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HEX Minutes 04/10/2025April 10, 2025 P a g e 1 | 31 TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE COLLIER COUNTY HEARING EXAMINER Naples, Florida April 10, 2025 LET IT BE REMEMBERED that the Collier County Hearing Examiner, in and for the County of Collier, having conducted business herein, met on this date at 2:00 p.m., in REGULAR SESSION at 2800 North Horseshoe Drive, Room 609/610, Naples, Florida, with the following people present: HEARING EXAMINER ANDREW DICKMAN ALSO PRESENT: Michael Bosi, Planning and Zoning Director Raymond V. Bellows, Zoning Manager Sean Sammon, Planner III Craig Brown, Environmental Services Manager Kevin Summers, Manager - Technical Systems Operations April 10, 2025 P a g e 2 | 31 P R O C E E D I N G S HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: I guess green means go, right? MR. SUMMERS: Right. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Is there any other color on here besides green? MR. SUMMERS: There's red if you press the button. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: All right. Good afternoon everyone. Today is April 10, 2025. My name is Andrew Dickman. This is the Hearing Examiner meeting. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. (The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.) HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Well, it's good to be back in the Starship Enterprise. We were gone for a month. And some improvements have been made, I see, so thanks for that. We've got cameras all around the room. We've got screens all over the place, so that's great. Thanks. I don't know who was responsible for that, but -- MR. SUMMERS: I'll take that. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: All right. Thank you very much for that. I'm sure it's good for the community, too, so... Welcome, everyone. My name is Andrew Dickman, as I said. I'm a Florida Bar attorney. I've been practicing for over 20 years here in Florida in the area of land use, zoning, environmental law, local government. I am not a county employee. I am a private practice attorney. I was contracted by the Board of County Commissioners to fulfill the duties of the Hearing Examiner as they're expressed in April 10, 2025 P a g e 3 | 31 the Code of Ordinances for the county. My job, frankly, is to hear petitions here at a quasi-judicial meeting, run this meeting, collect all of the evidence and testimony that is needed under each petition. Each petition's different. They -- not only different in terms of locations but also different in terms of the criteria expressed in the code to approve or deny the petitions. So my job is to get testimony here on the record from the county, from the applicant, and also from the public and apply that when I make a final decision. I will not be making any decisions here today. My job is to, as I said, establish the record, stop it here, and then within 30 days render a written decision. As far as disclosures go, I have had no -- no specific communication with any of the applicants or applicant's representatives about the items that are on the agenda today nor have I met with staff ahead of time to get information about this. I have reviewed what is in the application packet, all of the documents, everything that's been filed, the application, so forth and so on. In addition, I will disclose that I have visited the site. I've started making that a practice of mine to go by the site just so that I can get some boots-on-the-ground feeling for the area. I know Collier County pretty well, but I still like to see -- see the sites. So that's it as far as ex parte disclosures. Otherwise, everything -- my job is just to have a fair hearing, establish the record for the quasi-judicial matter, and then render the decision. The way that we will be doing the procedure that I like to follow is to have the county planner that has shepherded the application through the process, just to come April 10, 2025 P a g e 4 | 31 up and introduce it, give me a little information about it for the record as an expert and any recommendations or conditions that they are suggesting. Then -- then over on the podium over here by the clock we'll have the applicant or applicant's representative come up and do their case in chief. I will allow them to reserve some time for rebuttal because after that we'll go to public comment. This is a hybrid meeting which means that it's in person, live and in person, but we also have the Zoom capacity operating. We still do that, right? MR. SUMMERS: (Nods head.) HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Even better, probably. So the county has made that a feature of this hearing, which I think is very nice because if folks can't make it here at the building at this time, they can still use the Zoom to participate. So once public comment is finished, as I said, I will ask the applicant if there are any -- anything to -- for rebuttal. If anybody is going to speak here today, you must do so under oath, and in a minute I will ask our court reporter to swear all witnesses in. Please -- if you are speaking, please fill out a speaker card and provide it to the -- my second-in-command over here, I guess. Scotty, the engineer, Station Enterprise, and then we'll go from there. So before we go any further, why don't we go ahead and get everyone sworn in for both items. If you would stand and raise your right hand if you're going to testify here today, and the reporter would swear you in. Even if you April 10, 2025 P a g e 5 | 31 think you're going to testify, go ahead and get it. THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? (The speakers were duly sworn and indicated in the affirmative.) HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: All right. Thank you for that. We do have a court reporter, as you know. The county has made that a part of its practice to capture everything verbatim. So I try to speak as clearly as I can. I'd ask you to do the same. Let's avoid talking over each because then it becomes complicated and difficult to take that down. When you come to the podium just put your name and address into the record, if you would, please. I frequently do go back and look at the transcripts just in case I want to refresh my memory as I'm drafting these decisions, so it is a helpful thing to have. And I've also looked at transcripts from several years ago that -- where certain properties have come up and decisions were made on that, and I frequently like to look at those as well so it's a nice feature to have. So I think that's all I have to say. We will get -- we have two items on the agenda; is that correct? So we're going to start off with 3A. Sean. MR. SAMMON: Good afternoon, Mr. Dickman. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Hi, Sean. MR. SAMMON: For the record, Sean Sammon, Planner III, in the Zoning division. ***Before is you Agenda 3A. It's for a variance. Project No. PL20240010021. April 10, 2025 P a g e 6 | 31 This is a request for a variance from Land Development Code Section 4.02.01.A and Section 9.03.03.A.5 to decrease the required RMF-6 zoned front yard setback for a legal nonconforming corner lot from the required 12.5 feet to 3.5 feet on the west front property line for the development of the new principal residential structure inclusive of attached exterior stairwells and the porch, pool, and pool screen enclosure accessories, located at 1200 Michigan Avenue, also known as Lot 1, Block F of the Bad Axe subdivision in Section 22, Township 94 South, Range 25 East, Collier County, Florida. The petition was reviewed by staff based upon review criteria contained within LDC Section 9.04.03, A through H, and staff believes this petition is consistent with the review criteria in the LDC as well as with the GMP. With respect to the public notice requirements, they were complied with as per LDC Section 10.03.06.F. The agent letter was distributed by the applicant on Friday, February 21st, 2025. The property owner notification letter and newspaper ad were taken care of by the county staff on Friday, March 21st, 2025, and the public hearing signs were placed by county staff on Thursday, March 20th of 2025. There is one letter of support provided by the applicant that was included in the new material I distributed to you earlier. Other than that, I received no calls for opposition pertaining to this petition. Therefore, staff recommends that you approve the variance petition as previously noted and as depicted within Attachment B in the staff report. That concludes staff's summary. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Thank you, April 10, 2025 P a g e 7 | 31 Sean. Appreciate that. Is the applicant or applicant's representative here? MS. WILLKOM: Pardon me? I'm sorry I couldn't hear you. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: The applicant or applicant's representative. MS. WILLKOM: Mary Willkomm. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Come on up. Ms. Willkomm, correct? MS. WILLKOM: Willkomm. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Did I say that wrong? MS. WILLKOM: No, Willkomm. You said it right. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Oh. MS. WILLKOM: And let me start by saying I'm not a public speaker, so forgive me if I get nervous. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Well, let me stop you there. Do not be nervous. MS. WILLKOM: Okay. Thank you. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Take a deep breath. MS. WILLKOM: I did that. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: This is a really relaxed environment. I'm glad you're handling this, so... MS. WILLKOM: All right. Thank you. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Go ahead. You'll be fine. MS. WILLKOM: My name is Mary Willkomm. My office address is 3201 Tamiami Trail, Suite 102. My home address is 3771 Bateman, Florida -- excuse me -- Bateman April 10, 2025 P a g e 8 | 31 Road, Alva, Florida, 33920. And I want to start out by saying thank you very much for being here and for hearing my consideration in consideration for my daughter's request for a variance. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. So this is your daughter's home, correct? MS. WILLKOM: It is, it is. And that's what I wanted to start off with was I wanted to give an introduction as to how I relate to the situation. My -- my name is Mary Willkomm. I'm a real estate broker as well as a Florida building contractor. So I have been involved with this lot since my daughter purchased it in 2021. And so -- and then if we could -- excuse me. If we could go to the first slide. MR. SUMMERS: Just give me one second, sorry. MS. WILLKOM: That's okay. I'll continue, because it's really not -- the slides are really not important. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. And also I want to mention before you start, like, if I look away or I'm writing, I'm writing notes. I'm listening. But I don't want to offend anybody. If you think I'm not listening, I'm writing notes. MS. WILLKOM: Okay. Not an issue. My daughter is requesting a variance only for the setback on the side of an abandoned road right-of-way that is adjacent to her lot. The right-of-way can never by developed into a street, as the other half of the right-of-way was vacated over 25 years ago. Even though my daughter's property will never be on a corner, it can't possibly be on a corner, it is being classified as a corner lot, which has a April 10, 2025 P a g e 9 | 31 more restrictive side setback than an interior lot, thereby preventing the home we designed for her lot to fit on her property. And I'll -- we'll go ahead with the slides now. MR. SUMMERS: I'm sorry. It's hiding from me. I'm trying. MS. WILLKOM: No problem. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So while they're doing that -- so this is interesting. So did you say that the -- I guess the west side of the vacated right-of-way -- is all of this right-of-way still county right-of-way? MS. WILLKOM: It is. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: It is. MS. WILLKOM: When I first called about the right-of-way -- because I didn't know what the lot was, and I'll go into that -- nobody could even tell me who owned it. There was no property ID number. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MS. WILLKOM: I couldn't figure out who owned it. And so I called several people, and finally David Anthony went back to the original plat of the development and found out that there was a right-of-way there going from Michigan Avenue to Cypress Woods. The one on Cypress Woods was vacated in 2000, and it's been vacated, and that lot -- the other half is still there and it's still on a plat and it's still on the county maps as a right-of-way even though it's only half a right-of-way, so it can't possibly be a street. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MS. WILLKOM: Okay. So -- and then the aerials will show it to you, because you can even see -- I even April 10, 2025 P a g e 10 | 31 talked -- after I found out that they were doing this -- I'll show you when the slides come up. Because you can see that the other half of the right-of-way has since been re-platted. It was vacated, given to the owners on either side, and then several properties were put together, and they split it into a number of properties. So if you look at the half of the right-of-way that is next to my daughter's lot, it doesn't even line up with the other side. There's two homes that have been constructed on either side, and then the part that's vacated that's on Cypress, I don't believe, as of today, that they've started construction. But there's mounds of fill dirt, there's a dumpster, and it's in between two new homes that were constructed, and now it's just waiting for construction. But you can see from the aerials, which is the reason I wanted to show them to you. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MS. WILLKOM: You can see it doesn't even line up. It's re-platted, private owners. The county has not owned it for 25 years. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. How we doing over there? MR. SUMMERS: I have the PowerPoint. It's just going to a screen that I can't find, so I just need one more minute. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: While he's doing that, I can address a question to the county, if I could. Is there a reason why the county's hanging onto this area? There is. Shaking your head yes. MR. SAMMON: The county transportation has kept it for water management purposes. April 10, 2025 P a g e 11 | 31 HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Water management purposes. Okay. That makes sense to me. Thank you. So what I'm looking at -- I'm looking at the aerial that's in the staff report, and it's on Page -- I guess it's 8 of 232, according to the packet. But it seems as though all of the lots along the southern side of Michigan Avenue seem to be pretty congruent in terms of, like, their width. MS. WILLKOM: That's right. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: And they seem to all be the same except for what -- I think what you were getting at is that you go south to Cypress Woods Drive, and the lots are definitely wider. MS. WILLKOM: Well, that's because they took the other half of the right-of-way that was vacated. And, of course, it was the same width as the half, of course, on my daughter's side. And they combined it with other lots and made all of them larger. So that's why. But in other words, when it was originally vacated -- it was started in 1999 and finished in 2000 -- it was the same width. And I think at that point it had already been -- they had not -- they decided they had never planned on putting a street there. The plat was originally done in 1955. Nothing had ever been done with it. And so I think they had already decided to vacate that -- I mean, to not utilize it as a street. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Well, yeah. I see the plat -- I mean, I see a part of the plat that's in the staff report, and I understand that. I mean, this is back in the time when single-family homes were smaller. MS. WILLKOM: Right. April 10, 2025 P a g e 12 | 31 HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Especially in Naples because a lot of them were just, you know, beach houses and stuff like that. MS. WILLKOM: Right. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So Second Avenue. Do you feel you need these slides, or can you -- MS. WILLKOM: Not really. It's just if somebody wanted to see it. You can see it. I didn't know if anybody here wanted to see that clearly the other half is vacated. I feel fine proceeding without it if you want to. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. So one thing -- one thing you have already, we already know staff's recommending approval, so they're professional planners and they're recommending approval. I assume that you're in agreement with their recommendation. MS. WILLKOM: Of course. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MS. WILLKOM: I -- excuse me. I'm sorry. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Go ahead. And so the request has to do with, I guess, a new build, right? MS. WILLKOM: That's correct. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So tell me about that, the need for that. MS. WILLKOM: Well, this is what happened. And I'll just go ahead, and if you have questions, if you need anything, we'll go ahead. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Go ahead. MS. WILLKOM: So basically, my daughter is asking -- requesting a variance only on the side setback by the right-of-way. Nothing else. And it's adjacent to her lot, April 10, 2025 P a g e 13 | 31 as you know. The right-of-way can never be developed into a street, as I explained, but it's still being classified as a corner lot because, technically, it's on a right-of-way. So -- but I want to give a little bit of the history so everybody knows I did my due diligence. I'm very thorough, and I try to do everything to protect people. And so I thought I did everything I needed to do. And basically, the first three slides just show aerials which you can see that the other half of the right-of-way -- there we go. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: There we go. MS. WILLKOM: Okay. See the -- if you can see the street and how it dead-ends on Michigan Avenue, and if you look, the circle is around 1200 Michigan. That's my daughter's property. And the green grass is the -- is the right-of-way where it was supposed to go through Michigan and then to Cypress Woods. And what's a little bit confusing about this, just so you know, is when you stand in front of the lot and take a picture, it's the reverse of this. So the right-of-way's on the right. But this map -- the Property Appraiser map does it on the north so it's a flip. So you can see -- see how the other half where you can see the dirt? That was the extension of that right-of-way. That green grass went through to Cypress Woods. You see brand-new homes on either side. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yes. MS. WILLKOM: They took, I think, maybe four lots and mixed them together with the right-of-way and re-subdivided them. I even talked to the county surveyor, and, you know, it's been re-platted. It's owned by private individuals and has been owned by private individuals for April 10, 2025 P a g e 14 | 31 25 years. So the county no longer owns that, and they re-platted it to bigger lots. So they took the right-of-way, mixed it with the neighbors next door, took other properties, and have re-platted all of them. So, clearly, that green area can never go through Cypress Woods because that's owned by a private owner. Okay. Then the next slide is just a closer-up view from the Property Appraiser. And again, it's the same thing. It just Zooms in. So next slide. Now, this is my daughter's picture, and as you can see, the right-of-way now is on the right instead of the left because this is standing in front of it, and it's looking south instead of looking the other way. So it's -- but the right-of-way -- and if you look at the signs on the property -- there were two things that I did. And you see the signs on the property. They have yellow signs and "no trespassing" and all this. The one with the water in it is the county property, the right-of-way, and the one on the left with the green grass is my daughter's land -- my daughter's property. So if you go to the next slide, this is a history of the property before and after its purchase. And the appropriate due diligence -- I did everything I thought I could to make sure my daughter knew what she was purchasing. Number one, I called the county Zoning staff for the lot setbacks, and I was told 25-foot front, 20-foot rear, and seven and a half foot for the sides, which is actually the zoning setbacks for an interior lot. I even went into a discussion with the person about, "Well, what if it's a April 10, 2025 P a g e 15 | 31 multistory home?" Because it used to be in some areas that if you had a two-story home, the setbacks were different than a one-story. I wanted to make sure. And she said no, the setbacks would be the same. It's seven and a half foot regardless. So we even had a conversation and, of course, we addressed specifically 1200 Michigan. It wasn't a general question; it was a very specific question. And then the second thing I did was I called county staff for clarification on the ownership of that lot that was next door to learn of its intended use. As you can see, it had all these yellow signs and arrows and "no trespassing," and it had no property ID number. So there was no way of knowing who owned it. And I actually had to call several people to find out because there was no property ID number. And David Anthony -- well, excuse me. Collier staff was very nice, went back -- they told me not to go by name -- and went back to the original plat and found out that it was originally a right-of-way and that the other half had been vacated in 2000 and was no longer owned by the county, so clearly it could never be a street. They -- county staff even worked with me to see about getting the other half next to my daughter vacated. They were kind of surprised it was still there. And so we worked together. I got all the necessary letters of no objection from the fire department, the police department, the utilities, and