Agenda 06/24/2025 Item #16K6 (Report to Board on issues raised by Mr. Dan Schmidt during the Public Comment portion of the Board’s June 10, 2025, meeting)6/24/2025
Item # 16.K.6
ID# 2025-2214
Executive Summary
Report to Board on issues raised by Mr. Dan Schmidt during the Public Comment portion of the Board’s June 10, 2025,
meeting.
OBJECTIVE: To respond to the Board as directed to the issues raised by Mr. Dan Schmitt.
CONSIDERATIONS:
This is a long-standing issue between Mr. Schmidt and with Staff and this Office.
Dan Schmidt is an operator of a sober home located at 2355 Heritage Trail in Collier County. He also owns
property at 6158 Sea Grass Lane. Currently, Mr. Schmidt is a Respondent to various open Code Enforcement
violations at his properties. At 6158 Sea Grass Lane, there are two open Code cases:
1. CESD20250000741 for unpermitted/uninspected construction and/or renovations. The Collier County Special
Magistrate, on May 2, 2025, concluded that Mr. Schmidt was in violation of the LDC and, consequently, fines continue
to accrue until the violations are abated. To date, no permits have been applied for in this regard.
2. Case CEAU20250005105 is for unpermitted fencing for which a permit was ultimately applied for, but the permit is in
rejected status. There was also a closed Code case for 6158 Sea Grass Lane, CELU20250000600, since Mr. Schmidt
was advertising a spa business at the property on an internet website; once Mr. Schmidt removed mention of the spa
business from the website, that case was closed by Code.
Mr. Schmidt wishes to operate Sober Homes with no limitations on the number of residents under the
argument that he needs a reasonable accommodation.
2355 Heritage Trail is zoned Rural Agricultural Zoning District. In keeping with State Law, under the Rural
Agricultural zoning district, a family care unit is a permitted use which allows up to “6 persons under care,
plus staff as required by rule 59A-36.010, F.A.C., and constituting a single dwelling unit (i.e., adult congregate
living facility for: aged persons; developmentally disabled persons; physically disabled or handicapped
persons; mentally ill persons; and persons recovering from alcohol and/or drug abuse.”). State Law provides
in Section 419.001(2), that “Homes of six or fewer residents which otherwise meet the definition of a
community residential home shall be allowed in single-family or multifamily zoning without approval by the
local government, provided that such homes are not located within a radius of 1,000 feet of another existing
such home with six or fewer residents or within a radius of 1,200 feet of another existing community
residential home.”
Staff have advised Mr. Schmidt that if he wants more than six residents, under the Rural Agricultural zoning
district, he could apply for a conditional use for a category I or II, Group Care Facility, which allows 7 to 14
persons. Per the Land Development Code, a group care facility is: “A type of facility, which provides a living
environment for 7 to 14 persons under care who operate as the functional equivalent of a family, including
such supervision and care by supportive staff as may be necessary to meet the physical, emotional, and social
needs of the residents.”
Mr. Schmidt apparently does not want to go through this Public Process. Instead, he wants the County to
implement a stand-alone reasonable accommodation procedure so that sober home residents and/or operators
can seek such accommodations without going through the typical land use process. Mr. Schmidt typically
cites to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida case of Jeffrey O. et al.v. City of
Boca Raton, 511 F. Supp. 2d 1339 (SDFL 2007) wherein the City of Boca Raton was ordered by the Court,
after a bench trial on multiple Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Fair Housing Act (FHA) issues, to
pass a reasonable accommodation procedure so that the sober home residents and/or operators could seek an
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6/24/2025
Item # 16.K.6
ID# 2025-2214
expedited process to, among other things, house more than three (3) sober home residents (the maximum
number of residents permitted by Boca’s ordinance). I do not believe this case impacts this matter, as we
already have a process in place.
Coincidentally, Senate Bill 954 (2025) requires every Florida county and municipality, prior to January 1,
2026, to adopt for certified recovery residences “an ordinance which must include a process for requesting
reasonable accommodations from any local land use regulation….” If this Bill is signed by the Governor,
Staff would prepare the required Ordinance, and the Board could then weigh in on its terms. Mr. Schmidt
would then presumably have an avenue to pursue.
FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact associated with this item.
GROWTH MANAGEMENT IMPACT: There is no growth management impact associated with this item.
LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS: This item has been prepared by the County Attorney, is approved as to form and
legality and requires majority vote for acceptance of the report. -JAK
RECOMMENDATIONS: That the Board of County Commissioners accept this report.
PREPARED BY: Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney
ATTACHMENTS:
None
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