for the LDC amendments. And to preface that, I did
want to say that the staff did forward the LDC amendments with all
of your recommended changes to the Board of County
Commissioners. We had our first public hearing. There was one
speaker in the audience. Some of the issues that came up were the
sunsetting issue and the three-year time frame and the requirements
for the applicants to notify the property owners for the public
meeting. Those were some of the discussion items. I'll give you a
final report after we meet again with them next Wednesday and they
have their final public hearing.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Thank you. I have nothing specific in
the chairman's report for No. 7. No. 8 is the advertised public
hearings. The first item we have today is VA-2001-AR- 1311. All
those wishing to give testimony today, please stand, raise your right
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October 18, 2001
hand, and be sworn in by the court reporter.
(The speakers were sworn.)
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY:
petitioner?
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO:
MR. BADAMTCHIAN:
There's no one here for the
It doesn't look like it.
I guess he's not here yet.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Well, I think we ought to
put this over till the end of the agenda. I don't think you can have a
hearing without a petitioner very well.
COMMISSIONER BUDD: We can proceed, and if there's
questions and he's not here to answer them -- you know, we have a
schedule for a date and time certain.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: What's the --
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: I don't feel strongly.
Whichever way you want to do it, Madam Chairman.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Is the pleasure of the board to
continue on, or would you like to postpone this to --
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: I would like to continue on.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Continue on.
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: Good morning, Commissioners. My
name is Chahram Badamtchian from planning services staff. This is
an after-the-fact variance for property located on Frank Whiteman
Boulevard. The house was built in 1953, and in 1991 they applied
for a permit to expand the house. And the plans showed side setback
at 7 1/2, and later they gave us a survey showing 7 1/2. And the --
they were issued a final CO. And subsequent to that, the house was
sold. And last year the house was sold again, and the new owners
asked for a survey. The new survey showed that the old surveyor
was wrong, and the side setback is 6 1/2 and not 7 1/2. And they are
applying for a variance to remove the encroachment there. While
they are at it, they are also asking for a variance to the other side of
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October 18, 2001
the house, on the west side. That side does not really require a
variance. At the time the house was built setback was 5 feet. Later
in 1974 we changed the setback to 7 1/2. So legally they are not in
need of a variance, but to make sure that they will not have problems
in the future, they are asking this also be added to the variance
request so there are no problems with that in the future.
Staff recommends approval of this variance. The area was
developed many years ago. And, as I said, at that time the side
setback was 5. Most homes, they have 5- or 6-foot setback. This
6 1/2-foot setback is not going to be out of character with the area.
And, again, it happened many years ago, and since then the house
was sold twice. And we know that it wasn't the applicant's fault. It
wasn't the owner's fault. It was the surveyor's fault in 1991. Staff
recommends that we forward this to the BZA with a recommendation
for approval.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I would like to ask a question. You
said it was the surveyor's fault in 1991 ? MR. BADAMTCHIAN: 1991.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: 1991. We have a copy of the survey
which was on the back of the application -- excuse me, the permit.
Could you clarify who actually was the surveyor for the --
MR. BADAMTCHIAN:
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO:
MR. BADAMTCHIAN:
Art Cornell (phonetic).
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO:
MR. BADAMTCHIAN:
surveyor on Marco Island.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO:
the survey?
MR. BADAMTCHIAN:
This survey--
--'96 one?
The wrong survey was done by Mr.
By whom?
Art Cornell, his name is. He's a
Okay. Don't they normally put it on
Their name? Yes, they do. I had to
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October 18, 2001
copy a portion of the survey to fit in your staff report. The survey
was 11 by 17.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: The paperwork we got said
that it would be expensive for them to do something for the house to
bring it back into code.
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: They have to basically tear it down. I
don't know any other way of, you know, changing the setbacks.
Once you remove the wall, you have to change all the trusses, and the
roofing structure must come down, and it will be very expensive to
correct.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Do we have any other questions?
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Who owns the house now?
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: Right now the house is owned by Mr.
Adam Hubschman and before that was owned by Mr. John Enlow.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: So Hubschman went ahead
and completed the purchase despite the fact that he had this --
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: They completed the purchase subject
to the previous owner either obtaining a variance or-- I don't know
what -- the other contingencies they had.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Well, the petition -- or the variance
petition we have in front of us originally shows Mr. Enlow, and that's
crossed out to Mr. Hubschman.
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: Mr. Enlow was the owner who sold
the house in nineteen -- in the year 2000, I believe, to Mr.
Hubschman.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. And we don't have anyone here
to give us a little clarification.
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: Mr. Enlow was supposed to be here
this morning.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: And just clarify for me then, what
future complications are they trying to avoid?
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October 18, 2001
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: They are worried that in the future --
you're talking about the west side of the house; correct?
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Correct.
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: Okay. They are worried that in the
future if they want to sell the house and somebody else is going to
say, "The setback is 7 1/2; how come yours is 7.3?" So they just
want to have this added to the variance.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: They're afraid that history
will be lost by the time the next sale takes place.
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: It could happen. It was built in 1953.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Do we have any other questions?
Do we have any registered public speakers?
MS. MURRAY: No registered speakers.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Close the public hearing.
COMMISSIONER BUDD: Madam Chairman, I make a motion
that the Planning Commission forward Petition VA-2001-AR-1311 to
the Board of Zoning Appeals with a recommendation of approval.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Second.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I have a motion by Mr. Budd, a second
by Mr. Abernathy for approval of this petition. Do we have any
discussion? All those in favor say aye. (Unanimous response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Those opposed, same sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Motion carries.
Next item on the agenda is PUDZ-2001-AR-986, a rezone for Walnut
Lakes PUD. All those wishing to present testimony today, please
stand, raise your right hand, and be sworn in by the court reporter.
(The speakers were sworn.)
MR. BELLOWS: For the record, Ray Bellows, planning
services staff. The petitioner is requesting a rezone from RSF-3 and
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October 18, 2001
agriculture to a planned unit development to be known as Walnut
Lakes PUD. As you can see on the visualizer, the site is located on
the north side of U.S. 41 approximately 2 miles east of Collier
Boulevard. The proposed 204-acre planned unit development permits
a mix of residential dwellings including an assisted-living facility
that's designed around a golf course, lakes, open space, and preserve
areas. As you can see on the master plan, the preserve area's along
the north. To the north is the Naples Reserve golf course community.
To the east is the West Wind Mobile Home Park, and to the west is
vacant agricultural land. This master plan is slightly different than
the one you have in your packet. It's revised by transportation. It
limits the ingress/egress to this point up here. The one you have has
two access points. That has been eliminated. Only the one to the
north -- everything else is pretty much the same as what you have in
your packet. The traffic impact review indicates that the project will
not significantly impact any traffic capacity standard. The Future
Land Use Element indicates that the site is eligible for residential
densities not to exceed three units per acre. The base density is four
units per acre, but it's within a traffic congestion zone, so it drops
down to three units per acre. This PUD proposes a maximum density
of three units per acre. And if there is developed an assisted-living
facility, staff is requesting that for every acre converted from
residential use to the ALF use, that three dwelling units per acre be
subtracted from that maximum total dwelling units. That way we
don't double-count that land. A review of consistency and
compatibility with adjacent uses indicates that the development
standards are fairly consistent with the nearby uses in the PUD
zoning districts to the north. Staff has found no consistency problems
with this project. The golf course intermixed around the perimeter of
the project provides a nice visual buffer. Staff has not received any
letters in objection to this petition and is recommending that the
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October 18, 2001
petition be forwarded to the Board of County Commissioners with a
recommendation for approval. I'd be happy to answer any questions.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Any questions of stafl~.
Okay. We'd like to hear from the petitioner.
MS. BISHOP: Good morning. Karen Bishop, agent for the
owner. I really don't have much more to add than what Ray had. I
have my engineer here to discuss water management issues if there
are any questions. The site was previously permitted and platted at
three units to the acre. And actually, they cleared it and were digging
the lake, and then it sat for a very long time. So we're picking up and
taking it over from there. You can see that there is a buffer on our
northern edge which will be in conjunction with a buffer to the north,
which is the Naples Reserve project. Other than that, it's a pretty
typical golf course community, residential mixed use.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Any questions?
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: I have a couple. Karen,
could you tell me for whom Mr. Saundry is acting as trustee?
MR. BELLOWS: I passed out this morning the list of
beneficiaries.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: That's for this item?
MR. BELLOWS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY:
that.
Okay. That takes care of
MS. BISHOP: We have Mr. Saundry here to answer any
questions.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: No. That's fine. I have one
other question. On page 12 of your submittal, Footnote 1, rear yards
for principal and accessory structures on lots which abut reserve areas
may be zero feet. I take it a reserve area is the same as a preserve
area?
MS. BISHOP: Yes, sir. It could be something that's saved on
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October 18, 2001
the golf course that doesn't quite fit in that preserves that we
permitted, but yet it's still in that area that we would call a reserve or
restricted area of development.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Okay. If the rear yard is
zero feet, does that mean the person who steps out his back door is
not on his property anymore; he's in the reserve area?
MS. BISHOP: No, not necessarily. Actually, these lots can be
platted to have a reserve area in the back. Collier's Reserve is one
that has a rear area that's a no-touch area, but it's part of the
ownership of the lot. So you will -- you can own property that would
be reserved and you can't --
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: You can walk on it, but you
can't touch it.
MS. BISHOP: Pretty much, or build on it.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Okay. That's all I have.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Any other questions of the petitioner?
Do we have a registered public speaker?
MS. MURRAY: I have two registered speakers. The first is
Jerry Trask followed by Charles Maurais.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Please come up to the microphone,
state your name, and spell it for the court reporter, please.
MR. MAURAIS: My name is Charles Maurais, M-a-u-r-a-i-s.
We represent Jerry Trask.
MR. TRASK: My name is Jerry D. Trask, and we represent
West Wind.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. And we'll have one person at a
time speak. Okay?
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Madam Chairman, would it
be all right if the speakers went to this microphone? I can barely hear
from that one. I'd appreciate it.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Thank you.
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October 18, 2001
MR. MAURAIS: Is this better?
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Yes, it is.
MR. MAURAIS: Good morning, Madam Chairman,
Commissioners. We represent West Wind, which is adjacent to this
development. We have several concerns, I believe, before us, and I'd
like to get some answers if we could. We have got some plans and
drawings, but we have a few concerns about this. Number one is the
drainage. As you know, West Wind, during some heavy rains, we are
pretty well inundated with water. We'd like to know what the
drainage situation will be and how this drainage is going to be taken
care of. Will there be retention basins in this property large enough
to hold the water runoff?. Another one we have is the sewerage.
During some high water times, our sewerage pumps are unable to
handle the sewerage, and we'd like to know if this is going to be
addressed. The other thing we have, of course everybody knows
about the schools on Manatee Road. They now have portable
classrooms. What's this -- what's the impact going to be on this?
Traffic, I've heard some reports on the traffic. The road is being
developed, I think, currently as we speak. What will happen? Will
there be traffic lights at this intersection, and is 41 going to be
widened sufficiently to handle the traffic? We've had numerous
accidents in that area.
Another problem we have and it says in there adult living
facility. We'd like to know what that means, and how that is going to
affect us because the layout we have actually shows single lots on the
property. Is it going to be a large building, small building, individual
homes? What will it be? I think that basically -- we'd like to know
what type of drainage -- like I said, drainage is our main concern,
personally, because we do have a lot of water. We have canals
around our property, and during the last season, the last recent storms
we've had, they've actually overflowed quite considerably. And we'd
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October 18, 2001
like to know what the impact will be. Will there be a buffer zone
between their property and our property? If we could get some of
those answered -- that was a lot of questions.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Sir, did you broach any of
these questions with either the developer or with the planning staff
prior to this meeting?
MR. MAURAIS: We sent a letter dated October 8th.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: To whom?
MR. MAURAIS: To the planning services, Ray Bellows.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: One at a time. Don't speak from the
audience. We will -- I wrote down, I think, most of your questions,
and we can have the petitioner answer some of the issues on drainage
and talk a little bit more about what you're asking for specifically.
MR. MAURAIS: We did send this letter registered mail, by the
way.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Okay. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Thank you. Next speaker.
MR. TRASK: He covered about everything I needed to cover
too. I'm a little concerned about --
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Speak to us, please.
MR. TRASK: I'm a little concerned about the zero backyard
that she was talking about. I'd like to know how close that's going to
come to West Wind property, to our canal.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. I believe, Ms. Bishop, you have
a few items you might want to cover, and staff might be able to
elaborate.
MS. BISHOP: I'm going to leave the drainage up to Reed Jarvi
and just go over the fact that it is an existing permit with already a
lake in the center, so we will have on-site retention, as most permits
require. The outfall Reed will speak directly to, but we will have to
permit through South Florida Water Management, so the neighbors
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October 18, 2001
can be assured that we will not be adding to their problem because
we won't be allowed to do that.
The perimeter buffers are the typical landscape buffers in Collier
County, 15-foot buffers. In a lot of areas, we're going to incorporate
the golf course as a part of that buffer leaving as much natural
vegetation as we can, but pretty much everything that's out there is
pretty nasty. So we'll be bringing in a lot of landscaping to cover
that.
I believe the other thing he was talking about was the zero lot
lines. None of those rear yards will be abutting the perimeter of their
project. And still, even then, I would have to have the typical 15-foot
buffer, as the code would require.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: He also asked about the sewage
treatment.
MS. BISHOP: Reed's going to speak to the sewage also.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. And with reference to traffic,
he can handle that also?
MS. BISHOP: He's a multitalented guy.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: And then how about the -- a little bit of
elaboration on the adult living facility. What does that really mean?
MS. BISHOP: Well, we've had several ideas of what kind of
product we're putting out in here. One of the ideas have been a -- this
is an adult community specifically, so the school issue too -- he was
talking about the schools. We are planning an adult facility. The
ACLF section of this has been an idea we've been kicking around that
-- where you go and you start in maybe a single family, you move
into a multifamily, you move then into an apartment, and then you go
to assisted living, all in the same area. So you stay, you know, in
your neighborhood from the time you move in until the time you pass
away. We haven't really come up with what that idea would be.
Most likely that facility would be located closer to U.S. 41 because of
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October 18, 2001
the issues of having its own kind of, you know, trucks and everything
else. We wouldn't want to bring those through the community, so
they'd be farther to 41. The standards for that building are in the
PUD already. We haven't really located -- and we haven't decided
whether we are or aren't going to put it in there, so we just just-in-
cased it and given us criteria to use if that's the direction we head in.
But right now all we're looking for -- or all that we're planning at this
juncture is the multifamily adult facility. And Reed will speak to the
sewer and the drainage.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Ray, did you have a comment?
MR. BELLOWS: Just about the letter. I don't recall seeing any
letter. I would have responded-- all of these issues are pretty
straightforward, and I could have answered those things. I apologize
if for some reason I -- just maybe part of-- put it in a different file by
accident. I'm not sure what happened.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: He did mention that it came registered
mail, and sometimes that holds up the delivery of it. If they have a
copy, they may want to present it to you now so at least it's in the
record.
Okay. Mr. Jarvi.
MR. JARVI: Hi. My name is Reed Jarvi. I'm a professional
engineer with Vanasse & Daylor and representing the petitioner
today. And I'll cover, I think, most of the questions. I wrote them
down too. First we'll talk about water management. There currently
exists a water management permit on this property, which was
Naples Isles. It was about early '80s; I think '81, if I remember right.
And it had single-family homes across the whole area with this lake
system that is currently constructed part of the water management
system for the project. Our project is going to be changing the layout
a little bit, and the PUD plan's not up right now. But it's a series of
lakes not dissimilar to what's there now, but they'll be reshaping them
Page 14
October 18, 2001
to use the product that Mr. Saundry is looking for directly. But we
will be working all the water management internal to the site. We
designed -- we are into our second round with the water management
district, and we're fairly hopeful that in the next 10, 15 days we'll
have a permit -- or excuse me -- a staff report that will give us the
permit for the water management district. We've talked to FDOT
because we are discharging into the FDOT right-of-way, and that has
been approved by FDOT. So we have the permit. We are in the final
stages of the water management district permit for the site. And then
more specific water management issues will be handled when we do
the plats and plans in the, hopefully, near future. So hopefully that'll
answer that question. But basically it's all self-contained. It runs to
the south.
Currently there is a control structure approximately here on the
site. We are not using that control structure. We are actually raising
-- that control structure is permitted at, if I remember right, elevation
2.75. We are actually raising that to 5 1/2, per the water management
district's direction, to keep the water table up for natural vegetation
purposes. So it will be self-contained. Sewage, I'll just briefly talk
about sewage. You know, we- at the PUD stage, we don't do much
more than sewage calculations and show that there are -- the plant has
the capacity, and that we have done. When we do it, it'll -- at the plats
and plans stage, we'll be doing our sewage lift stations to make sure it
works from our standpoint and should not affect the West Wind
property any more than it is currently. The last one was traffic. We
looked at traffic. At the present time we don't believe there'll be a
signal at the entrance. Our project will be going -- will be just using
the main accesses up here. The Naples Reserve has -- is under
construction now and is building this access road. We'll be using that
as our main access. The access off 41 is a secondary access at this
point in time, and so most of the traffic will be going to this access
Page 15
October 18, 2001
road.
