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Agenda 02/10/2026 Item # 2B (BCC Meeting Minutes for January 13, 2026)January 13, 2026 Page 1 TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Naples, Florida, January 13, 2026 LET IT BE REMEMBERED that the Board of County Commissioners, in and for the County of Collier, and also acting as the Board of Zoning Appeals and as the governing board(s) of such special districts as have been created according to law and having conducted business herein, met on this date at 9:00 a.m., in REGULAR SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida, with the following Board members present: Chairman: Dan Kowal Burt L. Saunders (outgoing Chair) Chris Hall Rick LoCastro William L. McDaniel, Jr. ALSO PRESENT: Amy Patterson, County Manager Ed Finn, Deputy County Manager Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney Scott Teach, Assistant County Attorney Crystal K. Kinzel, Clerk o Troy Miller, Communications & Customer Relations Page 8 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 2 MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Good morning. The meeting of the County Commission will please come to order, now that Commissioner McDaniels is here. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Daniels. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Good morning, everybody. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I don't get to do that after this morning, so... We'll start off with the invocation and the Pledge. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll just stay standing. Item #1A INVOCATION: REVEREND MICHAEL ORSI ||| PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: LAWRENCE CASANOVA, ARMY VETERAN STAFF SGT, 20 YEARS OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, IRAQ FREEDOM 4 TOURS - INVOCATION GIVEN CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We're pleased this morning to have the Reverend Michael Orsi with us to do the invocation, and we have Lawrence Casanova, Army veteran sergeant, to lead us in the Pledge. So if you'll please rise, we'll get started off in the right way. FATHER ORSI: Before we began this session, the Chairman, Burt Saunders, said to me that I could say whatever I wanted, and he said he had all morning. So why don't you just be seated for a moment. I'm serious. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yes, but, Reverend, I wasn't serious. FATHER ORSI: Too late, Burt. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: He was just being nice. Page 9 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 3 FATHER ORSI: Just let me explain to you two things; be very brief. The reason why I'm here today is because the assigned pastor couldn't make it, so I take that as a divine define intervention. The second reason is because Commissioner LoCastro asked me to say a prayer for the repose of his mother's soul. She recently passed away. And when I spoke with him, I asked some things about her. I had met her a couple of times; her name was Millie. And whenever I'm asked to say a prayer for someone, I like to know something about them. And we had a little conversation, and he mentioned something to me that I think maybe needs a little bit of explanation. He mentioned that she had two favorite patron saints. Now, those of you who are not Catholics, Catholics like patron saints. I mean, they're people who we admire because of the virtues that they display, what good God had done in their lives. Also, Catholics like to feel connected. Especially Italian Catholics, we like to be connected. And we like to have people in high places who are cheering us on on our way from this world to the next. And so he said to me that his mother, Millie, had two favorites. The first one was Saint Francis of Assisi. And we all know about Saint Francis of Assisi. He just loved creation. He loved human beings. And he's a great saint that we are devoted to because of our love for our planet and because of the human beings that live on our planet. The second saint he mentioned was Saint Jude. Anybody ever hear of Saint Jude? He's the patron saint of hopeless cases. And I wondered why -- at the beginning, why did Millie have such devotion to Saint Jude? Then I realized her son was Rick. Please stand. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Makes sense. FATHER ORSI: Please stand. Let us pray. Page 10 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 4 Almighty and gracious God, as we begin a new year of service and responsibility, we pause to seek your wisdom, guidance, and blessing upon the leaders and citizens of Collier County. We ask that the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi inspire us towards peace, humility, and respect for all people and for the gifts of this land entrusted to our care. May our decisions promote harmony, protect the vulnerable, and steward our community with integrity and gratitude. We also call upon the example of Saint Jude, patron of perseverance and hope in difficult times. Grant our commissioners courage when challenges arise, clarity when decisions are complex, and steadfast resolve to serve the common good faithfully and justly. Bless each commissioner with patience in listening, fairness in judgment, and unity in purpose. May this chamber be guided by truth, civility, and the sincere desire to build a future marked by safety, prosperity, passion for all who live and work in this great county of ours. As this new year unfolds, may our actions reflect wisdom, service, and hope, and may our community continue to grow in strength, cooperation, and peace. With gratitude and trust, we place this new year under your providential guidance. And for Millie: Millie, may the angels lead you into paradise, may the martyrs come to welcome you to the new and the eternal Jerusalem, and may you rest in God's peace. Amen. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: So please remain standing for the Pledge. (The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.) COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Chairman, if I may. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Father Orsi -- and, Father, I was an altar boy for a long time. It's Father Orsi. Page 11 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 5 COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I was going to make that correction, or I'll go to hell immediately. FATHER ORSI: Yes, my son. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: It was Saint Jude because of my sister, not because of me. But I just wanted to take a minute to thank the staff. My mom struggled with cancer for two years. At the end, you know, she was drinking all of her meals through a straw. She was -- she was, you know, fading away very quickly. And, you know, when I see on social media and some of the ridiculous things where people say, "Oh, the Commissioners are garbage. They're all on the take. They're all greedy. They're all this," these are men of honor. These are men of integrity, these are men of faith, and these are my brothers. They've been very strong, you know, to me over the last few years -- couple years sending me personal notes and checking in on me. When I was checking in on my mom, the staff in the back, Trinity, Jamie, and everybody back there, getting your text messages, you know, while I was by my mom's bedside really meant a lot. And my mom's greatest fear was dying alone. You know, she always used to say -- she was in assisted living, and she would die in a chair. I would get a call, and then I would, you know, come up from Naples. She lived in St. Pete. But that didn't happen. I was able to get up there and sit with her for almost three days, and, you know, she basically, you know, passed in my arms. So mission accomplished there. But I really could feel the strength of my team and my family here, Amy, you know, you and the rest of the folks. So thank you very much. You know, tomorrow I'll head up and finish out all the details of her funeral and all of the administrative things that need to Page 12 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 6 be done. But I couldn't be more sincere that outside this door, people really don't know what a great family this is, how much we care about the county, and how much we care about each other. And I want to thank my fiancée, Julia, who's been such a rock, you know, through a whole lot that I've had to deal with with my mom and lots of other things, some of them ridiculous. And so, you know, thank you for being here. And, you know, tomorrow we'll go up and, you know, do the final step. And I'm sure everybody in this room has either had to do it or has done it. I haven't. When my dad passed, my mom was super healthy, and we did all the right things, and then got her sort of to recharge her batteries and, you know, we had a lot of fun over the last -- or over the next few years after my dad passed, but then, you know, she got Stage 4 cancer and things started to dwindle quickly. So just in summary, thank you all. It meant so much to me, more than you know, to see my phone light up and not have it be a citizen saying, "You're a piece of crap," and "You need to do this," and "I can't believe you're ruining the county," but have it be my family here at the county saying, "What can I do? We're praying for you." Commissioner Hall and his wife sent, you know, notes of prayer. They're very religious people, and I think -- you know, I know that their prayers meant a lot. And then, of course, Father Orsi's sincerity, humor, and support is something that I will never forget. And so my mom's in a better place, and I'm sure she's eating a big prime rib right now, and not through a straw, not through a straw. Thank you. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. Ms. Patterson, we'll -- Item #2A Page 13 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 7 APPROVAL OF TODAY'S REGULAR, CONSENT, AND SUMMARY AGENDA AS AMENDED (EX-PARTE DISCLOSURE PROVIDED BY COMMISSION MEMBERS FOR CONSENT AGENDA.) - MOTION TO CONTINUE ITEM #16C1 TO THE JANUARY 27, 2026, BCC MEETING BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSI ONER KOWAL – APPROVED; MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER HALL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL – APPROVED AND/OR ADOPTED W/CHANGES MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. Agenda changes for January 13th, 2026, we do have a series of changes. First is to continue Item 16A13 to the January 27th, 2026, BCC meeting. This is a recommendation to approve and authorize the Chair to sign a resolution adopting the inventory list of county-owned real property declared appropriate for use as affordable housing and approve the publication of the inventory list to the County's website in compliance with Section 125.379, Florida Statutes. This is being moved at Commissioner McDaniel's request. Continue Item 17H to the January 27th, 2026, BCC meeting. This is a recommendation to adopt an ordinance amending Ordinance No. 2003-37, as amended, cited in Chapter 110, Article II, of the Collier County Code of Laws and Ordinances which regulates construction in the public rights-of-way to add additional right-of-way permit requirements and a section regulating excavation activities within the public right-of-way. This is being moved at staff's request. Move Item 16A15 to 11E. This is a recommendation to approve properties on the Conservation Collier Land Acquisition Advisory Committee's November and December 2025 recommended active acquisition lists and direct staff to pursue the projects recommended Page 14 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 8 within the A category funded by the Conservation Collier Land Acquisition Fund. This is being moved at Commissioner McDaniel and Commissioner Hall's separate requests. Move Item 16K1 to 12A. This is a recommendation to appoint Thomas Sabourin to the Coastal Advisory Committee. This is being moved at Commissioner McDaniel's request. And move Item 16K19 to 12B. This is a recommendation to approve a proclamation declaring a local state of emergency to repair private impassable roads within unincorporated Collier County which pose a threat to the health, safety, and welfare of Collier County citizens, and finding a valid public purpose for expending funds -- public funds to immediately repair private impassable roads. There's also an updated fiscal impact of $1,238,800. This is being moved at Commissioner LoCastro's request. Finally, we have a series of time-certain items. Item 9E is to be heard at 10 a.m. This is the adoption of the updated impact fee studies and phased amendments to the Collier County Consolidated Impact Fee Ordinance. Item 11B to be heard at 11 a.m., which is a status update and direction on proposed Camp Keais Silver Strand property exchange and related land allocation plan. And Items 9A and B to be heard at 1 o'clock p.m. This is the Growth Management Plan amendment and rezoning for the 341 Sabal Palm Road Residential Development. We do have court reporter breaks scheduled for 10:30 and again at 2:50. With that, County Attorney. MR. KLATZKOW: No changes. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Commissioners. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Kowal. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: I have no changes, but I do have Page 15 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 9 ex parte on summary. 17A, 17B, 17C, 17E, calls, emails, and correspondence. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: I have no changes, and I do have an email on 17E. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Good morning. I have no changes either, but I do have ex parte on 17A, B, and E. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. And, Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I have no changes. On 17E, I have emails and correspondence. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. I have no changes, and I have no disclosure as well. COMMISSIONER HALL: Move to approve. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Before we -- before we do that -- MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, yeah, I do have public comment. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: -- we have a registered speaker on one of the items on consent, from what I understand. MR. MILLER: Yes, on Item 16C1, Matt -- is it Gierden? MR. GIERDEN: Yes, sir. MR. MILLER: Yeah. You have three minutes, Matt. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And for the record, let's state what 16C1 is. MR. GIERDEN: 16C1 is the disaster recovery and debris removal -- CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. MR. GIERDEN: Good morning, Commissioners. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. My name is Matt Gierden. I'm a senior vice president for AshBritt. I'm here today to talk about the disaster recovery RFP. Page 16 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 10 I'm not only coming here as a disaster contractor but also coming here as Naples county resident living at 3462 Bravata Way. For more than two decades, I've worked with communities across the country helping them respond to disasters and navigate the FEMA reimbursement process, so I've seen first hand what FEMA allows, what they question, and also what they disallow. This experience is why I'm up here today. So we're grateful that staff ranked us the highest on points for this RFP, but this is not about who gets the work. This is about the procurement and how it was handled and the actions that may put the procurement and FEMA funding at risk. During this bid process, some of the vendors submitted prices that were 100 percent higher, even 400 percent higher on some items. Those gaps are not normal. They're not caused by fuel, cost, or logistics. They're truly serious conditions for unbalanced pricing. Under standard procurement process, these extreme prices should raise serious concern. But the larger issue is not that. It's what came next. After the bid prices were public, every vendor was allowed to see every other vendor's prices. At that point, it was no longer a competition. Even so, the County, they went into negotiations. They let -- vendors with very high prices, they allowed them to change their rates. That meant vendors who were far out of line were allowed to see everybody else's price and then adjust their rates in a fair competition. Once that happens, the process is no longer fair. Allowing price changes after public disclosure turns negotiations into a do-over. This is not just about a fairness issue. It's about a federal funding risk. FEMA doesn't reimburse work simply because the work was performed. FEMA closely reviews the procurement process to make sure it followed federal rules. They look at fair Page 17 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 11 competition, reasonable pricing, and ultimately whether the bids are balanced. When vendors are allowed to fix their prices, especially extreme pricing after the bids are public, FEMA can determine that the bids were noncompliant. That can lead to reduced reimbursement, denied cost, or denied cost altogether, especially years down the road after the County's already paid its bills. When that happens, vendors don't lose the money. Taxpayers do. When FEMA reviews your procurement, they don't look at your intentions. They look at the process. If FEMA determines the process is noncompliant, the County, not the vendors, will bear all financial consequences. These decision don't just affect this contract. They affect Collier's credibility, future disaster funding, and the responsibility of the Commission to protect public money. So my question to the Commission is straightforward. Given these procurement uncertainties, is the Commission prepared to risk future reimbursement which could be hundreds of millions of dollars and knowingly gamble with taxpayer dollars? I thank you for your time, and I look forward to the Commission taking action on this item. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Before you move from the podium, what are you recommending that we do? Because, you know, you and I have not spoken about this. I've spoken to the manager. MR. GIERDEN: Right. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And you've raised some issues that are of concern when you start talking about the potential of losing federal funding or reimbursement. So what is it that you're recommending that the Board do? MR. GIERDEN: At this point take a closer look at the actual reimbursement process and probably reissue the RFP. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Any comments from the Board? Page 18 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 12 Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, I have a question for our staff. I spoke with our staff yesterday at length on this matter. I triggered it over the weekend when I was reviewing the Board package. And so my straight-up question is: Are these -- I'm going to call them allegations because I wasn't part of the process. Are these allegations of price changes after the RFP correct? Yes or no? MR. FINN: The answer, sir, is I believe the price discussion took place prior to any of this becoming public. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner, you know, there's a disagreement, and I think we need to put this on the regular agenda. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, and/or continue it. That's my next question is, can we continue this item for a more in-depth review, bring it back at our second meeting in January to make sure that the processes were, in fact, fulfilled and that we aren't in jeopardy of potentially reimbursement with regard to FEMA when the inevitable next storm comes? MS. PATTERSON: Sir, we can continue it to the next meeting. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll make a motion to do that. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Second. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. There's a motion and second to continue this to the next agenda. I assume you'll be available to meet with our staff. MR. GIERDEN: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And me. MR. GIERDEN: Yes, sir. Absolutely. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yep, with all of us. All right. We have a motion and second. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. Page 19 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 13 COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That item is continued until January 27th; is that correct? MS. PATTERSON: Yes. MR. GIERDEN: Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. All right. Any other speakers on consent? MR. MILLER: No. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Then I think we're ready for a motion on the consent agenda. COMMISSIONER HALL: Move to approve the consent. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously. And I believe my only last item is the minutes, if I'm correct. Page 20 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 14 Item #2B DECEMBER 9, 2025, BCC MINUTES - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HALL – APPROVED MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. The minutes of December 9th, 2025. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Move for approval. COMMISSIONER HALL: Second. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have motion and a second to approve the minutes. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed? (No response.) Item #2C THE BOARD AUTHORIZE THE NEW CHAIR FOR BOTH THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND THE COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY AND TO EXECUTE ALL DOCUMENTS APPROVED AT BOTH THIS MEETING AND THOSE DOCUMENTS WHICH WERE PREVIOUSLY APPROVED BUT ARE PENDING SIGNATURE. - MOTION TO APPOINT COMMISSIONER KOWAL AS BCC CHAIRMAN BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO – APPROVED ; MOTION TO Page 21 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 15 APPOINT COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL AS BCC VICE-CHAIR BY COMMISSIONER KOWAL; VOTE CALLED – APPROVED CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously. Then we'll move on to the changing of the Chair. Just so the audience is aware of our process, we have an ordinance in Collier County that requires the chairmanship of the Commission to be rotated every year, and it goes by District number. So I'm District 3. I followed Commissioner Hall, District 2, and Commissioner Kowal will follow me, District 4. So that's our process. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: If we vote for him. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That's correct. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It still requires a vote. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: There's no binding situation here, so... COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: This one's very up in the air. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: One thing we are bound on is that I vacate the Chair regardless of what you do. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. We're all in favor of that. All in favor? Aye. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. So we're clear on that one. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: We'll do a joint Chair operation. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And then, Commissioner Kowal, you can start to lobby the rest of the Board for the next part. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll make the motion to elect him. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I'll second. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We have a motion and second. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. Page 22 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 16 COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously. All right. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: And Vice Chair is Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Commissioner, vice, yes. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Yes, a vice. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Then we'll go ahead and take a separate motion on that, then. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously. All right. So we'll -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That motion's invalid because you're not the Chair anymore. He is. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That's true. That's true. All right. I'll start off just by saying that I've -- you know, when people buy boats, everybody says that the two happy moments in the life of a boat owner, one is when they buy the boat, and the other is when they get rid of the boat. That's true of the chairmanship, as far as I'm concerned. It was a happy day when I moved into this chair. I Page 23 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 17 have thoroughly enjoyed the year. And I can tell you that it is with great joy that I move over to the other chair. So I want to thank the Board for -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thank you. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: -- helping me and thank the Board for what I think was a very good year for the County and for the Commission. So thank you. Thank you for that opportunity. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: And I would like to thank the outgoing Chair for all the hard work he did this year. We had some big hurdles we got through, through his guidance and leadership. One that we've been working on for some time, and he just happened to be the Chair at the time we got awarded the veterans nursing home. And, Commissioner Saunders, I have to say I got to sit next to you for almost two years, and there's no -- there's no substitution for experience. And Commissioner Saunders, as we all know, he has a lot of experience. He was up in Tallahassee when they had covered wagons and everything else. But no -- and just the ability to navigate the system and follow in his lead when we were in Tallahassee and, you know, in other areas where, you know, he just knows the system and how to help us get in the right spots at the right times to talk to the right people. That's -- those are certain things you just don't learn, you know, in a couple years on the job. So I have to thank him for, you know, guiding us through this past year and his wisdom in navigating the system of politics. Not so much politics, just the rules of how, you know, statutorily things are handled and what you can or can't do. So it's a big benefit, having the experience like that, you know, on this Board. So thank you. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I just want to also add -- echo some thanks. Page 24 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 18 2025 was -- as Commissioner Kowal said was a really important year for the County. Not just the veterans nursing home, although that one was a big lead, but lots of other things. And I'll just say you can't undersell the importance of walking into significant offices in Tallahassee to fight for anything and Burt Saunders is leading the five of us into the room. That had a real strength. It had incredible leadership. And, you know, when they look at him and say, "Hello, Senator," and then we all sit around -- you know, we were looking for every little bit we could, and Commissioner Saunders gave us more than a lot of -- a lot of a little bit. On the flip side, we always had to walk by his picture from 1942 where he had jet black hair and all this. He looks exactly the same but just darker hair. And he always had to sort of point that out. I say that tongue in cheek. But it did make a big difference. And as he said, we randomly -- you know, we all take turns. You know, we go in order of district. How lucky we were that in 2025 Commissioner Burt Saunders was our Chair for all the things we had to lead, especially in Tallahassee, and even locally. So thank you, sir. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: It made a big difference, and it was noticed and appreciated. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Echo. COMMISSIONER HALL: I'll ditto all the comments. And in the spirit of moving the meeting right along, I was proud of you this year. You did great. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. I think the next order of business, we go down here to take a picture. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Yes, sir. MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. Page 25 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 19 CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And we switch chairs. So we'll be in sort of an informal recess here for about two minutes. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Just you or all of us? MS. PATTERSON: All of you. COMMISSIONER HALL: For real? (A brief recess was had, and the chairmanship changed from Commissioner Saunders to Commissioner Kowal.) CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Well, good morning, everyone. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Good morning, Mr. Chair. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Good morning. Ms. Patterson, I believe we have -- well, we're not quite up on our time-certains, are we? MS. PATTERSON: No, sir. We're going to move on Item 2C where we are going to identify the -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Oh, yeah. MS. PATTERSON: -- committees. Item #2D THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS APPOINT ITS MEMBERS TO THE COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY, THE TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL, THE COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOARD, THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE, THE PUBLIC SAFETY COORDINATING COUNCIL, AND THE SOUTHWEST FLORIDA REGIONAL PLANNING COUNCIL. - MOTION TO APPOINT COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL TO IMMOKALEE CRA AND COMMISSIONER KOWAL TO BAYSHORE CRA; COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS TO THE TDC; COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL TO THE SFWRPC WITH COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO AS ALTER NATE; Page 26 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 20 COMMISSIONER HALL TO THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE; COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL TO THE AHAC; COMMISSIONER KOWAL TO THE PSCC BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER KOWAL – APPROVED MS. PATTERSON: So this is a recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners appoint its members to the Community Redevelopment Agency, the Tourist Development Council, the Community and Economic Development Board, the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, the Public Safety Coordinating Council, and the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council. So as you know, the CRAs remain with the commissioners of those districts, District 5 and then District 4 for Bayshore and Immokalee, and then the Tourist Development Council is the outgoing chair, so Commissioner Saunders. So that leaves the remainder of these for you-all to decide. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. Does anybody have any desire to do any particular one again? COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Well, I mean, one of the things that we had said is, you know, try to spread the wealth and take a turn, so -- and I'm sorry, I think -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You raised your hand there a second, Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, I -- but the only one I really want to volunteer for is to stay with the -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Southwest Florida. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- RPC. I mean, we're really doing great things there. I missed the Zoom -- just for your brain, I missed the Zoom -- well, I didn't. The commissioner from Sarasota missed the Zoom last week, but we're one of the big three counties Page 27 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 21 away from contributing for the perpetual longevity of the RPC now. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Let me ask you this. So I have been your deputy, and I went to as many meetings as I could. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Sure. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: And even on the Zoom. Do you think there was a strength in that, that we had a tag team? And no question you were the leader. You were speaking at the -- but to -- as much as possible to have two of us from Collier County. Most of these other boards don't really have a backup. But at the time you were leading the charge to really turn -- try to turn this into something. And, you know, as part of our conversation, it was, "Hey, we're Collier County. Maybe we should both try to go to as many meetings," or if one of us couldn't go -- you know, I think maybe one time I might have covered. What are your thoughts? I mean, should I -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: My thoughts are, if you're down with staying as the Vice Chair -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yes. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- then -- or the second appointee, if you will -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Right. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- I would love to have you simply because you've been -- you've been with me through the process and you know where we're going, and in the event that I get laid up, which can happen, you could grab the reins and go. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So I'd volunteer for staying on the RPC with Rick -- with Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. I would concur for that. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Well, I'll make a motion that the two of Page 28 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 22 you stay in your -- COMMISSIONER HALL: Do you want to stay with AHAC? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I wasn't really wanting to, but... COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Which was it? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: AHAC. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Oh, yeah. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: That's another big one. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Who hasn't done that? So I did it for two years. Commissioner Hall did it for -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You did it for two years, correct? COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- one or two? COMMISSIONER HALL: Yeah, I did it for two. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I've got the TDC. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Oh, yeah. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: That's a biggie. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That should be -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: He gets wined and dined the whole time, yeah. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Hey, where's Mikey? Let's give it to Mikey. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: And the safety council, which Commissioner Kowal's doing now -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- I did it previous to you for two years. So, you know, there again, it doesn't mean we can't go back, but just trying to spread the wealth. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So figure out who should do -- who can do what so that we get some fresh faces. Anybody got any thoughts? Page 29 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 23 CHAIRMAN KOWAL: It's not very hard. I mean, it's just -- COMMISSIONER HALL: My thoughts are this. My thoughts are, I'll do Economic Development for the next year if you'll finish up your two years at AHAC, and then I'll swap you after that. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. All right. So I guess a motion would be I stay at AHAC, Commissioner Hall -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: He'll stay at -- COMMISSIONER HALL: Economic Development. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Economic Development, yes. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You want me to take the AHAC? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: If you want it. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I don't want it, but I'll do it. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: And then how about the Safety? Do you want to stay on it? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I kind of want to stay. We've got a couple irons in the fire, and now I'm doing the 20th Judicial juvenile court thing also. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And to be honest, I haven't done -- I haven't done the AHAC at all. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Those poor people. COMMISSIONER HALL: They need you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Oh, sure. They really need you, then. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll be the huckleberry. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. Well, motion for Commissioner McDaniel to be AHAC committee. MS. PATTERSON: Do you want me to read through so you can do it in one motion? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Sure. Page 30 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 24 MS. PATTERSON: Okay. So we have the CRAs will be Commissioner McDaniel for Immokalee, Commissioner Kowal for Bayshore; the TDC is Commissioner Saunders; the RPC is Commissioner McDaniel with Commissioner LoCastro as his alternate; Economic Development is Commissioner Hall; the AHAC is Commissioner McDaniel; and Public Safety is Commissioner Kowal. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm down with that. So moved. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Second. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Unanimous. Thank you. Your new jobs. MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, that brings us to Item 4, proclamations. We do have a series of proclamations today. Item #4A PROCLAMATION RECOGNIZING J & M MARINE CONSTRUCTION FOR EXEMPLARY PUBLIC SERVICE IN VOLUNTARILY PROVIDING CREWS AND EQUIPMENT FOR THE REMOVAL OF DANGEROUS DEBRIS FROM THE WATERS AROUND KEEWAYDIN ISLAND. TO BE ACCEPTED BY JEFF, KIM, HUNTER, AND PACEN REIMERS. - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL – ADOPTED Page 31 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 25 MS. PATTERSON: Start with Item 4A is a proclamation recognizing J&M Marine Construction for exemplary public service in voluntarily providing crews and equipment for the removal of dangerous debris from the waters around Keewaydin Island. The proclamation will be accepted by Jeff, Kim, Hunter and Pacen Reimers. Congratulations and thank you. (Applause.) COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I just want to add the reason why they're getting a proclamation is because we needed something done on the water to improve safety, and when everybody was sort of pointing in different directions, this company stepped forward and -- you know, and took care of it quickly and didn't ask for anything. And it was other citizens that saw how you took the lead and volunteered and made our waters safer by removing some debris and some other things with your own equipment and everything. So thanks for being great citizens. UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOICE: Thanks for recognizing us. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yes, sir. MS. PATTERSON: Thank you. (Applause.) Item #4B PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING JANUARY 16, 2026, AS REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. PRAYER BREAKFAST DAY. TO BE ACCEPTED BY BISHOP RIC L. NEAL, WYNN WATKINS, AND REV. IRVIN STALLWORTH. - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL – ADOPTED MS. PATTERSON: Item 4B is a proclamation designating Page 32 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 26 January 16th, 2026, as Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Prayer Breakfast Day. To be accepted by Wynn Watkins and Reverend Irvin Stallworth. Congratulations. REVEREND STALLWORTH: While we're taking the photograph, since we're having a prayer breakfast, it would be very remiss of us if we didn't pray for you. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, sir. REVEREND STALLWORTH: And so we want to pray for him as well for his loss, but we want to celebrate with him with his upcoming nuptials. THE PHOTOGRAPHER: Can you remove the little stickie note? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Failed as the Chairman. REVEREND STALLWORTH: I was praying for you. I was praying for you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I had one job to do. Sir, if you'd like to make a few comments about the breakfast. REVEREND STALLWORTH: Sure. Thank you so much, Commissioners, to the staff and to everyone that is a part of Collier County and this community. We are so excited to, at the Trinity Life Foundation, on behalf of Bishop Neal and Wynn Watkins and the entire staff, that we have an enrichment program that works with the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Sheriff's Department, that we have an enrichment program that helps young people get a help up. We want to do everything we can in this community to be a part of this community to help those young people stay out of trouble. They've shrunk their vision to what they have, but we remind them that they have so much more within them than they have outside of them. The prayer breakfast is going to be a fundraiser that we actually support this particular program, and all those proceeds go to funding Page 33 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 27 those young people. With this prayer breakfast, it's going to be at the Vineyards Country Club this coming Friday at 8 o'clock a.m., and all our community is invited, and we're so excited to have you come and be a part of it. And once again, I want to say on behalf of the Trinity Life Foundation how happy I am for the Commissioners giving us this proclamation. And I want to say, once again, as a person who lost his mother about eight months ago, I know what you're going through, and it's a tough thing. But there are greater days ahead, because I want to remind you out of all the lives and all the people and all the women that God have ever created in the history of the world, he chose Ms. Millie to be your mother. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Item #4C PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING JANUARY 2026 AS HUMAN TRAFFICKING PREVENTION MONTH IN COLLIER COUNTY. TO BE ACCEPTED BY LINDA OBERHAUS, CEO, THE SHELTER FOR ABUSED WOMEN & CHILDREN, AND JON STEVENSON, PATH2FREEDOM CO-FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL – ADOPTED MS. PATTERSON: Item 4C is a proclamation designating January 2026 as Human Trafficking Prevention Month in Collier County to be accepted by Linda Oberhaus, CEO, the Shelter for Page 34 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 28 Abused Women and Children, and Jill Palmer, Path to Freedom, director of development, marketing, and communications. Congratulations. (Applause.) CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Do one of you want to say a few words to our commissioners? MS. PALMER: Good morning, Commissioners. Thank you so much for having us here today and for recognizing January as Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month. We're honored to be recognized along with the Shelter and the team there. I'm Jill Palmer. I'm the director of development for Path to Freedom, a Southwest Florida non-profit dedicating to creating hope and healing for our child survivors of sex trafficking. We provide safe housing and long-term trauma-informed programs to help survivors rebuild their lives. Path to Freedom currently offers and operates two safe houses here in Lee County and in Collier County as well as two transition homes for our individuals once they turn 18. On average, we receive about 14 referrals a month, and we rarely have a bed available, highlighting the critical need that exists across our state. This past year, 24 young survivors found safety and restoration through Path to Freedom. Each received family-style housing, trauma-informed counseling, individualized education and tutoring, life skills, coaching, and mentorship and community reintegration. The fight against human trafficking takes all of us: Law enforcement, community leaders, donors, and volunteers working together. We are greatly -- greatly appreciative of your support and commitment to protecting those along with our most vulnerable youth. Thank you so much. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. Page 35 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 29 (Applause.) MS. OBERHAUS: Okay. Good morning. For the record, I'm Linda Oberhaus. I'm the CEO at the Shelter for Abused Women and Children. And I'd like to thank Chairman Kowal and the rest of the County Commissioners for acknowledging January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Human trafficking is a crime that happens in every community across the country. The large majority of victims are no longer sold on the streets. They are sold online. According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, Florida ranks third in the nation for the number of human trafficking cases, and the Naples and Fort Myers area ranks third in Florida for the number of cases. Here, locally, the Shelter is partnering with the school district to educate our children to prevent them from becoming a statistic and partnering with the Collier County Sheriff's Office and the State Attorney's Office on a holistic approach to end sex trafficking locally. The approach is called ISP, and that stands for Identify, Support, and Prosecute. It involves the Sheriff's Office identifying victims and traffickers, the Shelter supporting those victims identified, and the State Attorney's Office prosecuting the buyers and sellers of sex trafficking victims in our community. It's only through awareness and action that we'll be successful in keeping members of our community safe. So thank you again for helping to raise awareness of human trafficking among our citizens here in Collier County. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. (Applause.) Item #4D PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING JANUARY 13, 2026, TO Page 36 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 30 RECOGNIZE THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE COLLIER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION. TO BE ACCEPTED BY EILEEN CONNOLLY-KEESLER, COLLIER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION PRESIDENT AND CEO. - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL – ADOPTED MS. PATTERSON: Item 4D is a proclamation designating January 13th, 2026, to recognize the 40th anniversary of the Collier County Community Foundation -- I'm sorry -- the Collier Community Foundation, to be accepted by Eileen Connolly-Keesler, Collier Community Foundation president and CEO. Thank you. (Applause.) MS. CONNOLLY-KEESLER: Good morning. Eileen Connolly-Keesler, president and CEO of the Community Foundation. Thank you so much. We are honored to receive this on our 40th anniversary. Just by some strange coincidence, our 40th anniversary has brought the number that we have given out $400 million since we were created 40 years ago out the door at the Community Foundation supporting non-profits here in Collier County and beyond. And I really appreciate the relationship we have built with the Commissioners and all the staff at the County and looking forward to 2026 and seeing what kind of great things we can do to help make our county a better place. So thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you, Eileen. (Applause.) Item #4E PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING JANUARY 18–24, 2026, AS Page 37 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 31 NATIONAL CERTIFIED REGISTERED NURSE ANESTHETISTS WEEK. TO BE ACCEPTED BY REBECCA FLEETWOOD, MEMBER OF THE FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF RESIDENT REGISTERED NURSE ANESTHETISTS (FARRNA). - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL – ADOPTED MS. PATTERSON: Item 4E is a proclamation designating January 18th through 24th, 2026, as National Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists Week. I knew I was going to stumble on that one -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You're going to need a nurse. MS. PATTERSON: -- to be accepted by delegates from the Florida Association of Resident Registered Nurse Anesthetists. Thank you and congratulations. (Applause.) MS. FLEETWOOD: That's why we go to school for so long. It takes that long. MS. PATTERSON: I feel like a third grader. MS. FLEETWOOD: Thank you again so much. My name is Rebecca Fleetwood. I am a doctoral student going back to get my degree in nurse anesthesiology at Florida Gulf Coast University, so I'm represented with my director, Dr. Virginia Londahl-Ramsey, and then my assistant program director, Dr. Thomas Lansden. On behalf of the Florida Association of Nurse Anesthesiology, I want to thank Chairman Burt Saunders and Collier County for issuing the proclamation for CRNA Week 2026 and recognizing the vital role that certified registered nurse anesthetists play in our healthcare system. For more than 150 years, CRNAs have been committed to providing safe, high-quality anesthesia care while serving our Page 38 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 32 communities with integrity and compassion. We are so grateful for this recognition and remain dedicated to delivering care that is safe, competent, and patient-centered. Thank you again. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. (Applause.) Item #4F PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING JANUARY 26, 2026, AS FLORIDA EARLY LEARNING DAY IN COLLIER COUNTY. TO BE ACCEPTED BY DAWN MONTECALVO, PRESIDENT/CEO, GUADALUPE CENTER. - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL – ADOPTED MS. PATTERSON: Item 4F is a proclamation designating January 26th, 2026, as Florida Early Learning Day in Collier County, to be accepted by Dawn Montecalvo, president and CEO of Guadalupe Center. Congratulations. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MS. MONTECALVO: Thank you. Is it on? Good morning. I am Dawn Montecalvo, president of the Guadalupe Center, and with me today is Megan McCarthy, the managing director of Future Ready Collier, and Maria Jimenez-Lara, the CEO Naples -- Naples Children Foundation. With their help, we are in a collaboration to recognize early learning throughout the community. But early -- all in for Early Learning Day on January 26th, our inaugural day, will be a statewide movement throughout the state recognizing the importance of early learning in the first five years of a child but also the educators. Page 39 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 33 So thank you so much for honoring this profession and recognizing the importance of educating children at an early age. I hope on January 26th, Commissioner McDaniel will be reading to our children. So on this next few -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's a challenge. MS. MONTECALVO: -- on that day I hope that you will all visit a center or recognize the importance of early learning for our children. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Nobody told me about reading. MS. MONTECALVO: I was going to test you first before. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Nice. MS. MONTECALVO: We were going to make sure you can. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You've got to take a quick reading test. MS. MONTECALVO: But I do want to thank you all and thank you for my partners here for the collaboration of improving the school readiness in our community with starting at an early age. So thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. Can I get a -- I guess a motion to approve these proclamations? COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So moved. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I have a motion, and I have a second. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: It passes unanimously. Okay. MS. PATTERSON: All right. That brings us to Item -- Page 40 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 34 CHAIRMAN KOWAL: We've got thirteen minutes. MS. PATTERSON: Yep. We're going to knock out a couple more things. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Let's do it. Item #5A COMMISSIONER CITATION PRESENTED TO THE MEMBERS OF THE EAST OF 951 COMMITTEE BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL. – PRESENTED MS. PATTERSON: Item 5A is a commissioner citation presented to the members of the East of 951 Committee by Commissioner McDaniel. Commissioner. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Good morning. I -- you know, we worked together a couple of years ago, reconvened the East of 951 Horizon Study 2.0 that then spent two years of their life reviewing circumstances in Eastern Collier County. And oftentimes our advisory boards, advisory committees, just go unannounced, and I thought it was appropriate for -- except for Mr. Teaters who's is directing traffic right now. I thought it was appropriate for us to acknowledge them, and I have -- I have little pretty certificates. If you don't mind, I'm going to read the names of the committee. And then, Commissioner Saunders, if you would join me after we get done, because you assisted in the preparation and appointees of this committee. Then we'll join them down there for a picture. And for those of the committee that couldn't be here, I'll attend their first meeting. Because we then, after this committee finished its purview as serving on the East of 951 Horizon Committee 2.0, then we reconvened the same group to be -- I don't know if Parker's still Page 41 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 35 driving the bus, but we reconvened the same group to be doing the GMP amendments for Golden Gate Estates Rural, east of 951. So this same -- this same bunch of people are going to do it. So with that, we have Parker -- Parker Klopf. And then we have Mark Teaters. That's Mr. Teaters right there, if you'd wave your hand, please. And Robert Raines, Bob Raines. He's not here right now. Kimberly Ellis, Michael Ramsey, Bruce Hamels. I talked to Bruce. He was taking care of his grandson this morning. Aaron Zwiefel. Douglas Rankin, he's on the end down there. Christina Aguilera, she wasn't able to make it. And last but not least, Ms. Rae Ann Burton right here in the middle. So if you would, Burt, let's go down and get our picture took. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Should we stand up behind you guys? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, sure. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: A couple heads just floating in the background. (Applause.) CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. Let these guys get back to their seats. We've got nine minutes. MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. I'm going to read in the Artist of the Month quickly, and then I think we can take one of our Item 11s really quickly before we go to our 10 o'clock time-certain. I didn't want to start the public -- we have some public comment, but there's quite -- there's quite a few of them. All right. If I can turn your attention to the back of the room, the January Artist of the Month is Anne McLaughlin, executive director of the Collier Metropolitan Planning Organization. She has a BFA in art studio and MA in architecture from University of New Page 42 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 36 Mexico. She has previously exhibited acrylic and watercolor paintings, drawings, lithographs, and etchings at the Artist' Co-op Gallery, Mayan's Gallery, and Graphics House Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Since moving to Collier County 10 years ago, Ms. McLaughlin has exhibited her art in various invitational shows at the Naples Art Institute, the Visual Arts Center in Bonita Springs, Coco Galleries in Naples and Estero, and the Naples Botanical Garden. Ms. McLaughlin stated, "Creating art is a way of capturing memories and expressing the joy I feel looking at all the beauty that surrounds us in Southwest Florida." She paints from memory, from sketches she's made, and from photographs. She discovered the creative possibilities of digital art this past summer and has been experimenting with the Procreate app ever since. She sees it as new technology for printmaking. Item #11A AWARD REQUEST FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES (“RPS”) NO. 24-8313, “DESIGN SERVICES FOR EVERGLADES BLVD WIDENING FROM OIL WELL RD TO VANDERBILT BEACH RD EXT” TO JACOBS ENGINEERING GROUP, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF $7,650,000.00, APPROVE ANY NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS, AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENT (PROJECT NUMBER 60263). (MARLENE MESSAM, SUPERVISOR, PROJECT MANAGEMENT (LICENSED)) - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS – APPROVED MS. PATTERSON: All right. With that, if we can jump to Item Page 43 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 37 11A, Marlene and Jay. This is a recommendation to award Request for Professional Services No. 24-8313, Design Services for Everglades Boulevard widening from Oil Well Road to Vanderbilt Beach Road extension, to Jacobs Engineering Group in the amount of $7,650,000, approve any necessary budget amendments, and authorize the Chair to sign the attached agreement. Ms. Marlene Messam, supervisor of project management license, is here to present or answer questions. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Quick motion for approval. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I was going to say, we get these briefings behind closed doors, so a lot of times we already know a lot of what's going on. So I have a motion. Do I have a second? COMMISSIONER HALL: Second. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I have a motion and a second for approval. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: It passes unanimously. Thank you. MS. MESSAM: Thank you, Commissioners. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you for your presentation. Item #11C AWARD CONSTRUCTION INVITATION TO BID NO. 24-8271, "CONSTRUCTION SERVICES FOR VANDERBILT BEACH Page 44 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 38 ROAD WIDENING FROM EAST OF US 41 TO FONTANA DEL SOL WAY," TO WATSON CIVIL CONSTRUCTION, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF $26,956,179.13; APPROVE AN OWNER'S ALLOWANCE OF $1,482,589.86, APPROVE THE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS, AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENT. (PROJECT NUMBER 60199) (JAY AHMAD, DIVISION DIRECTOR TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING) - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER HALL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS – APPROVED MS. PATTERSON: Well, Jay, you might as well stay there, because let's go ahead here and take your Item 11C. This is another road project. This is a recommendation to award Construction Invitation to Bid No. 24-8271, Construction Services for Vanderbilt Beach Road widening from east of U.S. 41 to Fontana Del Sol Way, to Watson Civil Construction, Inc., in the amount of $26,956,179.13, approve an owner's allowance of $1,482,589.86, approve the necessary budget amendments, and authorize the Chair to sign the attached agreement. Mr. Jay Ahmad, your division director of Transportation Engineering, again, is here to present or answer questions. MR. AHMAD: Good morning, Mr. Chairman. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Good morning. MR. AHMAD: Commissioners, I'm Jay Ahmad. Be happy to present or answer any questions that you may have. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Well -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll let him do it. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to approve. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Oh, okay. Page 45 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 39 COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Oh, I'm sorry. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I was going to let Chris do it. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I was going to let Chris say something. COMMISSIONER HALL: Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to approve. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'll second. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: So I have Commissioner Hall, motion, and a second from Saunders. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: That passes unanimously. COMMISSIONER HALL: Go ahead. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You go first, then I'll light up. COMMISSIONER HALL: I was just going to let the public know, we're not up here just willy-nilly passing $27 million for projects and $7 million. This is coming before us for the mere amount. It has to -- it has to have a vote for us just for the amount. But we've been very well versed, very well these -- knowledge of these projects for sometimes years. So this is the last of the getting where we can get -- get busy and get our roads fixed. MR. AHMAD: Yes, sir. Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Thank you, Chair. And I -- similarly, I didn't want it to go unnoticed. You know, the shift you've watched -- that I've seen out of this Board of County Commissioners has been not only for cost controls, but appropriation for necessary life-sustaining capital improvements. The extension of Everglades Boulevard and the widening of Everglades Boulevard is Page 46 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 40 part of a grid system of Eastern Collier County that did not exist. The extension of Vanderbilt going back to the west is moving that traffic that's already clustered right there at Goodlette Road over to 41. These are -- these are imperative life-changing, life-quality circumstances that this Board is appropriating. And I -- and it's not willy-nilly. We've been briefed ad nauseam on these things. And I just want to thank my colleagues for working with us and moving these things forward. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thank you. Item #11D THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AS THE EX- OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD OF THE COLLIER COUNTY WATER-SEWER DISTRICT, AWARD INVITATION TO BID NO. 24-8277R TO KYLE CONSTRUCTION, INC., FOR THE CARLTON STREET SIDEWALK, POTABLE WATER, WASTEWATER, AND STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT, IN THE AMOUNT OF $4,687,836.50, APPROVE AN OWNER’S ALLOWANCE OF $200,000, APPROVE THE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS, AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENT. (PROJECT NUMBERS 70275, 60250, 60228) (JIM DELONY, INTERIM DEPARTMENT HEAD - PUBLIC UTILITIES) - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HALL – APPROVED MS. PATTERSON: All right. Similarly, on the theme of infrastructure, we can take Item 11D, and then we'll move on to our Page 47 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 41 10 o'clock time-certain. This is a recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners, as the ex-officio governing board of the Collier County Water/Sewer District, award Invitation to Bid No. 24-8277R to Kyle Construction, Inc., for the Carlton Street sidewalk potable water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure improvements project in the amount of $4,687,836.50, approve an owner's allowance of $200,000, approve the necessary budget amendments, and authorize the Chair to sign the attached agreement. Mr. Jim DeLony, your department head for Public Utilities, is here to present or answer questions. MR. DeLONY: Commissioners, good morning. Jim DeLony, for the record. Next chart, please. This is a recommendation with regard to this matter to show that it very much outlines the full scope of this project. I'm here for your questions or presentation should you choose. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Move for approval. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. Well, I have a move to approve. COMMISSIONER HALL: Second. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I have a second. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: That passes unanimously. Thank you, Mr. DeLony. MR. DeLONY: Thank you. MS. PATTERSON: All right. Commissioners, I think we can Page 48 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 42 get ready for our 10 o'clock time-certain now. So that brings us to item -- oh, yes, sir. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Ms. Patterson, do we want to do public comment after this item? MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. Do we have a lot registered, Troy? MS. PATTERSON: We have seven we're up to? MR. MILLER: Well, we're up to, like, nine right now. MS. PATTERSON: I don't think this item's going to take much time, then we can jump to the -- we'll go back to the public comment. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. MS. PATTERSON: Because we have -- we have members of the school district here that are waiting on this item. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Just the superintendent. What's she got to do? MS. PATTERSON: All right. So Item 10A I'm going to read into the record. Sorry. I've lost my place completely. All right. 9A, 9E. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: 9E. MS. PATTERSON: 9E. I know, I'm, like, at 10 o'clock and -- very disorganized. Item #9E ORDINANCE 2026-04: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 74 OF THE COLLIER COUNTY CODE OF LAWS AND ORDINANCES, THE COLLIER COUNTY CONSOLIDATED IMPACT FEE ORDINANCE, PROVIDING FOR THE INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE THE FOLLOWING EIGHT (8) IMPACT FEE STUDIES: “COLLIER COUNTY ROAD Page 49 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 43 IMPACT FEE UPDATE STUDY” (DATED OCTOBER 8, 2025); THE “COLLIER COUNTY EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES (EMS) IMPACT FEE UPDATE STUDY” (DATED OCTOBER 8, 2025); THE “COLLIER COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT IMPACT FEE UPDATE STUDY” (DATED OCTOBER 8, 2025); THE “COLLIER COUNTY CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES IMPACT FEE UPDATE STUDY” (DATED OCTOBER 8, 2025); THE “COLLIER COUNTY GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS IMPACT FEE UPDATE STUDY” (DATED OCTOBER 8, 2025); THE “COLLIER COUNTY LIBRARIES IMPACT FEE UPDATE STUDY” (DATED OCTOBER 8, 2025); THE “COL LIER COUNTY PARKS AND RECREATION IMPACT FEE UPDATE STUDY” (DATED OCTOBER 8, 2025); AND THE “COLLIER COUNTY SCHOOL IMPACT FEE UPDATE STUDY” (DATED OCTOBER 8, 2025); AMENDING IMPACT FEE RATE SCHEDULES ONE, THREE, FOUR, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, AND TEN OF APPENDIX A; PROVIDING ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION IN IMPACT FEE PROGRAMS; PROVIDING IMPACT FEE STUDY UPDATE REQUIREMENTS; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICT AND SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR INCLUSION IN THE COLLIER COUNTY CODE OF LAWS AND ORDINAN CES; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE FOR ALL RATE SCHEDULE DECREASES ON FEBRUARY 1, 2026, FOR PHASE ONE, AND THE EFFECTIVE DATE FOR ALL RATE SCHEDULE INCREASES, NEW AND/OR REPLACEMENT LAND USE CATEGORY RATES SHALL BE DELAYED TO MAY 1, 2026, FOR PHASE TWO; MAY 1, 2027, FOR PHASE THREE; MAY 1, 2028, FOR PHASE FOUR; AND MAY 1, 2029, FOR PHASE FIVE. - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO – ADOPTED Page 50 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 44 MS. PATTERSON: All right. 9E is our 10 o'clock time-certain. This is a recommendation to approve an ordinance amending Chapter 74 of the Collier County Code of Laws and Ordinances, the Collier County consolidated impact fee ordinance providing for the incorporation by reference the following eight impact fee studies: Collier County Road Impact Fee Study dated October 8th, 2025; the Collier County Emergency Medical Services Impact Fee Study dated October 8th, 2025; the Collier County Law Enforcement Impact Fee Update Study dated October 8th, 2025; the Collier County Correctional Facilities Impact Fee updated -- Update Study dated October 8th, 2025; the Collier County Government Buildings Impact Fee Update Study dated October 8th, 2025; the Collier County Libraries Impact Fee Update Study dated October 8th, 2025; the Collier County Parks and Recreation Impact Fee Update Study dated October 8th, 2025; the Collier County School Impact Fee Update Study dated October 8th, 2025; amending Impact Fee Rate Schedules One, Three, Four, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and 10 of Appendix A; providing additional eligibility requirements for participation in impact fee programs; providing impact fee study update requirements; providing for conflict and severability; providing for inclusion in the Collier County Code of Laws and Ordinances; and providing for an effective date for all rate schedule decreases on February 1st, 2026, for Phase 1, and the effective date for all schedule increases, new or replacement land-use category rates, shall be delayed to May 1st, 2026, for Phase 2; May 1st, 2027, for Phase 3; May 11th, 2028, for Phase 4; and May 1st, 2029, for Phase 5. With all of that, Mr. Gino Santabarbara, your impact fee manager, is here to begin the presentation. MR. SANTABARBARA: Good morning, Commissioners. For the record, Gino Santabarbara. I'm your impact fee manager. Today's item is a follow-up to the December 9th meeting where Page 51 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 45 the Board authorized the County Attorney to advertise the proposed amendment to Chapter 74 of the Collier County laws and ordinances. I have a brief presentation that I'm going to walk you through. Amy just went through all of the amendments that are happening to Chapter 74. Rather than read them all again, I'm just going to briefly go through them. It incorporates eight update impact fee studies; amends the applicable impact fee rate schedule, Appendix A; establishes the impact fee program eligibility requirements; clarifying impact fee study update requirements; provides for conflict and severability; and establishes effective dates. So the following is a high-level summary of the impact fee adjustments across several categories that we thought were relevant and had the most use that we assessed the most going through our offices. It's important to note that any of the increases of any of the fees is structured to be implemented over a four-year phase-in period, and this is in accordance with Florida Statute 163.31801. The next slide illustrates how the phase-in structure applies to a typical single-family home under 4,000 square feet. So if adopted, the applicable fee decreases would take effect on February 1st, 2026, as you can see here. So for a single-family home, that would result in a reduction of approximately $648 to the overall impact fees -- fee costs. On May 1st, the incremental first phase-in would be implemented, and then the remaining increases would be phased in gradually over subsequent years, and with the final phase-in rate to take effect on May 1st, 2029. So this kind of illustrates year by year what would happen in -- the final phase of May 1st, 2029, would be the full rate that was calculated. Page 52 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 46 So there's three takeaways that I just wanted to make sure we had clarity on. All decreases will take effect on February 1st, no impact fee will exceed 50 percent, and any increases are phased in gradually over a four-year period. So at the last meeting, the Board had some questions regarding the school impact fee rate, so I wanted to just clarify the school impact fee will not be increasing by 88 percent. I know there was a slide in there that kind of was misleading. So any increase is capped at no more than 50 percent of the current adopted rate and would be phased in over a four-year period according to Florida state statute. So this slide kind of demonstrates what would happen for a single-family home under 4,000 square feet and each one of the phases that would occur and the amount of the change. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Can I ask a quick question while you're on it -- before you change slides. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Go ahead, Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Does that -- does that $1,100 -- or $1,098 increase, is that included in the previous slides' 1400 increase? MR. SANTABARBARA: It's within that, yes. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. MR. SANTABARBARA: So the phase-in structure provides predictability and ensures that the rate increases remains consistent with the statutory cap limitations. At the Board's request at the last meeting, staff went ahead and reviewed and researched some permit data from our CityView system. And I just wanted to provide some -- a little more information on the number of permits that we go through year by year. So this is the last six fiscal years. The data reflects residential dwelling units that were assessed school impact fees during that period, and on average it shows approximately 2,000 single-family Page 53 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 47 homes and 600 multifamily dwelling units that were assessed per year, just to give you kind of a flavor of what we handle per year. And with that, in closing, staff respectfully requests Board approval of the amendment, Chapter 74 of the Collier County Code of Laws and Ordinances as presented. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: We don't have any questions here. Do we have any people registered, Troy, for -- MR. MILLER: Yes, we do. We have 11 registered speakers for this item. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. If we don't have any questions, do you want to hear the speakers first or -- COMMISSIONER HALL: I have one comment. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: Ms. Patterson, yesterday in that -- in our staff meeting, I was under the impression wrongly that we could raise impact fees and then we could take the money and we could split some in stormwater, some to school, and you really nicely explained to me that by law we can't do that and that the only really choice that we have up here is to either fully fund the impact increase or to short fund it. And other than that, we don't get any other choices, so -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Correct. COMMISSIONER HALL: -- I learned something yesterday. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: That's what I learned, too. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, there you go. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. Oop, Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I don't know if there's any more discussion, but much like we've said for some of these Page 54 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 48 deep-dive votes, it's -- this isn't the first time we've seen these details. I can only speak for me. I trust the experts that are out there. You do a deep dive into your budget and what you need, the same way that we do. We have to trust each other. I have asked the questions that I needed to ask of Tim Moshier and our school superintendent, and I've been, you know, to several different, you know, gatherings to make sure that somebody just didn't put their finger in the air and say, "Oh, guess what. We just need more money." And to see what you-all have done in a short time with our school system and the new schools and how much Collier County is growing -- I'm not here to second-guess nickels and dimes because as -- I want to -- because I trust that you're doing it properly. And as Commissioner Hall says, we don't have the latitude to just say, "Oh, yeah, approve it," and then we're going to do it for different things. So I'm in favor of supporting our school system and our school leadership and trust that you're not spending the money. You're investing it. And as long as you're doing that, and I have confidence that you are, I support what you're asking for. And unless -- you know, I know there's more people to hear from, but, you know, I want to be part of the motion that approves what you're asking for because I believe in you-all and I know we worked together. And that's it. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. Commissioner Saunders. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also will support the school district. I know we're going to have some speakers. Some, perhaps, opposed to that, and we should hear from them. But just to set the table -- and I think probably this entire Board is going to be supportive of this, is my guess. And so I only say that so that the speakers that -- we'll hear from the rest of the Page 55 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 49 commissioners, but I support this. Don't need to hear a whole lot of comment in support of it. I would be interested in hearing the comments that are in opposition to it just to get that perspective. But unless I hear something from that group, I'm going to support this. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Well, I'm going to support it, but I don't like impact fees. Never have. It's a tax. It's an increase. You talk about housing affordability. When I came into office in 2016, the previous board had hired a consultant, and they had determined that every thousand-dollar increase, incremental increase in a home precluded 32 people within our demographic from affording that home. So you look at these numbers, you look at these things going across, and there are $1400-a-year increases that are being added to our impact fees. Compensation needs to come from somewhere. So having said that, I'm going to support the motion because, like Commissioner LoCastro, I trust those who are providing this information to us. I know -- and we have -- by the way, if you noticed, haven't increased fees for quite some time because I've been over here stomping my feet. All that being said, I'm joining the Affordable Housing Committee here. We're going to have discussions on rational ways that we can accomplish housing affordability. This -- these increases are a requisite for our school district to be able to do what we're -- what they are doing, elimination of debt and supporting our children. And as Commissioner -- he couldn't have said it -- I couldn't have said it any better, I mean, it's an investment in our community for the future. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. And I'll just make a quick Page 56 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 50 comment. I mean, I just want the public to understand that impact fees were statutorily driven to -- you know, we're governed by these, and these are only for new construction. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: It's not like, you know, making a repair to this building or anything like that. It's all designed for future new construction and as this county grows. And, you know, we don't collect an impact fee on a resale of a home, because somebody already paid it once. And then a percentage of people that move here, it's kind of like putting their own skin in the game when they build a home here and they move from another state. Now they're putting a little bit in for the future of the construction of this county. So that's what these impact fees are used for directly and no other reason. And when you talk about the schools, the Sheriff's Office, you talk about EMS, we need a new EMS station, things like that, this is where the money comes from a lot of times, at least a percentage of it. And that's because when people move here -- they weren't taxpayers before they moved here, especially coming from another state. So -- and the reality is they're kind of up front. They're going to pay a little once they get here when the time comes to build a new home or move into this county, and that money will be used. It's kind of like a -- you know, like Social Security. You know, we all pay Social Security right now, but that's paying for the people that already retired, you know, and then they did it, their turn, and everybody takes their turn. In a way, that's how I look at impact fees, too. And, you know, they're part of the puzzle. We know construction's not getting cheaper every year. Construction's going up and up. So we've got to kind of stay with the times sometimes, Page 57 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 51 and sometimes we have to bite the bullet and make these hard decisions. But I'm going to support it. I'm not big into taxing our citizens. I mean, that's why I voted three years in a row to lower the taxes, because I think that was the right thing to do. But I'm going to support it as we move forward. Troy, I guess we have public speakers. MR. MILLER: Good morning, Mr. Chair. Yes. I'm going to remind the speakers that you will hear a beep when you have 30 seconds to go on your time, and I'll ask you to queue up at both podiums. Your first speaker is Nancy Chisholm. She'll be followed by Amy Perwien. Nancy's been ceded additional time from Libbie Bramson. Libbie, can you raise your hand, indicating you're here. (Raises hand.) MR. MILLER: And Christine Basler. (Raises hand.) MR. MILLER: So Nancy will have a total of nine minutes. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I'll just remind the speakers that when you are at the podium, you are speaking directly to the Board of County Commissioners. You're not speaking to the audience. You're not trying to get applause or any support in any way. You're just -- this is your opportunity to face your government and say your word, so -- good morning. DR. CHISHOLM: Good morning. I am Dr. Nancy Chisholm, and I'm speaking for the Education Ambassadors. You see these buttons? We're A coalition supporting public education in Collier County. And our coalition is comprised of three organizations that represent approximately 700 members: The American Association of University Women, the Greater Naples branch; the Interfaith Alliance of Southwest Florida; and the League of Women Voters of Collier Page 58 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 52 County. Commissioner Saunders has said that he doesn't particularly want to hear comments in favor of this, and given the discussion now, I'm really going to curtail my remarks, which weren't going to be nine minutes anyway, but I appreciate the support of my colleagues. We're here to urge you, our County Commissioners, to support full funding of Collier County impact fees to the level recommended by the independent consulting firm that you wisely hired. Their report documented that no increase in impact fees for schools has occurred in 10 years, and that it is important for these fees to parallel the growth that has taken place in Collier during that period and as projected for the future. Now, we published an opinion piece in the Naples Daily News this weekend talking about our arguments in support of impact fees. So I won't go on with the rest of my statement and illuminate those points again since you have already said many of those, but I'll just close and say that I'm grateful that it appears you will be supporting the impact fees, and we are very proud of our school system, our A-rated school system and what they do. We have full confidence in our financial managers, that office of finance is award-winning, and we think spend money wisely, and they really support the future citizens of Collier County so that we can have skilled workers, we can have educated citizens who will be part of our civic process. So thank you for your time. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Amy Perwien. She'll be followed by Diane van Parys. Amy has been ceded additional time from Janet Hoffman. (Raises hand.) MR. MILLER: And from Stephen Nordin. MS. NORDIN: Stephanie. Page 59 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 53 MR. MILLER: Wow, Steph. I'm sorry. You had Steph, and I got confused. You'll have nine minutes. MS. PERWIEN: I'm also not going to take nine minutes, but I think this just shows how much support there is for supporting the impact fees. So good morning. I'm here as a constituent, taxpayer, and proud parent of recent CCPC graduates. We should all be proud of our school district, which is one of the best in the state. I want to thank the County and School District staff for providing information in helping me understand impact fees. The thorough report by the external consultant hired by the County was also informative. Based on what I learned, I strongly support adopting the impact fees at the proposed rate. By approving these fees, you can ensure that students receive a quality education in well-built schools, and I'm thankful that the Commissioners are already seeing that, and my comments might not be necessary here, but you're there. The buildings that the impact fees would fund also serve the dual purpose of being used as hurricane shelters for all of Collier County. So I know that we talked about our schoolchildren in our district, but this also is for our county. Over the past three years, I have attended most CCPS School Board meetings, and I've seen first hand how the School Board and District staff have worked together to make sure our students receive an excellent education and how they work to control the costs while cutting unnecessary spending. I appreciate that the Commissioners are putting their trust in the School District for managing their funds, and I think they have done a good job based on the last three years of what I've seen them working on. While the District controls the budget, they do not control rising construction costs or increased growth in Collier County, and recent growth, as we all probably know, has necessitated three new schools. Page 60 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 54 All these were paid for without the District taking on additional debt, saving the taxpayers $40 million. In the near future, the District plans to build a transportation facility in the Estates where most of the local growth is occurring. While some may refer to this as a bus barn, this facility will be on a 28-acre site and will include parking for 200 school buses, workspace for transportation staff, and a fuel island. This transportation facility is needed because currently buses have to travel far distances, which creates additional operating costs that are not sustainable. Due to careful planning and conservative budgeting, the District is poised to be debt-free. For those of us who reviewed the most recent CCPS budget, it was apparent that the District will not be able to remain debt-free if new schools are needed. As a taxpayer, I do not want to pay millions of dollars in debt servicing each year to build new schools that will be needed for our growing population. The cost of new schools cannot be raised in just one year of impact fees. It will take several years of collecting fees to build even one school. Much like parents save for college over the years, the District needs to be planning and saving for new school buildings that will be in the future. Without doing this, the District will need to take on debt which would then lead to property tax dollars being used to pay debt and our property taxes going up, and this is why impact fees need to be updated at the proposed rate now. And I know that there was some concern about the cost of impact fees, and I think it's already been acknowledged that these will be phased in over four years. The full rate that we're seeing today is not going to actually happen until May of 2029. The proposed fees is a 15 percent increase from 10 years ago, and this seems reasonable given how much building costs have Page 61 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 55 increased in the past decade. For a $600,000 single-family home under 400 [sic] square feet, the impact fees would account for less than 5 percent of the cost of the home. And this is for the fully phased-in rate, not the rate that we would be having next year and over the next three years. And based on information provided by the County, less than half of the proposed impact fee is for the School District. Therefore, the School District's proportion is less than 2.5 percent of a cost of a $600,000 single-family home, which is much less than sales tax. And this would be included in a mortgage, so it doesn't account for much cost to the new build. And it should be noted that the School District has opted for a lower impact fee than was recommended by the County's external consultant, and the current impact fee was adopted at less than the recommended rate 10 years ago. So the District is actually already behind, and this is not sustainable. So I appreciate that you are going to hopefully approve the impact fees at the recommended rate, and thank you for your careful consideration, and for your leadership. