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Commissioners:
My wife and I are NOT FL residents; rather, we annually visit for the month of February and bring along many family/friends to The Regatta, just a few blocks east of
the proposed development. None of us have any involvement whatsoever with the developer of One Naples nor have we been asked by anyone living at The Regatta or in the Vanderbilt Beach
Drive neighborhood to speak for or against the proposed One Naples development. Since “tourists” play such a major role in Naples , we thought you might be interested in what some
“outsiders” think of the current dispute. The only information we have is the following material printed in the Sunday February 21, 2021 Naples Daily News: 1) Brian Stock’s Guest
Commentary on Page 5B, and 2) the Save Vanderbilt Beach group’s commentary on page 21A.
Here are our thoughts:
A. Effect on Existing Neighbors
Since sunsets are so prized in Naples, we would expect that most existing building owners in the neighborhood are upset that their view of the Gulf is about to vanish. The only way
to completely solve that problem is to prevent any development from exceeding one single story … certainly an unrealistic “solution.” At some point, that land is going to be used for
something.
B. Growth Management Plan
Presumably, some governmental organization spent a lot of time discussing what parameters to use when deciding what could be built where. It sure sounds like the One Naples development
significantly violates the current GMP. If that is so, then what is the rationale for creating a GMP in the first place?
C. Naples is simply BEAUTIFUL
Over the years as we have traveled around the Naples area, we continue to be amazed at the many, many beautiful developments. We (and our friends and family) continue to return
because of that beauty … the lush, open spaces that provide a sense of grandeur.
Has anyone mentioned their thoughts about what it will feel like to walk/drive/bike down Vanderbilt Beach Drive if One Naples is allowed to proceed in its current form? Please remember
that while hundreds may live in the immediate area, many thousands more will walk/drive/bike down Vanderbilt Beach Drive. It sure looks like those humans will have to deal with a 15-20
foot extended, flat concrete wall that will closely border Vanderbilt Beach Drive and Gulf Shore Drive. Where else in the City of Naples have you allowed that to happen? Our point
is that instead of focusing on the height of the buildings, attention needs to be given to the very human “boxed-in” feeling that accompanies a walled-in compound. Whatever is done
inside the compound to make it appealing will have NO impact on the thousands of people who daily will travel along the street because it will be 15 or so feet above their heads/cars/bikes.
Finally, at first we had no idea that the DaRuMa restaurant and several of the existing condo buildings will remain inside the walled-compound. Is there an architect in the world who
would willingly group those existing buildings together in a new development? Furthermore, it is hard to imagine how 5 more buildings can be constructed in that space without everything
feeling that it was “shoe-horned in.”
As currently proposed, the One Naples development will cheapen, not beautify Naples.
Thanks for listening!
Joseph J. Manning, JD
7324 Brownell Drive
Mentor OH 44060
(440) 477-1072