Calculations have been done that show that that will function
adequately as an unsignalized intersection, so we don't expect it to be
a signalized intersection. Otherwise, the traffic is basically within
standards -- the traffic that we add to the system on 41 is within level-
of-service standards for 41. And best I know, there's no immediate
scheduled widening of U.S. 41 in this vicinity. I think that answers
the questions I wrote down.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: There was the comment about the zero
yard -- backyard zero lot line and how close would it be to the West
Winds. I'm not sure I got a clear answer on that.
MS. BISHOP: Okay. Well, we have the typical landscape
buffers, but none of the zero lot lines are going to -- their zero edge is
going to be along the property line of West Winds. We will always
have a buffer, and in this case we are using the golf course as a buffer
between the two.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Thank you. Mr. Bellows, do
you have a statement?
MR. BELLOWS: No. I was just going to point out the golf
course abuts the West Winds, so they would not have any properties
abutting their property line.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Do we have any questions of either
staff or petitioner? Yes, Mr. Midney.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: Yeah, I have a question. It says
that it's in a traffic congestion area and that the project trips exceed
the significance test on U.S. 41 at the project buildout but will not
lower the level of service below the road's adopted level-of-service
standard. Could you explain that a little bit?
MR. BELLOWS: The transportation element of the
Comprehensive Plan has certain criteria that all rezones must meet
before the Board of County Commissioners can recommend
Page 16
October 18, 2001
approval, and that is each road has what's called an adopted level of
service that they can operate at. And if they operate below that, then
it could trigger concurrency, which is a separate ordinance dealing
with issuance of building permits on roads that are deemed deficient.
The level of service of these roads are operating at an acceptable
level of service. There is another section to that that says what is a
significant impact, and that's generally 5 percent of the Level of
Service C design capacity of the adjacent roadways. And this project
exceeds 5 percent, but it will not lower the level of service below the
adopted standards. So, therefore, it's not an overall significant
impact, and we can recommend approval.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: I'm just wondering because I
know that there's a lot of traffic delays. Every time I come in here I
see it, and I wonder how we could have gotten to the point where the
roads are supposedly, you know, within the limits of their capacity,
but yet there's rush-hour delays almost every day.
MR. BELLOWS: Also, I'd like to point out, this -- before I
answer that last part, this project is already zoned, for the most part,
RSF-3. They can pull building permits now for single-family homes
within this development without having to get this rezone for much
of the site. This PUD rezone allows them to do other things, such as
a golf course and assisted-living facility. But for the most part, the
residential units are already vested in. Now, the overall traffic
capacity system has been impacted by delays in road construction.
We had not built roads for three, four years, and the capacity that we
had prior to that has now reached its limit since we had-- and now
we're in a full-blown road construction process to catch up for the
time period where we weren't building roads.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: I thought the infrastructure was
supposed to be there concurrently or first.
MR. BELLOWS: For the most part. For this project it is. For
Page 17
October 18,2001
other projects within the county, at the time they were going through
the rezone process, those roads were listed on their five-year work
program as being built; however, they were not built, and now we're
rushing to catch up with that.
MS. STUDENT: I just would like to state for the record -- and I
don't have the adequate public facilities ordinance right in front of
me, but at least for transportation there is a three-year window for
that. In other words, it's -- and that's in the Rule 9J-5 as well. So if
it's in the five-year CIE and going to be constructed in the third year
of that five year, essentially you have a three-year window. And for
parks and recreation facilities, you have a one-year window. I just
wanted to explain that for the record.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Mrs. Young, you have a question.
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: Yeah. What is the level of
service, then, for 41 down there?
MR. BELLOWS: I believe that's in the staff report. I don't list
the actual buildout because this language basically comes from
transportation. And they're not stating what the actual level of
service is, but they are saying it is consistent. And maybe Reed
can --
MR. JARVI: Reed Jarvi for the petitioner. The level-of-service
standard for U.S. 41 in that area is Level of Service D. The level-of-
service projection for our buildout, which is 2009, is C in that area.
So it's actually better than the standard, the projected.
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: By 2009.
MR. JARVI: By 2009.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Do we have any other questions?
No questions? Okay. That was the last public speaker? MS. MURRAY: Yes. No more speakers.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: No more speakers. I close the public
hearing. What's the pleasure of the board?
Page 18
October 18, 2001
COMMISSIONER BUDD: Madam Chairman, I make a motion
that the Planning Commission forward Petition PUDA-2001-AR-986
(sic) to the Board of County Commissioners with a recommendation
for approval.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Second.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I have a motion by Mr. Budd, a second
by Mr. Abernathy for approval of the petition. Do we have any
discussion?
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: Madam Chair, I'm going to
have to recuse myself from the vote. I've had previous dealings with
Mr. Saundry.
MS. STUDENT: I beg your --
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. You're going to abstain from
voting.
MS. STUDENT: Yes. Because as I understand it from talking
with Mr. Wolfley, there is a voting conflict of interest.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Do we have any other
comments? Hearing no further discussion, I call the question. All
those in
favor say aye.
(Unanimous response with Commissioner Wolfley not voting.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Those opposed, same sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: We have one abstention. Motion
carries. Thank you. Next item on the agenda for public hearing is
RZ-2001-AR-1050,a rezone from C-4 to C-4. All those wishing to
give testimony today, please stand, raise your right hand, and be
sworn in by the court reporter.
(The speakers were sworn.)
MR. REISCHL: Good morning, Commissioners. Fred Reischl,
planning services. This is a request for a rezone from C-4 to C-4, and
Page 19
October 18, 2001
this came about as a result of the zoning reevaluation program in the
early '90s, 1990 and '91. The existing zoning at that time was
-- throughout the county was evaluated for consistency and
compatibility with the new Growth Management Plan. In this
particular case for this parcel and a half, the board added four
conditions, which you saw in your staff report. And the petitioner
wishes to remove one of those conditions, which is the access for
four of the parcels onto Tamiami Trail East. The method to remove
that one stipulation, one condition, is to rezone the parcel from C-4
with the condition to C-4 without the condition; hence, that's the
petition that's before you today.
The petitioner (sic) was reviewed by our comprehensive
planning staff and was found that it was consistent with the Growth
Management Plan. It was reviewed by our transportation services
division, who had no objections. And it was also reviewed by fire,
who asked to modify the -- one of the other stipulations for no access
to Floridan. They would like controlled emergency vehicle access,
which usually is not a problem. It's not a paved -- it's usually a
stabilized subsurface and then grassed over. The fire department
knows it's there, but it's not -- it looks like landscaping and not a
road, so the public doesn't use it. I've received no objections to this
petition, and staff recommends approval.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: I have a question.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Mr. Abernathy.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Fred, I don't read Dawn
Wolfe's letter the same way you do, I'm afraid. She says, "The
Transportation Planning Department will recommend that the
modification be conditioned on the provision for cross access to the
original lots to minimize entering and exiting traffic conflicts." Now,
that disappeared in the -- or was ignored by the rest of the staff. I
assume if they could achieve these cross-access points, they might
Page 20
October 18, 2001
not even be bothering to come in here.
MR. REISCHL: Right. I believe that letter was written prior to
-- Mr. Jeppesen had subsequent conversations with Ms. Wolfe, and
that was resolved.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Well, the record, then,
ought to be brought up to date with something else from Ms. Wolfe
saying that her previous objections have been satisfied, I would think,
because the record as it stands says she has this condition. So I'll
leave it to you to do something about that.
A more serious problem begins on page 3 at the bottom. There's
a statement "Fire access to the site from Floridan Avenue may be
required." There's nothing in here to indicate that the East Naples
Fire District is of that view. And the staff proposal says, "The
restriction currently reads 'Access onto Floridan Avenue is
prohibited.' Staff proposes this be revised to 'Access to Floridan
Avenue is prohibited, except for controlled, emergency-vehicle
access.'" Then you go back to the summary findings, and -- where is
it -- "The only access to the adjacent single-family neighbor will be
for emergency vehicles."
Well, it starts out sounding like the fire department wants to be
able to come down Floridan Avenue to access -- to get to this lot for
fire purposes, but then the language tums around and sounds like the
fire department wants to get from this property to Floridan Avenue. I
can't imagine they would want to service this property itself from
Floridan when they've got Highway 41 to travel on. In other words,
what we're giving here is something the petitioner has not even asked
for.
So is it "to" or "from" or -- the minute you cut this access, you
know dam well that for one reason or another, the occupant of this
property who wants this developed is going to find it convenient from
time to time to go out onto Floridan Avenue. And the fact that you've
Page 21
October 18, 2001
got some stipulation that says the only time it can be used is for fire --
what, is the fire department supposed to come down 41, cut through
this lot to get to Floridan? Is that the idea?
MR. REISCHL: I think it was for the access of the trucks.
Again, I don't want to use "to" or "from," but to have trucks be able
to use that as a cutthrough. Whether they come from Floridan or
come from 41, to be able to not have to back up the truck, but to get
onto Floridan with a big fire truck. Now, it's controlled access
because it's going to be, as I said before, a stabilized subsurface that's
sodded and, you know, doesn't look like a driveway. It's going to
look like landscaping, like sod.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Well, it seems to me it
would be more orderly if the fire department would make some kind
of a written presentation of what it is they want, whether it's to or
from or both ways or whatever. And I don't know how the petitioner
feels about that.
MR. JEPPESEN: Greg Jeppesen representing the petitioner. As
far as I know it, it's to be able to get trucks, you know, through the
property. Whether they come down Floridan or come down 41,
there's some properties along that corridor that, you know, are
between Floridan and 41 that -- actually, I think that the rental place
right next to it, the fire department made them put in an access on
Floridan because all the fire hydrants are along Floridan, and they
need just to get back there and need to be able to drive through.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Do you understand that
they're going to use your lot as a cutthrough for fires unrelated to
your lot or just your lot?
MR. JEPPESEN: Just to be able to serve our lot.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Your lot.
MR. JEPPESEN: Yeah. There's roads, I mean, you know --
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: The lot next door already
Page 22
October 18, 2001
has that cutthrough?
MR. JEPPESEN: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I want to make sure I'm clear on that.
You're saying that you think the fire department will only use this
access for your property?
MR. JEPPESEN: Yeah. That's my understanding.
MR. REISCHL: That's my understanding also.
MR. JEPPESEN: Yeah. Because that area of town has a grid
system. I mean, there's roads -- it's not -- everything around there is
easy to get to.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Yeah. But there's quite a
distance between Martin and the other street, some distance, anyway.
MR. REISCHL: The fire department requires turning radii for
the trucks depending on the size of the building that they're
protecting.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: And this lot wouldn't be
big enough to do that?
MR. REISCHL: That's right. Therefore, they want the
emergency access.
MR. JEPPESEN: They have to back up onto 41.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Okay. Now it's beginning
to make a little better sense.
MR. JEPPESEN: Regarding the access easement requirement,
cross access, when I met with Dawn, actually before she wrote that
letter -- you know, in looking at that old ordinance, there should have
been provisions for those four lots to have cross access because, I
mean, land's going to have to be bought and sold. And this parcel
and a half got sold, and now there's no cross access.
Her intention of that -- that requirement was that in the future
when projects around us get redeveloped -- I mean, we're going to put
in a cross access in the front of our property. So in the future, you
Page 23
October 18,2001
know, whether it might be 10 years, might be 50 years, you know, the
people next to us can cut through our property and use it. It's just
looking into the future since it wasn't done in the past.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Lots on either side of you
developed already or--
MR. JEPPESEN: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: East?
MR. JEPPESEN: The one on the north side is developed
already, which is the truck rental place I was just talking about, and
the one on the south isn't developed yet.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Is someone here from transportation
that could clarify this for us, make some testimony on the record?
MR. MULLER: Sorry. I wasn't sworn in.
(The speaker was sworn.)
MR. MULLER: My name, for the record, is Russ Muller, and
I'm with development services, engineering.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: You have to speak up a little.
MR. MULLER: When he comes in with an SDP, we'll make
sure that the SDP would accommodate future access to the property
to the west or north.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Do you stand for the
proposition that the East Naples Fire Department has made -- made
this request to you, or did you-all just know that they needed that?
MR. MULLER: The East Naples Fire Department, I don't know
what their request was. I just know that as far as the cross access,
he's going to provide it for the future properties, undeveloped
property.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: We're talking about access
to Floridan Street (sic). Do you know anything about that?
MR. MULLER: I can't help you with that one.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Okay.
Page 24
October 18,2001
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Do we have any further questions of
staff?.
Would you care to do a regular presentation?
MR. JEPPESEN: No. It's pretty self-explanatory other than I'd
-- you know, regarding the fire issue, I'd kind of like to have that
addressed at the SDP process regarding -- I mean, it may be
approved, the controlled access, but as far as the means and way to
do it, have that approved at the SDP process. I mean, I haven't -- I
haven't talked to the fire department regarding this either, and I'd
rather not agree to a -- you know, a detailed type of-- that's not really
the intent of this petition.
MS. MURRAY: Madam Chair, the intent of this petition is just
to give a general requirement. What we'll do is I'll have Fred clarify
with the fire department before this even goes to the Board of County
Commissioners so we all know we're on the same page, and then the
details, of course, would be worked out at the SDP --
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Because the way I read this
recommendation is that you're only following through on the petition
versus the additional analysis you provided for the emergency-
vehicle access.
MR. REISCHL: Mr. Jeppesen just requested the access from
41. The fire reviewer requested the emergency access.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. And I guess maybe I'm missing
something, but you're referring only to the rezone for the access to
the site, and it doesn't specify the controlled, emergency-vehicle
access in your recommendation because he didn't petition for it.
MR. REISCHL: It's in the resolution.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: It's in the resolution.
MR. JEPPESEN: It's something that's going to come up later in
the SDP, and it's -- you know, because that provision's not in this
restrict -- you know, it isn't allowed with the restrictions in place
Page 25
October 18,2001
now. It's better to deal with it now because otherwise it'll be a
problem.
MR. REISCHL: Today's restriction says access to Floridan is
prohibited, and that includes fire trucks. So if the fire department
requires a -- an access during SDP review, this would allow them to
have it. They may -- as Greg said, they may not -- during their SDP
review, they may not want it. But this would at least allow the
possibility without going through this rezone process again in the
future.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: So it is in the resolution, but it's not in
the statement for the recommendation. I just want to make sure I'm
on the right page here and that you're agreeing to this access.
MR. JEPPESEN: I'm agreeing to the access, sure.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Do we have any other
questions?
Any there any registered public speakers?
MS. MURRAY: No registered speakers.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Close the public hearing. What's the
pleasure of the board?
COMMISSIONER BUDD: Madam Chairman, I make a motion
that this Planning Commission forward Petition RZ-2001-AR-1050
to the Board of County Commissioners with a recommendation of
approval.
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: Second.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I have a motion by Mr. Budd, a second
by Mrs. Young for approval of this petition. Do we have any
discussion?
Hearing no discussion, I call the question. All those in favor say
aye.
(Unanimous response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Those opposed, same sign.
Page 26
October 18,2001
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Motion carries. Thank you.
MR. JEPPESEN: Thanks.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Moving right along to RZ-
2001-AR-1376, the La Quinta Homes rezone, all those wishing to
give testimony today, please stand, raise your right hand, and be
sworn in by the court reporter.
(The speakers were sworn.)
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: Good morning, Commissioners.
Chahram Badamtchian from planning services staff. This is a rezone
for a single lot in Golden Gate City which is located at the comer of
24th Avenue Southwest and 52nd Terrace Southwest. The property
is zoned single family RSF-3, and the applicant is requesting to
change it to RMF-6. What happened was the building permit was
issued for a duplex for this lot. By mistake a building permit was
issued for this lot, and we only caught the mistake after the house was
almost complete.
The Growth Management Plan allows rezoning up to seven units
per acre because this lot is within the density band of an activity
center. And as you can see from the zoning map, this is the lot in
question, Lot 1. And we have RMF-6 here, RMF-6 here, and RMF-
12 here. And the person who issued the permit in the building
department by mistake thought this lot was also RMF-6; however,
this lot is RSF-3, as you can see in here. It says RSF-3. And the
building permit was issued thinking that it was RMF-6.
This -- the duplex which is almost complete is surrounded by
duplexes on either side, east and west. And my staff report says to
the south there's a duplex. Actually, it's a triplex to the south.
