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HEX Minutes 08/14/2025August 14, 2025 Page 1 TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE COLLIER COUNTY HEARING EXAMINER Naples, Florida, August 14, 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 1:00 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 John Kelly, Planner III Nancy Gundlach, Planner III Ailyn Padron, Management Analyst I August 14, 2025 Page 2 HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Andrew Dickman. I'm the Hearing Examiner for Collier County, and it is 1 p.m., and it's August 14th. This is the Collier County Hearing Examiner meeting. And we have an agenda in front of us. The first item is Pledge of Allegiance. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. (The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.) HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. As I said, my name is Andrew Dickman. I'm a Florida Bar attorney. I've been practicing law for over 20 years specifically in the area of local government, land use, zoning, environmental law. My -- I am not a county employee. I was contracted by the Board of County Commissioners to fulfill the duties that are prescribed in the County ordinances for the Hearing Examiner. My job is to conduct a quasi-judicial hearing for the items that are on the agenda today and to, within 30 days, render a written decision. I will not be making any decisions here today. I take everything back that I have -- that I've heard here today or that has been submitted here today at this hearing in addition to all the documents that are in the record already that have been made available to the public that I've read. I've been through them. That is, essentially, the record after the hearing today. I will review everything. I will review it all against the criteria that's in the code for the particular item, and I will render a decision. I have up to 30 days. Typically I can do that faster than that, and it will be emailed out to the County, the applicant, and other parties. The process that we follow here is I ask the County to please introduce the item, give me a little overview of their analysis, their recommendations, any conditions that they may have, and then we'll go to the applicant or the applicant's representative at the podium over here to my left. And the -- then after that, we will open it up for August 14, 2025 Page 3 public comment. This is an in-person meeting as well as a virtual meeting. So there might be people that attend via Zoom. If anyone is here in the room that is going to be a public speaker, please fill out a speaker's card and give it to the young lady over here. And once we've finished with the public speaking portion of the hearing, I will -- I will give time to the applicant, if necessary, for rebuttal. I may ask questions during the process. This is an informal hearing. It's not -- I do not want anyone to be nervous about speaking here. The purpose of all this is for me to ask any additional questions. First to get the record out, to have everything on the record, and then also for me to ask questions, if I have any, based on -- after reviewing all the documents that are here. As far as outside communications, I have had none with the County staff who are here to my right. I do not typically have meetings with county staff about any particular substantive matter, nor do I have meetings with applicants or even the public about any particular substantive issue on an application. I do my very, very, very best to be here as an impartial decision-maker so that when I hear the arguments here I come here with just the knowledge that is provided to me by all of the documentation that's in the record that's available to everybody else. So with that, anyone who is going to testify here today must do so under oath. As you see, we have a court reporter here who is going to take down verbatim transcripts of everything, so we want to make sure that we do not speak over each other. Try to speak as clearly as possible so that we have a clean and clear record. And then with that, I am going to ask her to swear in anyone here who is going to testify on anything on the agenda. So please rise, raise your right hand, and she'll administer the oath. THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear or affirm the August 14, 2025 Page 4 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, everyone. I appreciate that. That's probably about the most formal part of this hearing. So I want everyone to relax. This is, as I said, a very different forum than perhaps at the County Commission or the Planning Commission, much smaller venue, and we try to keep it civil and friendly but professional at the same time. So with that, let's move to the first item. That's Item 3A. MS. GUNDLACH: Good afternoon. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Got to go green. MS. GUNDLACH: Okay. Good afternoon, Mr. Hearing Examiner. I'm Nancy Gundlach, Planner III with the zoning department. And before you today is Agenda Item 3A, First Haitian Baptist Daycare Conditional Use. And this is a request for a childcare center use at an existing church, and it's located on a 4.49-acre property at 14600 Tamiami East -- Tamiami Trail East. And the petition was reviewed by staff based upon the review criteria contained within LDC Section 2.03.01.A.1.C.11 for a childcare center conditional use in the agricultural district. Staff finds this petition is consistent with the review criteria in the Land Development Code as well as within the Growth Management Plan. With respect to notice compliance, they were complied with as per LDC Section 10.03.06.H. The property owner notification letter and newspaper ad were published by Collier County on Friday, July 28th, 2025, and the public hearing signs were posted on July 22nd, 2025. August 14, 2025 Page 5 And staff is recommending that the Collier County Hearing Examiner make a determination of approval subject to the following conditions of approval. And I'm happy to read through them for you, Mr. Hearing Examiner, or we have a PowerPoint presentation from the agent where you'll have a visual -- HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MS. GUNDLACH: -- that will show all of the conditions as well as some tweaks to the current conditions. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yes. That's what I wanted to ask before you sit down -- MS. GUNDLACH: Okay. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: -- is I have a list here of nine conditions, and there's strike-through and underline. Is that going to be addressed by the applicant? MS. GUNDLACH: Yes. He has that in his presentation. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. I wanted to make sure why I was looking at that. Okay, good. We can -- I'll defer to the applicant to present that if you'd like. MS. GUNDLACH: Okay. And I've verified that they're correct, so... HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay, great. Thank you. Awesome. I have them right in front of me. MS. GUNDLACH: And so with that, if there's no questions, it concludes staff's summary. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Awesome job. No questions at this moment. Don't go anywhere, though. All right. Is the applicant here? MS. GUNDLACH: Do you go -- he goes there, okay. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yep. You've got to press the button. MR. WHITE: Well, good afternoon, everyone. I'm Ryan August 14, 2025 Page 6 White, I'm a professional engineer with Davidson Engineering, and I'm the consultant representing First Haitian Baptist Church for this church to amend the -- or to add the daycare use to their conditional use. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Gotcha. Okay. MR. WHITE: And at the end of the presentation, if you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Thank you. MR. WHITE: Who we also have in attendance here is Pastor Pierre Merone if you -- he would be able to get up. If you had any questions, he would be able to answer. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Very good. Thank you. MR. WHITE: Who's doing the advance the -- okay. Well, the current church site is located on the East Trail at 14600 Tamiami Trail East. It's approximately three miles east of 951/U.S. 41 intersection. And the next slide. Since it is an ag property and it was rezoned in 19 -- under Resolution 93-190 and then was later amended for an expansion in 10 -- under Resolution 10-04 to add approximately a 20,000-square-foot additional building to the site. But at that time, we didn't -- 41 was only two lanes there, so we didn't expand the use to include the daycare use now. All right. And then you can see the compatibility. The church is surrounded on three sides by Charlee Estates. It's a single-family residential home development with a water management lake on the east side, and then across the street it's a C-2 rezoned property that was just recently approved with a conditional use to allow an 800-seat church on 9.3 acres. So we feel that the proposed addition of the childcare is, you know, compatible with the surrounding uses and that it wouldn't August 14, 2025 Page 7 have any negative impact on the neighborhood. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. So this is really just to add the daycare component; is that correct? MR. WHITE: Yeah. The building was already designed and built to have daycare. They've just been using it for Sunday school classrooms, and it's still a partly shell building. They haven't done all the tenant improvements. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. WHITE: So they're just putting in the daycare now, allowing it, and then we'll have to come back in and do a site plan amendment to add the daycare use to the site as well. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Correct. Okay. MR. WHITE: And then the only site modification proposed would be to add a playground for the daycare. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. WHITE: So here's the -- I guess the next slide we get into the proposed conditional uses of approval. There were several that were before -- from the previous conditional use, and we're just showing ones that are proposed to be modified -- HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Let me just -- MR. WHITE: -- or added. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: -- let's go one by one, because I want to make sure I'm looking at what's up there. So the first one is just a change to the date; is that correct? MR. WHITE: Correct, yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. The second one is adding "and daycare" -- "Bible study and daycare," striking "daycare uses are prohibited," right? MR. WHITE: Correct. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Doing that. Number 3 is just changing the hours of operation; is that correct? August 14, 2025 Page 8 MR. WHITE: Correct. Allow it to open a little earlier for the daycare drop-off. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: No overnight stays or overnight parking outside permitted, right? MR. WHITE: Correct. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. That seems to be it, right? MR. WHITE: No. And then you -- can we go to -- No. 11 is the ones -- the underlined ones that were added. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Gotcha. Okay. Sorry. I didn't see that. MR. WHITE: And then this speaks to the maximum amount of trips based on the number of students in the existing church, limiting -- HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yep, yep, okay. MR. WHITE: And that's -- No. 11 and 12 are both about the existing trips, capping them, and then proposed trips, that would be for the daycare. That was coordinated with county staff. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. All right. Does this have -- I know sometimes you have to have special permission to have cooking on site. Is it -- does it include that? MR. WHITE: When you did the previous building expansion, they put a kitchen, a commercial kitchen in there, and they have, like, a banquet hall that they can use for different types of events or do weddings, and so they could have a venue there. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So that's previously approved. MR. WHITE: The daycare's going to utilize the existing kitchen and the dining room that they have for the stove. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Got it. Understood. Okay. And that's it? August 14, 2025 Page 9 MR. WHITE: That was it. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: All right. MR. WHITE: And then the other slides, it just shows you, like, what we anticipate the playground would be with a little fence around it. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So this is an example of what it might look like? MR. WHITE: Example, yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Not what it -- MR. WHITE: Yeah. Just a little playground, possibly a shade structure and a fence. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. WHITE: And we're going to keep it away as far as possible on the site as from the residential neighborhood. It's going to be -- the existing building will provide a buffer, and then there's also a 6-foot masonry wall around the site as well. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Right. And this is going to be done through site plan approval process, right -- MR. WHITE: Correct. After we -- HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: -- after you go through this process? MR. WHITE: -- achieve this process, then we can go on to the site update. Go to the next slide, please. And this is just showing -- it kind of is hard to see, but the green outline would be the unit -- or the classrooms, and the building portions of the building that would be utilized for the daycare. There's also -- some of the rooms will stay for Sunday school classrooms, and then at the bottom right is the offices, and next to it is the kitchen, and then you can see the big banquet hall or dining room. August 14, 2025 Page 10 HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Gotcha, okay. MR. WHITE: Next slide. And this -- it didn't show up that way. So you can see, where -- the green building there is the newer addition that we added, and then that's where this daycare will be at. We'll be -- utilize that building. And then we're showing you that, you know, if they have drop-off, there's going to be sufficient stacking for parents to come in and stack on site if they need to, and there's also more than sufficient number of parking that's on the site existing that's more than what is needed for that church and for the daycare. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. WHITE: That's about it. I'll just show you there -- it didn't show up, but on the bottom right, just in front of the building, the two existing buildings is where the playground's going to be in the front. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: This will be right in here? MR. WHITE: Correct, yeah. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. WHITE: And then that will all be permitted during the site development process. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Yep, yep. Let me just look at this. Quick question: I notice you mentioned that I think recently there was a church across on the other -- on the north side of Tamiami Trail, right, that was recently approved? MR. WHITE: Yeah. If you go back. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yeah. And I'm just wondering where there -- I see you're showing U-turn lanes and things like that. MR. WHITE: Yeah. There is an existing left- and right-turn lane into the property as it speaks. August 14, 2025 Page 11 HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yeah, right here. MR. WHITE: Yeah. There's -- 41 was expanded, and the church has a left- and right-in. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Do we have any idea what's happening with this -- they're going to utilize this roadway? I was just wondering about conflict. MR. WHITE: I didn't know if they gave them access off of 41 or they're going to make them go down the side road for access. I'm not sure what -- HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. All right. MR. WHITE: I just know it was -- it was permitted for a conditional use for an 800-seat church. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. All right. MR. WHITE: And I think we're at 345 seats, but we weren't expanding. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So you're left-in and -- right. Okay. So pulling out, just out of curiosity. So pulling out, they're going to go down this way? MR. WHITE: And then do a U-turn. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: U-turn and come back this way, right? MR. WHITE: Correct. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Well, it may be a little - a little -- if both churches get out at the same time, it could be... MR. WHITE: Oh, yeah. Usually Sunday -- at least the road's not as busy on Sunday as with normal peak-hour traffic. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Very true. Very true. Very true. Let's go to public comment. Do you have anything else? Were you finished? August 14, 2025 Page 12 MR. WHITE: That was it, unless you have any questions. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: No, not yet. No. Let's see if there's anyone here signed up to speak. MS. PADRON: We have no speakers registered. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: No speakers registered, okay. Yes, this is pretty straightforward. I understand exactly what you're trying to do. Thank you for clarifying the 15 total conditions, right? MR. WHITE: Correct. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: With the underline/strike-through. I think I have the same ones. I do not have any other questions other than the fact that I assume that that's your bright orange SUV out there with "Davidson Engineering" on it, right? MR. WHITE: Oh, yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Very noticeable. Nice job. I have no other questions. Does the County have anything that they need to clarify, or are we set to go? MR. BOSI: Nothing further from the County. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay, great. Great job, thank you. And thank you, Nancy. Appreciate it. Well done. I'll get a decision out as quickly as possible. MR. WHITE: All right. Thank you, everyone. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: All right. We're going on to 3B at this point, right? MR. KELLY: Good afternoon, Mr. Dickman. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Hi, John. August 14, 2025 Page 13 MR. KELLY: For the record, John Kelly, Planner III. Before you is Agenda Item 3B. It's a variance petition, PL20240009438. It's a request to have the Hearing Examiner consider a variance from the 5-foot rear yard setback for accessory structures, including pools, for single-family dwelling units located within Development Tract R1 of the Bretonne Park Planned Unit Development as per Ordinance 87-15, as amended, to allow for the expansion of an existing screen pool enclosure to be located two feet from the western or rear property line. The subject property is located at 6745 Harwich Court at the southwest corner of Glen Eagle Boulevard West and Harwich Court and is legally described as Lot 25, Block M, Embassy Woods Golf and Country Club at Bretonne Park Subdivision, Phase 1, in Section 5, Township 50 South, Range 26 East, of unincorporated Collier County, Florida. Again, it's located within the Bretonne Park Planned Unit Development. Public notice requirements were as per LDC Section 10.03.06.F.2. The agent letter was sent by the applicant on or about June 26th, 2025, as per a notarized affidavit. The property owner notification letter and the Clerk's posting were effected by the County on July 25, 2025, and a public hearing sign was posted -- actually two signs were posted by myself on July 29, 2025, one sign on each road frontage. This petition was reviewed by staff based on review criteria contained within LDC Section 9.04.03 and is consistent with the Growth Management Plan and the Land Development Code with the findings documented within the staff report. Approximately five telephone calls were received in response to advertising for this project. Once the project was explained, all seemed to be somewhat relieved, and no opposition was recognized. Staff also notes that the applicant provided three letters of no August 14, 2025 Page 14 objection which are contained within Attachment F. Staff recommends that the Hearing Examiner approve Petition PL20240005662 -- I'm sorry. That is the wrong number. It's 20240009438 -- to reduce the 5-foot accessory structure setback for single-family dwellings within the R1 development area to two feet to allow for the expansion of the pool deck and pool screen enclosure for the subject property as depicted within Attachment A. And that concludes staff's summary, and Mr. Flynn, the property owner, is here to represent himself. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: One second, John. So I have a -- I have a note here that says "revised." Was the staff report revised and -- MR. KELLY: The wrong staff report was published originally. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay, okay. I just wanted to make sure I was looking at the -- I didn't know if there was some particular thing that you -- got it. So I'm looking at the right one? MR. KELLY: No. The people that manage CivicPlus had the wrong staff report initially. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yes. CivicPlus is a -- is a problem. Gotcha. Okay. Thank you. I didn't know if some terminology had changed in here, but, okay. So Katie is just giving me a note here saying it's revised, so... Thank you. How are you, sir? MR. FLYNN: I'm doing great, thank you. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Welcome. MR. FLYNN: Thanks to John for fixing the report, because I had the same reaction you did. Those are not the measurements I'm working with that I'm going to come and tell people about, so... August 14, 2025 Page 15 HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Your name, please. MR. FLYNN: Frank Flynn. In the document it says Frances J. Flynn, Jr. That's my birth name. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. You're the owner? MR. FLYNN: I am the owner. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. FLYNN: With my wife. So we bought the home two years ago. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. FLYNN: And we have, last year, been doing pretty significant remodeling inside the home. It's over a 30-year-old property. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. FLYNN: It's in the Glen Eagle Golf and Country Club development. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. FLYNN: I have a number of family members that live there, including my mom, which is why we purchased the home. And as you can see, I'm getting older. So I've got to -- I have three daughters, so we want to get the house set up so the kids can enjoy it and be with my mom and so on. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. FLYNN: So we've done the remodeling project, and in doing so, the pool was in disrepair. The pool cage is, like, original equipment. And we looked at it -- and we'll talk about the issue with the pool deck, especially for smaller children. And if we're going to repair all that, we'd like to do it in the best possible way. What I realized was there's a whole process here, but now I'm in it, and it's moving along, so I'll kind of go through and explain to you -- HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yeah. August 14, 2025 Page 16 MR. FLYNN: -- what we're intending. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. FLYNN: As John said -- please go ahead forward for me. One more, please. So we're seeking a variance to allow for the expansion of the existing pool deck and the pool screen enclosure to encroach three feet into the required 5-foot setback. And as we go through this what I'll say is we have about three feet we can go back, and then three feet into the setback will allow us to expand the deck by six feet and overall make -- at the narrowest points, make it about eight feet in total. Go ahead, please. So our property is located across from the clubhouse, as you can see there. When you enter the property to the right of that yellow arrow down past the clubhouse, you take a left, basically our home is the first one you see in the development. So we have improved the property, and people going in both directions would see our property on the corner. For the purposes of this, we have no neighbor to our right. There's a street. There's no one behind us. You can see the cul-de-sac behind us has no home either on the end or behind us. The trees that you see behind our home against the cul-de-sac are in a U.R.O.S. easement. That's sort of attached to the golf course. So no development can happen there, so we only have a neighbor on one side. Please go ahead. Just going back with the country club. As I said, there's visibility from the club and that's -- so the improvements we're making, we want to make them consistent with the community. It's important to address that. So here's the site plan of the property. You can see the pool in the back and where the rear of the property is, and there's also a August 14, 2025 Page 17 utility easement, which I'll address what we did in terms of that, what the requirements were. So, again, we want to expand that pool deck, which you can see is right pretty much against where the fence is, out six feet, of which three of those feet would go into the setback on the property. Okay. This is a side view from the street side where you can see the screen on the left. The piece that is all dirt was actually, like, a garden area for the prior homeowner, and that dirt piece is about six feet total dimension that we want to go back. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So it will come out to about here? MR. FLYNN: Pretty much out to the edge of the grass -- HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Approximately, your property line in here? MR. FLYNN: Property line is maybe, like, where that tree is on the -- in the back piece. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yeah. MR. FLYNN: So we've got a few more -- there will be -- once we put the pool deck back, there will be several feet before we get to the property line. All of that grass you see we put in ourselves when we -- on the remodeling of the home. We planted all the grass, so it does go into the -- probably -- the woman -- the prior owner was using that property, and you can see across it. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: We've come across this a couple of the times. It seems like the -- what year is this house? MR. FLYNN: 1991. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yeah. For some reason, they -- a lot of these -- they're very narrow on some sides. I've noticed we've had a few situations like that where back in that era they built them very -- there's not a lot of room to walk around them. MR. FLYNN: I would -- you know, when you see a small -- August 14, 2025 Page 18 you would say it's like an apron. This is even narrower. So if I walk on the back, you know, my shoulders are basically touching the screens. So if something goes around fast, they hit that, they're just going to bounce -- basically bounce off, so... HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: I understand. MR. FLYNN: We're trying to address that to make it safer and more usable. And I just -- this picture is good because it shows about where we want to expand to, that we've kind of -- and we'll maintain the property behind that because the association really doesn't -- hasn't come in there in the past. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: And once again, I think emphasizing that it looks like there's a very large greenery buffer between you and the cul-de-sac right there, there's no rear neighbors, but it's just a right-of-way for the neighborhood, right? MR. FLYNN: Yes. People do cut through that cul-de-sac through some bushes out onto the main street to cut across Glen Eagle. I'm not going to talk about jaywalking here, but yeah, that's -- people go through there. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: That's a whole different problem. MR. FLYNN: Yeah, different issue; not for Planning. But I think, again, this is a good rendition of what we're intending to do and that everything behind us is clear, and that U.R.O.S. easement is sort of attached to a piece of the golf course, which is well beyond us. It's a little strip. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Gotcha. Okay. MR. FLYNN: So please advance for me. So on the special conditions, we're saying, all right, this was constructed before we owned the property. We believe it is, you know, unsafe and unconventional to what you mentioned. We really can't get any use out of it. At its narrowest point, it's August 14, 2025 Page 19 26 inches. So to go from -- so roughly, again, saying the two feet. If we go back six feet, we'd have eight feet on the back side of the pool at a minimum. And we're going to make a pretty significant investment in the pool cage. So to take -- see if we can do this, it will make that investment, you know, more worthwhile and overall better use. The existing pool enclosure's quite old. It's in disrepair, has a number of holes in it. We're from Massachusetts, so this is a little different scenario. There's a lot of mosquitoes. Mosquito-borne illness is always on the news, and we're thinking about small children in the future. We want to be able to screen that out. The variance really won't affect any persons or property, as we just discussed what's behind us. There is a utility easement in the back, and we received the letters of no objection from Florida Power & Light and Blue Stream Fiber, who are the two companies operating in the environment. From an impact standpoint -- next, please -- you know, we feel like this variance, you know, it's the -- we didn't ask to go all the way back because the minimum will make a reasonable use of the land. It will leave us with an 8-foot backpiece of the pool deck, which we think will give us that ample walkway, make it a little more usable overall. And, again, it's really not going to interfere with anyone else's property in any way. The enclosure, which we just talked about, will be safer, and it's just a more contemporary appearance. So we have two lanais on the home. We put in bronze screen enclosures. Whatever we do here will be a bronze enclosure. And, again, we're right next to the Glen Eagle Boulevard, so we feel like it enhances the overall property, as the previous owner was the original owner from 1991, and the property needed some upgrading. August 14, 2025 Page 20 So that's our request, to get that variance. And then we'll go through the process with the HOA, who I've spoken to the HOA as well in terms of what we're trying to do. They've been involved in the remodeling effort that we did for all the interior work that was required and external changes that we made to the lanais, landscaping, and so on, so they're well aware of what we intend to do. And I provided these documents and other documents through the process to them ongoing. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. All right. You did this whole thing by yourself? MR. FLYNN: Yes, I did, you know, and it wasn't what I intended. But I did speak to, you know, some outside parties, some lawyers -- HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yeah. MR. FLYNN: -- and they're pretty expensive. Sort of make it maybe not a worthwhile project in terms of the total cost. So I have the fees, and, you know, I've had to pay the County, and I've got to go through a number of processes, and flew down here today. And I've got a job to do and kids to raise. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: From? MR. FLYNN: Boston. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: From Boston? MR. FLYNN: Yeah, last night. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Oh, okay. MR. FLYNN: I go back tonight. I'm really -- it's important to me. We want to do this. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. FLYNN: As we've said, a number of family members there, my mom. I want to make it enjoyable for the kids. She has 23 grandkids, so we're trying to make a better use of the property. It's not a big home, you know, per se, so getting that out there to have August 14, 2025 Page 21 the cousins and grandmother and kids and have a barbecue and hang out at the pool. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. All right. Well, you drew the right county planner because I hear that John's one of the nicer ones, so... MR. FLYNN: I'm glad you brought that up because I want to thank John. John's an outstanding guy. And the reason I can do this and not be a lawyer -- and I have brothers and sisters who are lawyers, so you know, I get the drift. But basically, if this were Boston, I probably wouldn't be able to do this, but here, coming to the County, working with people, providing guidance, working through the process, asking questions, looking at the documents, great gentlemen, and I really appreciate the help. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Good. All right. Let's go to public comment, if there is any. MS. PADRON: We have no speakers. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Nobody signed up to speak on this one? MS. PADRON: No, sir. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. That tells me you did your homework. You did your work. I'm impressed with this. Very nice job. I always love it when I see just homeowners and property owners come in and tackle this on their own. I'm a lawyer, so I feel for my brothers and sisters out there who are lawyers looking for work, but at the same time, I think this is what the County set this up for is to be more informal to allow for people to come, because I do know it does cost quite a bit of money to hire a lawyer and go through this process. But I have to compliment you. You did a really nice job presenting -- presenting it. Your presentation was nice. I'm impressed that you got all the August 14, 2025 Page 22 utility letters that you're required to get. MR. FLYNN: Not easy. That's not an easy one. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: It's not easy. And I appreciate you coming down here from Boston. You could have done it via Zoom, but you decided to come on down. MR. FLYNN: Best way to get it done is in person, so... HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: I agree. I agree. You never know what kind of technological problems you'll have. Anything else from the County before we move on from this? John, do you want to change your mind on this one? MR. KELLY: No, sir. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Thank you, John. I'll get a decision out as quickly as I can. When do you fly back? MR. FLYNN: Tonight. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: I can't get it out tonight. But nice job. I'm really -- I say that sincerely because I think this is a nice thing that the County has set up for the public, you know, to be able to do this on their own and not have to, like, incur the cost. Like you said, it would have made you think twice about having to do it if you had to pay 5- or $10,000 to a lawyer to do this for you. MR. FLYNN: Appreciate that. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Good job. MR. FLYNN: Thank you. Nice meeting you. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Have a good day and safe flight back. I do not need any more information on that one. I understand what's going on. We've had similar situations like that. Aside from that, is there -- there's nothing else on the agenda. Is there anything else we need to talk about? When's the next date? Do we want to make that announcement now? August 14, 2025 Page 23 MR. BOSI: The next scheduled HEX public hearing is the 28th. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: The 28th, okay. MR. BOSI: Of August. I believe we have one petition, a boat dock extension. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: That's right. Okay. We have one item on that on the 28th. Same time, same place. Meeting's adjourned. Thank you, everyone, for all your hard work. ***** August 14, 2025 Page 24 There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Hearing Examiner at 1:35 p.m. COLLIER COUNTY HEARING EXAMINER ________________________________________ ANDREW DICKMAN, HEARING EXAMINER These minutes approved by the Hearing Examiner on ___________, as presented __________ or as corrected __________. TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF FORT MYERS COURT REPORTING, BY TERRI L. LEWIS, REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL REPORTER, FPR-C, AND NOTARY PUBLIC. 8/25/2025