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DSAC Minutes 10/03/2025 (Draft) 1 MINUTES OF THE COLLIER COUNTY DEVELOPMENT SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Naples, Florida October 3rd, 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-Excused Clay Brooker Jeffrey Curl Laura Spurgeon DeJohn- Excused John English-Excused Marco Espinar Norm Gentry Nicholas Kouloheras Mark McLean Chris Mitchell Robert Mulhere Hannah Roberts – AHAC (Non-voting) Excused Jeremy Sterk - Excused Mario Valle Also Present: James French, Department Head, GMCD Mike Bosi, Director – Zoning, GMCD Christopher Mason, Director – Community Planning & Resiliency, GMCD Cormac Giblin, Director Housing Policy & Economic Development Lisa Blacklidge, Manager, Development Review, 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 – Captain Bryan Horbal, North Collier Fire Review Thomas Iandimarino, Director – Code Enforcement, GMCD Claudia Vargas, Project Manager I, Public Utilities Engineering & Project Management, PUD Matt Thomas, Manager, Transportation Management Services, Transportation Engineering Division Eric Johnson, LDC Planning Manager – GMCD Richard Henderlong, Planner III – Zoning, GMCD Heather Cartwright-Yilmaz, Management Analyst I / Staff Liaison, GMCD 2 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, October 1st, 2025, was called to order at 3:00 PM. 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA William Varian- Motion to amend the agenda moving Items F (Building review and permitting) to last; Motion Seconded-Jeff Curl - Motion passed unanimously 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. DSAC-LDR: 08.19.2025 Motion to approve- Mark Mclean; Motion seconded- William Varian Motion passed unanimously B. DSAC-IFR: 08.27.2025 Motion to approve-Mario Valle; Motion seconded- William Varian Motion passed unanimously C. DSAC: 09.03.2025 Motion to approve- Blair Foley; Motion seconded- Jeff Curl Motion passed unanimously D. DSAC-LDR: 09.16.2025 Motion to approve-Blair Foley; Motion seconded- Mark McLean Motion passed unanimously 4. PUBLIC SPEAKERS None 5. STAFF ANNOUNCEMENTS a. Zoning Division – [Mike Bosi, Director] • New Staff member joined. Received one notice. • BOCC approved a handout to bring to neighborhood meetings. Explains NIM Process. b. Community Planning & Resiliency Division – [Christopher Mason, Director] • Division has completed two studies over the last year. Repetitive loss area analysis and Vulnerability Assessment. • Submitted request for two new studies. Adaptation plan which is a component of the Vulnerability Assessment and updating Flood Management plan for the first time in two years. 3 c. Housing Policy & Economic Development – [Cormac Giblin, Director] • Last BCC meeting board adopted the last incentives from the housing plan. • Allow up to 25 units per acre in the development of an activities center if you include affordable housing. • All up to 25 units per acre by doing a development along a transit route with a transit-oriented design and include affordable housing. Nicholas Kouloheras- What is the minimum requirement of affordable housing to qualify Cormac Giblin- 30% of the units. 6 or 7 of the 25. d. Development Review Division – [Lisa Blacklidge, Manager] • No updates. e. Operations Support & Regulatory Management Division – [Michael Stark, Director] • Permit applications have increased in 2025 by 3.8% up to 51,667 • Business center staff have improved turnaround time from 1.2 days to .7 • Call volume increased in September to 5712 calls with only 576 abandoned calls • Department has 623.5 positions with 67 positions in the pipeline. Blair Foley- We talked about improving timing and the ability to get projects through sufficiency. Do we have some data in the package or is that something you can work on? Michael Stark- We were talking about the intake process. We have developed some Power BI reports. We will have something for the next meeting. f. Collier County Fire Review – [Michael Cruz, Captain] • Applicants submitted for our open positions, Inspector and Water Technician, that will be running out of Fire and Life Safety office. • October 3rd is Fire Prevention safety day. Hosting and event at Coastland Center Mall. g. North Collier Fire Review – [Bryan Horbel, Captain] • We had 755 plans come in. 2-day turnaround. • 59 Planning permits with a 2-day turnaround. • New Construction inspections conducted 1353 • Next day on inspections. • Added Inspector to the team and we have Plan Review position open. • Annual Halloween party October 25th. 5-7pm. Headquarters station 85. h. Code Enforcement Division – [Thomas Iandimarino, Director] • Park Rangers are now underneath Code Enforcement. Acquired new handheld printers to print citations on parking violations on the beaches and boat ramps. i. Public Utilities Department – [Claudia Vargas, Project Manager] • Emails have changed domain to Collier.gov. Website has changed domain as well to Collier.gov. j. Transportation Management Services, Transportation Engineering – [Matthew Thomas, Supervisor of Project Management] 4 • Vanderbilt beach widening- 4-6 lanes west of Airport Road. 1.8 Miles. Watson Civil Construction has been awarded the contract. Anticipated to start 01/2026. 