And there's a single-family house to the north. Staff recommends
approval of this -- this rezone since it will not be out of character with
the area, it's surrounded by RMF-6 and RMF-12, and the mistake was
Page 27
October 18,2001
made and the building permit issued, and the house is almost -- the
duplex is almost complete.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: There must be some logic why the
lines are drawn as they are for the RSF-3 and the 6. Did you look
into that concept?
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: No. I didn't, but I noticed that there
are other places that -- as you can see, there are RMF-6's all over, but
this lot in here is also RSF-3. I don't know why they did it that way.
They meandered the lines to include some in RSF-3 and some in
RMF-6, and I don't think there's any real logic behind it. This is a
row of RSF-3. I believe they want the entire road to be RSF-3, but
they back into RMF-6. So I don't think there was any real logic
behind it when they drew those lines.
MS. MURRAY: Madam Chair, this is a really weird situation
here. You'll notice that a lot of the multifamily and single family are
split, actually, behind the lots -- I mean, to the rear. So you have --
rear to rear you have single family abutting multifamily. I'm going to
guess that this was probably done as a result of the development
patterns in the area. Generally we try to follow street lines and other
natural property -- or boundary lines when we're drawing zoning
designations on a map.
And when you're starting out with a clean slate, sometimes that's
a little bit easier than if you're starting out in an area that's been
developed for a while. I'm going to guess that's probably kind of
what happened here, was the lines attempted to follow in some
logical pattern the existing development patterns in the area when
they were originally drawn. Normally you don't see the back to back,
you know, with the multifamily and the single family. It's a little bit
different case here than you find throughout a lot of the county, but
Golden Gate City's been around for a while. That may be an
explanation.
Page 28
October 18, 2001
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Any questions from the board? Okay.
No questions of staff?.
Petitioner, would you care to present, please? Excuse me. You
have to come to the mike.
MR. MORALES: Good morning. My name is Carlos Morales.
I'm the owner of La Quinta Homes. What happened here, I bought
this lot thinking that it was a duplex because it's all surrounded by
duplex. And I checked with the planning and the building
department, and they said yes. I applied for a permit, and they issued
it. That's basically it.
May I ask who you bought the
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO:
property from.
for?
MR. MORALES:
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO:
MR. MORALES: Yes.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO:
MR. MORALES: Yes.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO:
A Realtor.
A Realtor.
I bought it from --
Do you recall who that Realtor is?
Would you care to state it, please.
MR. MORALES: Dave Hoff, I think it is.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: And which company does he work
MR. MORALES: He's a broker, I think.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Huff, H-u-f-f.
MR. MORALES: Dave Hoff, yes.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO:
MR. MORALES: Yes.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO'
Okay. And then the building
department went ahead and gave you the permit. MR. MORALES' That's correct.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO' So it was an error on their part also.
MR. MORALES' That's correct.
Page 29
October 18, 2001
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Wow. I think we have some registered
public speakers if you have nothing else to present. MR. MORALES: No. That's all I have.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Thank you. The first registered
public speaker, please.
MS. MURRAY: The first registered speaker is Simone Gartner
followed by Manetta Osburn.
MS. GARTNER: Good morning. I'm sorry. I have a cold.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to us. My name is Simone
Gartner, S-i-m-o-n-e, Gartner, G-a-r-t-n-e-r. Listening to him about
the way that the maps and stuff are laid out, myself and this lady
here, we own the duplex across the street, which is L-shaped. It
actually sits on both streets. We have two separate addresses. I face
this gentleman's duplex. The street in front of me is solid single
family, and then at the end of the street you have this duplex that
faces the opposite way, so it really kind of is an eyesore.
When we built our duplex, we had to go through extensive
things for drainage. They don't have the proper drainage. I don't
think the property's elevated enough. We're concerned about the flow
of the water. We had to put a certain amount of trees on our
property, which I don't see any trees on their property. It butts up
against a neighbor's yard, which the air conditionings are going to be
kind of loud. Sorry. My throat's very sore. But because it is
multifamily, the parking -- their driveways are very small, which
they're going to start parking on the streets unless fences or trees are
put up.
And we understand that we live in a multifamily residence, but
we chose it because the one whole side is single family. It's one of
the nicer areas. But the way that it sits at the end of the property just
looks -- you have all these homes facing this way, and then you have
this orange duplex sitting there that faces the opposite street. And
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October 18,2001
those are basically our concerns, is that they -- I mean, we don't
expect them to tear it down. We have to be realistic, but they should
comply like we had to: Proper drainage, trees, you know, things to
prevent 15 cars from parking in this driveway and so forth.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: What street do you face, please?
MS. GARTNER: I am on 52nd, which--
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: You're on 52nd and you're --
MS. GARTNER: Their duplex sits on a comer. Here's the
street. We are right here. And ours is an L-shaped on the opposite
comer. Ours is L-shaped.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Thank you.
MS. GARTNER: And our property has, like, big ditches for lots
of drainage of which, by the way, when we did ask for the drainage,
it took them a year and a half to get the drainage in, and we just got it
a couple weeks ago. So we're concerned. What, are we going to wait
two years to get the drainage into this place?
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: So you're concerned about drainage
issues and landscaping --
MS. GARTNER: Parking.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: -- requirements.
MS. GARTNER:
yoll.
So they have to comply like we do. Thank
The next speaker is Manetta Osbum followed
MS. MURRAY:
by Patricia Deutsch.
MS. OSBURN: My name is spelled M-a-n-e-t-t-a, O-s-b-u-r-n.
Simone and I built a duplex on the opposite comer. It is our home.
We live there. And addressing the issue of how these streets were
laid out, I'm sure it had something to do with density, which is a
serious problem in the area where we live. I don't know if there are
restrictions for density. In a multifamily neighborhood, of course,
you're going to have more people, but I believe there are probably a
Page 31
October 18,2001
lot more people living there than the structures were ever intended to
house.
When I received this notice, it made me angry because I don't
see this happening except in places like Golden Gate or Naples
Manor where such things are -- are ignored by the -- by the
government that we put our trust into to manage these things. I hope
not. But we do have a number of problems in Golden Gate that
should be addressed. Nevertheless, we object for the reasons that
Simone set forth. The drainage does not appear to be adequate. The
color is -- is horrible. It's pumpkin and mustard, if you can picture
this. Anyway, I appreciate the time that you've taken to listen to us,
and I hope that we can make some resolutions here. CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Next speaker.
MS. MURRAY: Patricia Deutsch. That's your last speaker.
MS. DEUTSCH: My name is Patricia Deutsch. The last name
is D-e-u-t-s-c-h. I've lived at -- I live at 2380 52nd Terrace. I've
lived in this home for, like, 21 years now, so it's been nice not to have
a property built next to me. My two bedroom windows on that side
of my home are, like, within 20 feet of his air-conditioning systems
and well systems where you're going to hear this at night running,
and I find that objective (sic).
I think that there should be a privacy fence of some type put up
so that I -- you know, when we're trying to sleep at night, that we're
not hearing these things kick on and off. The privacy fence, the color
of the home. We know it's built. We can't tear it down. You know,
they have a patio that just sits on 52nd. And with no drainage, my
yard, since we've had a lot of rains here lately, has been flooding. I
did not have this problem before.
So, you know, I know we've got to live with what we've got
there, but we've got to make -- you know, Mr. Ramirez (sic) has got
to do something to make it livable for all of us. You know, these
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October 18, 2001
people with their little patios, they're going to have 20 trucks parked
there having their little barbecue, which we understand. But it's --
you know, what do we do?
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Does his place face on 24th
or on 52nd?
MS. DEUTSCH: It faces on 24th, but the patio sits on 52nd.
So, I mean, it's really out of line.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: So it's a side yard then.
MS. DEUTSCH: Right. It's a side yard. And, like I said, the
air-conditioner units and the well units are adjacent to my two
bedroom windows. You know, one on the front side of my home,
and one on the back side of my home.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY:
building?
That's the back of his
MS. DEUTSCH: Yes, the back of his building. And we're, like,
within 26 feet. You know, I mean, I guess when I get up in the
morning, I can make my bed and his too. So I just thought that was
awful close to my property line as far as -- you know, when you don't
know what the property jurisdictions are, you just figure that's the
way it is.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Thank you. I have a couple of
questions. Chahram, could you elaborate a little bit on the idea that
this gentleman has a different set of regulations for drainage and
landscaping than the people right across the street?
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: For one thing, the house is not
complete, 100 percent complete. So the landscaping, if that's the
problem, our code requires basically two trees per unit, two shade
trees per unit, so he has to plant four trees on the site. I don't know
how many of them he has planted, but he has to plant four trees.
For the drainage, I think they are talking about the street
drainage, the swale that's on the street, and that's transportation
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October 18,2001
department. They take care of that, and it's not his responsibility. It's
a street drainage. And for a duplex or a single family, you don't have
to provide for the water retention on site. That water retention
requirements only start when you have three or more units. And
what was the other one?
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Well, the buffering -- concern about
the parking. How many cars can be parked there?
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: They have room for four cars, and it's
-- cars, they will be entering the property from 24th Avenue, since it
is -- the building is facing 24th Avenue. That's where the driveway is
located and the parking spaces. For the orientation of the building,
when you have a comer lot, you basically pick which side your house
is going to be facing. And since there is another duplex in here --
there's another duplex in here facing that 24th Avenue, and he
decided to make his duplex face 24th Avenue. And about the color, I
don't know. We don't have a restriction on how -- what color you
want to paint your building.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. I think I understand that our
building department made a mistake. It sounds like the Realtor made
a mistake.
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: Possibly, yes.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: What are the controls that we have
internally to identify immediately what the zoning of a piece of
property is that a permit's coming in on?
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: I think basically we go to the zoning
map when somebody applies for a permit, and that's where the
mistake occurred. The person who reviewed it didn't notice that that's
RSF-3 here and this lot belongs to this zoning district and not this.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Just for my edification, when a staff
members look at this map, they see those very dark lines also; right?
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: Yes.
Page 34
October 18, 2001
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: That's not just for our--
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: No. This is a copy of the map.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Made a mistake. Now, I still
have trouble -- as a licensed real estate broker in Florida, there's a
certain amount of responsibility there. This gentleman is a
contractor. I find it difficult to see that this went this far. I'm not
sure what the resolution is because these people obviously are
impacted by a mistake that a broker has made, someone who's a
contractor -- both have licenses -- and then our own building
department.
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: But if this house was made into a
single-family house, let's say, we will still have the same setbacks,
and the air conditioner still will be there. And that doesn't mean that
in a single family they are going to have less cars or less people
living in that single family. I understand their concern, but changing
this into a single family, it's just going to change things inside the
building. It's not going to affect the footprint of the building, the
location of the building, or location of the well or air-conditioning
unit.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: So you're saying changing it to a
single-family home, the structure.
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: Correct. It's just going to change the
inside of it, not the outside. And the objection is basically for water
-- for drainage and for the location of it and where the air-
conditioning units are sitting, and those are not -- those are not going
to change. Single family or duplex, they're going to stay where they
are.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Mr. Wolfley.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: How many bedrooms per unit
are --
MR. MORALES:
Three bedroom.
Page 35
October 18,2001
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: Three per unit. So I would
have to say that certainly there's going to be more parking at a duplex
than a single-family home unless they're going to have a six- or five-
bedroom home there, which I don't think would fit. I'm particularly
sensitive to this drainage issue since I'm subject to one of those at my
house. What can be done so that these folks or the lady that lives to
the north doesn't get flooded out because the property was raised, and
it tends to flow? Is there any type of drainage down to the swale?
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: There is a swale --
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: I understand that.
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: -- but it's maintained--
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: Between the units.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: One at a time.
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: We --
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY:
and 2.
Between No. 1 and 2, Lot 1
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: Lot 1 and 2? There is a drainage
easement here which part of it's sitting on Lot 1, part of it's sitting on
Lot 2. It's a 12-foot-wide drainage easement, which is supposed to
bring the water down to the street on 52nd. And there's another
drainage easement on the east side of the property, which is supposed
to bring the water down to the 24th Avenue Southwest. We can
make sure that these drainage swales are graded properly and water
flows the way it's supposed to.
MS. MURRAY: Prior to the issuance of final CO, the grading
of the lot will be verified to ensure that the water is flowing to the
drainage easements and then to the proper swales which then carry to
control structures located elsewhere in that neighborhood.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Do we have some additional
questions? Mr. Adelstein.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: I'm just -- I'm also quite
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October 18, 2001
upset about this drainage situation and that their property is not going
to be influenced by the fact that -- a mistake was made honestly. I
have no problem with that. But if this drainage can't be corrected,
then something has to be done about this.
MS. MURRAY: I don't think it's an issue -- in other words, the
building, regardless of whether it was single family or multifamily,
would still have to comply with the drainage requirements for
grading of the lot and the flow of the water. So I don't think that the
drainage problem-- you know, we could certainly have staff look
into it, but it may be exacerbated by other development in the area. I
don't -- I don't know. This development will be required to comply
with the drainage requirements.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Mr. Wolfley.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: One more, just a clarification.
These ladies with the duplex across the street had one set of rules,
and this gentleman, the contractor, doesn't have to adhere to those set
of rules now that he's applying for --
MS. MURRAY: I'm not sure which rules they were referring to.
The comer lot situation is you have two fronts and two sides, so the
setbacks apply on -- the front-yard setbacks apply to the structure on
both sides of the street, and then you have no rear-yard setback
requirement. You have two side setback requirements. And your
side setback requirements are typically less than your rear setback
requirements.
The problem is you have to choose a street upon which you want
to front, or you can design your building -- it sounded like one of
these ladies had a duplex that designed their building to front on both
streets. That is kind of an issue that's inherent with comer lots. You
end up with a frontage on one side and a frontage on the other side
that looks like the side of a building and not necessarily the front.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. I'm going to allow -- the public
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October 18, 2001
hearing is still open, so if you can testify to some new facts, please,
I'll let you speak.
MS. GARTNER: First of all, Mr. Huff works for Naples Realty.
As far as the drainage, when we did our place, we had to have special
pipes. We -- it cost us a fortune to have additional dirt brought in.
Zoning made us do that. Because our driveways were wider, we had
to have bigger pipes put in. I don't think your driveways are as wide
as ours, but on the left side of your property, there's no drainage.
There's trees and it flows. There's no drainage on the back of the
property going to her house. There's no pipes. There's no nothing.
On the part facing me, there's no pipes. There's only pipes under the
driveway. And there's not enough elevation, and there's not enough
dirt. We had to bring in all this and pay for it ourselves to have that
done.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: How long ago did you build?
MS. GARTNER: March of-- year and a half, two years.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Thank you. Would you care to make
another factual statement? State your name too.
MS. DEUTSCH: Okay. Pat Deutsch. Just to reaffirm what she
said about the drainage and the noise from the air-conditioning units,
I think it's -- you know, we've got to live together and live peacefully,
so that's what I want.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. You can come up and speak
tOO.
MR. MORALES: As far as what they're concerned about, the
drainage, I have gone out of my way and put an 85-foot culvert to
cover the whole front area of this duplex, 85 foot. On the side that
they talking about that's facing is where the septic tank is. There's
nobody going to park there. And the drainage that they have, they
have a catch basin to the north, and that's where the water is flowing
on their side. On my side it's running to the west -- I mean -- to the
Page 38
October 18,2001
west; right? To the east. And, you know, the -- the -- what do you
call? The fellow that does the permit for the right-of-way has an
elevation that they have gave me, and that's what I did. He told me
that I could put two culverts or put one, and I put one, an 85-foot
culvert. And I got parking for six car on each unit (sic), six car. Not
four, six.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Six cars?
MR. MORALES: That's correct. My driveway is 20 feet by 40
feet-- 30 feet.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: And your 85-foot culvert, what type of
material is it and what size is it?
MR. MORALES: It's 12 inch. That's the requirement that they
do in Golden Gate City, and they -- you know, but I could have done
20 -- two pieces of 20 feet. I went the whole side of the road, 85 foot.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: And that culvert empties into what?
MR. MORALES: It's going into the east side. That's where the
water flows, to the east. Now, to go back on the backyard, I have put
gutters. I have put gutters in the back of the house, you know, 6-inch
gutters with -- I put a pipe underneath the ground to drain into the
ditch. So the backyard is not going to be flooded with my water.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. And one question I have for
you, Mr. Morales, is your La Quinta Homes, what type of state
license do you have? Which category?
MR. MORALES: GC. It's a general contractor.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: You have a GC license, a general
contractor license. Okay.
MR. MORALES: So there's no water going into their yard
because I got gutters all around the house.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: And you're talking about a gutter
which is a roof drain.
MR. MORALES: You know, the gutter goes on the back of the
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October 18, 2001
house. It's a 6 inch. All of my roof water will drain into that gutter,
go underneath the ground with a pipe, and drain it to the ditch.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: So you're actually draining by a roof
drain, and the gutter system is tied into the culvert?