everybody else. And then when I went for the final thing for staff approval, the County Attorney said that he really didn't want to let go of the property because there was a major April 10, 2025 P a g e 16 | 31 infrastructure project planned for Michigan for drainage and the sewer, and they thought they could maybe use the land during that infrastructure project. And I just thought maybe they wanted to put equipment there, you know, backhoes. It's a nice place to stick things during construction, so it made sense to me. So we -- but then it ended up -- and the City of Naples -- even though this is the county, the City of Naples actually does the infrastructure improvements. So I kept contacting the City of Naples to see what the schedule was, and they said, well, you know, it hasn't been engineered yet, but, you know, we're working on it, blah, blah, blah. Well, then Ian came along, and Ian, as we all know, devastated the City of Naples, and it ended up all the infrastructure funds that were scheduled for new improvement were utilized from emergency repairs and to correct whatever they needed to do after all the devastation that was done in the city. So they were seeking grants from the federal government and the state, and every time I checked there was no progress made at that point, plus the costs had gone up, so it became more of an issue. So to advance to the next slide. Okay. Update to 2024. So finally, with the Michigan infrastructure project on an indefinite hold and knowing the county wanted to hold onto that land for sure until then, until after that was completed, my daughter just decided just to move forward with construction of the home on her lot. And so I went ahead, and we worked on finalizing the plans. And I called Zoning again, this time to ask -- you know, I know you can have a bay window, and how much April 10, 2025 P a g e 17 | 31 can it encroach? And I left a message and -- again, with Zoning staff, and I left, you know, 1200 Michigan, blah, blah, blah. And so he said, "Mary, I just want to let you know" -- he called me back -- "I researched after you called, and I think that lot may be a corner lot and will have different setbacks," because a corner lot always has more rigid setbacks on the side. Well, I nearly fainted. I'm like, "What?" I mean, the lot's only 50-foot wide. That's one of the reasons I was so careful about the setbacks. There's no way you could almost build anything. I mean, it almost makes it like for some sort of -- it just -- it's almost difficult to build any single-family home. And he said, "Well, let me talk to staff and make sure that anybody else looks at it the same way I do." And so they had conference calls, and they finally decided that it definitely was a hardship, and the only way to rectify it, since it was technically on the books as being a right-of-way still, even though everybody agreed it could never be a right-of-way, they said, "Look, we just need" -- "You just need to ask for a variance." HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yep. MS. WILLKOM: And so -- and it's only affecting the county. It's not affecting neighbors. It's only affecting the county. It's only on the county side owned property. So that's what we did, and that's what the -- and so the next -- and I want to make it as clear as I could possibly make it. My daughter is only seeking relief. She's owned this property for four years. All she wants is to put her home there, and she in no way is questioning staff originally April 10, 2025 P a g e 18 | 31 telling me seven and a half feet because, honestly, we totally understand that. It never could be a corner lot. So it makes sense that they said that, and I understand why they did that. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Well -- you tell the story perfectly. Thank you. MS. WILLKOM: Thank you. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Do you have any -- I mean, you're welcome to show me more slides if you like, but I think I understand what's going on. MS. WILLKOM: Okay. Well, it's -- HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Well, you put them together, so let's just see -- MS. WILLKOM: Well, it's fine. I'm fine with not. As long as no one has any questions and has any issues, I'm fine with just -- if you think, I've answered the questions adequately. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Well, I think what's going on here is it's kind of a binary situation. If it is -- if it has not been vacated, it's technically a right-of-way. MS. WILLKOM: Right. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: And if it has been vacated, typically -- typically, it's split in half and goes to the adjacent property owners. That's the typical law, the general law. I don't know. In case there's some local issues here. MS. WILLKOM: Historically, yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: But that hasn't happened. Obviously, they've got the stormwater apparatus in there, and it's necessary. So I mean, you ran that -- you ran that rabbit hole down. You tried to do it. I see that. And I understand the county's reasoning for it, and I April 10, 2025 P a g e 19 | 31 understand the -- you know, the infrastructure improvements are on hold. And I definitely understand the technicality. It's a legal technicality why it does meet, because it's not vacated or abandoned. It's actually why it would be considered a corner lot. It sounds -- it's one of those things that seems absurd, but it's a -- it meets the legal definition of a corner lot. So I think that you asked all the right questions, and you're at the right place because this is where you would have to come to get relief for that. They can't -- they don't -- the county planners don't have the ability to just administratively, you know, change that. Those are the codes, and that's what they have to live by. MS. WILLKOM: And I understand that because they were very nice, and they explained to me it was basically, like you said, a technicality. So this is what they told me to do. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay, okay. MS. WILLKOM: Okay. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Why don't we go to public comment -- MS. WILLKOM: Okay. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: -- if there is any, and then we'll keep going. Is there anybody signed up to speak on this matter? MR. SUMMERS: No, sir. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Anybody here in the audience to speak on this matter? (No response.) HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. I see that April 10, 2025 P a g e 20 | 31 there is a letter of support email that was provided to me, so I have that here in terms of that. So I have that. I think this is fairly straightforward. I'm glad you're here with a smile on your face because some people would probably be really annoyed. But you did, you asked all the right questions. I don't think the -- no one's at fault here. There are rules and laws that have to be maintained. And if the county just did arbitrarily -- you know, solved your problem for you administratively, they could be in a lot of -- I think you could have a lot of problems. So they're leading you down the right path, and I appreciate it. These are old -- this is an old area. I mean, it was platted a long time ago. MS. WILLKOM: Right. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So that's, again, back in the day when they didn't think houses needed to be as big as they were, so they had skinny lots and things like that. So times change, as you know. So I understand their reasoning and the justification for requesting the variances, and I see that you're -- you seem to be very equipped and knowledgeable about how to interact with government and issues of setbacks and zoning as a broker and also a building contractor, so I think your testimony is -- even though it's on behalf of your daughter, I think that your testimony would be considered expert testimony on this, and you did provide it in a meaningful way. And I'm glad you were able to be here without the services of a lawyer, because -- I like lawyers, I do. I'm a lawyer myself, but I think it's really nice that the community can interact with the Planning department and arrive at a April 10, 2025 P a g e 21 | 31 solution without an additional expense to that. So I want the community to know that you shouldn't be nervous about coming here. This is not -- you know, it's not a scary place. Just come here, and we work out -- we work it out the best we can. So I don't have anything else to ask you. Does the county have anything else that they would like to say? MR. BOSI: Nothing else from the county. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Ma'am, do you have any last words before -- MS. WILLKOM: The only thing I want to say is that the staff county from day one has been incredibly helpful. I'm not supposed to mention Sean -- I mean, I'm not supposed to mention names because they might change. But from Zoning, from every -- from -- you know, from Planning, from everything, I mean, they've been as nice as they could be under a really tough situation. But -- you know, so it made my life a lot easier because at least I felt they were trying to help me do what I needed to do, and it was -- I can't even say how appreciated it has been, so... HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Well, I'm sure that the County Manager would love to hear a nice letter from you about that. MS. WILLKOM: I will, actually. I will definitely send one, and I will use names when I send it. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. I know it's a difficult process to get here. It's expensive, and -- but this is -- this is why they set up the Hearing Examiner's Office to try to, like, not make you go to the Planning April 10, 2025 P a g e 22 | 31 Commission on -- for that and then the Board of County Commissioners on things that can be handled at this level. So I have plenty of information here. I have the whole record. I will end it here, and I will tell you that I'll get a decision out as quickly as possible. So thank you for being here. MS. WILLKOM: Thank you. I appreciate it more than you know. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: All right. ***Okay, great. So let's go to the next item. Let's see how you do. MR. BROWN: All right. Good afternoon, Mr. Dickman. For the record Craig Brown, Environmental Services manager for the Department of Development Review. ***The agenda item before you is Item 3B. This is for a CCSL variance project. Permit number is PL20240011048. This is a request for a variance from the Land Development Code Section 9.04.06 to allow construction of a beach dune walkover fence and gate approximately 95 feet beyond the Coastal Construction Setback Line and the relocation of a 157-square-foot paver walkway approximately 70 feet beyond the CCSL line and the addition of 39 square feet of pavers approximately 61 feet beyond the Coastal Construction Setback Line. This is -- this petition is located at 9051 Gulf Shore Drive also known as the Beachmoor Condominium in Section three two -- 32, Township 48 South, Range 25 East, Collier County, Florida. The petition was reviewed