2 years for final completion. • Vanderbilt Beach extension phase 1 at 79% of work and 84% completion of time. • Immokalee Road median improvements. There is a total of 6 median improvements including restricting left turn movements eliminating traffic conflicts on Immokalee Road. 5 are completed. Last one should be completed in late October. • Green Boulevard- Adding 5-foot bike lanes on either side of Green Blvd. Relocating two bus shelters and replacing existing drainage structures. Completed on time and within budget on September 23rd. • Everglades Blvd and 43rd intersection drainage improvements. Quality Enterprises is the contractor and has completed 20% of the work. Anticipated completion of the project is June 3rd, 2026 k. Building Review & Permitting Division – [James French, Department Head]- Moved to the end. • New Construction Study- Retrofit and Maintenance are top categories. Mechanical, Electrical, windows and roofs. • Discussed contractors not filing permits in a timely manner for My Florida Safe Home program. Residents almost missing strict deadlines and the department having to intervene to get projects moving. • 20-25,000 Building inspections monthly. • Milestone inspections- 508 completed, 368 not due, 9 Delinquent. 14 Phase 2 permits have been identified. Consistent with Florida Condo Safety Mandate from the State of Florida • Land Development services are maintaining 93% on time. • We are going to continue to pilot the self-certification program for the contractors to expand some of our video inspections. William Varian- Has there been discussion on penalties James French- If it’s a licensed contractor we do have the ability to charge twice the fee. William Varian- If it’s a repeat offender it’s something you may want to consider Collier County Building Department Fee Study Robert Orie- [Senior Principal, Raftelis] Study Objectives • Identify the cost of providing service • Evaluate the ability of the building fees to fund the revenue requirements. • Update the schedule of fees and charges • Ensure compliance with Florida Statutes. Chapter 553.80(7)(a) Building Department Background • Cumulative inflation since 2010 is 48% or 2.7% per year • Permit fees have only increased 14% or approximately .9% per year. 5 • Permit fees reviewed assume 3000sqft SFR and 28 inspections. Fee Evaluation Process • Identify total operating cost allocated to the Building Department • Identify “Target Revenues” based on projected building planning and permit service activity. • Reviewed historical building permit activity from 2021-2024 and YTD 2025. Assumed 2024 and 2025 would be most representative of future development activity • Develop revenue requirements • Design proposed permit and planning fees to fund revenue requirements • Prepare and adopt rate resolution to implement rate recommendations Results /Findings • Fee increases anticipated in 2026 and consider using CPI Index for future years. County Should monitor the forecast each year. • Rate recommendation is doubling the current fees in most areas. • Revenue adjustments 52% in 2026. CPI adjustment for future year Cash Reserves • Pursuant to Florida Statutes, Chapter 553.80(7)(a) Operating reserves cannot be greater than average operating budget for the last 4 fiscal years. • Capital Reserves are not considered a component of operating reserves • Reserve target is $24,807,500 we are behind by $15,184,755 Recommendations • Building department revenues do not appear to recover total cost of services provided. • Rate adjustment recommended FY 2026 to be implemented January 2026 • Annual CPI adjustment to minimize general inflation impacts on cost. • Review rates every 3 years. James French- If permitting shut off today, we have 3 months of payroll. Payroll has increased 35-40% while not doing a fee increase since 2012. Rate increases should have been done 10 years ago. William Varian- How are the rents being charged calculated James French- We used current market value. $20.00 per square foot. We charge North Collier $50,000.00 per year. That doesn’t cover the cost of computers or use of City View. That was number that was negotiated a long time ago. Robert Mulhere- Building department, planning and zoning are general fund. James French- Planning, Zoning, Engineering and Environmental are within 131 cost center. Robert Mulhere- Are you getting ready to move forward to the board soon correct James French- Board has taken a position for us to go back and look at inefficiencies throughout the county. They have asked Resourcex to go through everything. Robert Mulhere- I do think it’s important if there is any type of activities that we may not be charging for, to look into those. It may have been imbedded into the presentation. James French- I could provide this to you, but not before the board meeting. We can break that down for you. We could bring it based on your recommendation to the board and demonstrate that to the board. 6 Robert Mulhere- Appreciate the recommendation for a more regular review of fees. 3 years is a good number. Considering the CPI and volume. Mark Mclean- When you’re dealing with current numbers, with this future projection and higher rates, are you projected to be fully staffed and possible raises? James French- I only wanted a snapshot of what we can look back and defend. 