MR. MORALES: It's going into the culvert, yes.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Tied into the culvert.
MR. MORALES: No. You can't tie it in. It drains into the
swale.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO:
that.
Okay. I'm somewhat familiar with
MR. MORALES: But, like I said, I have put in 85 foot, so it's
more than sufficient. Now, the house in front of mine, they have big
ditches in there that looks ugly and stuff like that. Water sit there all
day long. On mine it doesn't sit there.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Just one other question. Just to
establish for the record, how long have you had your general
contractor's license?
MR. MORALES: Well, I am the owner of La Quinta Homes,
and I have a gentleman that is the vice president who holds a license.
I don't hold a license.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: You don't hold a license.
MR. MORALES: No, ma'am.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. And how long have you had
him in your employ?
MR. MORALES: Three years.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: I have a question.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Mr. Abemathy.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Your earlier testimony, Mr.
Morales, you said you bought this piece of property from an owner
who was represented by David Hoff; is that right?
Page 40
October 18,2001
MR. MORALES: That's correct. There was a sign for sale.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Okay.
MR. MORALES: And I went ahead and bought it.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Okay. Now, did he tell you
that it was zoned for duplex or--
MR. MORALES: I didn't ask for that.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Didn't ask.
MR. MORALES: I did not ask. What I did was I bought it, and
I went to the planning at the county.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: And they told you --
MR. MORALES: And I asked them if I could build a duplex
there. The question (sic) was yes. I applied for a permit, I paid for
the permit, and I started a house. I mean, it's --
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: So the misinformation was
from the county staff, not from the Realtor.
MR. MORALES: That's correct. But, I mean, I do whatever. I
got about six or seven pine trees in there. I'm still not done with the
landscaping. So, you know, I still got a little things to do there.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: Madam Chair.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Yes, Mr. Wolfley.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: I have one question for him.
You bought this piece of property not knowing what you were going
to build on it?
MR. MORALES: No, sir, I didn't know what I was going to
build on there. I check to see whether I could build a duplex.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: After you bought the property?
MR. MORALES: Yes.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: Boy, that changes the
economics, doesn't it?
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: This is somewhat fascinating. As a
licensed real estate broker in Florida -- I'm inactive -- it's required to
Page 41
October 18,2001
have the information what the zoning is when you're purchasing a
piece of property. And you are a builder, so you would be very
interested in that. I'm having difficulty understanding -- MR. MORALES: Well--
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Excuse me. -- the complete innocence
and then coming to the county -- which I have almost no tolerance for
-- telling you that you can build a duplex there.
MR. MORALES: Okay. The situation was -- if you look at this
lot, you got a duplex to the west, a duplex to the east, a triplex to the
south. You know, it's surrounded with duplex except to the north.
So that lot sits right there. So, you know, it's really a critical
situation.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Well, you know, I believe in research
and getting facts, and that's what I feel that you had a responsibility
or a Realtor had a responsibility. And I'm not sure where we fit into
this whole picture, but there are definite responsibilities to get facts
and figures on what it is that you purchased and what you can build.
MR. MORALES: Like I said--
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I'm not overly sympathetic.
MR. MORALES: Like I said, I went to the county, you know,
in a goodwill to find out what I could build there. And, you know, if
I'm going to be punished for that, that's okay. But, you know, what
else can I do? I trusted the system.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Do we have any further questions or
discussion here? Questions of staff?.
No more registered public speakers?
MS. MURRAY: No speakers.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. I close the public hearing.
COMMISSIONER BUDD: I have a motion to start with, but I
do have some discussion. I'm also a real estate broker and a general
contractor, and I can see how Mr. Morales could purchase the
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October 18,2001
property and then -- fully believing that a single-family home might
fit, could be feasible and then in talking to the county, would
determine that a duplex would fit and could make that transition and
purchase that. I've been involved in transactions similar to that, so
it's not inconceivable to me that -- that the tale that he's told us is not
(sic) credible.
In regard to the drainage, I'm depending on the county staff, that
they will follow through in the building inspection process and make
sure that the invert elevations of the swales and the culverts and the
drainage structures are all at the proper elevations. And as with every
project we approve, or in the development process, we have to go
with that reliance. The landscaping isn't complete, and again, I'm
depending on county staff that the landscaping will be consistent, as
with every project that's permitted and built within the county. And
the parking, if there's parking for six vehicles, that again, it's
dependent upon on the county staff that it's appropriate within the
codes and that the turnaround radius is provided for the parking and
that everything is in order.
So with that reliance upon county staff, I'm left with the
dilemma of, should this reasonably be a duplex? And it looks like a
little notch taken out, and with every other property on 24th Avenue
Southwest in both directions being duplex or higher zone with the
RMF-12, I can see how a mistake could be made. And I don't --
while I'm with Chairman Rautio, I'm not overly sympathetic with the
staff on making such an error, I don't see how we can reasonably
punish Mr. Morales. But I think we should rely on the county
building department to make sure that the adjacent neighbors' rights
are not infringed, with proper landscaping, drainage, and parking
considerations.
So with all that, I don't know if there's any other discussions.
If not, I'll be prepared to make a motion.
Page 43
October 18, 2001
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: I agree with everything you
said. I think the one uncontroverted fact and uncontrovertible, I
think, is that the county made an error in issuing the building permit.
Now, I'm not convinced that a single-family home would have the
same footprint that a duplex has, so I don't think it's necessarily all
same, same. To build a single-family home of that dimension on -- in
that particular neighborhood would seem to me to be the priciest
house on the street, and nobody wants to do that.
But the point is that the structure is there. The neighbors'
reservations about the property can be addressed by staff, and I can't
-- I don't think we can penalize Mr. Morales for having taken the
county at its word. So I'd be prepared to second the motion when
Mr. Budd gets around to making it.
COMMISSIONER BUDD: I'll make a motion that would
prompt discussion and debate. I, therefore, move that the Planning
Commission forward Petition RZ-2001-AR-1376 to the Board of
County Commissioners with a recommendation to rezone this
property from RSF-3, residential single family, to RMF-6, residential
multifamily.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Second.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I have a motion by Mr. Budd, a second
by Mr. Abernathy to approve this petition for the rezone. Further
discussion, please. Mr. Midney.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: Is there anything that we can do
from -- from the county staff standpoint to try to see that something
like this doesn't happen again?
MS. MURRAY: Be more careful, I suppose. I think Mr. Budd
pointed out it -- and I think I was even called in to Ed Perico's office
to examine the issue and found that you just had to study the map
quite a bit to figure out where the zoning lines were. And I'm not
making excuses. A mistake was made. But I think in this case, you
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October 18,2001
know, it was just kind of a difficult read on the map, and we'll try to
be a little more careful.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Reliance on the county to
make sure these -- all these things do come to pass would be the only
way I could agree to do it.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Well, relying on the county, this
gentleman's relied on the county, and look where he got. I'm still
having some difficulty with this. I'd like to hear from the rest of the
board.
Mr. Wolfley, I know you want to speak.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: I'm a little unclear. The people
who are not -- the neighbors are not -- I'm unclear of what they want,
I mean, what they think. They say the structure is there; nothing we
can do about it. But I'm unclear about what they want. What do they
want?
COMMISSIONER BUDD: The hearing's closed, but it seems
to me what they want is their rights not to be infringed. They have an
air-conditioning unit that's nearby, but single family or duplex, as
long as we're within the building setbacks, there could have been an
air-conditioning unit there either way. They're concerned about the
landscaping. The requirements of the county are clear. We've stated
numerous times by different commissioners that we're expecting the
county to enforce the landscaping requirements and the drainage that
-- again, we're relying on county staff and the inspection and final CO
process to approve that, and those requirements would be there.
Drainage would be an issue for a single-family home. Landscaping
would be an issue for a single-family home.
The one major point, which Mr. Abemathy brought out, I have
to agree with, is that this house or this -- because it is a duplex, with
the sizes I see here, it works out to 2,467 square feet. That would be
an awfully big single-family house. It's quite doubtful, I think, that a
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October 18,2001
single-family home would be built in this neighborhood at that size.
So the structure that we have is probably almost certainly physically
bigger than a single-family home that would reasonably be built here,
but there would still be drainage and landscaping issues to be
considered. So I think that all that can reasonably be done for the
neighbors has been discussed.
MS. MURRAY: Madam Chair.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Yes.
MS. MURRAY: May I also clarify just when you're thinking
about how you're going to vote that, of course, you have to consider
the required rezone findings. And two of those most important
findings are, of course, consistency with the Growth Management
Plan and compatibility. And I think that staff has presented to you
that this request is consistent with the Growth Management Plan, and
a duplex is compatible with the neighborhood. I just wanted to
remind you of that.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Mrs. Young.
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: Yeah. I, too, am concerned about
the rights of his neighbors. So I would say to you, Mr. Morales, it's a
good time to be a good neighbor. Talk with your neighbors about
their concerns, and live up to what the county requires, but talk with
your neighbors and make sure that you do your very best to be a good
neighbor yourself.
MR. MORALES: Sure. No problem.
COMMISSIONER BUDD: And with that in mind, Mr.
Morales, it is not within our abilities to regulate the color of your
house. I would suggest that as a good neighbor you'd consider
something other than pumpkin mustard orange, but that's your
privilege.
MR. MORALES: Let me say something to that. There's some
houses there that are painted green.
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October 18,2001
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I know, but we're -- we closed the
public hearing, so we really can't take testimony from you. Thank
you.
This really is a dilemma for me. And I'm not sure how this
board's going to vote, but on principle I'm going to say that I feel
there were a number of errors made here. There was a responsibility
on the part of the petitioner. We do have to rely on county staff. I
think this project will be watched very closely. But on principle I'm
going to have to vote against it. So is there any further discussion?
Hearing no further discussion, I call the question. All those in
favor say aye.
COMMISSIONER BUDD: Aye.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: Aye.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Aye.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Aye.
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: Aye.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Those opposed.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: Aye.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Aye.
Okay. Motion carries, two against. Thank you.
Next item is -- okay. Next item -- do you need a break by any
chance?
THE COURT REPORTER: I'm fine. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: CU-2001-AR-990, this is a conditional
use for a fire station in the estates zoning. All those wishing to give
testimony today, please stand, raise your right hand, and be sworn in
by the court reporter.
(The speakers were sworn.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Yes, Chahram.
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: Chahram Badamtchian from planning
services staff. This is a conditional use request for a fire station on
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October 18, 2001
Immokalee Road. Actually, it's going to be located at the comer of
Immokalee Road and Everglades Boulevard, and the applicant is Big
Corkscrew Island Fire Control District. Fire stations, police stations,
and things like that are considered essential services and are
permitted as conditional uses use -- uses throughout the county. And
basically the property in here is zoned estates and surrounded mostly
with vacant land. And the applicant is requesting to build a fire
house -- fire station on this property, which will also have a future
EMS station.
Staff recommends that you approve this with the condition --
with all the stipulations listed by staff in the resolutions (sic) of
approval. Basically they have to provide right-turn lanes to the
station, improve the access on Immokalee Road. And that's the only
stipulation, basically, we have.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Do we have any questions of staff?.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Where is this in relation to
the existing fire -- firehouse?
MR. BADAMTCHIAN: Existing firehouse is how many miles?
Four miles to the west of this station.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Okay. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. If we don't have any other
questions of staff, would the petitioner care to present?
MR. DUANE: For the record, Robert Duane, and we are in
agreement with the staff recommendation and the stipulations. And
just for the record, to reiterate the findings of the staff report, this
petition can be found consistent with the Growth Management Plan,
which is Condition A. Ingress and egress to the property may be
found to be adequate, Item B. Number C, the effect on neighboring
properties is minimal, in part based on placement of the structure and
the open spaces provided on the plan. And, finally, the petition can
be found compatible by and large because there's very little around
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October 18,2001
the subject property at the present time. In fact, this fire station will
provide opportunities for potentially some other transitional-type uses
in the future to those property owners. And that concludes my
presentation, members of the commission, thank you.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Do we have any questions of the
petitioner?
No questions. Do we have any registered public speakers?
MS. MURRAY: No registered speakers.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I close the public hearing. What is the
pleasure of the board?
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: I move that we approve -- send
forward CU-2001-AR-990 to the county commission with a
recommendation for approval.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: I second that.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: It goes to the Board of Zoning
Appeals.
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: Whoops. Board of Zoning
Appeals.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. We have a motion by Mrs.
Young, a second by Mr. Wolfley for approval of this peti -- excuse
me -- this conditional use petition. Do we have any discussion?
No discussion, I call the question. All those in favor say aye.
(Unanimous response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Those opposed, same sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Motion carries. Please fill out your
findings of facts form, sign them, and pass them down to the
secretary, Mrs. Young.
Okay. Now we are going to be considering the Comprehensive
Plan amendments, and I'd like to take a ten-minute break, if that's
okay with the rest of the board. We're in recess.
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October 18, 2001
(A break was held.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: We are back in session. If everyone
would take their places, please. Could we have staff in position, too,
please. Okay. I think we're ready to consider our amendments to the
Comprehensive Plan. We have five of them before us today. This is
for transmittal. The first item will be CP-2000-1 (sic). Ms. Student.
MS. STUDENT: Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Marjorie
Student, assistant county attorney, for the record. And I just do want
to put on the record that I reviewed these amendments. I believe it
was towards the end of September. And there are a number of
wordsmithing and -- issues that need to be dealt with; nothing that
changes the actual substance, but just for clarification purposes. And
with the -- just the number of things that are happening in the county
right now, staff and I haven't been able to sit down, but we anticipate
doing so before the board.
So this has come up before. So just if you'll make your motion,
whatever the motion is, you know, with the idea that some clarity
needs to be added and some formatting issues and they need to be
dealt with as well, that would be fine.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. As you might be able to see, I
have a number of colorful tabs, and I think that -- I wholeheartedly
agree with you, Ms. Student, that there's some definite wordsmithing
that needs to be done, some formatting consistencies so that we can
really move through these. I won't bring all of these up, but for
instance, when you approve one mixed-use district, you might want
to include the next time that if it's approved, it gets placed in the list.
One of them I thought was interesting, the item on the technical
-- the research and technology park subdistrict. It was left out of one
of the policy areas. And this seems to be pretty consistent throughout
the changes that are here. I do have some very specific questions on
some other items, though, but I will trust staff that they will indeed
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October 18,2001
wordsmith, and they will format, and they will present a document
that Collier County will be proud to have go to DCA.
With that, let's try the first item. I wanted to clarify. Should we
make a motion on each individual comp plan, or should we straw
vote and then vote on everything?
MS. STUDENT: The way I believe we've usually done this is to
take a straw vote after each individual item and then have the official
vote be the final vote.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay.
MR. BLAIR: Good morning. For the record, Aaron Blair,
comprehensive planning department. And what the petitioner seeks
to do here is to amend the existing Golden Gate Area Master Plan
Element of the Growth Management Plan to expand the estates
neighborhood center boundary, which is located at Pine Ridge and
Collier Boulevard, to include Tract 114, as you can see on the map
here. This is the subject site, and the petitioner seeks to add this. It's
a 5-acre parcel.
As you can see on this map here, what's in orange and also
what's in green is in the current neighborhood center subdistrict. The
green part of the parcels is restricted to just water management and
open space requirement, and the petitioner-- the two things he's
seeking to do is, one, to add this parcel, but also to delete this open
space management here, just to completely delete it. And instead
what we'll have is just a right-of-way buffer and also the street, which
is 11 th Avenue Southwest here, which will be a buffer.
Another requirement I just talked about was the buffer. As you
can see in the packet, they want to change the right-of-way buffer.
And staff has included text that, along with Nancy Siemion,
landscape architect for planning services, feels that is -- would do
better justice here for a landscape buffer. And I believe that the
petitioner agrees with it with an addition of just one word that we
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October 18,2001
would like to add, which would just state that the project shall
provide a 25-foot wide landscape buffer abutting the external right-
of-way. So it would be for the external here along these roads.
But what the petitioner and I have talked about is a loop road
that would go through the property. And then that way, if there was a
loop road, then they would have that buffer also in that loop road.
And instead we would like to have it for external roadway only, and
then you'd have your normal buffer on the internal loop road.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. So am I understanding you
correctly that the petitioner is agreeing to delete their language and
insert your language with the addition of the one word "external"
right-of-away?
MR. BLAIR: Yes. As far as I understand, they are.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. And just while we're on that
issue, when we talk about staggering the rows of trees and planting a
double row of hedges that are at least 24 inches high and they're
going to attain 3 feet in a year, have we identified types of plants that
meet that 12-inches-of-growth-in- 12-months criteria?
MR. BLAIR: I think Nancy has a list of different plants that she
recommends to people that -- she knows what works best and what'll
reach a certain heighth.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Is it realistic that this does happen? I
see this an awful lot, and I'm just curious.
