DSAC Minutes 09/03/2025MINUTES OF THE COLLIER COUNTY
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
Naples, Florida
September 3, 2025
LET IT BE REMEMBERED, the Collier County Development Services Advisory Committee
and Collier County, having conducted business herein, met on this date at 3:00 PM in
REGULAR SESSION at the Collier County Growth Management Community Department
Building, Conference Room #609/610, 2800 N. Horseshoe Dr., Naples, Florida, 34102 with the
following members present:
Chairman: William J. Varian
Vice Chairman: Blair Foley
James Boughton
Clay Brooker
Jeffrey Curl
Laura Spurgeon DeJohn
John English
Marco Espinar
Norm Gentry
Nicholas Kouloheras
Mark McLean
Chris Mitchell
Robert Mulhere
Hannah Roberts — AHAC (Non -voting)
Jeremy Sterk
Mario Valle
The following County staff were in attendance
James French, Department Head, GMCD
Mike Bosi, Director — Zoning, GMCD
Christopher Mason, Director — Community Planning & Resiliency, GMCD
Jaime Cook, Director — Development Review, GMCD
Michael Stark, Director — Operations & Regulatory Management, GMCD
James French, Department Head, GMCD Designee for Building Review & Permitting Division, GMCD
Captain Michael Cruz, Collier County Fire Review — NOT IN ATTENDANCE
Captain Bryan Horbal, North Collier Fire Review
Thomas Iandimarino, Director — Code Enforcement, GMCD
Stephen Sarabia, Project Manager II — Public Utilities Engineering & Project Management, PUD
Lorraine Lantz, Manager — Transportation Management Services, Transportation Engineering Division
Eric Johnson, LDC Planning Manager — GMCD
Richard Henderlong, Planner III — Zoning, GMCD
Angela Galiano, Planner 11— Zoning, GMCD
Heather Cartwright-Yilmaz, Management Analyst I / Staff Liaison, GMCD
Gino Santabarbara, Manager, Impact Fees — Corporate Financial & Management Services
Any person who decides to appeal a decision of This Board you 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, neither Collier County nor This Board shall be responsible for providing this
record.
1. CALL TO ORDER— Chairman
William Varian
Development Service Advisory Committee, Wednesday, September 3, 2025, was called to
order at 3:00 PM.
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
William Varian- Motioned to amend the Agenda moving Old Business- Impact Review
Study up.
Motion Seconded -Jeff Curl
Motion passed unanimously
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
a. DSAC-IFR:07.16.2025
Motion to Approve- Robert Mulhere
Motion Seconded- Blair Foley
b. DSAC:08.06.2025
Motion to Approve- Jeff Curl
Motion Seconded- Chris Mitchell
Minutes approved unanimously
4. PUBLIC SPEAKERS
Amelia Vasquez, CBIA
Thanks county staff Gino for agreeing to meet with CBIA later this month. They want to be
head of the table. They have an impact fee committee and would like to be involved and
engaged in discussion on impact fees. Thanks Bill and Tom for starting the discussion on
what they are going through as an industry. Would like CBIA leadership involved in
discussion for Human Resources in the future.
5. STAFF ANNOUNCEMENTS
a. Zoning Division — [Mike Bosi, Director]
b. Community Planning & Resiliency Division — [Christopher Mason, Director]
• Vulnerability assessment completed. Moving into adaptation plan. Will be working
with a consultant starting in October.
• Completed a repetitive loss area analysis with FEMA to determine areas that are
susceptible to flood loss.
• Preliminary FEMA Maps for interior portion of county. Looking to complete and
release maps by Fall of 2026.
c. Housing Policy & Economic Development — [Cormac Giblin, Director]
620 New affordable housing units housed YTD.
Board approved 3 of 4 Land development code amendments at their last meeting.
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d. Development Review Division — [Jaime Cook, Director]
LStaff notes- Joe Bianci has relocated to Maine. Looking to fill the position.
e. perations Support & Regulatory Management Division — [James French,
Department Head]
• Report submitted shows stabilization YOY in the single-family home market.
• Concerns- Discussed meeting with HR Staff at recent meeting.
William Varian- Amy Lyberg, Alberto and Stephanie from HR were present for
meeting. Tom Lykos, local builder, was present as well. Discussed pay scales,
discussed recruiting for open positions. Discussed implementing training programs to
work on promoting from within.
James French- 4 new positions approved to fill. 1 Code Enforcement, I Animal
Control Officer, 1 Building plans reviewer, 1 Building inspector. I have asked for an
independent study to determine competitive wages. Struggling to keep employees due
to neighboring counties offering higher wages, lower cost of living, sign on bonuses.
f. Building Review & Permitting Division — [James French, Department Head]
• Discussed certain repairs being forced to go through engineering for review before
permits issuance. William Varian and Mario Valle gave examples of bathroom
remodels being forced to go through engineering when it should not have been
needed.