by staff, and I'm reviewing the criteria of Section 9.04.06, A through G. Staff believes April 10, 2025 P a g e 23 | 31 that the petition is consistent with the criteria of the LDC as well as the Growth Management Plan. For public notice requirements, the public hearing signs were placed by the agent, Grady Minor -- Minor on Tuesday, February 18th, 2025. The property owner notification letters were sent out on Friday, February 21st, 2025, and the newspaper ad was taken care of on Wednesday, March 19th, 2025. I received 20 calls and one email. Most of them were just general inquiries about the request and what's being proposed. Staff recommends approval of the request with conditions. And I have a packet of information that was not uploaded in the original packet -- HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. BROWN: -- that I'd like to present to you so that you have it for the record. It's an affidavit of compliance that -- for the letters that went out, for the record. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yeah. If you could just provide that to me when you're finished. MR. BROWN: Okay. Everything I've provided I'm -- that's concludes my presentation, if you have any questions. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Nice job. I don't know that -- have I -- have you been in front of me before? I don't think I've met -- MR. BROWN: Yeah. I've been here a few times. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. BROWN: I've had a few. We don't get them that often, but when they do, I always present them. April 10, 2025 P a g e 24 | 31 HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Oh, you're the 3CL guy? MR. BROWN: Yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Gotcha. This is one of those ones where you get a lot of government acronyms, so... MR. BROWN: Absolutely. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Nice job. I don't have any questions. If I could have those documents, though, that would be great. MR. BROWN: Okay. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: And stick around, if you don't mind. You might get a cookie. Is the applicant or applicant's representative here? I had a feeling. Welcome. MR. MORRIS: Thank you. Good afternoon. For the record, David Morris, Grady Minor & Associates. I represent the applicant. Next slide, please. Just kind of an introduction. Like I said, my name is David Morris. I'm an engineer with Grady Minor, project manager. I'm representing our client, the applicant, the Beachmoor Condominiums. Tony Pires works closely with them. I don't know if you -- you might -- probably know Tony. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Could you just speak a little -- MR. MORRIS: Oh, yeah. Sorry. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yeah. Move that around. MR. MORRIS: So, yeah. That's the project team up April 10, 2025 P a g e 25 | 31 there. I was saying Tony Pires worked really closely with me. He's also worked for the Beachmoor on this one. Next slide, please. As Craig mentioned, the location, obviously right on the coast there right at the end of Vanderbilt just off Gulf Shore. You've got the Gulf of America now they call it, I think, there on the west side, right on the beach. Next slide, please. Overall project area, it's about .65 acres. I'm sure after reviewing the hearing packet, the scope of the project entails a lot more than what we're talking -- what we're here for today. We're specifically talking about the scope of the project that's seaward off the CCSL line, which, as Craig mentioned, is, you know, the addition of six linear feet on each side of the previously permitted man gate and dune walkover. You can see that up on the top of the layout up there. And then relocation of some existing pavers just to line up with the new walkover. So there's some pavers out there. We're pretty much relocating those further to the south, about 10 feet, so... And then the third thing is just the addition of some additional pavers there on the north side. You can see that gray area, just a lot better access for foot traffic for parking to the walkway there, so -- it matches what's on the south side already. So we're just pretty much here today to ask for a variance to allow for the construction of those improvements. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. That's it? April 10, 2025 P a g e 26 | 31 MR. MORRIS: Next slide. Yeah, that's pretty much it. So in conclusion, you know, the project is consistent with the Collier County Site Development standards; proposing, pursuant to staff, no adverse impacts on neighbors. We think it will help out with -- ever since Hurricane Ian, they found issues with beach patrons coming onto private property, so hence the gate and the fence. We appreciate you hearing us today. Any questions you might have? HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yeah, I do. I just want to make sure that you're aware of the A through G standard conditions, and the site-specific conditions are H through J in the staff report. MR. MORRIS: Okay. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Have you seen all those? MR. MORRIS: I believe so. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: I just want to make sure you're aware of them, you're in concurrence with them. It has a lot to do with dune renourishment. MR. MORRIS: Oh, yes, yes, yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Gopher tortoises. There's a whole bunch of stuff in here -- MR. MORRIS: Correct. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: -- dealing with the shoreline that's very important. I do have a question. It may not be for you. Maybe better off directed to the county at least to start with, and this is on Standard Condition G. It says, "Minor revisions to this variance approval, including changes in siting and April 10, 2025 P a g e 27 | 31 structures, may be approved in writing by the County Manager or their designee," which means administrative approval. So I need to know a little bit more about how you-all, for the record, are going to define minor versus major. MR. BROWN: For the record, Craig Brown. What tends to happen in some of these scenarios is they'll have a plan to illustrate plants, say native plants, and as they move forward, they try to change the planting pallet. And in those instances, we try to address that administratively versus trying to come through the -- you know, the hearing process. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. BROWN: So that would constitute a minor change. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Would a change to any of these conditions constitute a minor or major change? Like, you wouldn't be able to delete a condition? MR. BROWN: Typically, no. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. All right. And I was just trying to make sure that this is all on the record so it's clear. You know, ‘minor’ to me might be different for someone else. But I assume that what you're talking about is, like, very small, de minimis changes that may need to take place as this project -- I know this building, badly damaged, like a lot of buildings along the coastline. So I think that there -- I think there's a definition for substantial and non-substantial, and so I guess I'm looking at April 10, 2025 P a g e 28 | 31 it kind of like that. Like anything that's not -- you know, not substantial is insubstantial. So I'm just considering that these are going to be de minimis things and not, like, changes in the distance of the setback, things like that, because that's what we're really here for, right? MR. BOSI: Correct. That would be a fair characterization of what the de minimis "minor" would be. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. So we got that on the record. That's all. MR. MORRIS: Appreciate it. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: All right. Let's go to public comment. Anybody here to speak at all? MR. SUMMERS: No slips and no registered speakers. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. All right. Do you want rebut that? MR. MORRIS: I'm good. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Good answer. "No" is the answer. All right. I certainly hope you-all can get this property up and running again. I know there's a lot of activity on that corner right across the street, and that is a major public beach as well, You know, the public doesn't have a lot of beach access. There's Wiggins, and then there's this area, and then this area has a lot of -- a lot of activity happening on it. So I feel for a lot of the buildings and the houses that were along that shoreline that didn't fare too well, but I'm glad that they're making -- taking steps to do this. And it's -- also I'm really glad to see that the county did a really, really good job of addressing the environmental part about this. The dunes and things like that are so important, April 10, 2025 P a g e 29 | 31 especially when they're vegetated, they hold, they do help a lot with surge, like storm surge. So I'm glad that there's a lot of language in here for that, so that's going to help in the future for all of us. So unless you have anything else, I -- you did a nice job. Thank you, and thank you, the county, for answering my questions. And, Craig, thank you for being the CCCL, or Coastal Construction Control Line. We'll say that loudly. Setback, all that. So good. I understand this very well. I'm glad the county's handling it this way. I will get a decision out as quickly as I can, and I will be on it. MR. MORRIS: Thank you so much. Appreciate it. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Do you want to -- yeah, I'd like those papers, and I would like to offer you a cookie. MR. MORRIS: Thank you. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: I appreciate it. Nice job. Anything else we have to talk about? MR. BOSI: Nothing other than there are no advertised public hearings at the April 24th HEX hearing, so we will pick it back up on the May 8th -- HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. BOSI: -- with petitions, but there has been -- nothing fell on this -- to place for the 24th, so we're requesting that the HEX allow us to cancel. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Officially cancel that. And if anything shows up, you'll move it into April 10, 2025 P a g e 30 | 31 the next meeting? MR. BOSI: Correct. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. That's fine with me. Thank you for -- everyone for setting up this room. I think it's much better. The acoustics, the cameras, everything is really good. Thank you very much. I appreciate everyone being here. Have a lovely day. Have a lovely weekend. We're adjourned. ******* There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Hearing Examiner at 2:46 p.m. COLLIER COUNTY HEARING EXAMINER _______________________________ ANDREW DICKMAN, HEARING EXAMINER These minutes approved by the Hearing Examiner on ___, as presented ___ or as corrected __. April 10, 2025 P a g e 31 | 31 TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF FORT MYERS COURT REPORTING, BY TERRI L. LEWIS, REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL REPORTER, FPR-C, AND NOTARY PUBLIC.