MR. BLAIR: I'm not sure. I guess she wouldn't have it in there
if she didn't feel that it would be realistic.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Because I do know of a number of
projects that never obtained the heighth, and then the hedges were cut
down, and it's sort of fascinating to drive around town to see this.
And I'm just curious if there's some new Miracle Grow that we have,
and we can rely on the criteria that the plants will cooperate also.
MR. BLAIR: We just rely on Nancy's judgment on that because
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October 18, 2001
that's what her title is.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. And if the plants don't
cooperate, what happens to the -- the property owner?
MR. BLAIR: That I don't know. I don't deal with the
landscaping portion of the project.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I guess it becomes a code enforcement
issue, as Mr. Abernathy just commented. I'm not sure what they do
at code enforcement when the plants don't grow.
Okay. Does anyone have any specific questions?
MR. BLAIR: We do recommend approval of this with the
staff's language.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: With the staff's language. Okay.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: I do have a question. You
say that the market demand analysis has a trade area that overlaps the
market trade area for VB/Collier Boulevard. That means you're
questioning the validity of their showing of need?
MR. BLAIR: Well, we were -- just wanted to note that so that
you-all would have that information, that what the trend has become
-- that we've seen the market area for a lot of projects come in and
that they're using the same market area with -- it varies a little bit, but
it's generally the same, which is going to be, because that's where
most of the development is happening also.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: It's funny these market
analyses and traffic analyses always come out to support what the
petitioner wants to do. If they don't, as you pointed out in this case,
that's not a fatal shortcoming?
MR. BLAIR: If the market analysis did not?
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY:
MR. BLAIR: I would assume yes.
doesn't support it.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY:
Yeah.
That means the market
Well, the -- if you carve out
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October 18, 2001
the part that's overlapped, then you'd have a question of whether it
supports it or not, wouldn't you?
MR. BLAIR: This is true.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Mr. Wolfley.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: I was wondering, this is a
privately owned piece of property? I mean, it may not have any
bearing on this, but I'm just--
MR. BLAIR: I believe so. I believe it's owned by Mr. Larry
Brooks.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: And is there any specific use
that he has in mind for it?
MR. BLAIR: The application didn't state any site use. Maybe
the petitioner can answer that question.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I think in the Comprehensive Plan
we're --
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: I was just sort of curious. If
we change it to this and then put up something that's objectionable,
then it'll be in a situation where we approve -- but, again, it's just a
question in my mind.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. The petitioner may wish to
comment.
Mr. Anderson.
MR. ANDERSON: Good morning, Madam Chairman,
members of the commission. For the record, my name is Bruce
Anderson on behalf of the petitioner. I'd like to introduce Larry and
David Brooks, two of the property owners that are here today, and
Wayne Arnold, the project planner, and Dean Smith, the project
engineer, who are here to answer any questions.
This is a simple, straightforward Golden Gate Master Plan
amendment to add 5 acres to the neighborhood center that's already
been designated at the southwest comer of Pine Ridge Road and
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October 18,2001
Collier Boulevard. This is not a commercial rezoning. This is
merely an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan which will make
the property eligible to apply for a commercial rezoning at some time
in the future, along with the other parcels that are within this
neighborhood center. The Planning Commission would have the
opportunity to review the actual commercial rezoning of this property
at some time in the future.
We believe this addition provides for a logical extension of the
boundaries of this neighborhood center to the intersection with 1 lth
Avenue Southwest. It will also enable people to access this
neighborhood center and Pine Ridge Road from 11 th Avenue
Southwest without ever having to get on Collier Boulevard. We are
in agreement with the proposed changes to the text recommended by
staff, with their one addition of the word "external."
We have made a presentation to the Golden Gate Estates Area
Civic Association several months ago, and they have no objection to
this amendment. We also offered to meet with the Golden Gate Civic
Association, and they said that they would contact us if they felt it
was necessary for us to come make a presentation to them. And so
far we have not heard any more from them. We'll be happy to answer
any questions that you may have, and we would respectfully request
your recommendation of approval to the county commission.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Any questions for Mr. Anderson?
MR. ANDERSON: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Straightforward. Okay. Next
item, or do we want to --
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Madam Chairman.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Oh, straw vote.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: I would like to vote on each
one. I may have difficulty voting on one of the last two, and I would
like to get my vote in.
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October 18,2001
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Then if it's agreeable to
everyone, we can take a quick vote on each one.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: I appreciate it.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: I make a motion that we
forward Petition No. CP-2001-1 to the Board of County
Commissioners with a recommendation of approval.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: I second the motion.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: We have a--
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Do I need to make any
findings, Marjorie?
MS. STUDENT: This is legislative. It's a comp plan
amendment. It's legislative, so it's different than quasi-judicial where
you make a finding of fact or legal conclusion.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: We have the motion by Mr.
Abernathy, a second by Mr. Adelstein for approval of this particular
amendment. Do we have any discussion?
All those in favor say aye.
(Unanimous response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Those opposed, same sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Motion carries. Thank you.
Okay. Number 2.
MS. TAYLOR: Yes. Good morning. My name is Amy Taylor
for the record. I'm with your comprehensive planning staff. Before
you for your consideration is Comprehensive Plan Amendment 2001-
2, the Buckley Mixed-Use Subdistrict. The geographic location of
this is just north of the Collier County Public Library on Airport
Road and northwest -- at the northwest comer of Airport-Pulling and
Orange Blossom Road, and it is in the Naples -- North Naples
planning community. The petition seeks to amend an existing Future
Land Use Element and Map of the Collier County Growth
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October 18, 2001
Management Plan to create a new mixed-use district known as the
Buckley Mixed-Use Subdistrict to the urban mixed-use district for
specified lands located northwest of the comer of Airport-Pulling
Road and Orange Blossom. The intent of this amendment is to
develop a small-scale, mixed-use development that encourages the
principals of traditional neighborhood districts at a -- this amendment
establishes a mixed-use, site-specific subdistrict that creates -- its
intent is to create a pedestrian-friendly environment for small-size
retail and office uses with a residential component developed on the
same site.
The amendment proposes to cap retail uses at 3,250 square feet
per acre and office uses at 4,250 square feet per acre while ensuring a
residential component within the same building of a substantial
percentage. A minimum of 25 percent of the maximum residential
density would have to be constructed prior to the development of
40,000 square feet. This would equate to 86 dwelling units. The
entire site is 22.84 acres. If built out to maximum capacity, the
project could be developed with 74,230 square feet of retail, 97,070
square feet of office, and 343 residential units.
I want to also provide a clarification. In the -- in the agenda
package, the summary stated a little higher. It had been that -- we
had calculated for a full 23 acres to provide for the square footage in
the residential units. And as we were developing -- and this was for
the advertisement. As we were developing the staff report, the
acreages were -- were reevaluated based on 22.84 and the intensities
and densities, which were -- are a little less.
The existing conditions of the site are that its designation is
future -- is urban mixed-use district/urban residential subdistrict, and
it is within the traffic congestion area as identified on the Future Land
Use Map. Under the criteria of these designations, three dwelling
units per acre will be permitted. In addition, the parcels could be
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October 18,2001
eligible for an additional 8 dwelling units per acre under the
affordable housing provision of the density rating system. Both
parcels -- it is actually two parcels -- are currently zoned agricultural
and are being used as a commercial nursery at this time.
The surrounding land uses are to the north Brighton Gardens
Assisted Living Facility; east is Airport-Pulling Road, currently being
expanded to six lanes; the Vineyards residential community to the
east, Lakeside of Naples residential community, a church, and a plant
nursery all to the east; south is the currently being constructed Collier
County Public Library site; and to the west is Emerald Lakes.
The -- a commercial demand-- or commercial analysis was not
submitted by the applicant. We used the 1998 update of the
commercial inventory of Collier County, and specifically the North
Naples community, and did a brief analysis for you. Based on that
1998 commercial inventory, there -- there were 499 properties that
were identified as commercially zoned in the North Naples planning
community. It is a -- something that the -- the petitioner has
proposed if there are not enough of the smaller pieces of property.
There are quite a few, up to 27 or 5 percent of-- of the properties
were only -- were over 10 acres. The remainder were less than 10
acres.
But staff concluded that while, based on the 1998 commercial
inventory, there is sufficient commercial acreage in the North Naples
planning community, this project would be one of the first of its kind
to be developed in the county. A mix of uses to include a substantial
residential component could set an example for development of this
kind or redevelopment of this kind at a smaller scale and provides the
opportunity for residents to live, work, and shop in the same location.
The Airport-Pulling Road corridor, in terms of its
appropriateness for the area, is anchored by two activities centers.
Similar approved and developed uses along this segment of Airport-
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October 18, 2001
Pulling Road between the two activity centers are consistent and
compatible with the proposed amendment. The Lone Oak PUD has
25,000 square feet of office space. The Willow Park PUD is
approved for 7.47 acres for office and retail uses. The new Collier
County library is being constructed to the south and will have an
interconnection to the subject site. North of the subject site is the
Brighton Gardens Assisted Living Facility with a density of 22 units
per acre.
One of the biggest challenges for any of these mixed-use
properties will be interconnection. Opportunities for
interconnectivity with adjacent residential will be a major difficulty
for any new small-scale, mixed-use development in Collier County.
The potential for increased internal capture by allowing higher
densities on site will only partially mitigate this issue. Market
conditions and/or increased traffic congestion on major roadways
may provide incentives for existing neighborhoods to seek
interconnection in the future.
And primarily what I'm -- I'm thinking of is the Emerald Lakes.
There is access to the north of the site at the -- at -- just north of the
assisted-living facility. There will be no internal access to this
mixed-use development. Properties that are east of Airport Road,
there would be no opportunity or real good opportunity for pedestrian
access. But this project would be, as I stated before, one of the first
of its kind in Collier County.
And staff does recommend approval of this petition with one
specific change. There are -- the -- in the language there is a-- 50
percent of the commercial buildings -- there's language that states
that 50 percent of the commercial buildings would have a residential
component. I did get a call yesterday from the petitioner, and they're
actually doing the site design at this time. And they found that they
were -- one of their last designs was at 42 percent, and they would
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October 18, 2001
like to -- to move that cap down to 40 percent. Staff has no objection
to that. Staff does recommend that the Planning Commission
forward this petition to the BC (sic) with recommendation for
approval to transmit. Any questions?
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I do have a question just to clarify for
me a little bit about the concept of the process to get an interconnect.
I was intrigued by what I read in here and how this is a new concept,
but what would they have to go through to get an interconnect, say, to
Emerald Lakes?
MS. TAYLOR: It would have to be an agreement with Emerald
Lakes.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: So it's all private. It's nothing to do
with the county. They don't have to come to the county to do
anything from a county standpoint for an interconnect?
MS. TAYLOR: They would need to have that agreement before
they could start that process with the county, for an interconnect.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I guess I'm misunderstanding. We're
not talking about a rezone. We're not talking about a variance. What
are we talking about to encourage if the market conditions will
encourage this and the traffic congestion of the road is encouraging?
MS. TAYLOR: Frankly, if the site is so popular and it's very --
very welcoming and there are uses there that Emerald Lakes would
like to have easier access to -- the assisted-living facility, for
example, may want to have access. There is actually an access to
Emerald Lakes just north of the assisted-living facility and access to
the assisted-living facility from that access road. That -- that's a
potential there. But if-- if Emerald Lakes wanted to have additional
access, other internal interconnection, pedestrian or bike path-wise,
there would have to be an agreement between the two property
owners to provide that.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Would you care to say something
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October 18, 2001
about that, Ms. Bishop?
MS. BISHOP: Karen Bishop, agent for the owner. We're huge
interconnect fans. Pretty much all the projects I work on, it's a fact of
life because of what we see that we want to -- especially when you
have a commercial element near a residential element, the whole idea
that somebody would go out on the main drag just to go a couple
hundred feet and pull into the commercial seems to be a little
ridiculous.
I have spoken with the lakes -- the Emerald Lakes people, and at
this time they have a history of not wanting interconnections. Even
to the library they're not -- they removed their pedestrian -- or I think
voted down their pedestrian connection to the library. Across the
street with the Pulling commercial that we just did, we have been
working with the church in Lakeside to interconnect through the
church, through Pulling, to Orange Blossom, and we are currently
working on that now. There is no way that the county can get
involved in this, unfortunately, at this point because it's all private
property.
Now, we are willing to certainly connect to Brighton Gardens,
and that would -- if they could connect to the commercial at the
comer, that would even be better. But right now -- and I have a
meeting with the Lakeside people next week to -- actually, it's next
month at their board hearing -- to go over the things. And the main
things that they want to know is that I'm not doing anything to mess
with them in any way, shape, or form visually, connection-wise,
anything. So that's what I'm going to go there and tell them, is that,
you know, we're going to be good neighbors and make sure that their
lifestyle is intact and their ambiance is intact and go from there. But
as interconnect fans, we would love to see those kinds of things
happen. It would just make sense. As we've all seen on the roads
lately, it just makes sense. But it has to be through private
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October 18, 2001
cooperation.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. That was a point I definitely
wanted clarified. Mr. Abernathy.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Karen, I like your project
or your ideas. I'm just curious. If you're -- if you're talking about
people living on the site and working in these small retail, you're
really talking about affordable housing, aren't you?
MS. BISHOP: Oh. No, no. We're -- we're actually kind of
talking like downtown Naples. I mean, if you think about it, you're
going to have --
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Upscale small retail.
MS. BISHOP: Exactly. And you're going to have apartments
that are going to be upscale apartments. They're not going to be --
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Okay. I didn't know what
your --
MS. BISHOP: -- what you're saying, affordable housing to that
degree, but even--
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: -- what your market
segment was, but it's upscale.
MS. BISHOP: But even what I've seen down the street with
some of the -- what we call affordable housing, they're nice-looking
jobs. They've been, you know, not a blight on the visual as you drive
down the roads. But in this case the whole point is to keep people
there and not to create the traffic and interconnect the library and be
able to walk here and walk there and literally have what I think was
the intent of the activity centers to begin with, was some sort of
traditional neighborhood designs where people got out of their cars
and actually got on their feet and walked from place to place.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Does Brighton Gardens
have any interest in a pedestrian --
MS. BISHOP: We are hoping so. We've actually contacted
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October 18, 2001
them and--
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: -- for those that are
ambulatory?
MS. BISHOP: Well, you know, I actually see some people
sitting out in the parking lots and stuff, so I was thinking that maybe
there is an opportunity for some of the retail we would have or even
office space -- maybe there's attorneys or there's the dentist or
something where those people that live there can come to this facility.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Couldn't be much closer,
could they?
MS. BISHOP: No. And the bicycle paths, unfortunately, right
now are destined for the back of curb on Airport Road. And what
we're going to look to do is try to do some internal pathway to keep
people off that main drag because that's one of the issues, I think.
With some of these neighborhood designs and what we're doing on
our major roadways, we're literally building facilities that keep the
public from getting on them because it's a little scary for me to walk
on six lanes of 55-mile-an-hour traffic.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Last question. Do you
know off the top of your head what your linear frontage is on Airport
Road?
MS. BISHOP: Off the top of my head, I do not. I know that we
have a problem with depth. That's one of the reasons why we're
going to this kind of project, because we don't have the depth to get
residential far enough, you know, to do anything really nice and get it
far enough off the road. But I think we --
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: I'm talking about your
north/south dimension.
MS. BISHOP: Right. Yeah, the frontage. Reed's doing his --
MR. JARVI: It looks about 1500, 1600 feet.
MS. BISHOP: It looks about 1500, 1600 feet.
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October 18, 2001
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Almost a third of a mile.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: I have a few questions.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Yes, please, Mr. Adelstein.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: What -- how were you able
to get from the 69 residential units that were planned by the acreage
to 343?
MS. BISHOP: I'm going to have Joe McHarris speak of that
because this type of design is specific, and Joe is the one that
developed the language for this based on projects that have been done
in other areas including the one that we have done at -- right down
the street from here, at the comer of Orange Blossom.
The problem with these smaller parcels, you have difficulty
making them work with anything, especially when you have a linear
issue, like this one does, with the geometry. It's a skinny site, so you
can't really create a market. You can't sell the property. And
commercial here would be way too intense or you'd start creating,
what we see, the strips going all the way down, which is what we're
trying to stay away from. So what you're trying to do is come up
with a difference between buffering the intense commercial and the
residential behind you, and so you come up with this mixed use. So
I'll have Joe explain.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Okay. But my problem --
oh, Joe, go ahead and do that first.
MR. McHARRIS: The way we got to that --
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Identify yourself, please.