• Fee Schedule- We received a $2M loan from the General fund to keep operations
active for this year. Reserve payroll fund has enough to sustain 3 months of
operations. Contracted with Raftelis to do a fee study. Looking at 5-year plan to
implement increases in fees. I want to bring the plan back to DASAC at your next
meeting to review and provide your feedback. Then on to the BOCC at their October
meeting to vote on.
g. Collier County Fire Review — [Michael Cruz, Captain]
No Report- Not present
h. North Collier Fire Review — [Bryan Horbel, Captain]
• 613 permits came in. 2 day turn around on plan review. 44 permits were in turned
around in 1 1/2 day turn around. Next day on inspections. 1365 new construction
inspections. 2 open Plan reviewer positions.
i. Code Enforcement Division — [Thomas Iandimarino, Director]
• Handfull of Code Lein relief applications come through that are moving forward to
the BCC. Due to change in ownership/property sales.
William Varian- From June -July cases/inspections doubled. Any specific reason?
Thomas Iandimarino- Catching up on inspections that were missed while staff was
out on training/vacations from the previous months. A saturation patrol was done
down Golden Gate Blvd and cross streets.
Mario Valle- How is the program going since you took over Animal control?
Thomas Iandimarino- Animal control officers we have are doing a good job. We are
struggling to hire qualified people who will stay and can handle the hard parts of the
job.
j. Public Utilities Department — [Stephen Sarabia, Project Manager II]
• Nothing new to report.
k. Transportation Management Services, Transportation Engineering — [Lorraine
Lantz, Manager]
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• Access management policy has been updated and revised. New Resolution number is
2025-150. Mike Sawyer will be sending it out and it will be posted on our website.
• Ribbon cutting for Immokalee Tiger project has been rescheduled for 10/1/25 at
9:30am.
• Golden Gate Parkway Corridor study will host a public meeting in November.
Tentatively scheduled for November 20th, 2025.
Clay Brooker- Wilson extension has been put on hold. Can you explain why.
Lorraine Lantz- Put it on hold to look at additional alignments, look into the mine,
coordinate with property owners and the landfill operations.
6. NEW BUSINESS
a. PL20250009062 - Reasonable Accommodation for Certified Recovery Residencies
LDCA
Heidi Ashton- Cicko-Managing Assistant County Attorney
Courtney DaSilva- Assistant County Attorney
Petition PL20250009062 in relation to Florida Statute 397.487
Clay Brooker- Can you give a summary of what we are creating. Why we are doing this
and give us an example of what kind of accommodation might be requested of the BCC.
Heidi Ashton-Cicko- Occupancy related accommodations.
Clay Brooker- The RUB is going to be traditional family home with 6 occupants and is
now going to have 8 unrelated recovering individuals living there. Is notice going out to
all surrounding homes and is there opportunity to be heard?
Heidi- Notice will go out to residents within 150ft of the property. Decision must be
made within 60 days and back to the property owner.
Clay Brooker- Is the 150ft and not advertised the parameters in the State Law or is that
what the county is proposing?
Heidi- Zoning director will have to look at compatibility before making a decision.
William Varian- Could this be an existing residence that is adapted or remodeled.
Heidi- They generally go into a single-family home. But it could be a request for
reasonable accommodation. We are trying to prevent density from being an issue.
Mark McLean- Is there a requirement for supervision on site
Courtney- There is a separate state statute that will govern how many people need to
supervise depending on occupancy.
Mark McLean- This allows occupancy up to 8, does that state statute say 6 or 10 and if
this is 8 would be unsupervised.
Courtney- The state statute has classification levels depending on how many occupants
are actually in the home. That statute will dictate how many supervisors need to be there.
That is unrelated to this process
Heidi- Currently in certain zoning districts you can have up to 6 unrelated people. This
does not address density. That is not what this ordinance is about. If you want to make a
recommendation that density should be something that is considered as part of a
reasonable accommodation process, you can make the recommendation.
Clay Brooker- Density is not on the table for negotiation when it comes to
accommodation. That's what's written in the code as proposed. There is also a safeguard
built in where compatibility is required. The required notice should be larger than 150ft.
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Heidi- As to the 6 resident sober home, we are currently preempted. We are limiting the
reasonable accommodation request to design standards as opposed to number occupants.
William Varian- Does this allow for this to happen everywhere.
Heidi- We feel it does if we open the density. That is why we have excluded it. As we
evaluate the federal law, we might have to open it up and include density.
Clay Brooker- There is overconcentration limitation here. The burden would be on the
applicant to show there is not an overconcentration of recovery residences in near
proximity to one another.
Mark McLean- Could an HOA guideline supersede this?
Heidi- This state law does not preempt the HOA rules you agree to when you buy in.
Clay Brooker- Motion to recommend approval with the following suggestions.