3 years is a good window. Robert Mulhere- Today is the start of the new budget year. That budget includes all of the vacant positions you wanted to fill. Unless the position was denied. James French- They developed a work force pool. Parks and Rec, General fund, specialty funded positions, Animal control, are guaranteed open positions that I can fill here so long as I have an available candidate to negotiate filling the position. Robert Mulhere- There is an assumption of a certain amount of cost that may be lower than the overall budgeted labor amount. We are covered now and with a regular rate review. James French- As I build the reserve fund balance, I have the ability to go back to the board and ask for a Reserve fund transfer. We had those services that we collected money for that were yet to be delivered. We have been pulling that down from 4 million down to 1.2 million now. WE do have some money left. Nick Koulaheras- What I worry most about is we ripped the band aid off just to put a bigger one on. What I picked up from slides is we do all of this and are still not there yet, we never get to the state statue of what the reserve should be. I like the idea of a 3-year review but with a CPI index tracking in-between, so you are never 3 years behind. William Varian- I think you can hear, we are not opposed to any of this because we are going to get the service, we just want to make sure we do this right. Mark McLean- It’s about getting not just what you need today, but what you are going to need 36 months from now. Mario Valle- The industry and our clients would be willing to pay to get the level of service needed. James French- If it’s the direction of the committee based off of what we worked on with the consultant, to focus more on the reserve fund balance so there is consistency and dependability in the regulatory side of our industry and not relying on the general fund. I am with you. I am still a little reluctant to get full support. In the past when we have had a healthy reserve fund balance, we have always been a target. Norm- You are on the right track with worrying about the reserve fund, it’s a balance. But the last time we raised fees was in 2010 James French – The last time we increased fees was in 2010. Jeff Curl- So our motion moving forward is to focus on the reserves, I agree with Nick to have the Consumer price index being worked in and revisiting these every 3 years. Does that handcuff you in anyway James French- Yes no later than 3 years, the only thing that would take DSAC involvement, we are going to have a defendable CPI that relates to your industry, but it would still have to go to the board for adoption. Robert Mulhere- Motion to support the consultant’s recommendation for Jaime to take it to the board. Including supporting a 3-year re-study but adjusting those fees if necessary, on an annual basis based on the CPI; Motion seconded- Mark McLean; Motion passed unanimously 7 Robert Mulhere- For the meeting are you looking for someone to be at the board meeting with you or a letter of support? James French- A letter of support would be helpful. From the chairman. Robert Mulhere- Let us know if you can get a time. I will be there on the 28th. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. PL20250010243- Development Order Process and Timeframes- LDCA Richard Henderlong, Planner III, GMCD On June 24th, 2025, the governor approved Senate Bill 1080 which amended Statutes FS.125.022, FS.163.31801 and FS.166.033. That regulates the review and approval of land development permits and development order applications by local governments. The new Law Chapter 2025-177 will became effective on October 1st, 2025. 1. The required processing starts with an acknowledgement of receipt within 5 days. 2. Application must be reviewed for completeness within 30 days 3. Non-quasi-judicial hearing applications must be approved or denied within 120 days. 4. Quasi-judicial applications within 180 days. During a public meeting/hearing an applicant can request an extension in writing If an applicant makes a substantial change to 15% or more in density or the square footage of the parcel, it automatically resets the 120–180-day timeclock. Secondly, the statute requires the county to issue refunds as a percentage of the application fee in the event it fails to meet the review time. 1. 10 percent for failure to issue written notice of completeness or areas of deficiencies within 30 days after receiving the application submittal or request for additional information 2. 20 percent for failure to send written notice or areas of deficiencies within 10 days of the second request for information and the applicant submits required information within 30 days 3. 50 percent if the county fails to approve, approve with conditions, or deny the application within 30 days after conclusion of the 120-day or 180-day public hearing timeframe 4. 100 percent if the county fails to act after 30 days and the conclusion of the 120-day or 180-day timeframe 5. If the applicant and county agree to an extension of time, the delay is caused by the applicant or attributable to a force majeure, the county is not required to issue a refund. Marco Espinar- Why 120 days Richard Henderlong- That is determined by the State Legislators Mark McLean- When the applications come in are they being taken in order they came in or based on need Richard Henderlong- It starts at intake once the application is deemed complete. 8 Motion to approve PL20250010243 by Blair Foley; Motion seconded- Jeff Curl Motion passed unanimously William Varian- I just want to confirm that you would like me to do a letter based on the fee schedule. That I have the committee support. Robert Mulhere- Motion that the chairman prepares a letter supporting the fee increase; Motion Seconded- Norm Gentry Motion passed unanimously 7. OLD BUSINESS 8. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS None 9. ADJOURN Future Meeting dates November 5th, 2025 3:00 PM December 3rd, 2025 3:00PM ***** There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned at 5:00 P.M. COLLIER COUNTY DEVELOPMENT SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE ____________________________________ William Varian, Chairman These minutes were approved by the Committee/Chairman on ___________________, (check one) as submitted _______ or as amended _______.