MR. McHARRIS: Oh, I'm sorry. Joe McHarris, agent for the
owner -- is to take the density bonus for that area that's available and
then a multiplier, and then you add that to it, and you can come up
with that. The other thing is that to make a mixed-use commercial
work you have to have some residential components there, and you're
not talking about 10 or 12. So the two actually go together very
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October 18,2001
quickly to provide for the amount of mixed use and residential on
property to support the commercial in its early stages as it builds out.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: So basically what you've
done is gone from 3 units per acre to 15 units per acre. MR. McHARRIS: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Could you answer my
question regarding the road access onto 41 (sic)? Last year it went up
24.28 percent. If we put 343 acres -- 343 units and all of this
commercial, what kind of effect is that going to have on Airport,
which now -- is almost impassable as it is now?
MR. JARVI: Reed Jarvi, Vanasse & Daylor for the record.
We've analyzed the corridor of north/south on Airport Road for
traffic specifically, and Airport Road, as you know, is going --
undergoing changes as we speak from four lanes to six lanes in this
area. And at the same time Livingston Road has -- it's not there yet,
but it's planned to be from, well, actually, south county all the way
through Bonita. But the section south of Pine Ridge is just starting
construction, and the section north of Pine Ridge, which would be
parallel to this, is in the final planning stages as we speak.
So by the time we are -- by the time this project is anticipated to
be completed, there'll be at least two more lanes with Airport Road
and four to six more lanes with Livingston Road. So the distribution
of the traffic north/south actually is expected to have a slight decrease
on Airport Road with the advent of Livingston Road. And so we've
gone through that analysis, and we show that in the worst case we
have, which is the 300-and-some-odd dwelling units and the
commercial, that it's anticipated that Airport Road will remain within
level of service standards in the buildout year, which is anticipated to
be 2006.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: When you say you expect it
to be, if it's overcrowded now -- and there's no problem that it is;
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October 18, 2001
trying to drive from north coming down, it's almost impossible today
during the normal business day -- you're going to have this more
vehicles and say, "Yeah, but it's going to be okay. Livingston will
carry it off." The actual facts are that we have what we have now. I
understand it's going to be expanded to six lanes, as it is below that to
six lanes, and it still hasn't solved the problem. I'm just wondering
how 343 units along with your commercial is going to fit into this
and make it work properly.
MR. JARVI: Well, part of the answer is the mixed-use-type of
development because, as Joe said and Karen, too, that being a mixed
use, not all of that traffic would be on Airport because there'll be
interactions between the uses within the development. Additionally,
on the commercial standpoint, commercial we usually have -- we
have what is called pacified traffic, as you're going down wherever
and you decide that you're going to run into Home Depot and grab
something or grab a burger at McDonald's or something. Your
primary trip or primary reason for being on that road is not to go
there; it just happens to be there on your way. And there's many
different names for this, but mainly it's called pacified traffic.
So there's a percentage that comes off for that, and then there's a
percentage that comes off when you have a mixed-use-type
development, that the people that are leaving their homes for either
retail use or an office use are also the same people that are coming to
the retail use or office use, so you have a reduction from those types
of uses. So by the nature of it being a true mixed-use community,
you actually have a significant reduction of trips than if it was a
separate, stand-alone -- or three separate: Office, retail, and
residential uses. So you don't have the full impact of the -- of all the
commercial, office, and residential units that you would. So that's
one answer to -- or a partial answer to your question.
But mainly the answer is that you have two additional lanes of--
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October 18, 2001
of capacity coming in now and that are coming on-line now for this
area. And then in the near term, the next couple years, you're going
to have four or six lanes of traffic capacity coming in on Livingston
Road from a north/south character, north/south standpoint. And
we've gone over this methodology with staff, and we've all come to
an agreement that the methodology is correct, and they agree with our
analysis.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: And you're not planning on
having an anchor store or any anchor stores in your commercial?
MR. JARVI: I can't really answer that, but from my
understanding, the answer is no. But that's really not my part.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: You understand what I'm
saying. You're talking about traffic inside, but if there's an anchor
store, you're going to have people coming from other places just to
get to that store.
MR. JARVI: We will have that anyway, whether it's a dress
shop boutique or something like that. But there will be an
interchange or interaction among the residents that live there and the
retail, so you'd have -- I mean, even if it was an anchor store, you'd
have that same interaction, but you wouldn't have people from
outside the area or outside this development coming to the project.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Obviously you can see I'm
kind of worried about the traffic problem, and I'm trying to get some
answers that will make it justifiable.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Mr. Jarvi, I'm curious. The statement
was made earlier about the commercial activity centers on both ends
anchoring this on Airport Road. A commercial activity center was
not designed to have any residential in it. We were all supposed to
get in our cars and drive there and then wander around and do a
whole lot of shopping and then leave and go home?
MR. JARVI: I think the original intent -- and I wasn't here
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October 18,2001
when they brought that up, but what I understand, the original intent
of the activity center was a mixed use. CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: It was?
MR. JARVI: That's my understanding. And that's why you
have a density bonus in the activity centers. However, you know,
from observation it doesn't happen hardly, if at all, that you have
residential within the activity center because the land in general is so
valuable for commercial. So it's more valuable for commercial than
it is for residential. Plus people -- you know, most people don't want
to live at Pine Ridge Road and Airport Road, you know, within 50
feet of that intersection because it is a large noise and hazard to your
lifestyle, probably. But my understanding is originally the concept
was mixed use. It just hasn't really developed that way.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Right. And the idea of so much
commercial, you wanted to -- you had limitations on where you could
have other commercial, so that pretty much forced you to be in those
activity centers and not do any mixed use, not do the residential. And
that's -- I've been here 22 years, and it's always sort of intrigued me to
listen to some of those arguments in the very beginning.
MR. JARVI: I agree. When I first came here 12 years ago, I
said, "This is -- from a traffic engineering standpoint, this is exactly
what you don't want to do."
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: And that's why this is being touted
here as the first of its kind in the county and that we're actually going
to set a good example and maybe actually focus on what we call a
traditional neighborhood design versus gated communities and
chunks where people are because you have to get out and drive.
MR. JARVI: Yes, ma'am.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Because I was impressed by
what this said, and hopefully there will be other projects that could
use this as a model within our community. We've changed an awful
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October 18,2001
lot in 22 years here.
Okay. Do we have any other questions or comments?
Okay. What's the pleasure of the board? We might as well go
ahead and do them one at a time since we're right --
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Madam Chairman, I make
a motion that we forward Petition No. CP-2001-2 to the Board of
County Commissioners recommending approval. And I'm not clear
on whether the staff-- staff had a condition that wasfft in here.
MS. TAYLOR: Yes. It isn't in there. It's the reduction from the
50 percent requirement of-- 50 percent of commercial (sic) buildings
down to 40 percent that would need to have a residential component.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Subject to the staff
condition.
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: Second.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. We have a motion by Mr.
Abernathy and a second by Mrs. Young for approval of this petition
with the change that staff suggested on the residential component.
Do we have any discussion?
Hearing no discussion, I call the question.
All those in favor say
COMMISSIONER BUDD: Aye.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: Aye.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Aye.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Aye.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: Aye.
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: Aye.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Those opposed, same sign.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Aye.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: One opposed. 6-1. Motion carries.
Thank you. That concludes that item.
Next item is CP-2001-3 Livingston/Pine Ridge commercial infill
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subdistrict.
MS. JOURDAN: Good morning. For the record, my name is
Jean Jourdan. I'm with the comprehensive planning department.
Before you for your consideration is Comp Plan Amendment Petition
No. CP-2001-03. Representing the applicant is Terrence Kepple of
Kepple Engineering, Incorporated. The location of this property is --
it contains 10.47 acres more or less and is located at the northwest
quadrant of Livingston and Pine Ridge Road. The parcel lies within
the North Naples planning community. This is the subject parcel.
The petitioner seeks to amend the existing Future Land Use
Element of the (sic) map of Collier County Growth Management Plan
for the addition of 10.47 acres to the Livingston/Pine Ridge
commercial infill subdistrict of the urban commercial subdistrict for
the specified lands. The proposed text change adds language under
the urban commercial district, Livingston/Pine Ridge commercial
infill subdistrict, page 31, Section B.
The intent of the amendment is the petitioner proposes to add
10.47 acres to the Livingston/Pine Ridge commercial infill subdistrict
as to allow retail and commercial office uses on the site at the
northwest comer of Livingston Road and Pine Ridge Road. The
northwest quadrant would allow single-story retail commercial uses
and up to three-story professional or medical-related offices. As
proposed this amendment would allow for a maximum of 40,000
square feet of leasable area for retail, commercial, and office
development.
The surrounding uses of the property is to the north, which is the
Community School of Naples. It's a private school. It's zoned CF for
community facility. To the east would -- from Livingston Road is a
single-family dwelling which is zoned estates. To the west we have a
conditional use, which is Naples Progressive Gymnastics Camp. And
then to the south, which is across Pine Ridge Road here, we have the
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PUD which is a community containing 276 dwelling units on 39
acres.
The staff has recommended that the CCPC forward Petition CP-
2001-3 to the BCC with a recommendation of approval to transmit to
the DCA.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I noticed in the findings and
conclusions we were talking about the subject site has residential
development options up to 15 units per acre with the affordable
housing density bonus applied. And it says, "Staff concurs with the
petitioner that the site is not suitable for a residential project." Could
you just elaborate on that just a little?
MS. JOURDAN: Yeah. The -- the subject property has an
existing 6.7 FPL easement which encumbers the property. So,
therefore, there's only 3.8 acres of the property which is usable. The
property actually ranges from 57 feet wide to a maximum of 167 feet
in width, so it really affects what they can put on the property.
Although they could put up to 15 units, it would not be a viable
project with the size of the property due to the encumbrance of the
FP&L easement.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Thank you. Any other
questions?
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: I just have a question. Right
now, of course, there is a nursery right underneath the FPL lines.
MS. JOURDAN' Correct.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: What is going to be there, just
out of curiosity? Nothing?
MS. JOURDAN: Right. They could not actually utilize that for
anything. The only reason the nursery could utilize it was because
it's things that could be moved, such as plants and things like that. So
no stationary type object would be allowed to be placed under those
FP&L easements.
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October 18, 2001
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: So would it be, like, a
landscaping or green area?
MS. JOURDAN: That's possible. I don't know what they plan
to put there at this time, but they're limiting the building square
footage to 40,000 square feet, which isn't a large building.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: Not a very nice site for all that
construction.
MS. JOURDAN: Actually, it's not. It's not viable for too many
things, actually, because of the FP&L easement.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Almost turn the FP&L easement into a
lineal park. Any other questions?
Anyone care to comment from the audience?
MR. KEPPLE: For the record, Terrence Kepple representing
the petitioner. I don't have a formal presentation this morning. I
think most of your questions have been answered. But if you have
any other questions, I'd be glad to answer them.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Any questions, Commissioners?
Okay. What's the pleasure of the board?
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: I'll go again. Madam
Chairman, I make a motion that we forward Petition No. CP-2001-03
to the Board of County Commissioners recommending approval.
COMMISSIONER BUDD: Second.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I have a motion by Mr. Abernathy, a
second by Mr. Budd for approval of this particular petition. Do we
have any discussion?
All those in favor say aye.
(Unanimous response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO:
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO:
Okay.
Those opposed, same sign.
Motion carries.
We are -- next one is CP-2001-4, which would create the
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Henderson Creek mixed-use subdistrict. Mr. Weeks.
MR. WEEKS: Good morning, Commissioners. For the record,
I'm David Weeks of the comprehensive planning section. This
petition seeks to amend the designation of the subject property which
is -- presently that designation is urban coastal fringe which, from a
residential standpoint, limits the property to a maximum density of 4
units per acre with the exception of affordable housing or transfer of
development rights. It's also within the traffic congestion area. So
essentially, outside of affordable housing, it's limited to 3 units per
acre residentially; with affordable housing, as much as 11 units per
acre.
And it also is allowed to develop any of those types of uses
allowed throughout the urbanized area, such as community-facility
uses such as churches, child-care centers, nursing homes, ALFs,
recreation and open spaces uses, and essential services, that kind of
in-between category of residential and commercial. But what they're
proposing for this 83-acre site is to create a mixed-use subdistrict that
will allow for regional commercial uses primarily as well as
affordable housing or work-force housing for the property.
A few -- I'll highlight a few of the points in this amendment as it
was proposed, modified by staff, and agreed to by the petitioner.
Again, I want to stress, as the petitioner did in their application, that
the intent of this subdistrict is to provide for regional commercial
uses, not community and neighborhood commercial uses as you
typically find in the activity centers and as you would typically find
in most of our other commercial provisions in the Comprehensive
Plan. One of the shortfalls of this regional commercial is the sense --
not on the petitioner's part but the fact that we don't have a definition
for that in our codes, and I'm going to address that later in my
presentation.
But the proposal of the 83-acre site would be a maximum of 40
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acres for commercial development and a maximum of 325,000 square
feet for commercial; a maximum of 500 dwelling units, but the
residential units on the property will be subject to the density rating
system. So they're not getting anything special here, but it's an
acknowledgment that they can provide as much as 500, and they are
committed to, they are required to provide a minimum of 200
dwelling units on the property. And that goes back to the purpose
asserted by the petitioner is we want to have a mixed-use project of
regional commercial uses and work-force housing. We're saying,
"That's what you say; let's put it in the text that you'll do that."
Additionally, there will be a loop road provided through the
project from U.S. 41 to 951, Collier Boulevard. The regional
commercial uses, at least one of them, will be limited to a minimum
of 100,000 square feet. Again, you're saying it's going to be regional
commercial, then let's tie their hands to provide regional commercial.
The remainder of the project, as far as commercial uses go, would be
allowed to develop as small as 20,000 square feet of regional
commercial uses. And that I'll also touch on again in a few moments.
We've suggested, they've agreed to, a maximum of 10 percent of
that total of 325,000 square feet, or 32,500 square feet, to be used for
nonregional uses. So we are allowing for some community, some
neighbor -- we're not saying you must build these huge -- two huge or
three huge or so forth -- buildings on the property. A small amount
of neighborhood or community commercial would be allowed such
as you would oftentimes find on outparcels.
And that's also one of the points. They're limited to a maximum
of four outparcels. They all must be located along Collier Boulevard,
and they all must have internal access. We're not precluding at this
point to having access directly onto Collier Boulevard, but we are
mandating that there be access internal to the project so that a person
-- I will point out a similar situation: The Home Depot on Pine Ridge
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Road. There's a Checkers. There's an oil change business. Neither
of those -- and I'm not suggesting that's what we're proposing, but as
an example, both of those uses are on outparcels within that total site.
Neither of those uses has direct access onto Pine Ridge Road. They
can only be accessed internal to the project. That's the concept.
Certainly if they have larger development of-- the outparcels
can be as large as 5 acres, so they conceivably could have their entire
nonregional commercial use -- uses, square footage, built on an
outparcel. And in that case it might be appropriate to have a direct
access onto 951. But regardless, they must have internal access as
well.
There are certain prohibited uses, certain types of nonregional
prohibited uses, and we've listed a few of those here, such as grocery
stores. Again, focus on regional commercial. The height is limited
to a maximum of one story and 35 feet for the commercial uses;
residential allowed at three habitable stories. And I think that's the
main points I wanted to -- also, interconnections would be
investigated to the properties to the north, most of which are in the
activity center.
Now let me jump -- I got a little bit out of order. As far as the
location goes, the visualizer here shows the subject property and the
strike pattern. It fronts on both 41 and 951 and is adjacent to the
south of the activity center, the mixed-use activity center. The
dashed line is showing the boundaries of that mixed-use activity
center.
So to the north are properties zoned mostly commercial, C-2 and
C-4; also some ag properties, mostly within the activity center. To
the east across Henderson Creek is a mobile home park. To the south
adjacent is a mobile home park. And further to the south beyond
Henderson Creek where it turns east/west, more mobile home
development. And to the west across Collier Boulevard is the Eagle
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Creek development, a golf course residential community, at a low
density of-- I just looked that up, but I think around three, maybe
four units per acre. It's a typical, low-density golf course residential
community. As I -- as you hear me continuously stressing, regional
commercial, because that's what the petitioner has asserted, that that
is their intent to provide, work-force housing and regional
commercial uses.
In looking at the commercial inventory, we don't take that into
account, the county's commercial inventory, this particular type.
What we identify are the total acres of commercial zoning, the total
square foot of the development that's there, the zoning districts of the
various commercial properties. But we don't -- and the dimensions
are provided, the acreage is provided. But we don't have any type of
particular analysis as far as large commercial sites that would
accommodate regional commercial uses. There are some examples in
the staff report of what we're talking about of the large regional
commercial uses: Home Depot, Costco, Pace Warehouse, Sam's
Club; and then some of the smaller ones, but nevertheless regional
uses, Sports Authority, Toys "R" Us, I think, would both be
examples.
And, as we mentioned, the square footage of all of those larger
ones exceed a hundred thousand square feet. The Sports Authority is
one example of a smaller one, and it's just over 40,000 square feet.