1. Density exclusion as a reasonable accommodation be kept included in the proposal.
2. Notice to surrounding properties owners be increased from 150ft to 500ft in the urban
areas and 1000ft in the rural areas.
3. In regard to proximity definition, we will adopt what is already in the code as 1000ft.
Motion seconded- Jeff Curl.
Motion passed unanimously
b. PL20250005385 - Scrivener's Errors and Cross -Reference Corrections LDCA
Angela Galiano, Planner II, Zoning, GMCD
LDR Subcommittee reviewed and approved on 8/19/2025
Motion to Approve- Clay Brooker
Motion seconded by- Mark McLean
Motion passed unanimously
c. PL20250006145 - Removal of Prohibited Exotic Vegetation LDCA
Eric Johnson, LDC Planning Manager, GMCD
2023- Commissioner Hall asked the staff to update the LDC as it pertains to the removal
of exotic vegetation. LDCA-PL20230018350. Subcommittee reviewed approval with
changes.
DSAC recommended denial February 7th, 2024.
Collier County Planning commission recommended denial.
BOCC voted to continue. Staff drafted new language.
New petition
Main change in language is
• If a property has a CO for a principal dwelling that the applicant on an estate zoned
lot shall only be responsible for removing exotics within 30 feet of the proposed
addition or modification submitted on or after December 12th, 2023.
Jeff Curl- We should be encouraging exotic removal. Not writing an ordinance to
exempt it. For wildfire 2prevention, reduce fire load.
Clay Brooker- We discussed this at the LDC subcommittee meeting. Existing code
requires removal of all exotics.
Mark McLean- I make a motion based on the subcommittee's denial 3-2 we adopt their
denial.
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Motion to adopt denial- Mark McLean
Motion seconded by- Jeff Curl
Motion to Recommend denial passed 10-1
d. PL20250007882 - Administrative Plat Approval LDCA
Richard Henderlong, Planner III, Zoning, GMCD
Motion to approve- Jeff Curl- I move to approve the amended draft provided by staff
and reviewed by legal.
Motion seconded by- Mark McLean
Motion passed unanimously
e. PL20250008677 - Plat, Replat and Construction Documents, Code of Law Amendment
(Informational Item only)
f. Fee Schedule Status
Discussed in Staff announcements with James French, Department Head, GMCD
7. OLD BUSINESS
a. Review Impact Fee Recommendations — Corporate Financial & Management Services
Gino Santabarbara, Manager, Impact Fees — Corporate Financial & Management
Services
William Varian- Gino would like a recommendation from this board for the impact fee
review to move forward to the BCC.
Mario Valle- Impact Fee Subcommittee chairman. Vast majority of the methodology was
fine. An area that board questioned was in the School impact fees, in regard to land
acquisitions. Developers were contributing land at $22,000.00 per acre. That information
should be adopted back into the study.
William Varian- In the study they are carrying $73,000.00 per acre. Most of the
developments would be East of 951, we believe that most of those developers have made
an agreement for $22,000.00 as part of their agreement. So why are we carrying
$73,000.00 per acre?
Mario Valle- Has a disagreement with the Emergency Services methodology including
funding to build an additional Emergency Operations Center for $14 Million dollars
when we have no plans to build another EOC. It has a meaningful financial impact to the
Collier County taxpayers. Impact fees will be reviewed again in 5 years. It could be re-
addressed at that time.
Robert Mulhere- We talked about implementing a regular review cycle, a certain
number, every couple of years. What was that?
Gino Santabarbara- Once these impact fees are approved there will be a 4-year phase
in. After that we will be reviewing and addressing 2 categories per year going forward.
Nick Kouloheras- How do we change the process where the methodology is changed in
future studies.
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Mario Valle- Methodology has been consistent. The time in between reviews has been
the issue and considerable increases because of the time has been the problem. As the
impact fee committee chairman, I make a motion for the impact fees I reviewed, except
for Law enforcement and corrections, that the DSAC committee accept the methodology
for all of them noting that there is a question of the inclusion of the Emergency
Operations Center within the EMS Impact Fee review. The BOCC should take that into
consideration.
Robert Mulhere- Amendment- the inclusion of the consultants agreement to look at the
potential of including a lower per acre cost in Eastern Collier.
Mario Valle- Accepts the amendment.
Motion Seconded- Robert Mulhere
Motion passed unanimously.
Mario Valle excused himself for the discussion on Law Enforcement and Corrections.
Law Enforcement and corrections- Impact Fee
Motion to Approve- Robert Mulhere
Motion seconded -
Motion passed unanimously
8. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS
None
9. ADJOURN
There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned at
S:OOPM.
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COLLIER COUNTY
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE
William Varian, Chairman
These minutes
were approved
by t
ommittee/Chairman on d
(check one) as
submitted
or
as amended