Another frame of reference for building size, the county's
Development Services Center on north Horseshoe Drive is also
approximately 40,000 square feet.
The particular -- I'll phrase it as a concern from the staff
standpoint has to do with simply making sure that what the
petitioner's proposing is what they are limited to and, in fact,
ultimately develop. And, as I mentioned earlier, there's no definition
of regional commercial use in our codes. There certainly are
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definitions and examples in the planning literature such as Urban
Land Institute.
So staff's recommendation is to approve this petition. But
understand, please, that when this comes back for the adoption
hearing, assuming the board does transmit it, you may see a little bit
of additional language here added by staff or recommended by staff,
and one might be a definition of regional commercial.
Number two, that 20,000 square foot minimum for the other
regional commercial uses either may increase or may be augmented
by having a stair step. A certain amount of square footage of regional
commercial can be at 20,000 square feet. A certain amount, for
example, might have to be 40,000 or 50,000. Again, this is to ensure
regional commercial uses and to account for the fact that there's, in
our opinion, adequate inventory of commercial sites that would
accommodate a 20,000-square-foot building. We don't think that's
where the particular need is at.
We do agree with the petitioner, though, the large sizes are very
limited. Essentially, you would have to go to an undeveloped
quadrant of an activity center to be able to accommodate the size of
commercial for these large regional commercial uses that they are
proposing.
The other thing is -- which I've not discussed with the petitioner;
this'll be new to them. I see their reaction. But one of the things
that's provided here, they have committed to the 200 dwelling units,
but there's not a trigger mechanism; that is, there's not some
requirement that after you build X square feet of commercial, you
must get your residential component going. And the concern there is,
again, make sure that, in fact, happens.
I'll give you an example of a parallel circumstance: Carillon
Plaza shopping center. It has a residential component to it. The PUD
was approved with residential behind it and, of course, the shopping
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center on the frontage. Well, the shopping center got built, but to this
day the residential hasn't -- hasn't begun. Will it ever? Well, time
will tell. But there's no trigger mechanism to make sure that it
happens, and we think it's appropriate that there would be some type
of trigger mechanism. Again, you're saying you're going to do it; let's
put the language in there that ensures that that does, in fact, happen.
And of course all these different requirements and limitations
would be carried through to the next step which, as you know, is the
rezoning process. This is the Comprehensive Plan amendment, but
there are, as you can see, a lot of specific provisions in here, again,
proposed by staff and the petitioner jointly. And in some cases we
modified the language, and they have agreed to these changes. And
with that I think I'm done.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I want to ask a question. Is there a
current definition of work-force housing/affordable housing in a
dollar value, what the apartments rent for or that type of thing? How
do we define this work-force housing?
MR. WEEKS: Not work-force housing but affordable housing,
and that's why we -- staff proposed that those words be used as well.
The affordable housing, first of all, links to the density rating system,
the density calculation, and the Future Land Use Element.
And then, secondly, the bonus ordinance that the county's
adopted, how do we determine how many affordable housing units
you get? It depends on the number of-- of dwelling units you're
proposing, the size of the units. And there is a linkage to the -- I
think it's the median household income for Collier County. So there
is an ultimate linkage to income levels.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: And in this particular subdistrict, we
would have similar rules and regulations criteria, so it's
architecturally sort of the same?
MR. WEEKS: Yes. The only reference to that here is that the
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two components, residential and commercial -- I believe it's in there
-- would be developed with architecturally similar style. Our opinion
is that at this point we're not going to try to get more specific. Let
that be dealt with at the zoning stage. Typically what the zoning
process would result in is simply a requirement to comply with the
provisions in the Land Development Code, that Division 2.8. And
that spells out certain architectural embellishments and the limits to
the amount of blank walls on buildings and so forth. We would
simply rely on that to -- to apply to this project.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Is this sort of an idea of an advance
vision for community character? We're going to try to have a
particular look to it?
MR. WEEKS: Not from a staff perspective. No particular
thought being given to that or mentioned by the petitioner. Certainly
once this -- if we get there and once it does come for the rezoning,
that could be discussed further. We may be further along, we the
county, in the community character process. As you know, the plan
itself was adopted or endorsed by the board, but we're yet to see the
actual implementation. And that's what we're -- depending on where
our implementing regulations are at, that may be applicable to the
site, or you may, independent of that process, make certain
recommendations as far as the property goes.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. I'm trying to make a linkage
here, but I'm not sure how to ask the question yet. I want to think -- I
want to hear what the petitioner says. Mr. Abernathy.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: David, I'm troubled by the
fact that all the brain power over in the planning department cannot
come up with a definition of regional commercial. And if you've had
time to cogitate on that, why should I believe that between now and
then, whenever then comes up, you will be more successful? Is it
going to come to you in a dream or in the shower? What's so difficult
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about defining this?
MR. WEEKS: One never knows where it'll come from, Mr.
Abernathy -- no. Purely facetious. The timing of this, the process,
this petition, I'll say, evolved. It actually was originally submitted as
an expansion of the activity center. So it's evolved through the
process while it's been in our hands, gone back and forth, trying to
fine-tune it, trying to tie it down. And as a result, I'm just going to
say we ran out of time. I did look at regional commercial. The
literature I looked at, however, was specific to shopping centers, and
that's not what they're proposing here. But I'm certain that the
literature's out there. It was just -- I'll say staff ran out of time to
specifically come up with that definition. I'm sure it exists.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Is "commercial" a word of
art that would exclude industrial?
MR. WEEKS: Yes, it does. And also I'll go ahead and point out
again that the language here limits them to level of intensity of C-4,
so C-1, 2, 3 and 4.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: So that would take heavy
industrial out of it altogether.
MR. WEEKS: Absolutely.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Would there -- could we at
this point agree that the regional commercial is limited to retail as
opposed to any kind of wholesale operation there?
MR. WEEKS: I think that's safe to say because I can't think of
any wholesale uses allowed in the C-4 district. If I'm corrected, so be
it. But the C-4 and lower districts primarily deal with retail. Your
wholesale pretty much starts at C-5 and then into the industrial
district.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Okay. I'm just deathly
afraid of being mousetrapped, as I was once before, and when we
come back for a rezone, the petitioner saying, "Well, if I had known
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you were going to define it that way, you know, I would have done
things differently at the comp plan amendment stage." What if you
now say 150,000 square feet, and he says, "Hey, I can't agree to
that"? Where does that put us?
MR. WEEKS: One of the reasons for the specificity you're
seeing here is to make sure that there is not a misunderstanding as
much as possible. For example, again, we're specifically stating the
maximum commercial intensity is C-4. Therefore, if they come in at
the rezone stage and want a C-5 use, they're out of luck. The
language is very clear, and it's for the benefit of both sides. They
walk away with a very clear understanding of what their limitations
are -- hopefully a clear understanding -- and, likewise, the county has
a clear understanding. This is what the language says. This is what it
means.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Good. Okay. Well, I
expressed the same misgivings to a couple of the petitioner's agents
and asked them to come up with a better definition if they could, but
that was just a few days ago. So we'll see.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Mr. Adelstein.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTE1N: You say affordable housing.
Is there a price figure for that, or how are they going to determine
what is affordable housing?
MR. WEEKS: I can -- don't know the specifics enough to
answer that right to the point, but I will, again, say there's a linkage in
the median household income for Collier County as to what
affordable housing means. In a certain sense, you might say that's
one of the problems that we have in Collier County, is our median
income is so darn high. And, therefore, having 80 percent of that or
60 percent, some certain percentage of that -- and I think it is 80
percent, I think is what the code says -- is still a relatively high figure.
The flip side of that in a certain sense is economically it certainly
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makes it a lot more, I'll say, viable or easier for the developer.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Yes. But you're still giving
me 80 percent of the median income. We still aren't coming up with
what that figure absolutely represents.
MR. WEEKS: I believe the median income for the county is
around 65,000, I think is the 2000 figure.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: So you take 80 percent of
that, and then you multiply it by what?
MR. WEEKS: Eighty percent times 65,000 gives you the
income level--
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Right. Then what happens?
MR. WEEKS: -- for the persons that are allowed to -- to occupy
the dwelling units there.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: I mean, you're still not telling
me. These are all going to be rental units then? MR. WEEKS: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Okay. Now I'm back where
I want to be. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Any other questions of Mr. Weeks at
the moment? I think Mr. Yovanovich has a few comments he'd like to
make. Ms. Young go ahead.
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: Is this the time to ask you about
the traffic impact of this proposal? I mean, it's already LOS-D, and
that is -- you're proposing this kind of growth in commercial traffic.
Aren't you suggesting future deadlock, you know, ala Pine Ridge?
MR. WEEKS: A couple of comments on that. First of all, I'm
going to let the petitioner address some of the particulars of the traffic
impacts, the actual number of trips and so forth it's going to generate.
I think your reference to Level of Service D, that is the adopted level
of service for the county, not necessarily the functional level of
service. That is how it's operating today. There's a difference.
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Here's what we adopt. The county says we must maintain this
level of service. And then over here is the way it actually operates
because potentially it could be operating above the level of service
adopted or below, at least for a short period of time. If it does
operate below -- operating below its level of service, then the county
is required within, I think, a maximum of three years to do something
to improve that circumstance: Widen the road, build a new road,
change the level of service, lower it. We have to do something,
though.
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: But in good planning this isn't
something we want to continue to do. MR. WEEKS: I agree.
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: They have done that in the past.
We don't want to do that in the future.
MR. WEEKS: I agree. And ultimately -- I don't like passing the
buck, but the decision-makers are the Board of County
Commissioners. Ultimately they have to determine if they want to go
along under the present policies, which means that we can go as far
as two or three years below level of service or not.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Mr. Yovanovich.
MR. YOVANOVICH: For the record, Rich Yovanovich
representing the petitioner. I have with me Bill Schrage and Rob
Warstler, who are the petitioners; Wayne Arnold, the planner on the
project; Dean Smith, the engineer on the project; and Chuck Nolty
(phonetic), who prepared our market analysis. Again, we're at the
Comprehensive Plan amendment stage, and we will have to get into a
lot more detail at the time we come through with the PUD analysis, to
get more specific into the traffic analysis that Commissioner Young
was alluding to or getting to. I think it -- we've done the requisite
analysis we need at this point to have support from staff on the
Comprehensive Plan amendment, but we will have to do a lot more
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analysis when we go through the PUD process.
David, as usual, did an excellent job of explaining what our
project is. We have committed that this is a regional commercial
type of center. David is right. Most of the definitions talk about
shopping centers. And since I've met with Mr. Abemathy, my client
and Wayne and I have gone through the literature. And we're really
more what they classify as a power center, meaning that we are -- we
are a project that has multiple stand-alone, anchor-type stores. We'll
have one store that will be a minimum of a hundred thousand square
feet, and then we will have other regional-type uses, like Toys "R"
Us, Sports Authority, that will be smaller, but it won't be your typical
shopping center.
So what we've come up with, Mr. Abemathy -- and I have not
had a chance to share this with David -- is a definition that would
probably need some working with, but would read something to this
effect: Regional retail would be defined as retail typically dominated
by large anchors, including discount departments stores, off-price
stores, warehouse clubs, and the like, some of which offer large
selection in particular merchandise categories. Regional retailers also
typically have square footages ranging from 20,000 square feet to
over 100,000 square feet. And what we've done is we've done --
primary trade area are generally 5 to 10 miles in area with typical
store separation of 5 miles for any particular retail user.
So what we've tried to do is show you we're not -- that we're
talking about -- you know, Sports Authority is not going to be on
every comer. It's going to be -- there may be more than one Sports
Authority in a community, but there is a rather large separation
between stores, and that's how -- the approach we've taken. That's
where we're coming from. And hopefully we'll enhance where we've
come with staff and evolved with staff, and hopefully we'll show you
that we're not talking about a commercial neighborhood-type
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shopping center.
The project, as David pointed out, does front both on U.S. 41
and 951, and there will be an interconnection. The anticipated
alignment will be with the entrance of Eagle Creek. Eagle Creek is
still -- their association is still controlled by the developer, but we
contacted the president of the golf club, who is -- it's not controlled
by the developer, and asked him to meet with us and bring people he
thought were appropriate so we can get the residents' opinion as to
our project. And we met with six or seven different representatives
of their condominium associations as well as the residential areas
within Eagle Creek, and they were favorable to our project. They did
-- obviously they said, you know, when it comes through zoning,
we'll get to see better detail.
But their concerns were not with our uses, but with, one, they
wanted to see if we can assist in obtaining a traffic light at that
entrance, their entrance and our entrance. We obviously would like
that and are going to work with the state. This is a state road, and
we're going to work with them trying to get a traffic light there. And
they wanted to assure that we had good landscaping in the medians,
but they wanted landscaping that was not high that would block the
view of what's going on. They wanted lower level vegetation. So I
think we can obviously accommodate their request as far as
landscaping goes, and we'll do our best to try to get a traffic light
there.
As David pointed out, we have provided for interconnectivity
for properties to the north, which is in the activity center that already
exists. And we're committed to doing that, and we'll work with that
property owner for an appropriate location for that interconnectivity.
Affordable housing, obviously it is tied to income levels. It
ranges. There's very low, low, and -- I forget the third.
MS. STUDENT: Moderate.
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October 18, 2001
MR. YOVANOVICH: -- moderate is, I think, the three terms,
and they're all tied to our median income. It will -- at this point it is
anticipated it will be a rental community, but we have committed to
at least 200 units meeting that affordable-housing definition. So that
will evolve, and we'll have to come back with an agreement with the
county to get a density bonus that will address affordable housing.
So that's -- that usually comes through at the time of the PUD. So
that commitment is there.
We also committed to the residents of Eagle Creek and to your
staff that if we get transmittal from the Board of County
Commissioners to the Department of Community Affairs, we would
submit our PUD application. So at the -- as close to as possible --
and the timing won't be exact, but as close to as possible as the
adoption hearing to the comp plan amendment, soon thereafter you
will be seeing for approval, hopefully, the PUD.
But we will already be in the process where staff will have had
an opportunity to review our PUD. We will have met with the
neighborhood to show them what we're planning, so you will get a --
what you're approving is basically what you're getting. And we have
tried to make very, very detailed -- and agree with all the changes to
what staff is -- what staff is recommending. We have no -- no
problems with their changes. I -- unless you have specific questions
of any of the subconsultants regarding any of the issues, we'd be
happy to answer those questions.
But we wanted to reiterate what David had said, and this is
probably -- we have committed -- and he's right. He did not talk to
me about the trigger mechanism. The only thing I could commit to is
obviously we'll work with staff to figure out what that is. Affordable
housing's not as -- you don't control your destiny as easily as you do
regular residential. I mean, you've got to work with state agencies to
get commitments from them as to financing. So we will work with
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the trigger with David on those issues between now and the adoption
hearing. We have committed -- and we've said right up front we
want it to be a mixed-use project, which is different than how a lot of
the activity centers have developed.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I do have a question. I'm not sure who
can answer it specifically. The concept of a large regional retailer,
such as one that sits out there right now, one the county -- Wal-Mart,
they never built a supercenter in Collier County. A supercenter
would be over a hundred thousand square feet, but they would
usually have a component of a grocery store in it. Are we excluding
the concept of an internal grocery store of a very large retailer such as
Wal-Mart, as the example, by putting -- excluding the prohibited use
here of a grocery store? How does that impact? I just want to make
sure we're not being too specific.
MR. WEEKS: You've certainly identified an area where we
need to clarify. That is a freestanding grocery store or a grocery store
in a shopping center, your typical, like, Publix, Winn-Dixie, Food
Lion. That's what -- our intent is to say you can't have that here.
Conversely, to directly answer your question, no. The intent is not to
prohibit the grocery store component within a larger use.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: As long as that is a regional
commercial use --
MR. WEEKS: That's right.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: -- it can have the various components
with -- inside. I just want to make sure because, as Mr. Abernathy
said, sometimes we go, "Now, I would have done it differently if I
understood what you really meant." I do believe we have legal
comment.
MS. STUDENT: Yes. I think for clarity, David, we might need
to write that in there as what it is because I can see down the road that
it's going to come to an interpretation, perhaps, at some point. So I
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think for clarity -- and if I might, I just wanted to answer the question
about the affordable housing because it's taken as a percentage of our
median income in the county, which changes over time. And then, if
I recall correctly, a percentage of what those different income levels
are are attributed to what would be affordable for somebody making
that kind of money.
In other words, if they make $30,000 a year, perhaps 33 1/3
percent of that or 35 percent of that for mortgage, interest, and tax
payment of that figure would be determined to be what they could
devote towards rent or mortgage payment. And then, you know, you
can factor then what a monthly payment would be. And that's -- if
memory serves me correctly, that's how -- to Mr. Adelstein's query,
that's how that's arrived at.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Thank you very much.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. So we may want to clarify that
particular concept.
MR. YOVANOVICH: And I think we're on the same page. We
understood that Super Wal-Mart was not a prohibited use, but we
couldn't come in with a -- say Publix came out with a new hundred-
thousand-square-foot store. We could not do that. We understood
that. So I think we'll -- we'll work with staff on clarifying some of
those issues.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Because on one hand we don't want to
deal with the idea of just a grocery store, but on another hand, we
don't want to limit the -- a very large retailer that might have that
component there and not argue about it six months from now. Any
other questions or comments?
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Question for David. How
does Mr. Yovanovich's definition of regional commercial retail
commercial (sic) suit you? It sounds pretty good to me, at least a
start.
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October 18,2001
MR. WEEKS: We might want to tweak it, but I think it -- I
think it reflects that we're in agreement philosophically, whether the
actual wording, you know, we need to tweak a little bit one way or
the other. But as with the project in general -- and we've been very
much in agreement of what they wanted. The changes that staff has
made to their language is simply to make it more specific, to tighten
it down. But what they've stated that they wanted is -- is what the
language is saying they're going to provide. This language here, the
regional commercial definition, as a starting point, I agree with it.
And, again, philosophically we're on the same page.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Much more mellow this time. I'm
impressed.
MR. YOVANOVICH: It's almost not as much fun.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: He's not sure that's a
compliment.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: It was meant to be a compliment.
Any other comments from up here?
MR. WEEKS: I just wanted to go back to the question of
affordable housing. I just wanted to make it clear that the specific
language in here, in this provision, deals with the provision of
affordable housing, that a minimum of 200 affordable housing units
would be provided. The project can, and I would assume will, have a
nonaffordable housing, residential component to it. I don't want you
to walk away thinking this is only going to be an affordable-housing
project along with the commercial. That's not necessarily --
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: But I can understand that
affordable housing is only going to be rental, not purchasable.
MR. WEEKS: I'll have to clarify that.
MR. YOVANOVICH: Practically, yes.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Okay. I just want to make
sure that that's what you're saying to me.
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MR. WEEKS: There is the ability to have affordable housing
ownership, I do believe.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: There is. But I'm saying in
this particular project, that is not what's going to happen. That's what
I wanted to know.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: How do you know that?
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Now I know it.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Now you know it. Mr. Midney.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: Yeah. I was doing a little bit of
math. I don't have a calculator, so I may be wrong, but 80 percent of
$65,000 a year is $52,000 a year. That I guess -- and then 35 percent
of that is $17,000 a year. So roughly $1500 a month is what you
could charge for affordable housing. That -- that seems almost
meaningless, that's so high.
MS. STUDENT: Well, we have different levels. There's very --
there's very low, low, and moderate. And it's unfortunate, I guess,
that Mr. Mihalic, our housing director, is not here. But there are
different percentage levels, depending. And this has been a problem
for Collier County because we had issues with the Department of
Community Affairs about this. And it's the fact that -- I think at one
time we either had the highest or the second highest median income
in the state, so excuse the figures. And there was even talk about
breaking it out for earned income levels because the earned income
level here is quite a bit less than the median income.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: It really is a shock. I tried to help
some people that needed some help on a personal basis. And at one
point a couple years ago it was, like, $1,075 they could be subsidized
for rent, and I'm saying, "That's awfully high." I mean, I don't even
pay that for my mortgage, and I have a single-family house. So it
really does skew it. And I think I'm going to do a little more research
myself in the future so that we have this information readily available
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to us. But it is like sticker shock for what you consider work-force
housing and affordable housing and what can be actually subsidized
by the various programs. It's an absolute shock.
MR. YOVANOVICH: And please know that we have met with
Mr. Mihalic about the project, and I think we have his support. And
those numbers, you've got to factor in family size. You've got to
factor in a lot of different things before you get to the -- MS. STUDENT: Family size is part of it too.
MR. YOVANOVICH: -- before you get to what the number is.
And we'll work with Mr. Mihalic on that, and we're committed to the
affordable-housing definition, whatever it is.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Whatever it is. I --
MR. WEEKS: If it's of interest to the Planning Commission, we
could certainly gather some information on affordable-housing
density bonus, the process, to kind of give some better understanding
of what it means.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: That would be very helpful. I'd
appreciate that. So thank you. We'll watch for that soon.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: You were saying, Ms. Student,
that there's three levels: Very affordable, moderately or --
MS. STUDENT: No. Very low, low, and moderate, and this is
if memory serves me correctly. And I don't recall what the different
percentages were for those, but there were three levels.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: So you can't have it all at the
moderate. You have to have some at the very low, some at the low?
MS. STUDENT: Yes.
MR. YOVANOVICH: In order to get into an agreement with
Mr. Mihalic, he will not let you just do moderate.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: Pardon me?
MR. YOVANOVICH: He will not let you just target moderate.
He will -- he will require a mixture.
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COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: And who decides what his
mixture is?
MR. YOVANOVICH: There is a -- it actually is -- there's a
matrix that is involved in how you get your bonuses and how many
units. It's not -- it's not an automatic, as far as your number of bonus
units you get. It's -- there's an administrative process we'll have to go
through with Mr. Mihalic.
MS. STUDENT: I would submit, for equal protection of the law
purposes and also some other considerations on exclusionary zoning,
that we would have to consider those different income levels. And
we could not exclude, you know, one or the other for the reason
there's some case law. It's out of another jurisdiction, but it's been
very telling for local governments everywhere about exclusionary
zoning and excluding out certain housing types and certain income
levels.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: You're saying that we will do
that, we will exclude the higher end, or that we should or --
MS. STUDENT: No. For the affordable housing, you look at
all three levels. And to exclude one or the other might be -- might be
problematic from an equal-protection-of-the-law standpoint.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: So in other words, you couldn't
say no medium. You can't say only very low.
MS. STUDENT: I think usually you find it going the other way,
where the tendency would be to have moderate but maybe not very
low.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: Because to me affordable
housing is, like, $400 a month, and $1500 a month doesn't do
anything for most working-class people.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: And I just wanted to point out here,
too, that we're talking about a maximum of 500 dwelling units, and
we want the 200 affordable or work-force housing items. Somebody
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has done some calculations to make sure that that's going to work
within our definitions?
MR. WEEKS: Yes. Yes. And the commercial acreage is a
maximum of 40 acres, which leaves approximately 43 for residential.
But if they -- which would not allow them to get quite to 500. But it's
a -- the potential is there that they could get their commercial square
footage on less than 40 acres, which means more residential
available, which means they could achieve the 500. The 500
dwelling units, though, is -- again, is not the mandatory; it's the 200.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: But it says residential development
shall be limited to a maximum of 500 dwelling units subject to the
density rating system.
MR. WEEKS: Yes. Let me phrase it differently. If, for
example, they could get all of their commercial development on 30
acres, which leaves, then, 53 acres of residential, doing the math, they
could then exceed 500 acres. They're being limited to 500.
MR. YOVANOVICH: Five hundred units.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Units.
MR. YOVANOVICH: I'll take the acres.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: You'll take the acres. Want some floor
area ratio too? Okay. Mr. Wolfley.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: I was just going to say, you
know, we're only talking about those 200 units. The other 300 units
can be whatever. So I just -- let's not get hung up on the 200 too
much.
MR. WEEKS: Well, let me -- again, that density rating system,
when it goes into the rezoning process, will calculate. Aside from
affordable housing, it's three units per acre. So if they say, "Well,
we're just going to provide the 200 affordable housing," the density's
going to drop way down.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I just wanted to make sure I
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understood which direction the math was going.
my questions resolved. Any other comments?
in--
I think I've had all
Okay. What's the pleasure of the board?
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Close the public hearing?
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: It's not a public hearing. Aren't we
MR. WEEKS: This is an advertised hearing.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Advertised hearing. Okay. I guess I
better close that public hearing. I didn't do that on the other ones.
Sorry.
What's the pleasure of the board?
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Madam Chairman, I move
that we forward Petition No. CP-2001-4 to the Board of County
Commissioners recommending approval subject to an expanded,
enlightened definition of regional commercial use and such other
language tweaking as we've alluded to here this morning.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: I second the motion.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: We have a motion by Mr. Abernathy, a
second by Mr. Adelstein to approve this with his language there. Do
we have any further discussion?
Okay. I call the question. All those in favor, aye.
(Unanimous response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Those opposed, same sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. I just want a point of order
here. Marjorie, I don't think the record reflects that I closed the public
hearings previously. Do I have a problem from Robert's Rules of
Order or not?
MR. WEEKS: There was actually a single hearing for all comp
plan amendments. You actually did it correctly by closing it at the
end. The change that occurred is we typically --
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October 18,2001
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: We have one more.
MR. WEEKS: I take everything I just said back.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: And that's why I sort of stopped,
hesitated, and thought, why would I close the public hearing?
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: We voted on them one by
one. That's what's --
MS. STUDENT: Yeah. I think that's what -- what changed
things, because they're being considered individually. And I don't-- I
don't think it's fatal.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: As long as our attorney says it's not
fatal, we'll move right along to --
MS. STUDENT: You might just want to state for the record
that your intent was -- on CP-2001-01 through 03, that your intent
was to close the public hearing before the vote on each of those, and
you might want to say that. That would be --
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. It was my intent to close the
public hearing on the first three different comp plan amendments
from 1 through 3.
MS. STUDENT: Yeah. CP-2001-01 through 03.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: CP-2001-1 through, dash, 3. That was
my intent, to clarify the record. Thank you.
So now we get to talk about CP-2001-5 with reference to the
research and technology subdistrict.
MS. TAYLOR: Yes. Good morning again. Amy Taylor for the
record, comprehensive planning. This petition was actually directed
by the board in their May workshop as a result of a request by the
Economic Development Council of Collier County. The -- in
response, the -- the comprehensive planning staff prepared some
background information. They did an industrial inventory of the
county, updated it from an older inventory -- so it's 2001 updated data
-- as well as examined the types of uses that were allowed within
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business parks and existing industrial straight zoning.
It was the -- the impression of the Economic Development
Council that the industrial zoning alone and the business park
designation alone did not provide for the combination of uses that
they would need in order to encourage and attract those that would
want to reside in a more formal research and technology park. The
comprehensive planning section also developed framework language
for the EDC to review and add to for their specific needs in terms of
their target industries, which are aviation, information technology,
and health technology.
There are a couple of aspects of this petition -- and I'll make this
brief and be available for questions -- that are different from the
business park. The roadway access. Currently the business park
allows -- is only allowed along arterials. The research and
technology park would be allowed on collectors as well. The -- this
would include Vanderbilt, Goodlette, new Livingston Road. There's
only, as you can barely see on this map, a few designations for major
and minor arterials, including U.S. 41, parts of Airport Road, and
County Road 84. So there's fewer opportunities but quite acceptable
locations along the collector roads for a park of this type.
This also allows for-- to provide, from a land use perspective,
incentive, C-1 through C-3 uses. The -- it also provides for another
opportunity for work-force housing or affordable housing. If the
property -- the property -- the park could not locate adjacent to
residential unless it had a work-force component -- work-force
housing component to it. When it is adjacent to commercial, it can
have up to 40 percent of the acreage as residential work-force
housing.
There is a -- as far as the combination of uses that the EDC felt
it needed to attract their target industries, when we did an
examination of the -- the industrial zoning and the business park
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zoning by SIC code, we found that things like a computer software
development could not be located -- or is allowed in industrial but not
be located in a business park. And at the same -- in the same case
where a programming assistance company would want to locate
probably near or it would be nice for it to be near that software
development company, that is allowed in C-1 but not in a business
park. So this is kind of an example of-- of combining these types of
uses within a regional technology park that would provide that -- that
dynamic and that combination that the EDC feels that it needs.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Do we have any specific
questions?
Mr. Wolfley.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: No questions. I just think the
area is definitely in need of this type of a -- type of park, without a
doubt.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: I agree with the concept also.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: So do I.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Do we have anyone from the audience
wishes to present?
Apparently not, so I will close the public hearing on this one for
sure.
Do we have a motion?
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Madam Chairman, I make
a motion that we forward Petition No. CP-2001-5 to the Board of
County Commissioners recommending approval.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: I second.
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: I second that.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Oh, boy. I have a motion by Mr.
Abernathy and a second -- I'm going to go with Mr. Wolfley -- for
approval of this particular petition. Do we have any discussion?
Hearing no discussion, I call the question. All those in favor say
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October 18,2001
(Unanimous response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Those opposed, same sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Thank you. Number 9, old business.
Did we establish a date for the training session we've discussed for
the last two years?
MS. MURRAY: Yes. I have two dates, and there's not much of
a choice here other than if you just don't want these dates. November
15th we have scheduled for the presentation to be done by planning
and --
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: November what?
MS. MURRAY: November 15th. And the second date is
December 6th, which will be the presentation by the county attorney's
office. And I believe you may have already had part of that already.
Was this not part of a series?
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: No. I think we never could get --
MS. STUDENT: There were problems in scheduling and then
we had some with the commission, and it had to be changed because
not enough people would be here. So there have been problems with
scheduling throughout.
MS. MURRAY: I placed on the agenda a five-item limit. So all
the staff knows not to put any more than five items, and hopefully a
few of those will be things like boat docks and whatnot. We usually
have a pretty healthy mix.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Hopefully they're Keewaydin boat
docks, not Vanderbilt.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: November 15th is the second
date?
MS. MURRAY: November 15th is the planning presentation,
and December 6th is the county attorney's office presentation.
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October 18, 2001
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Thank you.
MS. MURRAY: Is that acceptable?
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Sounds good to me.
COMMISSIONER MIDNEY: What time of day?
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: What date did she say?
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: It would be our same regular meeting,
scheduled meeting. And we'd have a few petitions, at the most five,
before that particular presentation so we can have time for discussion
and interchange with the staff.
MS. MURRAY: And am I to understand correctly that the
planning staffs presentation is just kind of a general overview
presentation of the role of this board as it relates to the role of the
county commissioners and our relationship with staff and a little bit
of the structure of Land Development Code and the Growth
Management Plan?
COMMISSIONER BUDD: It would seem to me it would be
appropriate, and it might be staffs role, is just review the differences
between the quasi-judicial, legislative, land use because the manner
in which the petition approaches us totally affects the governing
criteria and how we're supposed to act. And that's not always
obvious, and some description on your part would probably be very
helpful.
MS. MURRAY: Okay.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: And then we can ask some specific-
type questions that relate to the concepts you just presented.
MS. MURRAY: Okay. That's fine.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: That will be very useful.
MS. MURRAY: The other item I had was the LDCs have been
ordered. And, Mr. Wolfley, we had to just order you a new book. So
I would stress -- I'm going to lecture a little bit here. These books are
upwards of $75 apiece, and I hate to keep having to buy them for new
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October 18, 2001
people every time they come along. If you could -- you get the
supplements. If you wouldn't mind keeping your books up to date,
that would be very helpful for us so that we could just turn them over
to the new members that come along. And then they don't have to
have messed-up books, and they can follow what's going on and be --
jump in feet first and know what's going on right away, hopefully.
And that'll take about a month to get, hopefully within the three -- I
would say within three weeks they should be here.
I'm also having a problem with the SIC code books. They were
originally published in 1987, and the original publisher no longer
publishes them, so I'm having to go through other sources to try to
get those books, and I'm working through one of our secretarial staff.
So that's going to be a little bit challenging, but I hope we'll be able to
overcome that. And I think that was all I needed to mention.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Do we -- I think those were the
big blue ones; right?
MS. MURRAY: Those are the bound, dark blue books with the
gold lettering. That's the Standard Industrial Classification.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: That was the national?
MS. MURRAY: Yes.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Do any of us have those?
COMMISSIONER WOLFLEY: I have one.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Didn't you just give us a huge one
that's sitting on my shelf at home?
MS. MURRAY: That is the NAICS, which is the update to the
SIC, Standard Industrial Classification. And that is what we will be
actually amending the code to go to. We will be doing the
conversion from the Standard Industrial Classification to NAICS.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. That makes sense.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Mr. Budd and I are about to
get our feelings hurt. We don't have either one.
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October 18, 2001
MS. MURRAY: You don't have the NAICS? Okay. I bring
them and people aren't here, and then I take them home. I will bring
two more.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. Do we have any new business?
Do we have any public comment? No one's out there in the
audience.
Discussion of addenda.
Move for adjournment.
COMMISSIONER YOUNG: I so move.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: I second.
CHAIRMAN RAUTIO: Okay. We are so adjourned. Thank
you very much.
There being no further business for the good of the County, the
meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 11:53 a.m.
COLLIER COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION
JOYCEANNA J. RAUTIO, CHAIRMAN
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF DONOVAN COURT
REPORTING, INC., BY BARBARA DRESCHER, NOTARY
PUBLIC
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