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Diane van Parys. She'll be followed by Tim Moshier. Diane's been ceded three additional minutes from Jay Kohlhagen, who is seated right there. MS. van PARYS: Thank you, Commissioners. And once again, I probably won't use the six minutes. But I did want to discuss impact fees from a standpoint of fiscal responsibility that our Collier County Public Schools do and commit truly. U.S. News/World Reports highlights school as a major reason when they're highlighting the communities that are successful and that people want to move to, and we certainly have seen that here. I don't know if everyone remembers back when Hertz moved their Page 62 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 56 headquarters from New Jersey to Estero, and we had several, several employees from Hertz that moved into homes in communities on Immokalee Road. Does anyone know why there's a parking lot on Immokalee Road from Twin Eagle all the way down to 75 to go to Estero? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, I do. MS. van PARYS: Who said that? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Me. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Seven schools. MS. van PARYS: Well, anyway, Hertz brought a lot of employees from New Jersey. And what did those New Jersey employees want to do? They wanted to come to Collier County. Why? Because our schools were excellent. I'm going to give you just a quick example of how great our CCPS schools are. Number 1, we score in the academic test scores 20 out of 21, above the state average. There's 67 counties. We're rated No. 5. Just to give you an idea, Lee County for five years consistently is 21 out of 21, below the state average in all those test scores. That's English and math in grades 3 through 10 and all other ancillary subjects that are tested. Even Leon County in Tallahassee is above the state in a few tests. So Lee County schools, they're working on that. I'm not here to diminish them. But 21 out of 21, below the state shows that we -- that's why people come to Collier County, for the schools. Secondly, many of us are retired. I think somebody spoke about Social Security. Some of us are on that. But if you look at our impact fees across all the different categories that we're approving them, you will see that multifamily retirement communities and everything, there are some fees that were increased. There's some that are decreased. But we look across the cross-section. We Page 63 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 57 identified 2,000 homes on average that are new. I also want to argue the point that impact fees are not a tax. A tax is assessed uniformly across all of the population. The gas tax that we all pay, every time we fill up for gas we pay a tax. So impact fees are only on new construction. The other thing, we built the NCH hospital emergency room at Collier and Immokalee. That was foresight to build that because there were 10,000 building permits, and those were pulled, like, 12 years ago for that. The other thing is new building permits are the only thing affected by this. And just so you know, I did complete the impact fee calculator, which is on the Collier County board site, and first of all, the link does not work for the water and sewer impact. That was approved, I believe, in December, and so that link doesn't work, and also the North Collier Fire link does not work. But the -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Let's reduce their impact fees, then. MS. van PARYS: Well, you can't calculate it. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Impact fee. MS. van PARYS: Okay. So I did it for single-family detached home. The other thing I would just mention is in support of the impact fees for our schools, James Madison Institute, a think tank out of Tallahassee, they compared the five-county area of impact fees, and they concluded that we -- Collier County was way behind in terms of that. We have built three new schools with the impact fees, which we have a seven-year window to use those, less than $300 million that we are using for those schools. In Lee County, they have, as I mentioned the last time, that half-penny tax. Do you know since 2018 they have collected $647 million? Every one of us that pays that tax when we go to Page 64 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 58 restaurants, et cetera, 647 million. Our impact fees on 2,000 homes per year, starting in May, is not going to give us 647 million. So I just -- I'm very appreciative of everything that each of our Commissioners said in supporting our school impact fees and all the other impact fees there. Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you, Diane. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Tim Moshier. He'll be followed by Dr. John Newton. MR. MOSHIER: Good morning. Thank you for your consideration of the impact fees. Personally, I hate paying taxes myself. This isn't an impact fee. It's not a tax. It's an investment in our community. And I'd just like to thank you guys for passing it. It's going to pay for future growth so we don't have to pay for growth now. Also, I just want to bring to your attention that two years ago our capital millage rate we did reduce. It's the first time in the state that I'd ever heard about reducing a capital millage. So we are looking out for the taxpayers' money and everything. So whenever we can reduce millage on taxes we do. So I just want to thank you guys for everything you're doing. We're doing the best we can to help out the community. Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Dr. John Newton. He'll be followed by Amelia Vasquez. DR. NEWTON: Dr. John Newton. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Good morning. DR. NEWTON: I go to all the School Board meetings, and I always praise them, this is an A school district. They hear me say it all the time. It's an A school district. The schools are growing all the time. And I'm -- you know, I got up this morning, and I probably Page 65 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 59 shouldn't have because I knew that you-all were going to say the same thing, that you're behind it, and I'm behind it also, but the way the school district is growing, it's an A school district. Kids are coming here. I don't know where they're coming from, but they're coming here. They're building schools all year, all -- every year, and I want to just say ditto, and what they said is what I'm saying, we've got to have it. Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you, John. MR. MILLER: Your final speaker on this item is Amelia Vasquez. MS. VASQUEZ: Good morning, Commissioners and Chair Kowal. My name is Amelia Vasquez. I'm the executive officer for the Collier Building Industry Association. I appreciate -- CBIA appreciates the opportunity to follow up this morning on our comments from December 9th meeting. For the record, I did provide you -- each of you a memorandum that expands on remarks -- remarks and documents a factual legal basis for CBIA's position. My comments this morning will highlight documents and matters particularly where the maximum fee allowed by the law is being requested by the School District. Based on the School District's own five-year capital, it shows that no schools are going to be built through '29. Because impact fees are intended to fund growth-related facilities, the record should clearly connect today's fees to specific future schools and reasonable time frame for that delivery. CBIA is asking that the document be explicit. Second, at the December meeting it was stated that all school growth projections are based on Collier County's Growth Management Plan; however, the adoption record does not clearly identify which population projections they relied upon, whether those projections are countywide, limited or on the unincorporated areas, Page 66 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 60 whether they reflect permanent versus seasonal population, how they align with commonly referenced sources such as the BEBR, or the CGM. These are traceability requirements, not policy disagreements. Absent this clarity, the record risk falling short of the most recent and localized data standard required by the Florida law. CBIA is acknowledging that the proposed increases reflect the statutory cap required by the phase-in; however, compliance with the statutory cap does not replace the independence legal requirements needed for -- and for the benefit. Also, the fourth, we want to acknowledge the SB180 and the new legal developments. CBIA is not alleging a violation of SB180 or it is not requesting for codification; however, just yesterday the Freedom Housing Alliance versus Manatee County , the Court rejected the argument that the impact fees are categorically exempt from SB180 and allowed the case to proceed. A temporary injunction is currently in place, preventing enforcement of the increased fees covered by that ordinance. We understand the County's position that the impact fees are adopted by the ordinance and rather than through the Land Development Code. That distinction may matter, but the Manatee ruling confirms that the courts are actively scrutinizing impact fees function and how they intersect with land-use regulation. For that reason CBIA respectfully requests a written legal interpretation from the County once again explaining why SB180 does not apply here. That protects the County and provides consistency moving forward. If you'll allow me, I do have a statement for the record from the Florida Homebuilders Association's FHBA, CEO, Rusty Payton. May I proceed? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You still have time. Go ahead. Page 67 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 61 MS. VASQUEZ: Thank you. The Florida Homebuilders Association strongly urges the County to pause final action on the proposed school impact fee. SB180 was intended to stop the regulatory merry-go-round while the home building industry helps communities recover the natural disasters. Preventing more burdensome regulations during this recovery period is a legislative priority. Thank you. And we ask three things: Pause the final action, which I respect that you guys spoke earlier; however, we wanted to go on record; direct staff for the School District clearly document population/student capacity to match that of what the recent study from the MPO showed from projections through 2025, which is using BEBR and the CIGM; provide the request for the SB180 clarification. Thank you for your time. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MS. VASQUEZ: Thank you for allowing me. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Saunders. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you. I just wanted to make a comment on impact fees in general. And I agree with Commissioner McDaniel and the rest of us that no one really likes taxes, no one really likes fees; however, we do have a responsibility to provide infrastructure and to make sure that our quality of life is maintained. So when I go back to the covered wagon days when I was on the Commission in the first place, I supported impact fees for every category of expenditure that we could impose those on, and I still do because somebody has to pay for the new infrastructure that's necessitated by the growth that comes into this county, and who better to pay for that infrastructure than the new people that are coming to this county that are causing the need for that new Page 68 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 62 infrastructure. That's why I support impact fees. Now, in Lee County, they -- I'm going way back -- they reduced their impact fees. I don't know what their impact fees now are -- what they are now compared to what they could be, but I do know that they have taken the philosophy to reduce impact fees. They have the tax to replace that. But because of that, I think we can all sort of agree, if we go to Lee County, that their -- they have some road problems there. We've been able to at least attempt to keep ahead of the needs in our community, and I think we've done a pretty good job of it. And we can always point to Immokalee Road. There are some exceptions. But I think, generally, if you compare the roads in Collier County to the roads throughout the state, I think we do a darn good job. And so I continue to support impact fees and will support this, Mr. Chairman, when it's -- when you call for a motion. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Chairman. I just wanted to make my comment, since we have senior leadership here from the schools, before we vote on Commissioner Saunders' motion, and obviously, it sounds like it's going to be unanimous. I want to make a little public service announcement. I have a lot of charter schools in my district, and I interface with them quite a bit. And at times they do feel like they're kind of forgotten, and that might be a bad impression, but sometimes, you know, your impression is reality. So just to leave you with a message -- we have some amazing public schools, you know. I think Marco Island Academy, Mason, you know, some other -- in all of our districts. And I say that with a little bit of -- a little bit more than fact, because the previous school Page 69 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 63 superintendent, I remember sitting in her office when I was first elected and going over how we're an A plus and all the positive things, and I was disappointed there was a slide that showed basically all the schools in Collier County. You know, the charter schools were not on that slide. I would -- I hope that's corrected. And that's -- that's -- that's years ago. That was in 2020. But I just want to make a little plug that we've got great public schools, great charter schools, unique schools. You know, that's what -- Collier County is so diverse, and people really have choice. But just to make a little plug for the charter schools in my district, when I speak with them, they speak very highly of the School District. Nobody's screaming or complaining. But sometimes the last little thing is, don't forget about us. You know, we're part of the school district. We're special, but we're not separate. And so I feel that's been corrected under the new leadership. But I just wanted to make that plug, because they're part of what makes us an A plus and part of what gives parents choice and all the other great things that come along with Collier County that a lot of other counties don't have. So I thank you for what you do. We've got a motion on the floor. I'll second the motion. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, just for the record, I'll make the motion. I didn't -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah, he just said he would support it. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So I'll make the motion to approve the -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: So I have a motion to approve and a second. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. Page 70 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 64 COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: It passes unanimously. I might go a little -- think outside the box here a little bit, but I'd like to make a quick little comment. You know, the schools, their next big project is going to be this bus depot out east. And this is just from my observations and my time being here, 20 years in the Sheriff's Office, and having the opportunity to be around the schools. I've never seen so many children driven to schools in their cars with their mommies and daddies in this county, and we have buses for them. You know, I'm going to revert back to a little movie , Forrest Gump. Do you remember when he had to stand there and get on the bus ride for the very first time? I think that builds character in a child and it finally gets a little separation from being under the wing of their parents. I don't know how you do it, but I would love to see some sort of motivational program where we utilize these buses and we don't have three rush hours a day twice a day in this county because we have kids getting ridden to school in the morning for high school, we get kids get driven to school for middle school, and we get it again for elementary. And it just floods our streets. And, you know, traffic's one of the biggest issues we deal with up here. On a daily basis I get complaints about traffic. And I don't know how you're going to do it, but I would wish that you would look at somehow to, you know, motivate. Let go. Let go of those children. They will grow up. It's time. It's time to let them out from underneath their wing. You know -- and it does. It builds character when they get that opportunity to actually get on the school bus, have some separation, experience that, because I either walked or rode a school bus my whole life to school. And that's -- there's just Page 71 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 65 something about that. But I'm just saying -- I'm just putting it out there. So you got your impact fees. COMMISSIONER HALL: For $40 million, you're going to ride that. (Applause.) CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You're going to ride that bus. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: You're going to ride that bus. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. I guess what's up next? MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, if you'd like, I think it's time for a court reporter break, and then we can come back and take the public comment before we go to our 11 o'clock time-certain. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. Well, let's be back at 10:55. Fifteen minutes? MS. PATTERSON: Ten. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Ten. Ten-minute court reporter break? MS. PATTERSON: It's up to you, Chair. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Ten minutes is fine, 10:45. (A recess was had from 10:35 a.m. to 10:47 a.m.) MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. All right. I guess we'll move right on to our next item. MS. PATTERSON: We're going to go to public comment, Item 7 -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Oh, yeah. MS. PATTERSON: -- yep, before we -- we'll take those, and then we'll go to our 11 o'clock. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. MR. MILLER: Again, I'll remind the speakers to please queue up at both podiums. Your first speaker is Tom McCrudden, I think this is, followed by Marquiba Mangham. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: And I'd like to remind everybody, once Page 72 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 66 again, you're speaking directly to the Board of County Commissioners, and if you're speaking on something that's already an agenda item that's going to be on our agenda today, there is time set aside for that time to petition and speak at the podium. But this is for any general comment that you'd like to make right now. Thank you. MR. McCRUDDEN: Hi. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. My name is Tom McCrudden, and I'm the owner of two small businesses, South Florida Aqua Farms and Great Florida Shellfish Company. I've been producing clam and oyster seed for the past 29 years for the shellfish industry restoration research efforts in Florida and along the East Coast of the United States. We're currently the largest producer of clam seed supplying the industry and restoration efforts in the state right now, and we produce domestic for food production as well as native shellfish which are used to clean our local waters. We've been on Florida's east coast until a few years ago when we decided to expand operations to Florida's southwest coast to allow for diversity from storms and water-quality events, expand our restoration efforts into Collier County, and also grow out of a new native species called the Sunray Venus Clam. When we first came to Collier County, we were directed by the Building Department to look at Chokoloskee. Since it was a small fishing village, we would be a perfect fit for that small island. Also, since Goodland had a shellfish overlay ordinance, we would have no problem operating in Chokoloskee. We followed the rules. We obtained the proper permits to construct a pole barn which would house the shellfish cultivation tanks. We submitted the zoning verification letter back on May 10th, '23, before starting any construction. We submitted in writing exactly what we were building and that we would be operating a shellfish nursery on the premises. So after nearly two years of permitting and building delays, we Page 73 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 67 finally completed the building and started our operation in early October of '25. Prior to starting the pumps of the shellfish, the canal that we're located on had a slimy film on the surface and the bottom had decaying growth of algae and minimal fish coming down our canal. After a few weeks of us pumping, filtering, and aerating the water for our shellfish, the slime on the surface started to break up, the bottom actually started to aerate and break down as well, and most importantly, fish started coming back into our canal where we're adding dissolved oxygen circulation, and all that stuff's occurring. So last week one of my neighbors even told me that he's lived on the canal for the last 26 years. Never seen this many fish as are currently coming in our canal at this point. So he said the only thing that's changed is our operation down there at the end of the canal. So we currently supply restoration seed around the state, which is administered by FWC, DEP. Up in Charlotte, Lee, and then over on the east coast, we're in several seagrass projects as well. So if we're forced to stop operating this facility, many businesses and families will not be able to get seed to provide for their businesses and also restoration seed that's plotted to be -- go out to clean our waters will be lost. I'm asking for the Goodland shellfish overlay be extended to Chokoloskee. I have a petition signed by most of the homeowners on our canal and community supporters in Chokoloskee asking for this overlay to be extended. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. Thank you. I did see your letter. I read it yesterday. I don't know if any of the other commissioners got a copy of it. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: The point is, make sure you get up with me, and we'll get you through this. MR. McCRUDDEN: Okay. Page 74 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 68 COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay? MR. McCRUDDEN: Great. Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Marquiba Mangham, and she'll be followed by John Heidings. MS. MANGHAM: Hi. My name is Marquiba Mangham. I am a civil rights advocate, and I need to provide public notice to Collier County. This is in accordance with the USCS Rules of Civil Procedures as well as Rule 17 and Rule 20 of the United States Supreme Court. The Constitution of the United States has the overarching requirements that every state must follow. States cannot enact their own alternative legislation substituted for the guarantees of the Constitution of the United States. That would mean that the state laws are more powerful than the Constitution. That is unlawful. Clause 1 of Amendment V states, "No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on a president or indictment by a grand jury"; however, the State of Florida has enacted its own alternative legislation that permits prosecuting attorneys and police officers to charge by way of information as opposed to indictment. That is unconstitutional. In a moment while -- violation is when you pay a public official to break the law. The Constitution has two areas that enforce this. Article I, Section 10 says, "No state shall create any law that shall impair the obligation of contracts." Police officers, prosecutors, judges are all under a contract, a contract to perform based on the oath or affirmation that they took to support and defend the Constitution. Contract parameters are defined within the Constitution of the United States, and when a state enacts an inferior law that directs their agents to disobey the Constitution of the United States, that is a Page 75 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 69 violation of Article I, Section 10. The 14th Amendment is the other place that you will find the reinforcement of this issue, and that is where it states that no state shall create or enforce any law that shall abridge the privileges or immunities of a United States citizen. The privileges and immunities of the United States citizens are at a minimum those enumerated within the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments. Unfortunately, the State of Florida has enacted a law in its inferior constitution that permits public officials, judges, law enforcement officers, whom you all pay, to violate the Constitution of the United States. As a result, there is an inordinate amount of people currently in prison in the state of Florida illegally, unconstitutionally. Tanawah Downing is litigating this issue at the United States Supreme Court. I am here to notify you that if you continue to pay public officials to break the law, criminal sanctions can come from that. Officials must be made aware that paying people to disobey the law is in a moment violation. It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is a crime. I am asking you honorable individuals to please take a close look at Clause 1 of Amendment V -- May I continue? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Go ahead. If you'd finish it up. MS. MANGHAM: -- of Amendment V, confirm what I am saying to be true, and then direct your public officials to act in a lawful, constitutional manner consistent with the obligations that are codified in the Constitution of the United States of America. I have a notice that I would like to put on the record. Thank you so much. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is John Heidings. He'll be Page 76 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 70 followed by Cody Davis. MR. HEIDINGS: Good morning, Council. Thank you for letting me speak. My name is John Heidings. I'm a civil rights advocate, and I'm also here to provide notice in accordance with USCS Rules of Civil Procedure as well as Rule 17 and Rule 20 from the United States Supreme Court. The Constitution of the United States is a supreme law of the land. No state, no country, and no court has the authority to create or enforce policies that contradict the Constitution or deprive citizens of their secured protected rights, yet that is happening every single day in family and juvenile courts. Across this nation, children are being removed from fit, loving parents, not for abuse, not for danger, but for profit. Under Title 4D and title 4E, federal funding states -- states and counties receive financial incentives tied to the removal, separation, and adoption of children. This means the system profits when families are torn apart. A federal pipeline of money has turned our children into financial commodities. Unfortunately, this is not a conspiracy. This is codified federal ruling. It is true that a portion of this county's budget contributes to the operation of the very courts participating in the unlawful removal of children from fit, loving, and healthy parents without due process of law, without jury trials, and without preponderance of the evidence. When government officials, including judges, attorneys, and Clerk of Court -- Clerk of Court, law enforcements, and any other county-funded agencies knowingly, neglectfully, deprive citizens of their rights that are secured and protected by the Constitution, that is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. 241. When two or more agents operate under the color of law to deprive children or families of their rights, that becomes a criminal conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. 241. When state actors deprive individuals of rights in exchange for Page 77 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 71 federal financial gain, such conduct constitutes unlawful emolument violation under Article I, Section 10. This is -- this is also a pattern of rights-based exploitation which in many cases includes kidnapping, bribery, exhortation [sic], and sometimes murder, otherwise known as RICO. Under Title 18 U.S.C. 4, misprison of felony, whoever is made aware of a federal crime and fails to report it to the proper authorities is committing a separate felony. Ignoring this is not an option, because the law requires action. As elected officials, you swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. Because this Commission allocates funding that enable these courts and state actors to operate, continuing to fund these unconstitutional practices after receiving notice places the Commission at risk of being implicated in ongoing violations. We are calling upon you to immediately withhold any county-level funding that supports or enables these actions until compliance with the constitution is restored; every child that has been removed unlawfully is returned to the respective homes. I am serving with affidavits of criminal conspiracy containing prima facie evidence of crimes being committed by judges within your county's court. Our children are not for sale. Parents are not our revenue streams. No system that profits from the destruction of family has a moral or constitutional authority to exist. Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Cody Davis, and he'll be followed by Jay Kohlhagen. MR. DAVIS: Good morning. My name's Cody Davis, 15126 Palmer Lake Circle. I'd like to speak on the West Mercato rezone vote procedure that occurred at the last Board meeting. This rezone was first heard on Page 78 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 72 October 28th in a quasi-judicial public hearing where multiple residents spoke in opposition, and the Board was aware of ongoing public concern. Instead of voting that day, the item was continued to the December 9th meeting at Commissioner Hall's suggestion. But at the December meeting, the hearing was never reopened. At no point was anyone sworn in. There was no presentation, no testimony, and no final staff report. The only person who spoke was me, in opposition. In a continued quasi-judicial hearing, the law requires that the Board's decision be based on evidence in the record. By passing this on the summary agenda without reopening the hearing, the Board acted without taking the necessary final evidence and without lawful public deliberation. At the same meeting, Commissioners conducted ex parte disclosures for the summary agenda, a step used only in quasi-judicial matters, while omitting the key aspects that make a quasi-judicial hearing legally valid. Those two actions can't both be correct. This isn't a minor technical issue. It's a failure to hold the hearing required by law. Despite that, the item was placed on the summary agenda and passed unanimously without discussion as though it were a routine administrative matter. This directly contradicts the County Manager's own governing standard. She has stated that the summary agenda is, quote, used for routine and administrative items and that anything that has any type of public interest or controversy does not go onto the consent agenda. She further explained that land-use items only qualify for the summary judgment if they received no public opposition and that items with public opposition have to be placed on the regular agenda, just like happened this morning. Not should, but "have to" is the words of Ms. Patterson. The West Mercato rezone clearly did not qualify. These Page 79 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 73 circumstances present a serious procedural defect. Approvals issued without a lawful hearing are inherently unstable and expose both the County and the applicant to long-term legal uncertainty. A county known for being developer friendly can quickly gain a reputation as impossible to work with if approvals can be overturned years later for defects this fundamental. For these reasons, I'm asking the Board to correct the error by acknowledging that no quasi-judicial hearing occurred on December 9th and that the approval is therefore void, reopening the hearing properly, and taking a lawful vote in full view of the public. Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Jay Kohlhagen. He'll be followed by Cliff Donenfeld. MR. KOHLHAGEN: Good morning, Commissioners. Hey, I just want to briefly raise awareness about large-scale solar farms and their environmental impacts. Clearing land for these facilities destroy habitat, disrupts wildlife corridors, all-terrain drainage, and increases heat and runoff. Green energy should not come at a cost of environmental damage. Don't make our county a Babcock Ranch. I'm just warming up. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you, Jay. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Cliff Donenfeld, and he will be followed by Rae Ann Burton. MR. DONENFELD: Hello, Commissioners. Cliff Donenfeld, former member of the Office of Inspector General here until just the end of this year. Also been in real estate about 20 of my 23 years here. I have a copy for each, and if you could pass these around so they have a copy just of -- Page 80 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 74 COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You can just give them to the court reporter. MR. DONENFELD: Here we go. We have a copy for each and every one of you -- a copy of this report for each and every one of us. I only found out yesterday during public comments time can't be ceded. So I'm going to race through a lot of it, but I've also got to say that any malfeasance indicated is not about any of you guys. You guys, I know you really try to be great stewards. I support all of those that are running for reelection. I support everybody except for Rick LoCastro because I support him for Congress, I really do. He'll make an excellent congressman. So Burt Saunders becomes the elder statesman. Dan Kowal has, you know, law enforcement, and I think that there's a place for all that here. And I'm going to race along. A few months back in a meeting, it was decided to move ahead with buying a certain property for the purpose of a pump rebuilding station. There should have been about 180 days to close, so it shouldn't have had to close for several months. There weren't any comments made on that. And I do not hold the Commissioners or Amy Patterson accountable to know everything that goes on with appraisals. And we're going to go through the appraisals. And these are faulty appraisals, and I'm going to show you exactly why. Let's go to the next page. I'm going to race through. Brief market report. Keep -- let's go to the next page. Okay. Right here. It seems that the only people in this -- everybody up here is aware that 2021 to '23, '22 was a peak of our market. Not just in residential, for the most part in commercial, too. Sure, there are anomalies. People buying up Fifth and some other things that happened in Lee County, but for the most part, that peak -- that peak mark was 2022, which means properties went down Page 81 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 75 after that. This is very important when it comes to appraisals because banks do not let -- will not accept an appraisal over three months or six months. They certainly wouldn't look at any appraisal with -- years old, okay. Yes, there are times on a certain commercial property that -- in rural wherever where there's nothing around it for 100 miles, they might say, "Okay. We can go longer than a year, 18 months." That's on certain situations; however, let's keep going on this property. All right. This is just more market info showing how East Naples is down negative 9 percent. These are commercial stats for last -- Golden Gate down 100 percent. North Naples down 44 percent. Outlying Collier, 1 percent. Keep going. More market info, the same thing. Again, everyone up here and everyone in Collier County and the world -- and the nation knows that properties have gone down. That's with the exception of our real property division. And the -- and some of the appraisers both working in-house and out-house, like these appraisers. Keep going. Next. Keep going. More about the market, more stats. Properties that were purchased in 2023, commercial properties, as well as many residential, these are just a few, generally sold for less in '25. This one sold for 43.4 percent less. Keep going. These all sold for less in '25 than their purchase price just in '23 or others -- a few years ago. Keep going. Keep going. Now, the property that the County was told is a great buy, needed, what have you, is -- would be -- we just paid 360 square -- dollars a square foot. The average properties in that neighborhood both on the market and sold were between 200 to 280 a square foot. Page 82 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 76 Keep going. These are just some of those. These are more of them. And the property being purchased to move out of the Shirley Street zone -- the Shirley Street area is the design district off Pine Ridge Road. This is in the commercial area around the Supervisor of Elections office. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. All right. Right here. All of these properties -- there's about two dozen there. These two dozen properties or so all are in the immediate area of the property that they're buying -- that they just bought. It got squeezed in the day before New Year's. Wasn't supposed to close for a few more months. Anyway, why that happened, I don't know. But there were so many comps to be used that closed in the last year or so right in that neighborhood, but these -- but keep going. We're going to keep getting right -- here's one of the appraisals. And incidentally, the one nefarious thing about their appraisal isn't the fact that he was also a partner in the listing agent -- with the listing agency at the time it was sold. The most nefarious thing on here, if you -- it's going to be hard to tell from there -- there are market adjustments adding nearly a half a million dollars to each and every comp because he used two-year-old comps saying, "Oh, in '25 it would be worth another half a million dollars." That completely contradicts it. Let's go to the next one. That's an overall appraisal analysis. Keep going. That's his overall -- again, market adjustments -- his market adjustments which shouldn't be used at all, and if anything should have been done down, we're at an average of 300 -- $300,000. Keep going. Can I get just a couple more minutes to race through? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Go ahead. A few more. Page 83 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 77 MR. DONENFELD: RKL, now even though they weren't partners in the listing agent, they did it -- they still made sure to cherry pick to come to that 360-square-foot price as opposed to 260. How did they do it? Well, most of these properties, again, weren't in the area where the property is. It's kind of like saying, "Hey, can you go get me an apple?" And someone brings me an orange even though there was a whole pile of apples. What would be the reason for using two-year-old properties in a whole different neighborhood? Keep going. Why would an appraiser use properties from the 34109 area which contains the design and gallery district when there are plenty of comps? I'm repeating myself over and over, but that's the fact. Keep going. Just, again, more of the same. Okay. This is the original Shirley Street property. When the gentleman from the County was up there, he didn't mention that they actually have two acres and an acre of dirt just waiting for a building that they're going to be selling. It was a little confusing. And I know some of the Commissioners, it was a little ambiguous whether this property they're buying -- which incidentally is about a third of the size of that property. It's .85. So they don't want to drive onto Pine Ridge Road. Whatever the reasons, it's ambiguous. But that was the old property. Keep going. One other -- okay. When I first looked at this property -- and I am speaking as a citizen advocate. I am not with the Office of the Inspector General as their real estate specialist any longer. But the domestic property, the first thing I noticed, that was an increase, if purchased, with a -- for 159 percent from the time they bought it 2019. You look at other properties, 20 percent up, 75. Next slide, please. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: If you could start bringing it in, okay? MR. DONENFELD: Okay. Keep going through. The bottom Page 84 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 78 line is, this will be a record windfall why they got -- why a relatively recent citizen here was given a lottery ticket of a few million dollars by this county, I don't know. I don't blame these guys, but pretty much everybody below Amy that's in Real Property needs to reassess. You have copies of the report. Keep going. And incidentally, at the very end of this, there is a copy of an in-house appraisal done from the same appraiser within the County that approves others, and that -- if you go to the very end -- keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep -- okay, right here. On this -- it happens that it's on the agenda today, and it's now -- approve it or whatever, for the fleet station in spite of this -- this appraisal. The fleet station was a five-acre, $600,000 property on County Barn. Certainly makes all the sense in the world. But why would the in-house appraiser use a $12 million, 21-acre property as a comp when there are plenty of others to use? It didn't make sense. He also didn't have dates. 0022 as a date for a comp? Go to the next page. There's even more of it. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right, Cliff. We get the gist. MR. DONENFELD: I made my point. Thank you. Please look at it. It's now on -- in public record. You can all see it. And there's a copy for each and every one of you guys. Thank you for your time. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you, Cliff. MR. DONENFELD: God bless. Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Rae Ann Burton, and she'll be followed on Zoom by Anna Puente. MS. BURTON: Thank you. My name is Rae Ann Burton. I'm glad to be back. I live in Rural Golden Gate Estates, what is left of it. I am currently fighting stage four cancer, and my neighbors all work; therefore, phone service and Internet is necessary. Medical reports, Page 85 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 79 appointments change all on the Internet, and remaining calls by phone. I recently had CenturyLink. I had it for 20 years. It stopped on October the 7th. The lines would not be fixed because the company has sold, and the lines are bad. I was fortunate to go to Xfiniti. It took me three weeks to get that information. A tech finally came. The first two didn't. I had to drive 11 miles to Golden Gate library. Luckily I had a laptop to get ahold of CenturyLink to get the -- find all this out. It took a month for me to get my home phone back from CenturyLink. The Board is endangering the residents within Estates and our quality of life. There's no reliable cell service or phone service. What happened to the cell phone that's supposed to -- tower that's supposed to be on Everglades and 31st Avenue Southeast? I live on south north -- on Northeast. Nowhere -- increasing traffic has created lengthy travel time to doctors and appointments, and emergency vehicles have trouble passing the parking lot traffic. I have seen this when coming to town. It takes me 45 minutes to get to the Florida Clinic. It took me an hour to get here today because of this infrastructure. The infrastructure should be built -- paid for by the developers that are creating it. You're endangering the residents, causing us loss of homes due to these overdevelopments. They have increased our home insurance, even if you -- if you can even get it. It has increased our mortgage payments. Mine went up again, over $100 more due to taxes and insurance. Increasing taxes do cost -- due to higher cost of these luxury apartments that benefit only the developers and the owners. I am fighting. I am on a limited income. I could look [sic] Page 86 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 80 foreclosure. Rural Golden Gate Estates was a quiet community. People could walk or ride in their streets. Increase in building brought construction vehicles where none were before. I do not -- they do not obey speed. I have seen dump trucks, construction vehicles go over 60 in the 50-mile zones swerve back and forth in the traffic, causing daily accidents. Everglades and Golden Gate Boulevard is two lanes into one. I hear you're going to change that. Thank God. When is this Board, elected by the taxpayers, going to protect and provide us what we the residents in Rural Estates need and stop catering to these destructive projects and restore our quality of life? We've already lost our first panther this month on Collier and 75 all due to traffic. Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, our speaker on Zoom commented to us that she has no comment. So that concludes our public comment for Item 7. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. Well, all right. Thank you. Ms. Patterson. MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. Item #11B ACCEPT A STATUS UPDATE ON THE BARRON COLLIER COMPANIES’ REVISED PROPERTY EXCHANGE PROPOSAL FOR APPROXIMATELY 292 ACRES OF COUNTY-OWNED PROPERTY AT CAMP KEAIS FOR AN EQUALLY SIZED PROPERTY AT SILVER STRAND ALONG WITH A 57-ACRE TRACT AT SILVER STRAND; TO AUTHORIZE A LAND ALLOCATION PLAN DEFINING A COUNTY OPERATIONAL Page 87 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 81 USE, INCLUDING FUTURE UTILITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS; AND FOR FUTURE CONVEYANCE TO DESIGNATED NON-PROFIT STAKEHOLDERS (COLLIER COUNTY AGRICULTURAL & FAIR EXPOSITION, INC., SWAMP BUGGY, INC., AND COLLIER COUNTY JUNIOR DEPUTIES LEAGUE) AND TO AUTHORIZE THE NEGOTIATION OF SALES CONTRACTS FOR FUTURE BOARD CONSIDERATION, WITH NOTICE OF THE PROPOSED PROPERTY EXCHANGE TO BE ADVERTISED IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 125.37, FLORIDA STATUTES. (TRINITY SCOTT, DEPARTMENT HEAD – TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT) - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS – APPROVED MS. PATTERSON: That brings us to our 11 o'clock time-certain. This is Item 11B. This is a recommendation to accept a status update on the Barron Collier Companies' revised property exchange proposal for approximately 292 acres of county-owned property at Camp Keais for an equally sized property at Silver Strand along with a 57-acre tract at Silver Strand, to authorize a land allocation plan defining a county operational use including future utility and infrastructure needs and for future conveyance to designate -- to designated not -- non-profit stakeholders, Collier County Agricultural and Fair Exposition, Inc., Swamp Buggy, Inc., and the Collier County Junior Deputies League, and to authorize the negotiation of sales contracts for future Board consideration with notice of the proposed property exchange to be advertised in accordance with Section 125.37, Florida Statutes. Ms. Trinity Scott, your department head of Transportation Management Services, is here to present. Page 88 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 82 CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Good morning, Trinity. MS. SCOTT: Good morning. For the record, Trinity Scott, your Transportation Management Services department head. I do have a quick presentation with regard to this item. Just some background on this: Back in 2021, the Board's purchased the property out on Camp Keais -- it was just over a thousand acres -- for long-term county operational uses and stakeholder needs. At the Board direction, back in August of 2024, we received direction to work with Barron Collier Companies to explore a land swap of at that time 439 acres involving Camp Keais as well as Silver Strand. The letter of intent was updated in September of 2025, which we'll get into those details. And we've also been doing, at the request of the Board, some land allocation planning with key stakeholders such as the Collier County Fair Board, the Junior Deputies, and Swamp Buggy, sorry, to do some land-use allocation so that we can come back and bring a concept, so then we can turn our real property folks loose to go finalize some sales contracts and bring those back to you. So we did an appraisal back in January of 2025. We hired -- actually, Barron Collier Services, through mutual agreement with the County, chose two certified appraisers from the County contract, entered into contract with them to complete appraisals for both the Camp Keais property and the Silver Strand property. In January of 2025, the average of the Camp Keais appraisal was $20,250 per acre, and the Silver Strand parcel was $23,000. I'm sorry -- yes, $23,000. Knowing that those appraisals had been about a year old, prior to coming back in front of the Board, we did ask for a quick update on those appraisals, and lo and behold, the property did increase. So based on our certified appraisers that were -- and their appraisals that Page 89 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 83 were reviewed by our certified review appraisers in-house, the property at Camp Keais increased to $22,250 per acre, and the property at Silver Strand up to $26,000 an acre. As part of this agenda item in the executive summary, you'll note that Barron Collier paid for the initial appraisals on this. The County did ask for the update just because they were a little older, and through our experience with regard to the Conservation Collier pieces, we know that that has been something that's been noted, so we did ask for that. So as part of this, as we proceed forward with our final sales and purchase agreement, we believe that we should reimburse Barron Collier back for the update of those appraisals because it was at the County's request that they did so. So just a visual of the Silver Strand final swap parcel; it is 292 acres. That is noted in the green on the screen, and the additional 57 acres are proposed for additional purchase if we so desire. This really -- this property in green really goes -- goes around and hugs some existing County facilities that are there, and so it really does provide, you know, some additional opportunities for us from a county perspective. And so that public benefit is it consolidates the County land near existing public facilities and improves our long-term infrastructure and operational planning opportunities. We did go through due diligence. We completed a Phase 1 environmental survey. There is some additional review that is necessary based on the revised parcel. And the letter of interest provided from Barron Collier also asked for consideration of long-term land-use drainage and access provisions. So we want to be able to continue to work with them throughout. If the Board so directs, we will have required statutory notices with regard to the land swap with Barron Collier that we will need to adhere to. Page 90 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 84 Getting down to the Camp Keais piece, so the actual property swap would be the blue parcel, generally. When we would actually go in and do some -- do the actual sketch and legals for this, we'd like to kind of clean up those edges a little bit. So right now we're looking at 292 acres, plus or minus, would be the land-swap area. We have been working with the Fair Board, Swamp Buggy, Junior Deputies, as well as Public Utilities because they have -- also have a need for property on the Camp Keais site. So we've been working with the fairgrounds for an allocation of just under 100 acres, give or take. Swamp Buggy at 78 acres, Junior Deputies at 50, and then also Public Utilities at 22 acres. This would leave approximately 500 acres of county property mainly along the Oil Well Road frontage for future use by the County. There are -- once again, there are -- did I not -- am I going backwards? Oh. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Way to go. MS. SCOTT: There I go. There it is. I'm like, "Wait a minute." COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I used to do that when I was starting out, too. MS. SCOTT: Oh, thanks. There are currently leases on the property as well that will have to be modified or terminated as we proceed forward with the -- with the sales, and some of these may be able to be adjusted to utilize the remaining property as an income source for the County until we decide what we would want to have our final Camp Keais property at. So currently we have been conducting our stakeholder negotiations, and we really started out with the Fair Board with their letter of interest because their sales and purchase agreement will become the template for the other two non-profit entities as well. And so today we're asking for your agreement in concept and Page 91 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 85 direction to staff to move forward with preparing these final sales and purchase agreements to come back as well as allow us to begin doing applications for lot splits and boundary adjustments so that we can -- right now these are very large parcels, and we really need to separate them out so that Fair, Swamp Buggy, Junior Deputies can move forward with the land-use opportunities that they need to do as well, all of which will come back to the Board for a final approval. But we just wanted your approval in concept today and give us direction to move forward with this. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. Any questions from the Board? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I mean, I'm all over this. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to share, but I'm -- do we have any public comment on this? MR. MILLER: Yes, one. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Let's hear that, and then I'll make the motion. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, we have one public comment, Clay Brooker. MR. BROOKER: Good morning, Commissioners. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Good morning. MR. BROOKER: Clay Brooker with the law firm of Cheffy Passidomo, 821 Fifth Avenue South, here on behalf of the Collier County Fair Board. I'll just be brief. We remain very interested in this concept and have no issue with the land allocation plan in general that Trinity just showed on the slide subject to continuing review as details get honed. Our only message today to you is timing. Right now, as you know, the fair is located off of Immokalee at 39th Avenue Northeast, leasing that land from the County. That lease expires in January of 2037, 11 years out. That may sound like a long time, but I've been Page 92 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 86 working with the County staff and the Fair Board for three or four years now already, and we're still trying to negotiate a contract to purchase this land from -- in the Camp Keais campus. The fair is willing and the discussions have also included a voluntary termination of the lease at the 39th Avenue Northeast campus, assuming that the property out in Camp Keais campus is turnkey, ready to go so the fair simply moves from one location to Camp Keais almost simultaneously. That process will take time. As you saw from the aerials, this is raw land. There are a variety of steps that are required before the fair can even begin site improvements to begin to prep the land for the relocation of the fair to the Camp Keais campus. Some of those efforts include utility and access infrastructure being extended out to the Camp Keais campus. Trinity mentioned subdividing or lot splits or boundary formations of sketches and legal descriptions so everyone, all the stakeholders knows exactly where they're going to be and what the details and the logistics will be for their own respective uses. The fair will be required -- this is agriculturally zoned land. The fair will be required to get a conditional-use approval. The fair will be back before you for a conditional-use approval to actually place the fair on this property in that zoning district. That conditional-use process takes months, as you probably know. And then, finally, after we have all of those entitlements and approvals in place, site improvements must take place. So the message here is we are fully in support. We remain very, very interested. It's simply timing. 2037 may seem like a long way away, but it's a lot closer than everyone may think. Thank you so much. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. Well, then I just want Page 93 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 87 to say, in all due respect to Mr. Brooker, that we would have had this done two years ago if he hadn't have got in the mix, just so you know. That's a joke, my friend. We've had multiple meetings, discussions on, and there's a lot of moving parts with regard to this. That's why you're hearing a little bit of generalities coming out of Trinity with regard to parcels and lot splits and rezones and this and that, ingress and egress and traffic flow and how we manage the proper uses and access for the folks that are going to be coming here. We've had meetings with the Fair Board and the Swamp Buggy and the Junior Deputies, and everyone's nodding their head in an affirmative matter. We have LOIs with the Swamp Buggy and -- and the parties involved with the Junior Deputies. So this is the next step for us to be able to go forward with this to be able to finalize the actual boundaries and then begin the process of the relocation for these facilities. So with that, I'm going to make a motion for approval as recommended in the agenda item that was put before us. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. I have a motion. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Do you need me to read it out loud, or are you good with that? Okay. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Second. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You're good. I have a motion and a second. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: And it passed unanimously. MS. SCOTT: Thank you. Page 94 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 88 CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. Item #9C ORDINANCE 2026-03: AN ORDINANCE REZONING REAL PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATES (E) ZONING DISTRICT TO THE PUBLIC USE (P) ZONING DISTRICT TO ALLOW FOR EXPANSION OF THE COUNTY’S FLEET MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS ON 5.18+ ACRES OF PROPERTY LOCATED ON THE EAST SIDE OF COUNTY BARN ROAD, EAST OF THE EXISTING ISLAMIC CENTER, IN SECTION 8, TOWNSHIP 50 SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA. [PL20250001788 - COUNTY BARN FLEET FACILITY EXPANSION REZONE (RZ)] (THIS ITEM IS A COMPANION TO ITEM #9D) - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HALL – ADOPTED Item #9D RESOLUTION 2026-16: A RESOLUTION FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A CONDITIONAL USE TO ALLOW FOR EXPANSION OF THE COUNTY’S FLEET MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS ON 5.18+ ACRES OF PROPERTY WITHIN THE PUBLIC USE (P) ZONING DISTRICT PURSUANT TO SECTION 2.03.05.A.4.C.8 OF THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, ON PROPERTY LOCATED ON THE EAST SIDE OF COUNTY BARN ROAD, EAST OF THE EXISTING ISLAMIC CENTER, IN SECTION 8, TOWNSHIP 50 SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA. [PL20250001789 - COUNTY BARN FLEET FACILITY Page 95 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 89 EXPANSION CONDITIONAL USE (CU)] (THIS ITEM IS A COMPANION TO ITEM #9C) - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HALL MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, that brings us to Items 9C and 9D. These are companion items. I'll read them into the record, and then we'll need to swear our participants in for the court reporter. 9C is a recommendation to adopt an ordinance rezoning real property from the Estates zoning district to the Public Use zoning district to allow for expansion of the County's fleet maintenance operations on 5.18 plus/minus acres of property located on the east side of County Barn Road east of the existing Islamic Center in Section 8, Township 50 South, Range 26 East, Collier County, Florida. Its companion item is Item 9D. This is a recommendation to approve a resolution for the establishment of a conditional use to allow for the expansion of the County's fleet maintenance operations on 5.18-plus acres of property within the Public Use zoning district pursuant to Section 2.03.05.A.4.C.8 of the Collier County Land Development Code on property located on the east side of County Barn Road east of the existing Islamic Center in Section 8, Township 50 South, Range 26 East, Collier County, Florida. So with that, we are going to get the Commissioners, if you have any ex parte, and then we will get the participants to be sworn in. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Saunders. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I believe I have some ex parte, and I have -- yeah, I have some ex parte on that. I'm not sure what it is. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: We'll just mark you down for the full gamut. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I just have some. Page 96 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 90 COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It's just whatever. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: None for me, thanks. Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: None for me. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It looks like Commissioner Saunders is the only one that got anything. So I have nothing. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: He wasn't specific, so I put him down as a "no." COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I think he lost his ex parte sheet. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: See what happens when you step down from being Chair; you get disorganized. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: He basically said, "I think I have something," right? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Mark him down for a possible. I have nothing for these two items. I'm clear about that. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It turns out -- it turns out that I have none either. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Oh, there you go. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: There you go. MS. PATTERSON: Very good. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You confessed to something you didn't do. MS. PATTERSON: If we could have all participants stand that are going to be participating, including any public speakers, for the court reporter to swear you in. Raise your right hand. 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? Page 97 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 91 (The speakers were duly sworn and indicated in the affirmative.) MS. PATTERSON: Also, for the benefit of the court reporter and Minutes and Records who are following along, I was asked to remind the speakers if we could slow down, that probably includes me, so that they don't have to race along. We had some public speakers earlier that were -- that were quick talkers. So with that, Mr. Arnold. MR. ARNOLD: Thank you. Good morning, Commissioners. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Good morning. MR. ARNOLD: Congratulations, Mr. Kowal. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. ARNOLD: So I'm here as a subcontractor to WSP Engineers who were hired to help do some facilities planning for you, and one of the properties was the Fleet Maintenance facility, the 5-acre parcel you purchased just north of there. This is Tiffany Davies with WSP sitting behind me, and we have representatives from the Sheriff's Office here as well as some of your Facilities staff. Jim Banks is our traffic engineer who did analysis for it. This is the location just north of your existing County Barn facility and just east of the Islamic Center off of County Barn Road. You're all familiar with the site. It is zoned Estates. We need to rezone that to P, public use, and then there's the companion conditional use that authorizes, under the Estates zoning, a major maintenance -- or I'm sorry, under the public use, a major maintenance facility, which would be for your facilities. WSP conducted a campus master planning effort, and out of that, we determined that some shop activities to the north, also some roof deck parking opportunities long-term, some plug-in opportunities for EMS facilities to plug in ambulances and other apparatus, and then relocating a fueling facility. Page 98 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 92 This becomes your conditional use site plan. We've made it a little bit more generic, but the key features would be adding a potential access point back to County Barn Road on the north side within an existing easement and then showing essentially a parking lot with the potential to have a rooftop deck in the middle, and then the darker building would be for maintenance activities with, again, surface parking or deck parking on top of that. And the fuel facilities, you can see on the western side of the property, slightly located just maybe another 100 feet from where they're currently located on your existing facility. This is what it looks like on the aerial concept just to show you the relationship between your existing facility and the proposed. We did have unanimous planning condition -- Planning Commission recommendation of approval. We had one property owner to the north that came and expressed concerns about compatibility. We will have a wall around this facility just as the existing fleet facility has a concrete wall. So there is planned to have a complete wall around the four sides of the property. And it will be gated, as you know. So we also have other conditions related to hours of operation, et cetera. We think it's a very compatible project. It's one that you've planned for, and we're here hoping that you will support it. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. Did you want to hear from the -- we have one speaker, right, Troy, or do we? MR. MILLER: I don't believe we do. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Oh. MR. MILLER: We do not. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Make a motion for approval. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. I have a motion for approval. Page 99 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 93 COMMISSIONER HALL: Second that. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I have a motion and a second. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. MR. ARNOLD: Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: It's unanimous, passed. Thank you. And that was for -- they're companion items. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's for both of those. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: We got both. MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. Item #11E TO APPROVE PROPERTIES ON THE CONSERVATION COLLIER LAND ACQUISITION ADVISORY COMMITTEE’S NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 2025 RECOMMENDED ACTIVE ACQUISITION LISTS AND DIRECT STAFF TO PURSUE THE PROJECTS RECOMMENDED WITHIN THE A-CATEGORY, FUNDED BY THE CONSERVATION COLLIER LAND ACQUISITION FUND. - MOTION TO APPROVE NICHOLS PROPERTY BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HALL – APPROVED; MOTION TO REJECT SAINTELMY PROPERTY BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO – APPROVED; MOTION TO REJECT GAC PROPERTY BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HALL – Page 100 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 94 APPROVED; MOTION TO REJECT GOMEZ PROPERTY BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HALL – APPROVED; MOTION TO APPROVE NORTH BELLE MEADE PROPERTY BY COMMISSIONER HALL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL – APPROVED; MOTION TO REJECT PARANG TRUST PROPERTY BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HALL – APPROVED MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, that's going to move us to Item 11E, formerly 16A15. This is a recommendation to approve properties on the Conservation Collier Land Acquisition Advisory Committee's November and December 2025 recommended Active Acquisition Lists and direct staff to pursue the projects recommended within the A category funded by the Conservation Collier Land Acquisition Fund. This item was moved at Commissioner McDaniel and Commissioner Hall's separate requests, and Ms. Jaime Cook is here -- Development Review director is here to present or answer questions. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Would Commissioner McDaniel or Commissioner Hall like to make any comments prior to hearing from staff? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'd be happy to, and basically I just -- I just want to have a discussion. I went through all of these properties, and there were some that I was leaning in on and thought were okay and some that I had questions on. So if you don't -- I mean, I don't -- I'm not comfortable in approving these en masse, I guess, is probably the way that I would prefer to go. So whenever you get to a list of those that are and aren't -- and I guess -- then my second question is, what are we approving? Are we approving for you to go forward and negotiate with these people that will then come Page 101 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 95 back, or are we approving a purchase? MS. COOK: Okay. Jaime Cook, your Development Review director. So, Commissioner, to answer your question, this item would approve staff to move forward with obtaining appraisals and then negotiating with the property owners. Any purchase agreements would come back to you for final approval. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And henceforth, there were some that I had issues with that were on the extremities of what I perceived to be as okay purchases or acquisitions. And so if we can nip them in the bud now and not be pursuing time and effort on things that we're not necessarily interested in, I wouldn't mind going through that. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: How many do we have on the list? MS. COOK: There are seven on the A list, which staff would move forward with obtaining the appraisals and negotiations, and then there's one that is on the list to hold for an additional year to see if we get any neighboring properties that apply to the program. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: I pulled this because as far as authorizing an A list, I think that they're trying way too hard. Out of seven properties, five of them ranked below -- out of 400 points, they ranked below 200. And I personally am not going to support this A list because it's just -- it's counterintuitive. We're out there trying to do -- we're trying to force a square peg into a round hole with these things. These little, small lots that are out there in the middle of nowhere, the one that you're going to put on hold, it's more than half wetlands. It's not even -- I mean, it's already -- I think that trying to keep pursuing these small lots and trying to hope that we get them piecemealed together, that in one day we get them all together, I'm Page 102 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 96 not going to support that strategy any longer. So that's why I pulled it so that I could say, as far as an A list, I think they need to go back and really find us some properties that are an A list. Something worth pursuing, not just because we have to or we want to. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. Just as an aside on that -- and, Commissioner Hall, this -- and one of the reasons that I pulled it was I was looking at the locations of these properties. And, you know, there are TPAs, Target Protection Areas, that we have established. And so you delineate this area that you want to buy up because of the environmental sensitivity that's in it, and you don't get to go get them all at once. And so I'm okay with, if you will, piecemealing, piece here and piece here, if the aggregation is ultimately going to come to fruition. The caution is even though it's 50 percent wetland already, it's still developable. And our -- with enough mitigation money, you can develop anywhere if you pay enough money. So I wanted to go through these just briefly and then -- and say I'm okay -- the one -- the one that really triggered me was we established a TPA for a mile north on Everglades Boulevard, and that was predominantly for properties fronting on Everglades Boulevard. The ultimate goal there -- because of the private property rights that exist along Everglades Boulevard, we have no real good mechanism to do a wildlife crossing on Everglades Boulevard and do the necessary fencing to herd the critters to the hole in the middle. And so -- and then one of these properties that ended up on this A list was clear over on the canal on the far east side of Everglades Boulevard, in fact, a mile away. And so it wasn't in what I perceived to be a portion of that particular TPA. You know, the one up in the Red Maple Swamp, and I think there's another one over on the perimeter of the Symphony Page 103 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 97 property that was -- that seemed to me to be extremities outside of these areas. You know, I know we've made an effort to acquire lands that are contiguous to already-held properties but not so far out -- I just thought that some of these were further away than we really needed to be pursuing. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. I have no other members lit up. Would it be okay if we listen to these particular properties, the seven properties in question, and quickly you understand whatever ones you guys might have an issue with, and we'll have an opportunity to discuss it, and then we'll just assume that maybe some of these -- all seven won't go forward from here on out, but at that point we'll know which ones we are going to actually look at or not look at, and we'll move on from there. Does that sound okay? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Fine. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Go ahead with your presentation. MS. COOK: Thank you. So as I mentioned, we have seven properties on the proposed A list which would allow for staff to obtain appraisals and begin negotiations with those property owners to bring back to you for final approval. There is one property on the B list, which would be holding for ranking for one -- a year to see if we get any other properties within that area. So the first property, the Nichols property, is out in Immokalee. It is five parcels, and it is in the Immokalee urban area. It is just west of the Williams Farm property. The yellow hatch -- the yellow color of the Williams Farm is the entitled residential area. So part of that will be residential development, but the southern portion of the yellow is their designated preserve as part of the PUD. And then the green portion is part of the slough that will be owned by Conservation Collier. This property does hold water during the rainy season, and it Page 104 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 98 acts as stormwater storage for the neighboring properties surrounding it. It is not adjacent to any conservation lands, as there is a road that runs between this property and the Williams property, which also may make it limit it -- may allow for only limited access. There wouldn't be parking on the side of the road available for access but potentially pedestrian trails could be accommodated on this property. And, additionally, there are vacant properties between this property and the Williams property that could potentially connect them in the future if the owners apply to the program. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Can I ask, where is Lake Trafford located adjacent to -- MS. COOK: It is right in here. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. I didn't -- okay, I'm sorry. I should have saw that, yeah. So the slough property -- let me get this straight -- because I remember when we bought the Williams Farm property. So the dark green is part of this slough? MS. COOK: Yes. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I thought that abutted up to Lake Trafford. MS. COOK: No. I believe there's one more property owner between Williams and the lake. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: She's correct. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: So there is a property between the two? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. Do I have any commissioners -- any comments on this particular property? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: This is one that I'm okay with. Just because of its proximity to the lake, we have a potential for using this for future stormwater. What road is that that this fronts on; do you remember? MS. COOK: I want to say it's Taylor Road. Page 105 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 99 COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. You know, this is one we may be able to utilize for stormwater issues. Because when we're working on the slough over on the Williams Preserve, we're going to be able to do a lot of attenuation and water storage for southern Immokalee. This is -- this is an added in piece for a little bit north and west portion of Immokalee. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. What's your next property? MS. COOK: I will probably butcher this owner's name, so I apologize in advance. This 10 acres is owned by Saintelmy. It is west of the Symphony property, which is in the North Belle Meade area. Conservation Collier closed on this -- on the Symphony property back in September. That is 150 acres. This particular property is 10 acres. It is between the Symphony property -- and the School Board, sorry. The School Board owns that green hatched property between the yellow and the green -- dark green Symphony property. So currently there is no public access to it, but once that school gets built, I believe it's planned for a high school, but it's not within their five-year plan. Again -- and it also is adjacent to a federal conservation easement just to the south that is part of the Twin Eagles development. So it does have some connection to private conservation easements already. Gopher tortoises, fox squirrels, Red-cockaded woodpeckers, panther, and bonneted bats are found within this area, and it is a mix of upland and wetland habitats. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: This is a no for me. This is one of the ones that I thought's out on the boundary outside of the area. COMMISSIONER HALL: It's outside. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: So this is not in the TP -- not in the Page 106 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 100 target program. MS. COOK: Correct, it is not. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. Well, how does that even make an A list if it's not even in one of our targeted areas? MS. COOK: Because when the -- when the staff reviews the property and the CCLAC reviews the properties, they look at the criteria. So the vegetation on the property, listed species on the property, future potential for public access, those eight criteria that we go through, and it did meet, I believe, three out of the eight criteria. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. That's less than 50 percent. COMMISSIONER HALL: That's a failing grade in school. MS. COOK: I will say the ordinance does not have a minimum number of criteria for us to bring it to you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I got you. All right. So move on to the next one, then. MS. COOK: Okay. The next three properties are in the I-75/Everglades target mailing area. The first one is the Sit property. It is a little under three and a half acres just north of I-75. It is down towards the bottom of the TPMA, right here. It is undeveloped. It is upland habitats and upland soils, and it is completely surrounded by undeveloped properties. Some potential considerations for this are it is not adjacent to any existing conservation lands, and the Everglades widening, I-75 interchange between Everglades or DeSoto, Big Cypress may impact this property. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah, I don't like this one either. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: This is a no. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. Move on to the next one. MS. COOK: All right. This next one, the GAC property, is actually owned by Collier County. It is 1.14 acres. Just -- again, north of 75 and west of the Black Bear Path Preserve, which used to Page 107 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 101 be known as the Hendricks House property. It is upland habitats with hydric soils. Black bear and panther have both been tracked on this property. Again, it has the same potential considerations as the others that the interchange may impact it, and it's not connected to any adjacent conservation lands. It actually does appear that the neighboring property owner may have impacted this property. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, big time. MS. COOK: But it is owned -- this currently is owned -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: It looks like it's already on its property. MS. COOK: -- by Collier County. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So I'm going to say no. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah. I mean -- COMMISSIONER HALL: If we own it, it makes it conservation land, correct? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah. And the other thing is, I mean, I get it, panthers, and they walk around. But you're talking about 75-foot swath piece of property, 75 feet. I'm sure the panther don't live within that 75 feet. He's just transversing from one point to the other. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And just as a matter of course, we are moving for the dissolution of the GAC Advisory Committee and putting the properties that are owned by that group up for sale. So this isn't one that I'm interested in buying either. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. We've got four down. Where are we at? Well, I mean, one we're good, but -- I'm keeping track. I'm keeping score. MS. COOK: The last one in this TPMA area is the Gomez property. It is a couple blocks north of I-75 and about half a mile west of the Gore Preserve; however, there is a canal that runs between the two of these. Page 108 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 102 It is -- does have undeveloped lots to the north, south, and east, but there is a single-family home on the west side. Again, hydric soils, but it is mostly upland habitat. It does not appear that there's any wetlands on the site, and again, has the same potential considerations for any interchange development in this area. COMMISSIONER HALL: I'm not interested. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. Move on. MS. COOK: Okay. The next one is in the North Belle Meade TPMA which is west of both the -- both the Gore Preserve and the TPMA area that we just looked at. This property is eight and a half acres. Mostly pine flatwood habitat, but it is seasonally wet. This is within areas where panther, black bear, fox squirrel, and Red-cockaded woodpeckers have been identified. It does add to the connection of the existing wildlife corridor of North Belle Meade, Black Bear Path Preserve, Picayune, the Panther Refuge, and the RLSA stewardship sending areas. The areas that are not hatched surrounding this property are private conservation easements, so it does connect to private conservation lands. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Is this in the NRPA area? MS. COOK: Yes. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm okay with this one. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. We should have one more, not counting the one that's on hold. MS. COOK: We have one more. Okay. And then the last one is Parang Trust, which is in the Panther Walk TPMA area. This TPMA is west of the existing preserve. So you can see the blue and the green is the existing preserve. The yellow hatching is the Target Protection Area. So this property is a little over two and a half acres. It is not -- again, not within the established preserve. It is wetland Page 109 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 103 habitats that we do know holds floodwaters and provides wading bird habitat. Again, it doesn't connect to any existing conservation lands, and there is potential restoration for some UTV damage that would need to be mitigated for. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Can I ask a question? What's gray and green and yellow hatched? Delineate those for me. MS. COOK: So the green is properties that Conservation owns. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. MS. COOK: The blue is the rest of the established Panther Walk Preserve that staff reaches out to them once a year with interest letters. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's part of the TPA. MS. COOK: That is -- no, that is not the TPA. COMMISSIONER HALL: Another TPA. MS. COOK: The yellow hatching is the TPA. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. All right. I'm kind of all right. We've been trying to piece that section together for some time, but... COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And got it -- if I had -- if I had to give direction, really focus on those properties along 66th at the south end of the -- of the mining area there, the south end of the old Big Island mine at the north end of the 846 mine because we have -- we have a potential wildlife crossing going across that canal, a weir and pump station to help move water north and south at some particular stage. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Is that just south of the Immokalee crossing, or is that -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Sir? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I mean, the part you're talking about. MS. COOK: It's about here. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. It's just -- if you take Page 110 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 104 66 here -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Oh, okay. So -- okay. On the other side of 66. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- it's right there. It's part of the development order originally. You know, I'm sure -- I'm sure that property owners will come and try to change it someday, but that provides for a wildlife corridor especially if, in fact, we get the weir and the pump station in and the wildlife crossing on that weir, that will help facilitate the animal crossings across that -- across that canal and over into -- and across 846, Immokalee Road, and into the state lands on the west side, so... This particular piece, this Parang Trust, I don't -- it's another one of those ones that was out there off the grid. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. So I got, basically -- well, Commissioner Hall, go ahead. COMMISSIONER HALL: If it's okay, I'd like to make a motion to amend the A list to the eight-and-a-half-acre property and the 10-acre property up there, both. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I have -- that's the Nichols and the North Naples church would be A-listers that we would vote to move forward from here on out, and the other ones would be shelved. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Agreed. I second it. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: So I have a motion and a second. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Can I ask a quick question of Jaime? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Let's just say -- I'm just playing devil's advocate and just spitballing here. You go out for appraisals. You come back to us. You still need our approval to buy them, right? MS. COOK: Correct. Page 111 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 105 COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So if you came back to us and this little red piece of property, or any of the ones that we think are great and wonderful, it's $8 million. You know, it's something outrageous. Then it's like, "Okay. I like it a lot less. I don't think it has that value." You know, sometimes these appraisals come back; they're a little bit funky. Even Commissioner Hall has said sometimes, you know, you appraise too many things. It's sort of like this artificial inflated deal. But it's true, right, that if you came back with appraisals, that we would make a final vote, and part of that vote is "Wow, I don't -- I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze," as I always say, right? It comes back too expensive, correct? MS. COOK: Correct. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So I mean, I'm just thinking out loud. But it's -- part of me it's difficult to shoot these down when I don't know what they would cost, and some of them are easy shoot-downs, but there's a few where I'm sort of on the fence. So I mean, I'm just -- wanted to hear what my colleagues sort of think. It's a lot easier for me to make a command decision when I know what the value is going to be and how much it's going to take out of the Conservation Collier. One of the things I'll say about the puzzle pieces is I definitely agree, you could sit here and go, "Wow, in 100 years, we might wind up getting all the pieces connected, but also I could make the case that in some areas where we have connected a bunch of the pieces, it took quite a while, but the success was there, and so you have to start somewhere. So I'm sort of a bit on the fence on saying yes or no now just based on a map and where it is. Some of them are no-brainers. I mean, I'll -- I agree. But I'm just wondering if my colleagues think Page 112 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 106 maybe we're doing too quick of a knee jerk without, you know, the information on a few of them that might be a little -- might be worth coming back to us. And having said that, what works for me better, especially also for the people watching, is that now that we've seen all of these, rather than saying, "Hey, the third one and the fifth one," or whatever, we go back to No. 1. We say yes or no. We go back to No. 2, we say yes or no to be very clear not only to the court reporter, but to the folks that are watching this or will eventually watch it. Because we went through these very quick. We're maybe familiar. You know why you might have pulled it off of the agenda so we could talk about it, but the average person might not. And we're dealing with, you know, big pieces of property, millions of dollars, potentially. And so for me, I'd like to go one by one, but I also would like to think about, "Hey, is this maybe one that's maybe on the fence, do we want to see what the appraisal comes back, or is that really a waste of time," you know? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Well, can I just make a quick comment before I get to you guys? COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: And I say that to get your opinions. Like I said, just spitballing here. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: No. And I don't have a problem with us taking -- I mean, we can all agree on a couple of these I don't think we're interested in. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Right. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Now, I don't want to have appraisals go out, because that costs us money and time as a county, and I don't want to waste money on things we all agree at this point we're probably not going to go forward with anyway. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I agree. Page 113 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 107 CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Now, we can go through these individually, the ones we think are possible. Then we'll vote on them individually. I don't think I have a problem with that, right? And then if we have enough votes to move it to that next phase, we'll take it to the next phase. But I guess between us, we figure out which ones is that -- that we're going to take individually now and then move on from there. Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. And, Commissioner LoCastro, to your comments, the rationale here for me, from my perspective, was these properties were on the perimeter out here, and you know -- you said it well that, you know, sometimes these things take time. Nothing is precluding a property owner from coming to the County and saying -- let's use this one since it's up here -- "I want $10,000 for it." Our staff can do an internal appraisal. Even if we agree to not keep this on the A list, if this seller wants to sell to us at a reasonable price, our staff can bring that to us at any particular point in time. I just don't want to give direction to our staff for time, money, and energy for resources -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I agree. COMMISSIONER HALL: Well said. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- and take resources away from something else that might be a more viable venture. So that was my rationale for pulling this agenda item. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I agree. I also want to just echo what you said. I don't like these coming in big chunks. And you know, this would have if you wouldn't have pulled it. So maybe, you know, just future, what we're doing now, sort of one by one, is, I really think, the approved solution way to do it. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Saunders. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. I just want to Page 114 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 108 understand where we are. The two parcels, I think, Commissioner Hall, that you said -- COMMISSIONER HALL: In the motion, Nichols and the North Naples church. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: And I think the one that may be -- it's the Parang Trust -- COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. That's the one that says -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: -- or Parong; what is that one? COMMISSIONER HALL: That's not in there. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: This is the first one, right, Nichols? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah, Nichols was the first one. MS. COOK: Nichols is the first one. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So right now Nichols and North Belle Meade Preserve -- COMMISSIONER HALL: Correct. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- are the two parcels for Commissioner Hall. On the Saintelmy, I'm not sure what -- why that fell out. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Well, that was the one that, like -- it's a little 1.14-acre outside of the target area, and it's like -- I mean -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Well, let's hit these one at a time. So Nichols, this is the first one. Go back to Nichols. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, hang on. I'm not -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Go ahead, Commissioner Saunders. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Well, you're jumping around. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I was lit up, and I was trying to understand where we are. So Commissioner Hall is okay with North Belle Meade and with Nichols, and I had asked a question about the Saintelmy property. Page 115 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 109 And the reason I asked that is it's a fairly large parcel, but I believe staff said that there was some species in there that -- and we're looking to -- ultimately looking to purchase the property around it. Is that correct or incorrect in terms of what the goal is moving forward? MS. COOK: So the -- Commissioner, the surrounding properties -- this specific one that you're looking at is the yellow 10 acres on the left-hand side. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay, all right. MS. COOK: It is not part of the TPA, but the 10 acres to the south of it is a part of a federal conservation easement from when Twin Eagles was developed. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Nothing to the right is -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: That's School Board property. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That's all School Board. MS. COOK: This large one is the School Board property, and I believe it's planned for a high school. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Correct. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, then, I agree. I think that's -- we could have no problem taking that off the list. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Do you want to whip through these and do them individual votes? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yes, let's do that. So I think -- you pull them up as we go. So the Nichols -- do I have a motion for the Nichols property? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So moved. COMMISSIONER HALL: Second. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I have a motion and second. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. Page 116 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 110 COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: It's unanimous. COMMISSIONER HALL: Ms. Cook, what's next? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yes, the one I couldn't -- the one I couldn't say. MS. COOK: The one none of us can say. The 10 acres Saintelmy property west of Symphony. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Do I have a motion? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll move to reject. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Second. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. I have a move to reject and a second. Do we have to take a vote on that or -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I don't think so. I think we just skip it, right? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Take a vote? COMMISSIONER HALL: Reject. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, yeah. Because Commissioner Saunders might want to buy it. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: No, no. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: He already said he didn't like it. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'm okay with taking it off. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. All in favor of rejecting this one off the list, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. It's rejected. All right. Now we're to Sit. I believe that was the other one. Page 117 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 111 MS. COOK: Yes. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So this is another one I'll move to reject. COMMISSIONER HALL: Second. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I have a move to reject and a second. All in favor of rejecting it, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: And it's rejected. All right. The GAC. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Here's another one I'll move to reject. COMMISSIONER HALL: Second. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. Same. All in favor of rejecting, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I believe Gomez is the next. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: This is another one I'm going to move to reject. COMMISSIONER HALL: Second. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. Reject and a second; signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. Page 118 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 112 CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Unanimously rejected. Now, this is the one, the North Naples church. I think we're calling it the Belle Meade property. COMMISSIONER HALL: Move to approve. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: So I have a motion to approve, and I have a second. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: That is approved. And the other one, Parang Trust. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Move to reject. COMMISSIONER HALL: Second. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: So move to reject and a second. Signify by saying aye to reject. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Didn't have an opposed. Okay. All right. So we have two to go ahead and move forward with. Page 119 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 113 MS. COOK: We have the one that was on the B list. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You said that's all right on hold. MS. COOK: Correct. So as long as you are all okay with us leaving it on hold for a year, we would -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Show us a map. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Show it to us. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, show us -- do you have a map of it? MS. COOK: Yep. It's on the screen right now. It is, again, just north of the Symphony property. It is the -- hatched in red. Also adjacent to School Board property, which I believe is zoned for an elementary school. It is upland habitat. And the consideration with this one is it is within the TPMA area, but we have not acquired anything around it, and it is not currently accessible, which was why we were waiting to see if we get any within the next year that also apply. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And if I -- I'm fine with it waiting a year, but -- and I just would like to say that, you know, make sure that the folks that are bringing or -- because apparently there's some kind of negotiations or communication going on with these property owners. They're welcome to necessarily offer us a price, and then -- and then it can still come -- just because we're rejecting today doesn't mean we don't ultimately want it. If they -- if through other means an equitable arrangement can be made, then we can -- we can give them consideration then. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. So we don't need a motion to put it on the hold list. It's already there, right? MS. COOK: (Shakes head.) CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. MS. COOK: All right. Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. Was that 11E? Page 120 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 114 MS. PATTERSON: That was 11E, sir. We have two more, 12A and 12B, which were formerly 16K1 and 16K19, and we have a 1 o'clock-ish time-certain for the Sabal Palm. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Would you guys like to break for lunch now and come back at 1? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Whatever you want. You're the Chair. Call it. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. Let's go ahead and take lunch. Be back at 1. (A luncheon recess was had from 12:03 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.) MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. We're going to bring the room to order. We're going to go ahead and -- we're starting back up after our lunch break, and we have a 1 p.m. time-certain item here. Ms. Patterson. MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. Item #9A AMEND ORDINANCE 89-05, AS AMENDED, THE COLLIER COUNTY GROWTH MANAGEMENT PLAN, SPECIFICALLY AMENDING THE FUTURE LAND USE ELEMENT AND MAPS TO CHANGE THE LAND USE DESIGNATION FROM AGRICULTURAL/RURAL DESIGNATION, RURAL FRINGE MIXED USE DISTRICT-SENDING LANDS TO AGRICULTURAL/RURAL DESIGNATION, AGRICULTURAL/RURAL MIXED USE DISTRICT, 341 SABAL PALM ROAD RESIDENTIAL SUBDISTRICT TO ALLOW UP TO 423 OWNER-OCCUPIED DWELLING UNITS WITH AFFORDABLE HOUSING, AND DIRECTING TRANSMITTAL OF THE ADOPTION AMENDMENT TO THE FLORIDA Page 121 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 115 DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. THE SUBJECT PROPERTY IS 169± ACRES AND LOCATED ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF SABAL PALM ROAD, APPROXIMATELY 1.4 MILES EAST OF COLLIER BOULEVARD IN SECTION 14, TOWNSHIP 50 SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA. [PL20230016340- 341 SABAL PALM ROAD RESIDENTIAL SUBDISTRICT (GMPA)] (THIS ITEM IS A COMPANION TO ITEM #9B) - MOTION TO CONTINUE TO A FUTURE MEETING BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO - APPROVED (COMMISSIONER HALL AND COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS OPPOSED) Item #9B AN ORDINANCE TO REZONE REAL PROPERTY FROM A RURAL AGRICULTURAL (A) ZONING DISTRICT WITHIN THE RURAL FRINGE MIXED USE DISTRICT OVERLAY - SENDING AREAS AND THE NATURAL RESOURCE PROTECTION OVERLAY, AND PARTLY IN THE SPECIAL TREATMENT OVERLAY TO THE 341 SABAL PALM ROAD RESIDENTIAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (RPUD) TO ALLOW UP TO 423 OWNER-OCCUPIED DWELLING UNITS WITH AFFORDABLE HOUSING. THE SUBJECT PROPERTY IS 169± ACRES LOCATED ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF SABAL PALM ROAD, APPROXIMATELY 1.4 MILES EAST OF COLLIER BOULEVARD IN SECTION 25, TOWNSHIP 50 SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA. [PL20230016342 - SABAL PALM PUDZ] (THIS ITEM IS A COMPANION TO ITEM #9A) - MOTION TO CONTINUE TO A FUTURE MEETING BY Page 122 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 116 COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO - APPROVED (COMMISSIONER HALL AND COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS OPPOSED) MS. PATTERSON:So we are hearing Items 9A and 9B. They are companion items and our 1 o'clock time-certain. I'm going to read the titles into the record, then we'll do ex parte, and then we'll swear everybody in that intends to participate in this Conversation. Item 9A is a recommendation to amend Ordinance 81-05 as amended, the Collier County Growth Management Plan, specifically amending the Future Land Use Element and Maps to change the land-use designation from Agricultural/Rural Designation, Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District Sending Lands, to Agricultural/Rural Designation, Agricultural/Rural Mixed Use District, 341 Sabal Palm Road Residential Subdistrict, to allow up to 423 owner-occupied dwelling units with affordable housing, and directing transmittal of the adoption amendment to the Florida Department of Commerce, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. The subject property is 169 plus/minus acres and located on the south side of Sabal Palm Road approximately 1.4 miles east of Collier Boulevard in Section 14, Township 50 South, Range 26 East, Collier County, Florida. Its companion item is a -- Item 9B is a recommendation to approve an ordinance to rezone real property from a rural agricultural zoning district within the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District Overlay Sending Areas and the Natural Resource Protection Overlay and partly in the Special Treatment Overlay to the 341 Sabal Palm Road residential Planned Unit Development to allow up to 423 owner-occupied dwelling units within -- with affordable housing. The subject property is 169 plus/minus acres located on the south side of Sabal Palm Road approximately 1.4 miles east of Page 123 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 117 Collier Boulevard in Section 25, Township 50 South, Range 26 East, Collier County, Florida. With that, Commissioners, ex parte. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Saunders. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I found my list. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You got a second chance to rectify yourself. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I had meeting, correspondence, emails, phone calls on both of these items. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Hall? COMMISSIONER HALL: Meetings and emails. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner LoCastro? COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: What do you think? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Full gamut. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Everything. All right. Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Meetings and emails and calls. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah. Myself, I have meetings, emails, and I actually got a few phone calls during lunch today, so I'm going to add those to the list. MS. PATTERSON: Very good. If all participants that will be participating could please stand and raise your right hand to be sworn in by the court reporter. This does include public comment. 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.) MS. PATTERSON: Very good. Mr. Yovanovich. MR. YOVANOVICH: Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Would you like to say anything? Page 124 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 118 COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, I'll make -- let me make an opening comment, if I may. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Can you wait a moment. I'm going to let Commissioner LoCastro make an opening comment. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: First of all, it's -- to the folks that have come here, thank you. I mean, we appreciate and respect your comments. Nobody's, you know, predetermined anything. You know, I will tell you, I can't speak for the other commissioners, but I looked at all the emails I got, and what we're here to do today is to separate rumor from fact, okay. And although there's a lot of passion out there, unfortunately, a lot of the emails we got were very passionate but not very factual. Give you a perfect example. "Good day to you, Rick. I'm writing today to ask you to please not tear down or demolish an orchard in Naples for the 2600 new homes you plan to develop. We are losing," blah, blah, blah, "small town" -- so, okay, that's one example. Okay. How many emails did we get saying, "Please stop building in the Everglades"? This property isn't in the Everglades. So help us make a smart decision here, okay. Nobody up here is trying to turn Collier County into Miami, but I can tell you if you switch places with us, we also have to follow the law. When people own property, they're allowed to request to do something with it. I can't tell you the number of emails I got where citizens almost inferred that we own the property. "I can't believe you're allowing the County to do A, B, C, D, and E. You're so greedy." Well, I think we'll hear from the landowner if the property is sold, we won't get any money. The landowner will. So understand the process to help us make the educated decision. We have plenty of gated communities that butt up against land that is -- that is -- has conservation value. That's not the same thing Page 125 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 119 as being the Everglades. So you're going to hear a lot of things today, and what we need is more facts and less just passion. "Stop building. Put a lock on the front gate." That's not realistic. And so I'm not saying this is a great project. I don't know if it is. None of these commissioners do. This is the first time we've assembled in this room. You know, where's Mr. Cornell, Brad Cornell? Raise your hand. So Brad Cornell is somebody from the Audubon Society that I greatly respect, and those of you that have -- maybe have never been in this room before, he comes here and speaks on behalf of environmental concerns, has unbelievable amount of knowledge, and when the room is empty and he's speaking on behalf of the environmental community, it's extremely helpful to us. But also on the flip side, a lot of -- you know, he wrote five sample emails that he sent out to all the members of the Audubon Society and said, "Hey, pick one of these five emails, and here's also five sample subject lines, and flood the in-boxes of the Commissioners." You know, I called a few of the people that sent those emails, and I said, "Do you know where Sabal Palm Road is? "No." "Do you know where the -- you ever been to the orange grove?" "No." "Do you think it's in the Everglades? Because your email said it was." "I really don't know. I'm just a supporter." And Brad and I had this conversation yesterday in my office. And I'm not saying it to be disrespectful. But what I'm saying is, we really have to deal with facts here. And there's sometimes some things -- you know, I've been known to say up here we vote for sometimes things that we have -- that we hate the least. But doing Page 126 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 120 nothing or because we got a petition with 10,000 signatures on it, then we just -- we have to -- we're forced to vote no. Unfortunately, sometimes these jobs can look easy from the sidelines, and they're not. I'm here. We're all here to -- and, sir, you shouldn't shake your head because I can tell you that's what we're here for. So if anybody's out there going, "Oh, God, no. You've already decided. You're all on the take," and -- I'm driving a four-year-old Acura. Trust me, I'm not on the take. I've got a VA loan on my house, okay? I'm not on the take. But if you're going to come to the podium and speak, a couple of things that we often say is, yield your time to somebody that maybe has a more organized approach. You know, yielding your time to somebody like Brad Cornell so he's not rushed and he can map out what he wants to say. Coming to the podium as a concerned citizen and just saying, "Stop building. You're ruining things," and all that, it's your right, and nobody's going to get cut off here. And I can even tell you, if you haven't finished and your light comes on, we're very cordial up here to say, "You know, finish your thought." We're not here to cut you off. But help us make the best decision possible. But in the end, whatever we decide today will not please everyone. I can tell you right now I have people that said, "Nobody wants Costco." Remember that thing, you know, nobody wants Costco? You know what, I had hundreds and hundreds of emails from people who wanted it; hundreds and hundreds of people who didn't. And in the end we have to make a legal decision. So I'll just conclude by saying I respect each and every one of you for coming here, people that took time to send an email, even if it was a cut and paste and you never heard of Sabal Palm Road but you just thought you'd pile on or whatnot. We don't make a decision Page 127 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 121 based on keeping score of how many people want it and how many people don't. We have to make a legal decision here. And this one is very unique. And a lot of you, probably all of you, weren't here at our last December meeting, but my colleagues recall me closing the meeting saying, "Please, between the -- at the end of the December meeting and now, meet with all the people concerned, read as many of the emails as you can," because I can tell you I've only been in this chair, what, five years. Commissioner Saunders and Commissioner McDaniel have the longest tenure here, but this one has moving parts and pieces that I've never seen, Sending Lands, Receiving Lands, all these other things. This one is unique. So we understand that, but it doesn't make it as black and white as just, you know, nobody wants it, don't build it, vote no, and -- you know, and we'll all love you. It's a little bit more complicated than that. So I appreciate, you know, the folks that are here. I have no preconceived, you know, decision. I have no idea because I haven't heard from both sides. But this is like a court case. So before you send somebody to the electric chair or not, you have to hear from both sides, which I hope we will today. And let's be professional. Let's be cordial. Let's respect. We don't need to hear boos and claps and all those kind of things. This is a heavy decision with a lot of moving parts. And I can tell you the five commissioners up here take this job very seriously. And in the end, a group of people will walk out of this room happy and a group of people will walk out of this room unhappy. I don't know which group that is, but almost every decision we make up here, that's the case. And I can just tell you that you've got five people up here that have integrity. We're not on the take. We're not trying to just say rubber stamp and build anything. But we don't own the land. Somebody else does, and they're Page 128 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 122 about to request to do something with it, and within the law, we're going to take a look and see what makes sense and what doesn't. And if there's other outstanding or additional parameters that need to be taken into consideration, that legally will allow us to maybe paddle in multiple directions. And so I thank you for your participation. This is what this is all about. Public comment is a big part of an important piece of any vote that we make, so thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you, Commissioner. Petitioner, go ahead and proceed with his -- MR. YOVANOVICH: Thank you. Good afternoon. For the record, Rich Yovanovich on behalf of the petitioner. The petitioner is SWJR Naples 1, LLC. They have a contract to purchase some property from an existing farmer who you will hear from as part of our presentation. Wayne Arnold is our professional planner, Norm Trebilcock is our traffic consultant, Tim Hall is our environmental consultant, JD DeForge is our civil engineer. As we go through our presentation, we will address comments in emails that you have all received. We will attempt to separate fact from non-fact that are contained in many of the comments that we heard at the Planning Commission and many of the comments in the emails. One of the things -- or a couple of things I want to address right from the get-go, what we are proposing is 100 percent consistent with your environmental concerns within your Growth Management Plan including the concerns set forth in the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District, which this property is within. The Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District, for people who are in the audience that weren't around in 1999 when the governor and cabinet imposed a moratorium on development in certain portions of Collier Page 129 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 123 County, led to two separate areas of Collier County having regulations adopted at the end of that moratorium in the year 2002. So we're talking 26 years ago we were in a moratorium; 23 years ago we came out of this moratorium. And we have the Rural Lands Stewardship which is where you have your towns and villages. You've had several petitions in that area, and you have areas closer to the urban area called the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District, and in the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District you had three categories of lands: Receiving Lands, Sending Lands, and Neutral Lands. What we're asking is that a portion of the lands that was previously designated Sending Lands -- and that analysis was done at a 50,000 -- or 50,000-foot landscape analysis to designate these lands -- be redesignated to this subdistrict to allow for a project to move forward. And we'll go through the environmental reasons as to why this land should not have been designated Sending Lands based upon an actual analysis of the property versus what was done in 2002 which was a big, huge landscape analysis where you drew lines -- you drew lines on the land. And we're not the first ones to come through and make changes to that. There's -- there were -- a several-hundred-acre property also in the Belle Meade area, also within the NRPA that would -- the Hussey lands originally designated Sending. Those were redesignated to Receiving based upon an analysis of what's land like today in reality versus how it was designated originally. A couple of things that I want to hit on early is we have a deviation for littoral plantings in the lakes. There's a requirement that 30 percent of the lake area have -- contain littoral plantings. Contrary to what the emails are saying, we're not trying to get out of the requirement to do 30 percent of the lake areas of littorals. What we're asking for is the ability -- and by the way, you'll hear this from Tim. We have 20 acres of lakes; six acres of littoral is required. Page 130 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 124 Instead of dividing it into the multiple lakes, we want to consolidate that six acres into one area of littoral plantings to better serve the environment, better clean the water, better create wading bird habitat. We are providing over six acres of littoral plantings as part of our project. So we are not trying to avoid littoral plantings and the benefits they are. We are attempting to put them in an area that the environment is better served. The deviation is written the way staff wanted us to write the deviation. But the reality is we are doing the required 30 percent of the lake areas as littoral plantings as part of our project. This project is a hydrologic enhancement to the area. It is not a detriment. It furthers your goal to rehydrate the area. We are putting in culverts under Sabal Palm Road, which everybody acknowledges acts as a dam today. It keeps water to the north north. Probably is creating some flooding issues for people who live on the north side of Sabal Palm. Our project will pull culverts in. We'll restore the flow of water south and provide the hydrological benefit your Comprehensive Plan is asking for. So we're an enhancement to the hydrology, contrary to some of the information in those emails where they're alleging we are a detriment to that hydrological enhancement. And we do have a requirement to have a wildlife -- I'm sorry -- a wildfire plan. That's already a commitment in the PUD. And in other projects, there are many, many, many projects where prescribed burns occur, especially out in the Rural Lands Stewardship Area. Very same issues with regards to environmental concerns. We will do the same as every other project that is near prescribed burns. We will provide to all of our buyers a notice that there are going to be prescribed burns in the area. Be aware, so when you smell these prescribed burns, you don't get scared. And we also Page 131 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 125 have a requirement to properly design our project to -- if there is a wildfire in the area, to assure that our property is safe from any wildlife that may occur. Those are all already in our proposed project. That's not new. That's been considered. That's been part of our project from day one. Here's the location of the property. You can see Collier Boulevard to my left, which is to the west, and you can see our 169.19 acres highlighted on this piece of property. We're 1.4 miles from Collier Boulevard, which is only four-tenths of a mile from the urban boundary. We are not urban sprawl, we're not in the middle of the Everglades, and we're not on conservation lands. So whoever's telling you this is conservation lands, it is not zoned conservation lands, and it is inaccurate to represent that this land is conservation land. This land is a farm. It's an orange grove that candidly -- and you'll hear from my clients. Had my clients known what was happening to them 26 years ago, that they were going to have rights taken away from them as part of this program, they would have stopped their busy farming -- thriving orange grove at the time and gotten involved. And I -- your staff will confirm they believe these lands would not have been designated Sending Lands at the time because these are impacted lands. It's an orange grove. I think most of us know that the orange industry in Florida, I think in saying is in trouble is an understatement. Had this continued to be a viable use on the property, an orange grove as a viable use -- this is a family that's farmed for generations. They would have passed it on for more farming options. The reality is an orange grove on this piece of property is not economically viable. Those trees are not producing. They will never produce. And candidly, bigger -- bigger agricultural interests in Florida have -- are moving away from the orange industry for reasons beyond Page 132 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 126 their control. So this isn't a greedy grab by a farming family. This is the reality of life. They didn't know what was happening to them in the first place. They didn't anticipate or hope for their livelihood to go away because of things that are beyond their control. This will never be an orange grove whether you approve this project or not. An orange grove will not succeed on this piece of property. And candidly, from an environmental perspective, what we're proposing is far better for the environment than the existing farming operations that are occurring on the property. I also want to point out that our project exceeds the preserve requirements for Sending Lands. Sending Lands are required to retain 90 percent of the existing preserves on site -- the existing native vegetation on site. That would be a total of three acres. That's all. We are preserving, as you can -- hopefully you can see there are two existing areas of vegetation -- Is that working, Troy? I've got to go this way. I've got it. Oh, it was the monitor. Oh, you know what, I'm hitting the wrong thing? I'll point them out on this while Troy helps me. This area is native. This area is native. We're retaining this area and this area. Those are the native areas -- over here. We're keeping 100 percent of the native vegetation. So we're exceeding what the Sending Land requirements are, and we're doing additional plantings to create a flowway. So we're meeting -- even though we shouldn't be designated Sending Lands, we're meeting and exceeding the preserve requirement of the Sending Lands. And as we'll show you through our master plan, we're actually creating a flowway. That flowway will better treat water as it flows through our property. It will create wading bird habitat and will enhance the wildlife potential for this property. Page 133 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 127 Tim will take you through the -- this is not a place where you have a ton of panthers living on this site. You don't have that. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Hey, I'm going to caution the audience. We're not going to have any outbursts, and I would -- you would respect everybody up here speaking, okay? That's just -- it's not -- it's not accepted. Thank you. Respect people when they're speaking. MR. YOVANOVICH: Thank you, Mr. Chair. So you'll hear from the environmental consultant who's actually walked the site, has actually done the research, and by the way, all confirmed by your County staff. So the public knows, we provide information to the staff. Your staff reviews it. They do site visits. They confirm what we tell them is factually correct. And at the end of the day, if you want to ignore every one of my consultants that are speaking, your consultants, your experts are all in support of what we're proposing, and that includes every bit -- every one of your environmental experts, your housing experts, and your planning experts. We've been here before with the Growth Management Plan transmittal hearing. If you will recall, originally the Growth Management Plan had a -- no requirement to provide any TDRs. It had a 15 percent affordable-income-restricted-unit requirement, which would have about been 63 units. It also included our paying a fair share for a traffic signal at the intersection of Collier Boulevard and Sabal Palm. We went and listened to the transmittal hearing comments we got from the -- both the Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners as well as the public comments that were made at that hearing and as well as comments that were made at the adoption hearing and the rezone hearing in front of the Planning Commission, and we've made changes to the project. Now, we also had several meetings with Commissioner Page 134 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 128 LoCastro and the rest of the -- the rest of the Commissioners that we took those comments seriously, made significant changes to this project, all of which I'm sure you will hear from your staff further enhance -- or further enhances the goals and objectives of your Comprehensive Plan. I'll go over a few of them. We've tried to highlight them. Instead of doing 15 percent of the units income restricted, we're now going to 20 percent. Previously, all of the units were going to be at the 120 percent income category and below. Now half of those units will be at the 120 percent and below category. The other half will be at the 100 percent and below category. We're going from 63 income-restricted units to 85 income-restricted units. To my knowledge, other than Habitat for Humanity, nobody's providing for-sale affordable housing, and nobody's providing it at the 100 percent and below category. Pulte is the ultimate developer of this project. And Pulte has done a similar project to this project in Sarasota. So you have a developer that's going to deliver those for-sale affordable housing units to Collier County. This isn't like many projects that you've approved -- that have been approved that have not yet come out of the ground. We have a developer that's ready, willing, and able to go forward with a for-sale mixed-use project in Collier County. As part of the Planning Commission approval, Pulte has a Hometown Heroes program. They're going to contribute $2,000 per unit for down payment assistance. Initially, that was 126,000 when it was 63 units. Now that we're doing 85 units, that number's going to go to $170,000 for income -- I'm sorry -- down payment assistance as part of this project. The project itself is -- I'll call them market-rate units, the stand-alone single-family homes. But price points are between Page 135 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 129 600- and $900,000. That's a lot of money. But that actually is attainable housing in Collier County for people who make somewhere between 125,000 and $180,000 as a family. So you're talking about a project that is going to be priced for people who are essential service people based upon the income-restricted units as well as the remainder of the units will also be priced for people who are working in Collier County to come live and stay in Collier County and not drive down from Lee County or come over from Hendry County to live here. And I also want to point out that under your Land Development Code density bonus matrix with the modifications, we would be entitled to ask for five bonus units per acre. We're only asking for one-and-a-half bonus units per acre. And how did I get to one and a half is because we've also agreed to purchase 135 TDRs. It's been a concern of some commissioners that by providing affordable housing, developers were getting out of the requirement to buy TDRs to get to the one unit per acre. So we're going to buy 135 TDRs to get one -- to one unit per acre as our base, and then we're going to provide the affordable housing for a one-and-a-half-unit-per-acre bonus when under your matrix we could ask for five. So if anybody's saying we're trying to maximize the density on this property, we're not. We want to do townhomes and single-family homes. Two and a half units per acre is not a high-density project. It's consistent with the density immediately adjacent to this property, as Wayne Arnold will take you through. So we are not maxing out nor are we asking for a rental project on this property. This is all for sale. You will -- you know, as we've said before and you've heard, we don't believe this property should have ever been designated Sending Lands in the first place. You can see this is an impacted orange Page 136 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 130 grove. You have other examples, and I'm prepared to share to you, where there's been an arbitrary line drawn. I'm assuming it followed property ownership. I don't know. But there are other examples that have lands that are not impacted at all like this designated Receiving. In fact, you have lands not impacted at all designated Receiving in this same Belle Meade area. So you really need to look at the property on a case-by-case basis when it comes time to apply the requirements. We're going to have our experts, and we're going to spend some time on this. Wayne's going to take you through the planning aspects and the density around us and that we're not urban sprawl. Your staff has already determined we're not urban sprawl. And candidly, the State of Florida has determined we're not urban sprawl. We had to go to the State of Florida for our proposed Growth Management Plan amendment. The State was involved in the original establishment of the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District and the goals and objectives of the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District, and the State of Florida is not objecting to this 169 acres being designated the subdistrict we're asking for and for it to be developed with income-restricted housing on it. We will take you through -- JD, who is our civil engineer, will take you through concerns that were raised with regard to water-quality treatment as part of our water management system as well as the flow of water because there are issues west of our property, north of Sabal Palm Road with some flooding. That has nothing to do with us. In fact, we'll make it better by allowing for water to flow north to south under Sabal Palm Road. And JD will talk to you about the water management district requirements for nutrient treating and removing nutrients from the water that go through our project and that we will be enhancing that. So we will be bettering the environment through our proposed project Page 137 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 131 from what's there today. I'm not going to read all of the language. I'm going to -- I've highlighted most of this. The project is 423 units. We are -- have a 60 percent open-space requirement. For the record, if you were in Receiving Lands and you were doing affordable housing, you would only have a 50 percent open-space requirement. So we're exceeding what a Receiving Land project would provide as part of this. And obviously, we're going to have to update this to go from 63 units to 85 units and then, you know, the 10 percent will be at 120 percent and below, and 10 percent will be at the 100 percent and below income categories. But we'll make those modifications, and we'll also obviously add the TDR requirement as part of the Comp Plan in the PUD. This is an employment map for what's around the area. This project is not in the middle of the Everglades. This project is essentially adjacent to the urban area. It's in close proximity to many employers, including Physicians Regional, NCH, schools. You've received letters of support from Physicians Regional and others, and there are people from NCH here and others to speak in favor of what we're proposing. It's also near the new medical school that's coming to this area. So this is providing housing for people who work in schools, work in hospitals, work in doctors' offices. Hopefully the young doctors that -- as they become trained physicians will want to stay in Collier County and provide an opportunity for them to start their homeownership journey here in Collier County. So this project is properly located, it protects the environment, it's consistent with your Comprehensive Plan. I'm going to turn it over to the property owners to have them explain why they're here, and then we'll have Wayne take you through the planning, and then we'll go through the environmental as Page 138 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 132 well as the water management portion of our project. Hopefully you'll allow us to finish our presentation. Hopefully we'll address many of your questions, but if we don't, obviously interrupt us wherever. I'm happy to answer any general questions you may have now before our consultants get up there, but otherwise, I'll turn it over to on the property owners. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I don't see anybody lit up at this moment, so continue the presentation, please. MR. JACOBS: Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name's Henry Jacobs. I'm one of the owners of South Naples Citrus Grove. In 1978 our family, including my parents, their six children, of which I'm a son-in-law, purchased a square-mile parcel of land, approximately 640 acres, in this county, Collier County. All but the 169 acres on Sabal Palm Road were sold in 1988. We have been long-time vegetable farmers in Illinois, and our parents had previously owned a citrus grove in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, which prepared us to develop the Florida property as a citrus grove. The best location was at the highest ground elevation where pine trees were growing and where we chose to develop our citrus grove. Farmers don't farm wetlands. Our grove had never been developed on natural wetlands. We cleared the land and established ditches and dikes to manage the water table. We planted our first citrus trees in 1980, and after five long years of growing, we began harvesting our first fruit and began welcoming customers to our citrus grove where we had fruit for sale. In 2002, after a lot of residential and commercial development occurred near our grove, our property was apparently included in a new Sending zoned designation to be conserved. We were never contacted or consulted regarding this change, and because our grove production was thriving at the time, we were Page 139 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 133 very busy and at the time didn't consider its implications for our property in the future. Because our property had already been developed and in production as a citrus grove for nearly two decades, it had long ceased to be a natural Florida vegetation, making its inclusion as a Sending zone somewhat puzzling. In 2014, the increasingly devastating effects of citrus greening disease became very apparent in Florida citrus groves. At first, we were not immediately affected, but even with careful management and taking precautions, greening was eventually detected in our grove. Despite our best efforts, the trees began to decline and eventually die in significant numbers. For the better part of the last decade, our production has been declining dramatically. Many Florida citrus growers have given up, but we held out hope that a solution for stopping the greening disease would be developed. In 2023, having fought what seemed to be a relentless but losing battle against greening, also considering the property's proximity to many developments, we decided to look for another use of our property. All of us owners are at beyond -- are at or beyond retirement age, and we can't continue to hold out hope for a solution that may never come. When a developer expressed interest and was willing to pursue, on our behalf, the rezoning process and expense needed for us to move on, we decided to move forward. No one has expressed an interest in purchasing our investment property to restore and maintain it as conservable land. Now, in 2026, as time continues to move on, it's our sincere request that you would approve the rezoning designations for our property and also for the proposed development plan which we think includes many positive improvements for the surrounding community and for the county. Page 140 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 134 Thank you for your time. MR. YOVANOVICH: And for those in the audience who don't know, when the County changes the Land Development Code, changes the Comprehensive Plan, there's no requirement to notify any property owners that these changes are occurring. The only things that happens is word of mouth, or there's an ad in the newspaper, unlike what we have to do. We actually have to provide notice to our neighbors of what we're requesting. So they didn't know what was happening. Many people didn't know what was happening as this went through the process. And I'm sure had they known what was happening, there would have been a carve-out, because I know I was retained to do some carve-outs back in 2002 and -- based upon the land conditions as they existed. So they're in the unfortunate circumstance of they have a valueless piece of property because Conservation Collier wouldn't want the property because we'd have to clean it up. So the cost to clean it up will basically render the property valueless from a Conservation Collier perspective. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Wayne Arnold to take you through the planning aspects of the project. MR. ARNOLD: Good afternoon, Commissioners. I'm Wayne Arnold, a certified planner. And just to build on the exhibit that's on the screen is our employment map that we created as part of the Comprehensive Plan amendment. And we've shown this on many other projects, and we've picked a 10-mile radius just because that's an easily drivable distance, and it stays within Collier County unless you're in the far northern reaches. But here, on that one -- I looked at some of the notable examples of employment that we have there, and we have three hospitals within Page 141 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 135 that 10-mile radius. We have 15 schools. We have two Home Depots; a Lowe's; Walmart, three of those; Collier County Government Center; 15 hotels; 18 country clubs; 15 police/fire EMS stations; and the Coastland Center Mall. So I say that because this is proximate to a lot of opportunities for people to live and work in Collier County. And as Rich said, providing 85 now affordable for-sale units is a pretty significant lift, and it's one that you haven't seen before outside of a Habitat project. So I think that's a big accomplishment, and I think many thanks are due to Pulte Homes for stepping up to do that. The TDR is also an important aspect of that as well. But it's been said by some of our opponents that this is an isolated parcel. It's not. Rich showed you the examples that we're, you know, in the urban area and proximate to the urban area by about .4 miles. It's not an isolated district. We're going to have easy access to water and sewer. And as he said, the State looks at urban sprawl as one of the criteria for Comp Plan changes, and there were no objections to our request from the State. So that's a pretty important aspect. On the screen here is the proposed PUD master plan. I think we showed you this as part of our Comprehensive Plan transmittal hearing, but just to give you an overview, you heard a lot about the flowway aspect of this, the importance of that. So this part of the site from Sabal Palm Road wrapping all the way to the south into the property and across and around one of the retained preserves will be a large flowway, and that's going to be enhanced with some culverts that get built as part of the Sabal Palm Road reconstruction, and that's going to allow flow from the north to the south as it continues, and that's going to be consistent with your hydrologic restoration plan that you have for the Belle Meade area. It's also going to enhance some of the properties, as Rich said, to the Page 142 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 136 north that are being impeded from their flows to the south because Sabal Palm Road was not built with the proper culverts and sized appropriately to handle that. So that's a big part of this master plan. All of the "R" areas are the residential tracts. They're throughout. The area where the affordable's going to be clustered and townhomes will be on our northeast corner of the site up here. They're going to have an amenity complex. We're going to have an emergency connection and sidewalk connection with those on the balance of the project. The two preserves that Rich mentioned, one is here at the northern side. They're preserve in name only because I think Tim Hall will tell you they're very poor, poor quality vegetation. They don't really qualify as native vegetation in many instances, but as we said, we're restoring those, and we'll be enhancing those, and those will be functional preserves when the project is complete. The preserve that Rich mentioned that's also a part of this flowway and the littoral plantings is located there. And the deviation note is there. That just denotes that we've asked for that deviation to cluster those littoral plantings in the flowway and that preserve so it can provide better habitat for wading birds. We have two access points on Sabal Palm Road; a central access point here, another one serving the townhomes all the way to the east. We'll be extending Sabal Palm Road and making road improvements from the point at which the County stops its maintenance to the west, so that road will be rebuilt. We're also going to be extending the sidewalk that exists on the south side of Sabal Palm Road in front of Verona Walk. That will be extended along to our frontage as well. So there will be pedestrian connection back a mile to Verona Walk. This is an example -- we heard a lot of comments at our neighborhood meeting from folks in Verona Walk concerned that we Page 143 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 137 were going to flood them. You're going to hear from JD DeForge shortly. But there's a basin divide in here, and, frankly, everything that is in Verona Walk is captured internally. There's no water flowing into Verona Walk from the east, which in this area there's no connection. Their discharge point is down here to the south. They collect all their own water, and it discharges to the south. Our lands will discharge in this area all the way south into that Hacienda Lakes preservation area that's to our south. And we'll be accepting flows from this area through new culverts that are placed here, here, and here. And JD will go through those in more detail. But you can see that we're, you know, 2800 feet, half a mile from the Verona Walk folks, and we have no -- no water connection to them whatsoever. The permitted uses -- we're asking for only single-family, two-family, and townhomes. They're all owner occupied. We have development standards that are very comparable to things you've seen for other projects for the single-family homes, the two-family homes, and the townhomes. Nothing there that's heavy to note other than we're asking for typical -- the single-family homes may be two stories in height. Developer affordability, a big deal. PulteGroup, they have their own program. They've financed their own projects so they're -- they do their own mortgages. They help people with their interest rates. We're going to provide the 85 townhomes set aside as part of what they call their Hometown Hero, and that's for families that are making the 120 percent of AMI or about 136,000, and that's at the 120, so that income level will go down with our commitment to provide 10 percent of those 20 percent units at the 100 percent or less. The townhome product -- all of the townhomes -- there's about 95 planned. Of those 85 would be the affordable. They'll all be built Page 144 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 138 to identical standards. You're not going to distinguish anything that's affordable from those that are not. Just some renderings that we've shown just to show its typical fit and finish, concrete block construction, you know, nice appliance packages, and nice living spaces. A lot of public benefits, we think, derive from this project. Again, the 85 income-restricted residential homes for sale. The flowway restoration, you're going to hear a lot more about that from JD, but that's a big deal, and I think your staff is going to tell you that that's a significant aspect of what we're proposing to do. The Sabal Palm Road improvements, I think anybody who's been on Sabal Palm Road, especially in the summer months, you're driving through some standing water, and that situation's going to be resolved, and we're going to be able to pass the water properly across the road. Ninety percent preservation of the native vegetation that's on site. And we have the NRPA lands -- we've provided for a buffer to the east from the NRPA lands. We've also -- again, we're going to be discharging from the flowway and continuing the discharge from the north to the south as it should properly be done. We're asking for, as Rich mentioned, the 423 units. It's about two-and-a-half units per acre overall, but we think with the now acquisition of the TDRs to get us back to that one unit per acre, our request is really for one-and-a-half-unit-per-acre bonus density; whereas, under your standards, if we were Receiving Lands today, we could get significantly more density than we're asking for. We've agreed to not only pay our proportionate share toward a traffic signal at Sabal Palm and Collier Boulevard, but we've agreed to pay the public's prop share. The D.R. Horton project, Tamarindo, has a commitment in its plan development that says they'll pay a proportionate share as well. So between us and the Tamarindo/D.R. Page 145 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 139 Horton developer, we would pay for the entirety of the signal at no cost to Collier County. So we would take the lead in permitting it, designing it, and installing it. We're making available through Pulte's program $170,000 for down payment assistance for the 85 income-restricted units. That's $2,000 per unit. That number was less. It was based on the 63 previously, so that number has gone up to the $170,000 as part of our request. We've got strong community support, I think. Here's a list of some of those. Some are in the audience today. I think they're here because they recognize the benefit of having the for-sale affordable housing and having other opportunities for people in the South Naples area to have quality housing. And as Rich mentioned, not only do we have the Physicians Regional hospital, you're getting a new NCH medical college, and it's just a stone's throw from here. So that's a significant thing. They're going to be employing doctors. Students need housing. Young doctors and hopefully the residents that will stay on and participate here locally in Collier County can have a leg up and a place to live. In our conclusions for planning, we have to go through Chapter 163 of the Florida Statutes. We have to provide appropriate data and analysis. So Mr. Hall prepared a large environmental supplement that your staff has analyzed and agrees with. Norm Trebilcock did a transportation analysis that looks at the impacts on the roadway from our request. We did the location analysis and urban services to determine that there's no water/sewer drainage impacts to the community, and that when we look at the public benefits, we're going to be extending water and sewer to the site. No commitment and no requirement from some of the neighbors to connect to it, but we think that it's going to be a benefit to those who were concerned about the wildfire and prescribed burns. And now there will be a source of Page 146 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 140 water and sewer on our site to deal with that should there be an emergency issue. I mentioned the roadway enhancement for Sabal Palm Road, the flowway, then more habitat creation. And one of the things that I don't think gets enough credit from development is the water-quality enhancements that occur, because right now there's an orange grove on site. They put a lot of chemicals in the soil and on their trees, and they are allowed to pump unregulated amounts of water off their site to keep the feet dry for those plants. So there's a whole bunch of water that gets pumped during the rainy season to the south, but what happens now, as we develop it -- you saw the series of lakes on our plan. So we'll collect water in those lakes. Those are all piped internally. They're all going to pass through the flowway, and that's going to provide the water-quality treatment and enhancement before it gets discharged off site where it should go at a lower discharge rate. So we contain a lot of that water until it gets clean, and then we discharge it from the site. So we had support for our transmittal hearing for the Comprehensive Plan amendment by your Environmental, Housing, Transportation, and Planning staff. Again, we're truly accessible to all the urban services in Collier County, and the State did not object to our proposal. So we think for those reasons that we have a quality project that you should support and can support, and I think your staff will tell you how we further some more goals and objectives of the Comp Plan, especially those related to the environment. So I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have, or I'm happy to have Mr. Trebilcock come up and continue to talk about some of the transportation enhancements. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. I don't see any questions Page 147 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 141 from the Board at this moment, so continue your presentation, please. MR. TREBILCOCK: Good afternoon, Board. My name is Norman Trebilcock. I'm a professional engineer, certified planner, and professional traffic operations engineer with over 36 years of local experience, and so I was going to discuss -- we prepared the Traffic Impact Statement for the project and worked with your staff. A big part of this is -- Wayne had mentioned is Sabal Palm Road and the extension of Sabal Palm Road. This provides an illustration of that, of the conditions of where and how it will be extended. So when the roadway is extended, where currently county maintenance ends, it will be brought up to County standards in terms of the roadway itself to include a sidewalk as well. It will get extended all the way down through the project. You-all have the detailed traffic study that we prepared. The TIS, the Traffic Impact Statement, we prepared, as you know, the data that we use is really County-provided data. It is peak-season data that is provided. The date of the study is irrelevant in terms of that portion of it because we're using the data. And then the data we generate in terms of the trip generation is also based on peak hour as well. Your staff reviewed the petition for compliance with the TIS, and they recommended approval of the project as well. We have a trip cap that we're planning to have to -- that sort of just governs the intensity of the type of use of the residences that we have there as well. As I mentioned, too, Sabal Palm Road will be improved by the developer from its current ending all the way across the entire eastern -- to the eastern frontage -- eastern property line of the project, including the extension of the existing sidewalk that's out there. And as was mentioned, too, the project will take the lead on Page 148 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 142 getting a signal installed there at the location of Sabal Palm and Collier Boulevard and also would pick up the public fair-share portion of the signal cost for the project as well, in addition to our fair share. As Wayne said, there's another development that does have its proportionate fair share already set up. Those are really the key points in transportation. I'm available to answer any questions, but I'll turn things over to JD to really talk about the drainage, which is a key point of the project. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Saunders has a question. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just a clarification. I think you -- I think you said it, but that's not what I had understood from the beginning. The improvements to the roadway will only be on the property line of -- of the property owner's site. In other words, you're not going to -- you're not going to be doing any improvements on Sabal Palm beyond in front of the property; is that what I understood? MR. TREBILCOCK: Beyond the -- no, no. We're -- exactly. We're going to end at the eastern property line, yes, sir. Is that what you're -- COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: No. But I'm talking about heading west from the property. MR. TREBILCOCK: Correct. So actually to the west, we will go to the point where the roadway is currently not improved, and we're going to make those improvements to continue on -- into our property. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: How far is that? MR. TREBILCOCK: I can get that number. It's -- COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. MR. TREBILCOCK: -- a good over -- I believe it's over a half a mile. I think it's 1.4 miles to the property there. But there's a portion that's already physically improved up to -- you know, past Verona Page 149 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 143 Walk. Then it kind of stops, the improvements. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. Okay. I just didn't understand where the improvements would be. MR. TREBILCOCK: Yes, sir. Yeah, I can -- this picture here maybe shows a little bit. This is kind of the -- really the beginning of the end of the improvements. And then you can see physically here a little further on where the road -- the asphalt gets really rough, and then it becomes really just lime rock out there. And so it will be improved all the way back. We'll extend -- we'll get this sidewalk to continue on. And this is pretty much kind of the end of the improved portion of, say, Verona Walk itself. And then we'll go on from there. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you. MR. TREBILCOCK: So there is a bit beyond there. So -- COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you. MR. TREBILCOCK: Yes, sir. JD. MR. DeFORGE: Afternoon. My name is JD DeForge with Blueshore Engineering. I'm a licensed civil engineer with the State of Florida. Today I'm going to present to you the proposed improvements for the project including upgrades to the Sabal Palm Road corridor and a new modern surface water management system on site to replace the citrus grove. These improvements are being implemented to provide public benefits including more closely mimicking historical drainage patterns in the Belle Meade drainage basin and an increase in water quality. I want to start with the Sabal Palm Road corridor itself. Currently, it does not -- portions of the road do not meet the minimum standard requirements found in the LDC. What we're proposing is a comprehensive reconstruction of these portions including not just repaving but widening and grading the travel lanes Page 150 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 144 to match the County standard cross-section to ensure that the road geometry is consistent and safe. The improvements would start around Verona Walk, which is right about here. They would extend to the beginning of the project, which is here, and then ultimately they would end all the way at the eastern end of the project here. We are also -- we're also proposing 6,400 linear foot of 5-foot sidewalk extension starting from the Verona Walk dead end all the way to the east end of our project. And lastly, we're extending municipal service for potable water and sanitary waste water, which is approximately 6,800 linear feet, starting right about here going all the way to our project. Moving to the drainage. We need to talk about water quantity and water quality. Historically, water flowed naturally north and southerly before the construction of the Sabal Palm Road and then subsequent developments after that. Further, the -- I want to clarify the Hacienda water management system and the Verona Walk system. Both of these have modern surface water management systems that have been constructed, certified, and are functioning properly as far as we know. There is a perimeter berm that's constructed that divides the preserve area in Verona Walk, and then there is one major outfall for Verona Walk that's more than two miles from our site. Hacienda Lakes, which is north of our site, also has a perimeter berm that goes all the way around it. There's an outfall on the very north side that's over two miles away from our site that discharges into the Hacienda preserve. Now, the Sabal Palm Road itself has four existing culverts that are undersized and creating bottlenecks during larger rain events. So what we're proposing to do is upgrading those from 24-inch pipes to 42-inch pipes. This effectively increases the cross-sectional area of Page 151 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 145 those pipes by five and increases the hydraulic capacity underneath the road by a factor of three. This would allow the stormwater to pass under the road more efficiently and more closely mimics the historic drainage basin, and it also makes the roadway more resilient to larger rain events. Moving to the site, there's currently a 30-foot drainage ditch that's approximately four-foot deep that conveys stormwater that passes under Sabal Palm Road. It's about -- right about here. As part of the restoration of the historical drainage, we're going to propose to make it a much larger flowway with a minimum width of 100 foot, and we're going to excavate it to almost 20 feet. This major hydraulic feature is just another part of the proposed site improvements that's going to more closely mimic the historic drainage. Separate from the flowway is the onsite surface water management. Here we're proposing to replace the citrus grove. And currently the grove pumps approximately 22 cubic feet per second. We're proposing to reduce that discharge by 74 percent, which is going to significantly reduce the burden of its downstream neighbors. And with regards to water quality, currently the citrus grove provides very little water quality in the ditch network and ultimately discharges into the Belle Meade drainage basin, which is hydraulically connected to the upper Henderson Creek. The Henderson Creek is impaired for nitrogen. So when looking at the proposed stormwater lakes on site, I'm estimating that the nutrient removal rate there would be approximately 45 percent without including littoral credits. Instead, we're going to propose a treatment train. Now, this treatment train is a series of treatment tools that the stormwater must go through prior to discharging into the flowway. The treatment train would include lakes without littorals, stormwater harvesting, which is a way to storm -- store Page 152 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 146 water on site where it gets used for irrigation instead of just discharging it, and then ultimately dry retention where water is retained on site, it percolates back into the ground, and it recharges the lower Tamiami Trail aquifer. With the treatment train, we're estimating that the nitrogen reduction would be upwards of 95 percent, which is effectively doubling the water quality performance when compared to using just the stormwater lakes. And as a final polishing treatment, the flowway with the consolidated littorals and preserve area will increase the nutrient removal by nearly 100 percent. So to summarize, the major engineering improvements that we're proposing are we're going to standardize the Sabal Palm roadway corridor, we're going to extend the sidewalk, we're going to extend the sewer and water mains, we're going to more closely mimic the historical drainage patterns with cross-drain improvements, we're going to reduce the downstream discharge by 74 percent, and we're now delivering 95 percent nitrogen removal through an advanced treatment train. If you guys have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: It doesn't appear that any members have any questions at this time. Thank you. MR. HALL: Good afternoon. For the record, Tim Hall with Turrell, Hall & Associates. I'm a wildlife ecologist with Turrell, Hall & Associates working on the environmental aspects of this project. I'm going to start with -- you've heard a lot already about the littoral areas and all. I'm going to go to the next slide and kind of walk through the preserves first. I'm going to correct -- one thing that Rich had said was that both of these areas are included in the existing native habitat. And in actuality, this light green area that you see here is the area on the site that meets the County's definition for native habitat. It's not inundated by more than 50 -- or more than Page 153 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 147 75 percent by exotic vegetation. The rest of these areas are very heavily impacted by prominently Melaleuca and Brazilian pepper. So as part of the project, these are all going to be cleaned up, but when it comes to the preserve requirements, the Sending Lands requirements are that a site coming in to propose anything has to preserve 90 percent of its existing native habitat. So the property, as it is right now, has about three acres of existing native habitat. Ninety percent of that would be 2.7 acres. So that's the preserve requirement for a Sending Land property under the code. The property, as you can see, is proposing to preserve about 10.4 acres. So much more than is actually required by the -- by the code. And part of that rolls into the littoral areas. As everybody had, you know, talked about earlier, the request to move the littoral plantings from the individual lakes to this kind of consolidated area within the flowway, and it includes the 2.58 acres that's existing there, which will be the Melaleuca, Brazilian pepper. Everything will be removed. That will be restored as a marsh habitat suitable for wading bird forging, as well as the water quality of polishing as the water flows through that area before it exits into the Hacienda preserve to the south. And then around that kind of core area, there will be additional plantings, and so that area is what meets the six acres that are required for the littoral plantings. The current code, again, reads 30 percent of the water management lake area. The water management lakes on this site equate to about 20 acres, so there's a 6-acre littoral requirement. And between what's being added and restored, that's -- it comes to about 6.3 acres. So we're slightly over that 20 percent [sic]. The difference is just that it's all consolidated in that one area where we believe it will do the most good. So preserves, littorals. Page 154 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 148 Another thing that was brought up in this area was fire. The flowway and the buffer preserve that's being left, or the buffer around the property -- there's a 30-foot buffer around the property. That is also being left, will act as a protective firebreak within the development in addition to any firebreaks that Forestry or the Hacienda folks put if they do decide to do a prescribed burn. The west side and south side of the property, those preserves are part of the Hacienda Lakes area. The east side of the property there is where Picayune Strand State Forest comes in. So any prescribed burning in that area will be done by the Department of Forestry. Hacienda could get Department of Forestry to assist or to conduct burns in here. They could outsource it. But regardless, they will have to put in firebreaks and all associated with that work if and when they decide to do it. Part of the requirements -- or part of the package that goes to any resident that purchases in this is information related to the fact they are adjacent to preserves, that prescribed burns are a possibility that could happen in the future, and also being able to have those protective measures in place to prevent fires -- to reduce the risk of fires from jumping over into the community. Another thing that hasn't really been mentioned is that along with the roadway, they're extending utilities down this site which means that water will be available along that property. So fires near the road and adjacent to houses along that roadway will now have access to a more reliable water source in terms of assisting to help with -- with any firefighting that needs to be done in proximity to the roadways. And then wildlife issues have been a big concern with a lot of people on the project, including the wildlife agencies. The project has been reviewed by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Their issues revolved mostly around bears, the Page 155 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 149 potential interactions between bears coming into the community, and wading birds. They're not big fans of wading birds using farm field ditches for foraging, but they understand that that does occur. So the flowway and the littoral areas within that are a way of replacing some of foraging habitat that's currently there in the ditches, and it's also in a habitat position that's better suited to the safe foraging for the birds than the ditches are now. The perimeter buffer area includes a barrier. Whether it will be a fence or a wall I don't think has been decided yet. But per the recommendations of FWC, they wanted to see a 10-foot barrier included within that 30-foot buffer around the property. The flowway itself acts as a barrier on the western side of the property. So that wall or fence would run kind of along this third or this half of the property to prevent any adverse interactions between them. A couple of other species of concern on this site are bonneted bats and Florida panthers. Both of them are documented within the area. The habitat associated with the orange grove is not considered high-quality habitat for either one of those species. You don't get bonneted bats roosting within the orange groves or -- the Melaleuca is generally not big enough to support really viable roosts. So the intent would be -- and the requirements under the Fish and Wildlife Services reviews, we're anticipating a biological opinion will include offsite mitigation for those species. Generally for bats, it's contributing to a fund that will happen to increase either research activities or habitat restoration in areas that are more appropriate for the bats. With respect to the panthers, the -- they're going to be required to purchase what are called PHUs, panther habitat units, and that's a mitigation commodity, if you will, where properties within higher quality panther areas either preserve or restore habitat in, and then they're allowed to sell the lift that is generated from that enhancement Page 156 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 150 to properties that are impacting habitat in other areas. So the overall impact of the project with the mitigation that's purchased in other more dense panther habitat areas is that for the species, there's an overall benefit. Even though we know that putting a project anywhere is going to impact species locally, the intent with respect to the wildlife agencies is to make sure that overall, throughout the state, you know, regionally or locally, that the species benefit, and that's what the mitigation program for those specific species is set up to do. And this project is adhering and complying with all of those requirements. MR. YOVANOVICH: So just to summarize, we went through a state review of our Growth Management Plan amendment which included the Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, historical resources, transportation, and the Department of Commerce. There have been no objections to our Comprehensive Plan amendment. Initially, we were asking for 450 dwelling units. Staff wanted us to be consistent with the 2.5 units per acre adjacent to us in the urban area, so that was reduced to 423 dwelling units. We increased the affordable housing units from 63 to 85, and then half of those units will be 120 percent or below income category, and half of those units will meet 100 percent and below median income. We've committed to acquiring 135 TDRs. We'll acquire those as we plat the stand-alone single-family-home portion of the project. We are doing the Sabal Palm Road improvements. We're doing flowway restoration and enhancement. We are providing more preserve areas by -- through -- and retaining what technically qualifies as native vegetation but also enhancing areas of existing vegetation to bring them up to the County preserve standards. We're meeting the urban area requirement for open space. Page 157 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 151 We are committed to installing -- assuming the County will let us install the traffic signal, we would install that traffic signal before any COs. We would not only pay our fair share, but we would pay the general public's share of that design, permitting, and construction cost. And we are providing down payment assistance as part of our commitment to income-restricted housing. Overall, we think this is the right location for this type of project. It's not an overly -- it's not a dense project by any means. It is providing environmental enhancements consistent with the goals and objectives of the Collier County Growth Management Plan. It's purchasing TDRs, which is also consistent with the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District goals and objectives. It is providing affordable housing, also consistent with the County's Growth Management Plan. Staff is recommending approval. And with that, that concludes our presentation, and we're available to answer any questions you may have regarding our project. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Just -- when you were whipping through your site plan, if you would go back to the -- and talk to me a little bit about the improvements on Sabal Palm, the drainage aspects. MR. YOVANOVICH: Sure. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I mean, this is a fairly substantive ditch, for lack of a better term. I'm sure it's got a fancier name than a ditch. But this is a -- are you going to continue that on down to the -- and enhance that for the flowway enhancements that you're doing to Sabal Palm? MR. YOVANOVICH: Yes. Yes, sir. Basically what you see, where the arrow is, is the quality of the water management system for the County-maintained portion of the property. As you go further Page 158 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 152 east, you know it's stopping. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And you're going to continue that on to -- MR. YOVANOVICH: We're going to continue that same process. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: To the east boundary of your property? MR. YOVANOVICH: Correct. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Saunders. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just a little bit of clarification so I understand how we got to the numbers. If this was designated as a Receiving area from the very beginning, what would that have entitled your client to, just the Receiving area aspect? MR. YOVANOVICH: We would -- we would have gotten one unit per five acres, which I think is 34 units. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And then -- MR. YOVANOVICH: And then we could have asked for affordable housing at that point without providing any TDRs. We could have come in, and we could have asked for up to 12.2 units per acre on the project through the affordable housing density bonus program. By creating our subdistrict -- and by the way, your current Comprehensive Plan would prohibit us from providing TDRs along with that affordable housing under the current Receiving Lands designation. By creating our subdistrict, we're getting the same density of one unit per five acres. We're buying the TDRs that you would do in the Receiving Lands to get to one unit per acre, and we're doing affordable housing. If we stayed Receiving Lands, or were Receiving Lands, there would be no TDRs purchased. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So the TDRs, you're purchasing 135 TDRs? Page 159 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 153 MR. YOVANOVICH: Hundred and thirty-five. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: How did you come up with that number? MR. YOVANOVICH: To get to one unit per acre, which is 169 acres, we're buying 135. If we were Receiving Lands, we wouldn't be buying any of those TDRs, and we would just be simply providing -- COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. So the -- all right. That gets you -- the 135 plus the 34 gets you the one unit per acre -- MR. YOVANOVICH: Correct. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- with the TDRs. And then to get to the two-and-a-half units per acre. MR. YOVANOVICH: We're providing 20 percent affordable housing, which under the Land Development Code would give us 5 percent -- five units per acre. So we could technically get to six units an acre if we used your Comprehensive Plan. We're asking for two-and-a-half units per acre to move forward with this -- with this proposed project. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Twenty percent affordable housing, is that a magic number? How did you get to 20 percent? Is that what is required -- MR. YOVANOVICH: Well, initially -- initially we were at 15 percent, because that would get us to the two-and-a-half units per acre, originally. So 15 percent under your matrix would get us two-and-a-half units per acre, but now that we've acquired the TDRs, we're not asking for two-and-a-half unit-per-acre bonus. We're only asking for one-and-a-half unit-per-acre bonus. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you. I just wanted to -- MR. YOVANOVICH: So that's how the math came about. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner LoCastro. Page 160 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 154 COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Chairman. Can you go to Slide 4, please? It was sort of the overview map. It's a good one to ask a few questions. So right now there's two culverts on Sabal Palm Road; is that correct? You've got two culverts. MR. YOVANOVICH: There's three. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: There's three. And they're 24 inches each? MR. YOVANOVICH: I'm going to bring JD up. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. Yeah. Let's do a deeper dive into the culverts because, I mean, you know, I've got a similar issue on Isles of Capri, and they're very beneficial. So once we install the culverts there, it makes a huge difference. So there's three right now from Collier Boulevard all the way down to the start of this property; is that correct? MR. DeFORGE: No. There's -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. MR. DeFORGE: Let me go back to the -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. Or, yeah, find the slide that -- the best is for you. MR. DeFORGE: So Sabal Palm Road -- Sabal Palm Road, the flows are separated east to west where these two yellow arrows are. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. MR. DeFORGE: So the flow from this point west is all through ditches, and then it goes out to the county canals system. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. MR. DeFORGE: And then the flow east is directed to those three culverts that we discussed, and then there's also an existing culvert in front of our project, and then there's an existing culvert east of our project. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So you're going to take the Page 161 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 155 existing culverts and -- which are 24 inches and replace them with 42-inch culverts. There will be new culverts, not sort of rebuilt or what have you? Give me a little bit of a deeper dive of what you're doing -- what you would be doing if we approved this with the culverts. MR. DeFORGE: We would take out the 24-inch culverts that are existing today and then replace them with 42-inch culverts. We're also adding a fourth that's also 42 inches. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: That's 42 inches, yeah. MR. DeFORGE: Yes. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. Okay. Got it. MR. DeFORGE: And then I'll keep going. So this culvert here on the blue side, that is an existing culvert. That's 54 inches that currently exists, and this one that is going into the site is -- I believe it's 36 inches, and then we're actually going to increase that one as well. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. The 52-inch culvert that currently exists, it is operable? It's in good repair, or you're going to rebuild that one or replace it? MR. DeFORGE: We're not going to rebuild that one. That one exists -- it was constructed to create a hydraulic connection between the north and south Hacienda preserve areas. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. And you're putting one just -- just east of it, right? You'd be adding one. MR. DeFORGE: There's an existing one just east of it now. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: And you're making it bigger? MR. DeFORGE: We're making it bigger. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Or you would make it if we approved it. MR. DeFORGE: Yes, we'd be proposing to make it larger. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. That's all I have for Page 162 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 156 now. A lot more questions, but not right now. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. I guess typically we hear from staff now or -- MR. YOVANOVICH: Yeah. If you're done with us, that's our -- that's our presentation. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I have no more questions from the Board right now for you as the petitioner. MS. PATTERSON: Mr. Bosi is on his way up. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. MS. PATTERSON: And then maybe before we start the public comment, we could take a court reporter break. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yes, that's what I was thinking. MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, just a heads-up. We have 75 registered speakers. That number's a little fluctuating because of people dropping off and joining on Zoom. And 24 people have ceded time to Brad Cornell. He's not first in line. Would you like me to make him first when we start? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah, that would be fine. MR. MILLER: Thank you, sir. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: If that's okay with the people. MR. MILLER: There's only, like -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I don't know if he'll take all 24 minutes [sic]. MR. MILLER: There's only, like, seven people registered in front of him, sir, so... CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. All right. We'll do that. MR. BOSI: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Mike Bosi, Planning and Zoning director, here to present staff report on the proposal. It was reviewed by Housing, by Transportation, Stormwater, Environmental, Engineering, Planning, Emergency Management. Page 163 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 157 Staff is recommending approval of the overall project. And as the applicant has indicated, this project has changed in a lot of ways from when it was originally submitted towards where we're at now, and I think it was changed a lot of -- to the betterment for the public benefit of the county as a whole. And I'll get into some of those, and I think you're -- the applicant has addressed a number of those, but I think we really need to show how they do advance the overall goals of the Growth Management Plan. I'll start off with the Planning Commission review. The Planning Commission review originally at transmittal back in April was a 4-1 transmittal to the State for their review. At the adoption hearing, there was only four Planning Commission members that were present. It was two in favor -- recommendation in favor of the proposal and two against the proposal. So there was really no recommendation that came from the Planning Commission. Staff looks at this proposal, looks at this orange grove, this 169 acres, and the time that it's been under agricultural production. We know that that has provided a lot of opportunities for the buildup of sediment, for the buildup of pesticides, of herbicides and various things like that. So we know that there's some contamination that's going to need to be remediated by the proposal. If this was approved, the applicant would be required to remediate this until -- before it could move forward for residential development. But we do recognize 2.5 units per acre is an anomaly within the Sending Area. The Sending Area is an area that's not conservation. It is an area, though, that has been deemed environmentally sensitive. And because of that, there is a much -- a higher density allocation -- or a much lower density allocation, I should say, of one unit per 40 acres. The 2.5 units per acre is what staff had recommended from a density perspective because that's what is currently available .4 miles Page 164 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 158 to the west of this proposal when you get to the -- in the urbanized area. A number of things that we have recognized in terms of what arrived upon our recommendation of approval. In 2023, through an ordinance, this Board of County Commissioners adopted an addition to the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District to this -- to this specific area of this Sending area, and it's the North Belle Meade Hydrological Enhancement Area, and that North Belle Meade Hydrological Enhancement Area is basically to restore the natural flow and flowways and rebalance freshwater flows into the two natural systems, Naples Bay and Rookery Bay, that have been impacted by development. And the culverts that were specifically addressed underneath Sabal Palm and how they are going to promote the water flow and how they're going to provide for a better interplay between the northern properties north of Sabal Palm to the southern properties and then the treatment system that's provided for within the -- within the individual development through the lake system and through ultimately that spreader swale that will be distributed to the south of the property providing water-quality treatment, we think that is a benefit that enhances the specific goal of the Sending area, specifically the North Belle Meade Overlay -- or Flowway Overlay, specifically trying to provide for better water quality and rehydration of the natural lands that sit to the south of the project. Secondly, we think it certainly advances the Sending Land designation with the consumption of 135 TDRs. One of the issues that we have had over the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District history, which dates back to 2003, is there hasn't been enough demand for the credits that are utilized by the individuals who have Sending Land that have had their rights restricted. They create TDRs, they lift those TDRs, and they direct them to the Receiving area. There hasn't been Page 165 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 159 enough consumption of those to make a lot of property owners whole. An additional 135 TDRs being demanded of this project for it to move forward will help facilitate further participation within the program, so we know that that program is being advanced by the specific allocation and the consumption of the 135 TDRs. And I will note that it is unique, because they are creating their own individual subdistrict, they can utilize TDRs. The applicant is correct, currently the Receiving area within the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District does not allow -- it specifically prohibits the utilization of TDRs if you're providing for affordable housing. But because this is its own individual subdistrict, they are able to promote and provide for the 135 TDRs to be consumed. And we definitely recognize that as advancing the goal of the overall TDR program providing for more consumption of credits. And then the third aspect that we see very valued in terms of public benefit is the increase of 25 -- or 15 percent of the homeownership of affordable units to 20 percent of homeownership. We still recognize -- staff recognizes the great work that this Board of County Commissioners has done over the last three to four years of close to 5,000 additional affordable housing units. But that study that we reference back in 2017 where the Urban Land Institute came in, they also recommended or they recognized that every year we would need to provide for at least a thousand units of affordable housing to be able just to maintain the status quo. And secondary, the number back then was 57,000 people come into our county to fill the economic needs, to fill the jobs of our county. Talk about transportation issues, that is something that is real, and it's something that happens on a daily basis. Well, that number has grown to over 60,000. So the need for affordable housing hasn't abated. It is still here, and we feel that it is one of the Page 166 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 160 number-one needed commodities within the county. So we most certainly value that, and we value that -- the public contribution that's associated with that. Another aspect that they're providing for, and it's unique to Pulte, is their down payment assistance. I think they've increased it to $170,000, $2,000 per unit, for down payment assistance to help with some of their essential service personnel that we would like to attract to the -- to the area. And as we -- they've documented, the number of employment opportunities within a 10-mile -- a 10-mile radius of this area are very significant, not only capturing Marco Island, but a good majority of the urbanized area within Collier County. We do recognize that there are listed species that have been identified on the property. They will have to mitigate for those. One of the things that's unique about the County, we control the local issues, but when it comes to protected species, endangered species, we defer to the State and the Feds, and the State and the Feds dictate how you can impact those individual species if you find that you have -- whether it be a bonneted bat or whether it be the Red-cockaded woodpecker or whether it be -- whether it be the Florida panther. Those mitigation efforts will have to be arrived -- or provided for by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and it will be something that the applicant will have to provide for. But those are issues that are separate from the County. This is separate from the County. We defer to the State for the guidance on that. Another thing I did want to note, they have asked for four individual deviations, one related to the littoral plantings, which I think Mr. Hall did a good job of explaining. Also, the preservation, the separation of preservation because of the two locations that they have -- that were deemed appropriate in terms of high quality. Page 167 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 161 And then sidewalks on one side of the street for Sabal Palm. I think you've recognized that you wouldn't need a sidewalk on the north side. They're only proposing a sidewalk on the south side of Sabal Palm for -- as they extend that all the way to the eastern edge of their property. And then, finally, the local street. It's a pretty customary reduction for private streets from 60 feet to 50 feet. It's something that is being provided for and being supported. All those deviations, as it's being proposed, have been recommended for approval by staff. And I just reviewed my notes. I think that's basically the high points, and I would make myself -- obviously, Ms. Cook, Mr. Giblin, in terms of from Housing, all staff would be available here to address any questions that you have, whether it be planning related, environmental related, housing. Whatever the Board may inquire about we'll try to address. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. I see Commissioner Saunders. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: On the TDRs, there's some, I guess, confusion or conflict in our ordinances dealing with the TDR issue. This question, I'm sure, is not addressed by the -- by the ordinances. But there's 135 TDRs that are purchased. That gets you to the one unit per acre. The question is should there be a requirement to purchase TDRs for all of the units that are going on this property other than the 34? If we were to approve 423 units, should all of those units above the 34 require a TDR? MR. BOSI: Not if we are following the course of how this would be arranged for if it was within the Receiving area. Within the Receiving area, you take the -- you take the total acreage that you have, divide that by five. That gives you 34 units, 34 and a half. That's why -- that's why they can self-create 35 units that are allowed. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Understood. But we're creating a new subdistrict. Page 168 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 162 MR. BOSI: Correct. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And we're interpreting the way this TDR program would work a little differently than perhaps has been in the past. That's why I'm just asking the question. If we create the subdistrict, should we require the purchase of all the units to be from TDR -- from TDRs? MR. BOSI: Well, I think it's -- COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And if not, why not? I'm just curious as to would that be a decent policy. MR. BOSI: The reason why we do not require TDRs in the Receiving area, because it's affordable housing, and the TDRs are roughly 15- to $20,000 per acre -- or per unit. At 135, you're talking potentially three -- over $3 million worth of a contribution that is being allocated for the consumption of TDRs, and that's a significant financial burden. So based upon that, the way that we provide for affordable housing, we normally don't have to intermix it. Their able to offer the TDRs, I think, is a benefit, and I think it's something that more than -- than just -- or it compensates the expense that they're paying for the other 135 for the TDRs. I think that's a significant contribution. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Chairman. I might have more questions for you, Mr. Bosi, after we hear from the public comment, so I'm just going to ask you the key ones that I have right now. In all the emails we got, pro and con, but mostly folks that were con, they classified the area that surrounds this orange grove parcel, everything from -- they call it wetlands, they called it environmentally sensitive, conservation land, preserve, even a lot of people called it the Everglades. How would you classify the Page 169 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 163 vegetation around this parcel? Is it preserve? Is it the Everglades? Is it conservation land? Is it -- what would you -- how would classify it? MR. BOSI: On the visualizer -- or not visualizer, but on the TV screens I put a Future Land Use Map of the local area. And as you can see, this entire area, the -- that's the location of the orange grove. Surrounding this entire area it's designated agricultural and Rural Fringe Sending, Rural Fringe Sending. That's not conservation. Rural Fringe Sending, I will -- it is an environmentally sensitive designation, but it is not conservation. Residential development is an appropriate and allowed use within the -- within the Rural Fringe Sending area designation. And in fact, if you look, Hacienda Lakes over to -- just to the north and to the west, they encroach upon the Sending area. They have encroached upon the Sending area. In 2011, when they were proposing Hacienda Lakes, their environmental specialist, environmental report for the entire Hacienda Lakes, the 2,600-and-some acres, they said, this area over here is not quite as environmentally sensitive as other areas within our project. So we allowed for residential development to encroach upon the Sending area that we found didn't meet the environmental -- didn't have quite the environmental quality as some of the properties that were closer to the urbanized area. So we have done that before where we have made a slight evaluation where we said, "Well, this is a large Sending area." Not all of the acreage within that large Sending area maybe meets the best environmental quality. So we've made swaps. We've had some -- we've had some arrangements towards where we've said, "Okay. You can impact this Sending area if you're going to provide for preservation of these other areas that have maybe more environmental attributes than what -- what you're going to be impacting." Page 170 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 164 COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So when Hacienda Lakes got that approval, they got it with our blessing because, as you just said -- and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I'm summarizing what you just said -- the encroachment wasn't of a significant concern for that type of development. And then as I look at this map, and I'm just spitballing here, would you classify -- it looks like, you know, we've got a lot -- a lot of concern from people that live in Verona Walk, but it looks like a big chunk of Verona Walk, which is a large community, that -- does that infringe on the Sending area at all, or -- MR. BOSI: It doesn't infringe, but it butts right back up, as you can see. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: It butts right up against it. MR. BOSI: It butts right back up to the Sending designation. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Similar to how this -- this project would -- if approved would do, right -- similar? MR. BOSI: Well, it -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Or no? Let the staff answer. Go ahead. MR. BOSI: The uniqueness of that would be the -- that is butting up towards it. The orange grove is in the middle of it. The Hacienda property is bordered by three -- by three sides of it. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. Yeah. MR. BOSI: And where we're at from a staff's perspective, we really felt that because it was 1.4 -- or .4 miles from the urban designation of where residential development is allowed at 2.5 units an acre, that -- that recognition that just less than half a mile to the east with these public benefits that are being provided for, the cost-benefit analysis that we arrived upon upon -- within our recommendation, as you can see, was one of approval where we felt that the benefits outweighed the cost. Page 171 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 165 COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. One of the emails that we got and that I -- you know, I shared with you in our discussion, people were concerned about sprawl and protected species. And we'll skip over that. But the things that you heard from the applicant about improvements to flooding, and then especially fire -- there's a lot of concern of fire -- bringing water out there to be able to fight, you know, possible fires down the road, did you incur with -- with what you heard from the applicant's side? You know, I'll just kind of keep it simple without you having to regurgitate it all. But I wanted to see if you had anything to add or to debunk when it comes to improvements in flooding, what the culverts would do, the improvements to the road, fire suppression. Anything that you want to add to that -- or subtract? MR. BOSI: No, I don't disagree with Mr. Hall's statement of bringing the centralized potable water to this location provides for a more reliable source to be able to tie into. And another aspect is it is contained within the proposed PUD that they're required to have a wildfire prevention and mitigation plan at the time of SDP, and it has to be shared with the individuals who are going to be occupying. If this community is approved, the individuals will have to be made aware that this is a wildfire area, that they're going to have some occasional opportunities -- or not opportunities. We'll have some within the proximity, because another aspect is that the individual development in what is part of the Planning Commission is -- this is what the Planning Commission was able to -- another benefit that was provided for, there's a 30-foot buffer from outside of the wall that they are requiring to provide for a transition from the natural lands to the -- to the residential development that's being proposed to provide more of a transition. Maybe not for individuals to the west -- or to the east but individuals Page 172 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 166 that would -- or wildlife would be able to understand that not only is there a 30-foot abbreviation of what they're -- of the natural habitat, but then there's a 10-foot wall that's also going to provide protection to the residential development. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. I know that one of the comments here was we want to hear from the citizens after the break. I'll just propose -- I wanted to talk to Cormac Giblin, and I wanted to talk to Jaime Cook just briefly, and I think it's important to keep the staff's comments all bunched together so that the citizens can hear from the remainder of staff. I just have a quick question for Cormac. And I don't know if I see Jaime Cook because she's -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: She's hiding behind -- she's over there. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: There she is. Okay. She's our Conservation Collier person. So, Jaime, I'll just ask you, I know that we haven't gone through the steps to grade this parcel for Conservation Collier. We got quite a few emails where folks that maybe don't know as much about Conservation Collier as you do, which is everybody because you run the program, but -- and we just talked to Conservation Collier on, what, seven or eight parcels just a couple of hours ago when this room was empty. Looking at this here, to really separate rumor from fact, what would -- what -- what would be or wouldn't be the possibility of all of a sudden Conservation Collier -- this qualifying for Conservation Collier? And then I'll answer part of the question. The owner still has to agree -- even if this was -- if this was an A -- a Class A parcel, the owner, we can't make them sell it to Conservation Collier. But I'll back up first. Knowing what you know about what it takes to qualify, where do you think this parcel would fall in Conservation Collier eligibility? Page 173 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 167 MS. COOK: Jaime Cook, director of Development Review and Environmental Services for Collier County. So this property, if the owners were to apply -- because I will put on the record that the Conservation Collier is a willing-seller program. I cannot force somebody to sell me their property or give me their property. If they were to apply to the program, the staff would do an internal review of the property and look at things like the vegetation on the property, the utilization by listed species, the soil types, the potential for public access, whether it's in a target area that Collier County would be looking to acquire property. We do not look to acquire property in areas where state or federal agencies are also acquiring property. If we were to say that the program met the criteria of the program, it would go forward to the Land Acquisition Committee for a recommendation. We would bring it to you. If the Board wanted us to move forward with appraisals and negotiations with the property owner, we would do so. The -- once we had the appraisals, my guess, based on what I know about this property, it would require two appraisals. And the ordinance does require that we offer the lower of the appraised values at this time. If the owner were to accept, we would bring it to you guys for final approval. If they did not accept, then it would not move forward; the program would not acquire it. Additionally, the program does require that if there is any mitigation that would be needed -- and as this has been a farm field operation for decades, I would expect that soil and potentially groundwater mitigation would be required -- the owner would have to do that prior to closing. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: All right. Okay. Thank you. And then, Mr. Giblin, you're our expert on housing, everything Page 174 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 168 housing. From what you've heard going from the 63 to 85 income-restricted for-sale townhouses, which, I mean, that's a pretty -- that's pretty unique. We haven't had many of those type of things, if any, come before us. Just give us, you know, your assessment from a housing perspective with everything you've heard, the $170,000 down payment. I never heard of that before. And I'm not saying these things cause us -- you know, some of the emails we got from people where, "Oh, well, those are red herrings that cause you to approve a horrible project because they're dangling these things in front of you." Well, you know, paying for millions of dollars’ worth of culverts, stoplights, housing down payments, it's all part of the puzzle. I would think it wouldn't get my -- I wouldn't vote for a horrible project just because those things were there, but a project that has potential, then in addition to all those things, that's where I want your feedback as to what you heard here. Very unique proposal. With what you know about housing and the requirements for our community, do you look at this as something that, wow, this is -- this is -- is a shining diamond, or, you know, "Hey, they haven't gone far enough"? Educate us all here with the knowledge you have as our housing expert. MR. GIBLIN: Sure. For the record, Cormac Giblin, your director of Housing Policy and Economic Development. As I've mentioned many times at this podium, Collier County has housing needs across the entire income spectrum, all the way from homelessness up to first-time homebuyers, just graduated from college or two teachers living together married. This project is unique or is hitting one of those targets that we seldom see a developer come in ready to assist the County in meeting. Mr. Bosi's correct, in the past several years, this Board has done Page 175 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 169 an outstanding job in approving affordable new developments to be built. The majority of those have been on the rental side. It's very few and far between where we see an opportunity for homeownership especially at some affordable levels within this community. It's -- the further commitment by the applicant today to go down to the 100 percent of median income level means that a family of four would need to earn less than $113,600 to be able to buy one of these new affordable townhomes. Again, that's a sheriff deputy married to a teacher, that combined income of less than 113-, $114,000. Those opportunities we do not see in the open -- in the free market here in Collier County. So it takes these unique land strategies and incentives by the County to be able to provide those. In terms of what it means to the continued economic development of the region, the Physicians Regionals, the Sheriff's Department, even the County ourselves looking for long-term stable county residents, employees to move here, I think it is a -- it is an opportunity that doesn't come that often here to us. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: And then lastly, when you read it in the news, and we've read it a lot -- we even heard from maybe even some citizens in this audience, but certainly from a large majority that says, "There's not a housing shortage. In fact, there's an overabundance. You can find houses and rental apartments anywhere. They're a dime a dozen. They're everywhere. You guys are overbuilding Collier County." What would be your response to that? MR. GIBLIN: Well, we do a -- we do a biannual housing survey of every single apartment complex in the county. That survey is done in the summer and winter. And coincidentally, we just finished the one for the winter last week. We surveyed 18,444 apartments in Collier County. Those are market rate. They're affordable. They're -- it's subsidized. It's every single apartment that Page 176 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 170 is for rent in Collier County. Right now we are seeing only a 7 percent vacancy across the board. In those apartments that are less than $1,500 a month or less, there are only 34 available. Those that are less than $2,000 a month or less has a vacancy rate of 3.8 percent, which is basically -- if you have less than a 5 percent vacancy, it's basic -- it's no more time than it takes to move someone out, paint, put new carpet in, and refresh the unit for the next person. So it remains a very tight rental market, especially at the lower-than-$2000 of rent -- a month rent, and the lower-than-$1,500-a-month rent are very tough to come by. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: And that big number you just mentioned in the report, that includes old construction, new construction. MR. GIBLIN: Correct. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: It runs the gamut. On anything that was constructed, say, in the last year or two, which tends to attract a lot of people, they want to move into something new or nicer and whatnot, is it a correct statement that, say, when we've cut the ribbon on some of the places like Ekos and, you know, and the like, that their waitlists were in the hundreds almost instantaneously. Is that a -- is that a very true statement? MR. GIBLIN: That is a very true statement. We hear that from all of our development partners that anything that is less than -- let's just use the $2,000-a-month level, goes very quickly, and their waiting lists come up -- fill up very fast. Of the 18,444, those ranged up to over $4,000 a month for some of them, and most of those newer ones with the highly amenitized market rate, that's what we're seeing the market eat up. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. Thank you, sir. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Anything else? Page 177 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 171 COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Not right now. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Mr. Bosi, when I'm looking at this map right here, there's a piece of property on the north and a little bit east of this site that is designated as RS -- RFS. What's that stand for? MR. BOSI: Rural Fringe Sending. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Rural Fringe Sending. Okay. Is there any other property -- because Sabal Palm doesn't end at this orange grove. It goes -- necessarily, if I'm not mistaken, it goes all the way out to an access point for public access at Picayune State Forest. MR. BOSI: That I'm not sure, but looking at it, it does look that way. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I am sure that it does. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: It's not a great road, but it's -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: He's a hunter. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's not a great road. I actually picked up a city councilman from New Jersey that was walking south on Miller Boulevard when I was doing the Wounded Warrior turkey hunt guide several years ago. That guy was heading down into the bad luck where we all used to trespass, so... I just -- my concern is is creep. We snatch utilities out to this site. Then what happens at the old mining site that's up on the north end? Each one of these properties that are out here in the Rural Fringe Sending district would have to come back through either a removal, as is being done right now out of the -- out of the RF -- the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District and create a subdistrict and go through an entire approval process. MR. BOSI: The barrier to that would be the requirement for another Growth Management Plan amendment, and I think, as you've Page 178 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 172 heard today, the amount of public benefit that would have to be conveyed for a project to be able to reach the -- a level where it would be attractive enough for the Board of County Commissioners to approve it. Every individual project has to be reviewed against its own individual geographic location and the amenities and whether they're providing for public benefit. But could something else towards the east rise up to that level -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Of course, it's America. MR. BOSI: -- it may. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: They have a right to come and ask, right. MR. BOSI: But as we say, each individual project has to sit and be evaluated based upon its own merit. And what I continue to fall back upon is, yes, the density is not consistent with what's allocated for this Sending area. It's -- or it's equal towards what's -- or a fourth of a mile to the west. But there are advancements for the flowway, advancement for the TDRs, and advancement for other aspects of the GMP that we have recognized that balance out that irregularity of density. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Those did not go unnoticed, sir. I saw that. But again, when I -- when I -- when I'm looking at this, I just -- I just once a step here, then it comes and it comes. All right. Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Saunders. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you. This is for Mr. Giblin. And clearly, the thing that makes this project something that would be recommended for approval is the public benefit, is the affordable housing component of it. Without that, I think this project probably would fail at those -- at that density if there was no affordable housing component. So I want to kind of dig into the affordable housing for just a minute. Page 179 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 173 It was -- we were told that the units would sell for between 600,000 and $700,000 per unit. So let's just pick a number in between. Like, let's just say they're $700,000 units. MR. GIBLIN: I think what the petitioner meant was that the market-rate units that are in the development would sell for that. The affordable units would sell for much less. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. So it's -- well, that's what I wanted to get at then. How do you determine the price of the affordable units? MR. GIBLIN: The price is determined by market cond- -- well, the number-one factor is the income of the buyer. And so as I said earlier, the -- a family of four can make no more -- at the 100 percent level could make no more than $113,600. So that's the number-one determining factor in how much house can they buy. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. Okay. So you have a family of four making $113,000. MR. GIERDEN: Yeah. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Now, a certain percentage of that is -- can go to a house payment. MR. GIBLIN: Correct. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Do you set the house price based on what the payment is, or how do you determine the price for the house that that person's going to -- MR. GIBLIN: Well, the bank will determine the amount that they can borrow based on current interest rates, their credit, and the amount of down payment that they're bringing to the table. So the County is only going to monitor the income of the buyer, the $113,000 a year for the family of four. The current market will determine how much that house sells for. Given today's market, factoring about a five-, five-and-three-quarters percent interest on a 30-year mortgage. Page 180 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 174 You've got taxes, you've got insurance, you've got HOA fees. We would estimate that the affordable homes in here would sell for about 350- to $375,000. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. So then I guess the question is, can a builder build a home for that price and market it? I mean, does that -- does that make sense? I know that's a question for the developer, but that's the number I wanted to get to is how do you determine what the price of that house is going to be. Now, we -- our staff looks at the income of the buyer. We're not concerned about the price of the home at that point. We just look at the income of the buyer. MR. GIBLIN: Correct. For example, if interest rates were to change dramatically over the next five years -- and maybe they go back down to two and a half percent where they were a while ago -- the price of the home could go up because you could afford more if interest was less. Conversely, if interest goes up, the price would have to come down for those same people to be able to afford it. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Hopefully we'll be around to see a two-and-a-half-percent interest rate on a mortgage again. No other questions. COMMISSIONER HALL: Mr. Chairman. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yes. Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: I can help Commissioner Saunders out a little bit. At 113,000 a year based on a payment at 30 percent of your income, that would qualify for about a $2,800 payment. At five-and-a-half interest on 30 years, they can buy a $499,000 house, their loan amount. So they could go -- if they had $25,000, they could go 525-, roughly. Just ballparking. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That's principal, interest, Page 181 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 175 taxes, and insurance? COMMISSIONER HALL: That's only principal and interest. That's not including taxes and insurance. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: And from what I understand, Pulte has their own mortgage company in place for the properties, correct? So they won't have to seek outside financing. They can in-house -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: How'd you know that? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: -- with their bonuses towards down payment assistance. If we don't have any more questions from the Board, I'd like to take a court reporter break. Let's be back at -- what do you need? THE COURT REPORTER: Ten is fine. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Let's make it 3:11. (A recess was had from 3:01 p.m. to 3:11 p.m.) MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. Let's -- we're going to bring the session back to order, please. We're going to go into -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Do you feel like you're not being listened to? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I'm sorry. That's all right. Troy, you still need a minute? MR. MILLER: I'll tell you what. Let's go ahead and get started with Brad, because we're going to do him first, and then I'll finish tending to these ladies, if that's what you want to do, sir. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah. Let's go ahead. I'm going to -- I just want to preface something first. I should have said this earlier. I'm sorry. That's right, you wanted to ask me a question. Go ahead. MR. YOVANOVICH: Yeah. Mr. Chairman, I've got two nurses that signed up to speak. They have to leave for their shift at 3:30. If Brad's got 70 minutes' worth of presentation, they're not going to be able to speak, and I don't think that would be fair. So we Page 182 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 176 would request that you allow those two nurses to be able to speak before Brad jumps along. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Where is Brad? MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, I'm sorry. If I may, I've got several people here that are having to pull their slips because they have to leave as well because they're not going to be able to stay. So I just want to put that on the record as well. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. COMMISSIONER HALL: Brad will speak on their -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah. I don't want to set a precedence here. You've got people pulling their slips because they can't stay, I understand that. I know we told Brad he can go first. But who's here right now that's got to leave, just raise your hand right now. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: People left already. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. Well, that's beyond the time when we had to get through presentation and our staff report. All right. So I'm looking at two people there. Do you need to speak? MR. MILLER: This is a separate issue. This is someone that was ceding time that was -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. Give me the two nurses. Come up here and speak first. Then Brad can go over and do what he's got to do, because there's nobody else that's here telling me they've got to leave, then -- well, I'm just -- I asked and nobody raised their hands, so -- all right. And just real quick, make sure everybody turns their cell phones off, because I know I didn't say that before. But what's -- when somebody comes up, they're nervous enough to go in front of the podium, try to get what they've got to say in the three minutes, and then they get interrupted with a phone buzzing or ringing in the background. It could mess them up, and then I don't want to have rush them through what they want to say, okay, because it's their Page 183 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 177 right to stand up here and say what they have to say. We're looking at about -- right now about three hours and 45 minutes of podium comments, so I'll just let you know. And if you've heard somebody saying the same thing you plan on saying 10 times already before that three hours and 45 minutes come up, you know, it's totally up to you. If you want to repeat the same exact thing again, that's fine. That's your right, but if you don't, when they call your name, you could just raise your hand and say, "I waive my three minutes." Fair enough? Okay. Do we know where these -- MR. YOVANOVICH: They are both on Zoom. Troy, one is Mirtha -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Oh, they're on Zoom. Okay. Well, let's knock them out. MR. YOVANOVICH: Mirtha Reckewick or Reckeweg. MR. MILLER: You're going to have to tell me that again, please. MR. YOVANOVICH: It's Mirtha Reckeweg, and also Veronica Reckeweg. Those are the two that are on Zoom. MR. MILLER: Okay. I have -- I have Veronica Reckeweg, but I have a Mirtha Forero. MR. YOVANOVICH: Okay. MR. MILLER: Okay. All right. If my Zoom person is there, we're going to go to Veronica Reckeweg to speak. John, if you're there running my Zoom, if you can please prompt Veronica Reckeweg to unmute. I've got nobody on the other end of my Zoom, unfortunately, right now, sir, apparently. Oh, wait. Here we go. Veronica Reck -- Veronica, you've been prompted. You've unmuted. Can you hear me? MS. RECKEWEG: Yes, I can. MR. MILLER: You have three minutes, ma'am. Please begin. Page 184 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 178 And I also want to let my Zoom person know that -- what is it? -- Mirtha Forero will be next. Go ahead, Veronica. MS. RECKEWEG: Thank you. Hi. My name is Veronica Reckeweg, and I'm speaking today to share my support for the Sabal Palm Road project. I became a nurse in 2020 and currently work at Physicians Regional of Collier. When I first started, I had hoped to live close to the hospital, but there were simply no affordable options available. As we all know, home prices skyrocket, which many of us, myself included, even forced out of reach of living near our workplace. I was finally able to buy in 2024 in North Naples off Oil Well Road, but the tradeoff was a long commute. During season when the hospital is at its busiest, that drive becomes even more difficult at constructions or accident, which are unfortunately common on Immokalee Road where I live, and it can turn it into a major setback. Something that impacts not just convenience but the well-being and readiness of healthcare staff. This proposed community would offer a realistic opportunity for nurses and other essential workers to live closer to where we serve. For many of us, that would make an enormous difference. I hope you all approve this project, as it will impact those who care for our community every day. Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you, ma'am. MR. MILLER: Next up we have Mirtha Forero. Mirtha, you're being prompted to unmute yourself, if you'll do that at this time. Waiting for Mirtha. Mirtha Forero -- Forero. Mirtha, we're going to call you upon one more time. You're being prompted to unmute yourself. Not happening, Mr. Chair. Page 185 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 179 CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. Thank you, Troy. Let's go right to Mr. Cornell then. MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, I talked to Mr. Cornell. He's been ceded 24 minutes -- or 24 -- he's been ceded 24 additional three-minute blocks. Tradition dictates I call all 24 of these names. He's not going to take 75 minutes. I'd rather not try to call all 24. I know most of these people are still here in the room -- unless you want me to call all 24 names. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: How about the 24 people raise their hands? (Hands raised.) MR. MILLER: I think we're pretty close. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Close enough. MR. MILLER: All right. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: If fifty hands went up, then I know they're lying. MR. MILLER: Mr. Cornell has asked that his -- that Bridget Washburn, his co-worker, be allowed to present this with him. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yes. MR. MILLER: And if you'll give me one second, I will bring up Brad's PowerPoint. Well, that's not it. I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. I've got several screens open here. And there we go. MR. CORNELL: Great. Thank you, Troy, very much. This is a three-ring circus, I can see, for you, so thank you for that effort. Mr. Chair, I'm Brad Cornell, and I'm here on behalf of Audubon Western Everglades and Audubon Florida, and with me is Bridgette Washburn who's the executive director for Audubon Western Everglades. And we'd like to share with you -- by virtue of the time that is being ceded to us by folks in the audience, for which we're appreciative, we'd like to share a number of slides with information that we believe supports our position, which is that of denial for this Page 186 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 180 project. And it's -- it's a complicated issue. Clearly, the time that you've spent already, which has been over two hours, testifies to the complexity and the high stakes of this whole discussion, so we appreciate your attention on this, and -- let's see if I can remember. Oh, yeah, there we go. So just a quick background on how we got here with the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District. In the 1990s, 1997, what -- Audubon Western Everglades and Florida Wildlife Federation joined with the State of Florida Department of Community Affairs to challenge Collier County's policies on 300,000 acres of rural private lands in Eastern Collier County. That was a successful challenge. It resulted in the newly elected Governor Jeb Bush and his cabinet, called the Administration Commission, issuing a final order in June of 1999 to Collier County to do a three-year assessment and study to figure out, okay, how are we going -- how are we going to do better by several different objectives. And those objectives were to protect agriculture and private property rights, to protect environmental lands that included listed species habitat and wetlands, and to use innovative land-use strategies to accomplish these objectives and avoid sprawl, urban sprawl. So that study resulted in 2002 in the adoption of two big land-use plans that really brought Collier County a lot of recognition statewide and even nationwide. That's the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District that we're talking about today, and the Rural Lands Stewardship Area that's even bigger around Immokalee and north of the panther refuge. So the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District uses a transferable development rights strategy to direct incompatible uses away from natural resources, Sending Lands, towards appropriate development areas that we call Receiving Lands, which you've already heard about Page 187 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 181 today. The Sending Lands were downzoned. People who owned that land were downzoned from their, at that time, one unit per five acres to one unit per 40 acres in 2002. And as Mike Bosi pointed out, that's a property rights loss and an impact, and it was compensated for with the TDR credits that were valued at that time at $25,000 per credit. It was actually set by the County Commission. Now it's a market rate. And that was four credits at the time possible on each five acres, and now that's up to six credits with some of the adjustments that have been made over the years because we've recognized some improvements needed to be made. The TDR program, however, only works if the TDR credit purchase is the only way to increase density in the Receiving Lands. Most programs in the United States that are TDR programs fail because local governments give away density in other ways. Now, you-all have chosen to give density bonuses that don't require TDR purchases for a number of issues, including affordable housing. And by and large, I think most of the community is supportive of those density bonuses as long as they don't detract from the fundamental value and market mechanism of the TDR program. And so that's a really important point. The Collier County Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District has been successful because thousands of these credits have traded hands. They've been sold and used and land bought and credits stripped off in order to entitle development throughout the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District. That's something that almost all the TDR programs in the United States have not achieved. Most of them have failed because local governments usually just give away the density to folks who ask. And you can understand why. And today is a little bit of a testament to that. Page 188 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 182 So Audubon Western Everglades recommends denial based on four issues: Issue 1, this development is in the wrong place. Issue 2, it violates State Statute 163.3177(6)(a)(2), which is focused especially on discouraging urban sprawl. Issue 3 is a fairness question. This is unfair to other Sending Land owners because if you're going to give 423 units to this Sending Land owner, what about the other Sending Land owners? What are they going to get? So it's a fairness question. We should be dealing with Sending Land owners equitably. And the last issue is the littoral planting requirement, which we've had some discussion about today. So Issue 1, this project is in the wrong place. The site property is designated Sending land since 2003 when it was implemented. It's wildfire, and, in fact, the day that this was heard for the transmittal hearing, there were three wildfires in the vicinity of this project. Two of them were on Sabal Palm Road, and one was a mile north. And the smoke plume was scaring people in the area, and so -- rightfully so. This is a volatile region. Agriculture was required to be protected in the final order along with listed species habitats and wetlands. So it is not inappropriate to be protecting a citrus grove. Part of the Belle Meade flowway restoration and enhancement watershed in which this development would be sitting, the development would lessen the capacity to restore those flowways. You're going to get one flowway on the western side of this project as its proposed, but the whole project could actually play a role in water management and stormwater and water-quality fixes. The flowway restoration would be hindered by those 423 houses. And there's also a significant wildlife habitat in this region, including on the site. Citrus groves are not antithetical to Florida panther use, for instance, because deer and hogs go into citrus groves. And deer and hog are the primary prey for Florida panthers. And Page 189 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 183 people who live in this area, I have heard personally, have wildlife cameras -- everybody's got a remote camera now. Yeah, I'm seeing Commissioner McDaniel -- yeah, everybody. So people have recorded panthers and their kittens in this vicinity very close by to this project. I want to point out another issue about the nature of the Sending Land and the appropriateness of it being in Sending, and that is that Sending Land and environmental sensitive land everywhere in the United States, really, but including in the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District, is always a mosaic. It's a mix of farms, ranches, pastures, wetlands, pine uplands. You know, it's going to be a mix. And I want to point to the eastern side of Collier County. This is east of Immokalee on 846. This is Immokalee Road, but it's not Immokalee Road anymore. It's the road heading out on Hendry County. You can see on the right there the county-line road. And on both sides of this road are three Stewardship Sending Areas. That's the equivalent in the Rural Lands Stewardship Area of Sending. And it's Sending, and they were designated Sending, and credits have been stripped off for Ave Maria and other uses on both sides of this road. And if you look at that, you see farm fields all over the place. You also see cypress sloughs. This is part of the Okaloacoochee Slough, which is a major north/south wetland flowway, and it's also a major north/south panther corridor, and it's how panthers actually move through Hendry County all the way up to the Caloosahatchee River and beyond and onto the Lykes Ranch and beyond that. And so this mix is typical of environmentally sensitive land throughout Florida, especially in Southwest Florida, and you-all have designated through the actions of the private landowners -- in this case it was Barron Collier -- who designated these three Sending areas, SSAs 3, 4, and 5. And I will note, too, that that designation Page 190 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 184 resulted in an underpass under 846, which is in place today for panthers moving through the Okaloacoochee Slough. And just for comparison, here's the site. This is the South Naples citrus grove in its conservation or environmentally sensitive Sending area, Natural Resource Protection Area context. To the right, to the east is Picayune Strand State Forest, and you can see it's a vast environmentally sensitive land that burns regularly. And on to the east of that is this Everglades restoration project, the Picayune Strand restoration project immediately adjacent to that. And all around this project are Hacienda Lakes mitigation lands. I want to point out -- here's a fire risk map for this area. You can see on the left is Verona Walk, and it's sticking over into the orange areas. And you can -- the blue line that's marked on there is pointing to the subject site, and that subject site is on the -- on the edge of the high risk. It's in moderate risk of wildfire. And this is a USDA/US Forest Service wildfire risk map. It's the most recent that I just pulled off of their website. And it's a problem because if you look at the -- the west side of the proposed site, their -- Hacienda Lakes has to burn their preserves. They're not going to be able to burn them because you're trapping them if you put 423 houses in there between Verona Walk and these 423 houses. Those -- those preserves will never burn again. And, frankly, I think the federal permitting process and even the state process, if this moves forward, is going to say you owe mitigation for destroying the habitat value and ruining some of the values of the -- that -- those Hacienda Lakes preserves. It's going to shrubbify, and shrubification is, you know, if you don't burn it often enough, all this ground shrubbery and grasses and other things start growing up, and that's the volatile stuff that creates bad wildfires. So that's my point that shrubification and 422 [sic] houses are Page 191 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 185 going to conflict with the prescribed burning that's going to have to happen there despite the wildfire plan that you heard mentioned. It's not going to be enough. And it's going to constrain the Florida Forest Service, which actually ultimately has to issue the permits. So you're going to have the inability to burn in those trapped areas, and it's going to be a constraint within a mile all around this project. It's also, by the way, a very unwise and unsafe place to put 423 units, including the affordable housing units. That conflicts with the goals of the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District. MS. WASHBURN: Good afternoon, Commissioners, and thanks for your time today. Now we'd like to ask you to look at our Issue 2, Florida Statute 163.3177, Section (6)(A)(2), and this statute asks us to avoid urban sprawl. The Sabal Palm property, like Brad just pointed out, and like the aerials show, is surrounded by permanent conservation lands, including Picayune Strand State Forest. In fact, the Picayune Strand ribbon-cutting is coming up later this month, and we have pumped lots of time, effort, and money into restoring the hydrology of this 55,000-acre area, and, you know, allowing development so close to it seems to be such a conflict. Placing over 400 homes in the midst of protected areas is referred to as leapfrogging in planning circles, and it's the very definition, actually, of urban sprawl. Kind of how Commissioner McDaniel very aptly pointed out that it's a slippery slope. You start edging your way towards conservation lands, and it's hard to stop that after it starts. So today's decision will set an important precedent. So we're urging you to carefully consider the long-term ecological health and sustainability of Collier County's land and water resources. MR. CORNELL: Issue No. 3 is the fairness issue. I think I Page 192 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 186 summarized that pretty clearly. If you're going to grant 423 units to this Sending Land owner, why don't the other Sending Land owners get similar treatment for -- or development potential. Because it's easier to go through the usual process than to negotiate the -- what is to many people a complicated and unusual process of TDR sales -- generation and sales. And it's also a bad precedent. So we don't want to -- we don't want to say to all the Sending Land owners that this is possible, because it shouldn't be, and it's a bad precedent, frankly, statewide for a local government to abandon its conservation land-use policies to get a relatively small amount, 85 units, of affordable housing. I'm not saying that those are valueless. We clearly need much more affordable housing here and in many places in Florida and around the nation. And I'm here to say that we, at least for our part, are very for affordable housing, but it should never come at the expense of our conservation land-use policies. MS. WASHBURN: So the applicant is asking for a reduction in the required minimum 30 percent of stormwater lakes or littoral plantings, reducing that to seven. We did hear the proposal to cluster this percentage, it sounded like, so it's more dense in one area, but then to bring, if I understood correctly, the rest of the property down to the 7 percent minimum required. You know, we think it's great to add more plants, but we still stand with the fact that the 30 percent requirement should pertain to all stormwater lakes because it protects water quality, water resources, both on site and downstream. If we go down to seven percent, it will not adequately remove pollutants, nitrogen and phosphorus, from the stormwater flowing through the area. Littoral plants are really important because they act as cost-effective and low-maintenance water purification systems, and they really help us avoid those harmful algal blooms that all of us sort of dread these days. And, you know, it saves the use of the Page 193 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 187 chemicals and pesticides folks use to then kill the harmful algal blooms in the future. So it could cost a little bit more to put the littorals in at the beginning, but in the long term I think there will be cost savings, and it's a more sustainable way to move forward. It keeps our waters cleaner in the long run. MR. CORNELL: And by the way, this picture I took, it's right near Trader Joe's where there's a stormwater system around that commercial area. And I was just shocked at how natural this stormwater lake turned out. MS. WASHBURN: Back to the affordable housing issue. We, as Brad said, are certainly supportive of affordable. And we would, however, support the use of the 80 percent area median income to define what is affordable. In the future we would urge the Commission to do so. This is the number used by the federal Department of Housing and Community Development and some of the affordable housing organizations in Collier County as well. I had to look the other day, and I was looking up average incomes in Collier, and I looked up the average Home Depot or McDonald's worker income over a year whose working full-time, and it said around $40,000. So when you're thinking about affordable income numbers, some of these look a little bit high to me. So we do stand with the 80 percent AMI. We're also concerned that affordable housing is a public benefit that's justifying some of these changes and land-use policies, and when you're putting people in how Brad showed this area is a high risk for fires, public housing should not be placed in -- anywhere that jeopardizes public safety. You know, we've seen some proposals for Coastal High Hazard Areas, these very fire-prone areas, and the last thing we want to do is to place people in a risky area for their safety. We really strongly support affordable housing, but we need both conservation and affordable housing to go hand in hand. And so Page 194 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 188 we're asking the Commission to take a holistic look at this development and make a decision that supports public health and safety and sustainability in the long term. MR. CORNELL: To that end, it's clear to us -- let me first say that we're glad to see the proposal to buy 135 TDR credits. We just learned about this yesterday. It's a belated acknowledgment on the part of the applicant that that was the right thing to do, and we're glad to see that; however, it also remains that your 2023 affordable housing incentives policies that were adopted into the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District are ambiguous. You have some lack of clarity in those policies. And these are the two policy's excerpts that I've highlighted here that need to be cleaned up, that need to be -- for instance, need to clarify that market-rate housing does not need incentivization, but what needs incentivization is the affordable housing. And so that -- to us the first phrase in that Policy 2 there, maximum density for housing that is affordable, that implies that that's all it's addressing, not market-rate housing; however, it's being interpreted by development applicants and even staff to mean the entire project, including the market-rate housing, which is the majority of the housing. So we would ask you to give direction to your staff to work with stakeholders and the Planning Commission to clarify this. You need a glitch amendment to fix this. And one of the last things I wanted to point out here is that there are other options besides building 423 homes that actually are compatible with the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District land-use plan, even as Sending Lands. First, you could sell up to six TDR credits per each five acres, including the restoration and conveyance credits. You could sell the property fee simple or less-than-fee interest in the land to conservation or agricultural preservation entities such as Page 195 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 189 the Rural and Family Lands Protection program through FDACS or Florida Forever, Conservation Collier, Florida Wildlife Corridor interests that have generated huge amounts of money. The legislature appropriated $850 million just three years ago and have bought over 30,000 acres just here in Collier County with that money. So that's not a small pot of money, and that could be -- and this is part of the Florida Wildlife Corridor or other DEP and legislative programs. You could grant a flowway easement to the County for two TDR credits per five acres as part of the Belle Meade flowway. That's a policy that you've got right now. You could turn this into a mitigation bank. So we don't need to build 423 units to get the marginal flowway and Sabal Palm Road improvements. We could do this through a mitigation banking. The landowner now could make a lot of money turning this into a mitigation bank. And I will tell you from my experience, there is a lack of credits in several Collier watersheds. So -- and that's not just true here in Collier County. This is true statewide, as you probably know from some of the legislation that's been passed recently, or considered. So a mitigation bank is a very viable option. There could be an internal county mitigation bank through Transportation and Utility or Stormwater to offset your own internal projects, which you have a lot of, including things like Vanderbilt Beach Road extension. You could do a payment for ecological services or PES contract with an agency like the South Florida Water Management District or another agency. Those are typically for something called disbursed water management where you pay somebody to hold water as part of a regional or watershed water resource program or water-quality program. Page 196 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 190 And, finally, you could sell TDRs to a TDR bank if one is established by the County or some other entity. Currently there isn't one. But this is something that we have talked about for years, and it has never come to pass. It's in your Comp Plan, but there is no current entity, but that is something that we could discuss. So to conclude, our recommendations are to deny this Growth Management Plan Amendment application based on it conflicting with the goals and objectives of Collier County's land planning in the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District. It's also inconsistent with state statutes, especially the discouragement of urban sprawl, and it's an unsafe site prone to high-risk wildfires. And there are better alternatives, as we just discussed. You need to -- we ask you to direct staff to work with stakeholders to clarify and fix ambiguous affordable housing policies in the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District section of the FLUE, the Future Land Use Element. And, finally, we think that you should consider, and the landowner should consider, mutually, alternative land-use measures that are consistent with the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District and Collier County's goals in keeping with the original final order from 1999. It is very possible to uphold the land plan that you won awards for, and you should invest in keeping that and improving it wherever possible. Here's an opportunity. So thank you for this discussion to uphold these goals, objectives, and the interests of the citizens of Collier County, and we're happy to take any questions, but hopefully we were clear. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Any questions from the dais? Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Chairman. Mr. Cornell, thanks for your expertise and your testimony. Just Page 197 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 191 a couple quick ones, and I might call you back, but I just made some notes off of your slides. That wildfire risk map, that's as things stand now. How do you think that -- and as you said, that's the latest map. One of the things I got educated on even more than in my office from the staff and even from the applicant was how much additional water and fire suppression comes with this development if it were passed. So having said that, if that was improved exponentially the ability to fight wildfires and things like that, do you think that the new map that would come out would be a lot less red, that one of the reasons why it's as red as it is is because that area has a -- is a wildfire risk and also has an inability or a difficult ability to attack wildfires in that area because we don't have the proper water flow, the right kind of water distribution? You know, I ask your opinion on that one. MR. CORNELL: Sure. I think that it's pretty well understood by land managers, including Audubon land managers out at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, that in order to reduce wildfire risk, you've got to do two things. You've got to -- you've got to manage your hydrology; in other words, restore the groundwater levels and the wetlands to make sure that you've got enough water in the landscape. This is one of the big hazards of Golden Gate Estates is that we have been depressing the water levels out there, and that creates a very risky wildfire scenario. And the other one is, of course, prescribed burning. You've got to do both of those things in order to reduce the wildfire risk. Now, I think it's clear that if you look out at other places in the country that have had some catastrophic wildfires, California or New Mexico or Hawaii, Lahaina, that having fire suppression is helpful, but the best help is going to be the ecological health of your watershed and regular prescribed burning. I mean, Mother Nature used to do it with lightning. We can't let her do that anymore where Page 198 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 192 there's too many of us in the landscape. So we've got to do prescribed burning, and we've got to have lots of water on that landscape in order to make it work. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. A topic that was talked about here and then also when we've talked about golf courses is how chemically saturated something like an orange grove, a golf course is. And the term I wrote down here, somebody mentioned it, said that -- obviously you talk about anything that has greenery, has any kind of vegetation is going to have wildlife. I mean, everything we build on has some sort of wildlife on it that we either move, or it moves itself or what have you. But I wrote down the word -- currently, and somebody said it, there's chemically contaminated ditches on the -- on the orange grove, and then when I saw the pictures of the new littoral areas, even the picture that you showed of Trader Joe's, maybe there's something in the middle that would be the approved solution. But just as I hear it, if there are that many panthers out there and tons of bears and whatnot, do we want them drinking out of chemically contaminated ditches rather than -- and it's sort of a loaded question, because I don't know the answer to this. I want to hear the answer. But as I sit here and weigh it, I know contaminated, especially the golf course that we are -- we are flipping into a veterans' nursing home, we had a lot of mitigation that has to be done there, and I've had -- in some previous lives I've had where we flipped golf courses into something usable. So it's similar to the citrus grove. And then when I see the investment that they're going to make into the more natural areas and how the water is going to be -- flow in a certain way that makes it more clean, more pure -- or you might rebut that -- how the culverts are going to flow the water back and forth -- I'm just trying to weigh, wow, you know, would I want to just Page 199 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 193 keep the land as it is and have -- if there's that many panthers wandering around, they're drinking polluted water, or can we do something better that we can provide housing but then mandate that they have the areas of wildlife preservation, littoral areas and all that, which to me would seem better than this overly saturated fertilizer, you know, soaked ground that we have out there now to include what they -- somebody called chemically contaminated ditches. What's your comment on that to help educate us? MR. CORNELL: So I asked Peter Frederick, who is -- a couple of years ago I was having a conversation with him about wading birds in ditches, this exact question that you're asking me. You know, I'm not a scientist, but he is. He's a world expert in wading birds. And I wanted to know had there been any studies -- do we know anything about the hazards of wading birds forging in ditches. Because as we've all seen, they do it a lot. And the reason they do it is the shallow seasonal wetlands that they used to rely on in the November/December time frame have mostly been destroyed. Over 80 percent of them in Southwest Florida have been destroyed, and so they're forced to use the ditches at that time of year, and that's when we see them there. And he said, you know, we would love to know the answer to that question, but nobody has really done in-depth studies about the impacts of what's in canal water that these -- you know, and it's not so much that they're drinking it, but they're eating the fish in there. That's what they're doing in there. They're eating fish. They're not drinking. They're feeding themselves. And what about those fish, you know? We don't know. But they're desperate, and it's the only option that they've got. And as far as whether it would be better if we got the restoration with this project, of course restoration would be much better. What I'm suggesting to you-all, though, is do we have to have 423 houses Page 200 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 194 built in order to get that increment of restoration, or could we have the whole site restored and get a bigger bang for our buck? Maybe the landowner themselves could do it as a mitigation bank, for instance. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Just to go back, though, to the ditches, there's a difference between the swale on the side of the road that's filled with rainwater and a ditch in an orange grove that's been there for a thousand years and has been overfertilized and pesticides and all of that, and then water is collecting, and it -- it has that type of chemical base. I agree with what you're saying, there's, quote-unquote, ditches, swales all over Collier County, and birds feed and drink in them, you know, just fine. But, you know, my real concern is you've got this dead orange grove that is not -- you know, I actually talked to the owner, and I said -- and I don't mean to embarrass you or put you on the spot, but a lot of citizens sent us emails saying, "Oh, it's so nice to go there and buy all the fresh this, that, and the other," you know. And then I asked him, "How much of that are you actually growing on property?" You know, the dead orange trees are for -- you know, for a look. And so I just -- I sit here and say this orange grove is so old that any water that's collected there, it wouldn't be something that I think would be, you know, a benefit -- as beneficial as to some of the things -- I agree with you, the more restoration we could have, if it could be three times the size -- you're also trying to figure out the algorithm. I mean, I'll take a little bit of exception to what Commissioner Saunders said when he said if there wasn't affordable housing here, this project would fail. Well, it wouldn't fail. It just probably wouldn't come to us because the numbers wouldn't work out. And so -- but the sheer fact that there's affordable housing in it makes us Page 201 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 195 at least want to listen to it, especially when we hear from Cormac. But, you know, getting back to -- I don't know if you want to follow up on your answer. To me, swales containing rainwater and ditches in an orange grove that's been probably oversaturated for years with fertilizer and pesticides I don't think's apples to apples. MS. WASHBURN: Sorry to jump in just for a second. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. MS. WASHBURN: But I just wanted to say when left to itself, nature tends to sort of repair itself, and this is still a natural area. So the fact that the oranges are dying and dead, I don't even know when -- the last time the fields were sprayed -- I don't know if the landowner could answer to that -- or pesticides applied, but those tend to break down. So even if they're in ditches, there are bacteria and other items that are breaking down those chemicals as we speak. And if we did take some steps to restore the area, like Brad was saying, you know, natural areas are definitely better than rooftops for water resources and for the water life there. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. I'm sure there will be a rebuttal from the applicant, but thank you. (Applause.) CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I'm going to let you guys clap that one time. But once again, we don't -- we don't encourage people applauding and wooing and hooing and doing those type of things when our speakers are up here, okay? Because if you're up here speaking, I would want the rest of the people to respect you, too, up there. So let's just -- let just -- let's keep it professional, please. Any other questions from the Board from Mr. Cornell? COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Not yet. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I do have one question for you, sir. MR. CORNELL: Yes, sir. Page 202 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 196 CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I really respect your knowledge and all the things you know in life, and you've really -- I've learned a lot from you over the years, you know, you coming here and being a person that speaks before us, but you lost me today, because the minute you said panthers had kittens -- they are cubs, sir. Not kittens. We might have some more questions for you later. MR. CORNELL: It's a cat, isn't it? It's a cat. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: No, it is a cub, sir. A kitten is a house cat's baby. MR. CORNELL: All right. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: That's why he's our chairman. I'm telling you. He's loaded with information. MR. MILLER: I'm going to remind our speakers of a couple things. One, I'm going to read multiple names. I'd like you to queue up at both podiums for the sake of time, and also, you will hear a single beep when you have 30 seconds to go. Our next speaker is Jay Kohlhagen, and he'll be followed by Jen Southall. MR. YOVANOVICH: Can I ask one question, please, Mr. Chairman, about the format? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Go ahead. MR. YOVANOVICH: How do we know which of the 25 people that raised their hands gave up their speaking? We're not going to let people double-dip? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Jay [sic] has them all paper clipped together, the 25. MR. MILLER: That's not going to happen, Rich. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah. He's not going to call -- MR. YOVANOVICH: Thank you. I know we didn't call their name. I just don't -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah, yeah. I saw he paper clipped Page 203 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 197 them all together. MR. MILLER: Mr. Kohlhagen. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Hey, Jay. MR. KOHLHAGEN: Jay Kohlhagen, for the record. Oh, great, another stoplight on Collier Boulevard and another development that will use Mosquito Control for damage control. You know, I go on a shooting range out there off Sabal Palm there, and I've been going out there since the '80s. I mean, you carry a gun out there, you've got to carry two guns because the hogs out there are really thick. I mean, one gun isn't enough out there. But that said, everyone understands the financial incentives, but zoning decisions are not meant to be profit driven. The future growth plan exists to prevent exactly this kind of decision-making happening here today. Economic benefit to a landowner alone is not a valid basis for overriding the County's Future Land Use Map. Social media comments are saying that this Board is just the rubber-stampers for the floor shine developers. I'm here to prove them wrong. So today vote with the people and stop this -- well, I said, 200-unit development because we know the game. You ask for 423, but you reduce it to 200 or something to make us feel better on the impact or maybe put a school there or something. So I urge this board to stick with the County's future growth plan and vote against this rezoning. Amen. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Jen Southall. I do not see Jen. We're going to move on to Kaylun Glenn. Are you Kaylun? She will be followed by Michaela Kendall. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: She gets six minutes because of the baby. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. She's got two speakers. Page 204 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 198 MS. GLENN: Good afternoon, Commissioners. I just wanted to say thank you for all that you do and appreciate all the really great dialogue leading up until now. My name is Kaylun Glenn. I am a lifelong resident to Collier County. I'm a fifth generation Collier County resident, and this is sixth generation. So I'm here speaking on behalf my experience growing up here as well as my daughter and my son who are -- MR. MILLER: We really kind of need the mic pointed at you. I'm sorry. I'll pause for a second. Okay. Go ahead. MS. GLENN: Oh, I'm sorry. That's okay. No, no, no. I can swap sides, too. Sorry. My screen shifted a little bit. MR. MILLER: You're paused, you're paused. You've got time. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: And we're also recording and trying to keep track of everything people are saying, so just kind of slow your cadence and calm down, take a deep breath. MS. GLENN: Okay. Thank you. I'm used to the FWC meetings where a lot of times we're limited on timing. So I'm here to ask you today to deny the Sabal Palm project on behalf of the fact that -- from the start, I just want to note that I'm not antigrowth at all. You know, Collier County has seen a ton of growth over the years, and as someone who keeps choosing to live here, I understand that it is something that is part of just city management, city growth, though my family has lived through all this development. And I want to acknowledge that the citrus grove isn't profitable any longer. Being in forestry professionally and in conservation, we are seeing a massive amount of land conversion from typical ag use, whether it be forest or citrus, to other uses. Solar is the largest, as well as development in the south, and I cover the whole southeast for the forestry work that I do, and we're just seeing massive levels of conversion because industries are changing. Profitability is also Page 205 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 199 shifting. So I understand from a landowner perspective where they're at at this point and why they're considering this. But that being said, it's not the best use based on where it's at. Let's see. So as we know, this proposal would add about 423 homes on an adjacent-to-conservation and protected agricultural land, mostly being near Picayune Strand State Forest. From a scientific standpoint, it's right within the Florida Wildlife Corridor, which we've heard lots of, you know, comments on today. There's a lot of critical species that are worth protecting and not interrupting their flow of life. Sorry, I'm going fast, but -- Yeah, so -- and then from a public safety standpoint, you know, the fire. It's a fire-adapted system that needs to be able to burn and burn regularly, and adding these homes in this development right smack dab in the middle will completely disrupt that. Sorry. A lot of these points we've said, and then, of course, the water perspective. But really, I'm just speaking -- there's a lot of points I want to address, and I don't want to shorten any of it. But this rezoning I feel like can set truly an unfortunate precedent. And I -- and again, I'm not antigrowth, but each time that you as a commissioner or any kind of County entity keeps allowing projects like these in these areas surrounded by other protected conservation land -- I've seen it happen. It starts with the one, and then it comes -- you know, then the Publix and then a school, and it never really stops. And at some point we all have to take ownership of what we want this county and city to look like for generations to come, and truly, from an ecological standpoint as well as a cultural standpoint, this project is not a great idea for us now or in the future. So I ask you please consider denying it, and I’ll allot my time to her. Sorry. I'm sorry about that. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: That's all right. Page 206 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 200 MS. GLENN: So thank you for your time, and I appreciate, again, all that you do. Please consider saying no. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. You guys can applaud the baby, though. MS. GLENN: Thank you. (Applause.) MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Michaela Kendall, and she'll be followed by Stephanie Dixon. MS. KENDALL: All right. Hello. My name is Michaela Kendall, and I'll do my best to be brief because I know I'm just going to be reiterating what a lot of other people will be saying today. Basically, I see this project as incompatible with the surrounding conservation land. I don't think it's been mentioned yet, but the entrance to the orange grove is just a mile away from the Picayune Strand check-in; same distance it is from Collier County Boulevard, so I think that that is important to consider. I also want to note that the Picayune Strand forest provides habitat to the only stable population of Florida panthers east of the Mississippi River, and one of the leading causes of death to the Florida panther is car collision. So putting more cars on the road is going to lead to more death to the panthers. We just had the first reported death, according to the FWC website 10 days ago, and it was, I believe, .9 miles north of Collier Boulevard on I-75. I think that's important to consider. I also want to note I am also very concerned about the lack of littorals and the other ponds. I think that that could contribute to algae growth that would just be harmful. And I think this proposition undermines the protected Sending Lands for rural urban multifamily density, destroying the rural character, and normalizes urban sprawl in Collier County. I urge you to vote against this, and I will leave it there. Page 207 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 201 CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Stephanie Dixon. She'll be followed by Michael Puchalla. MS. DIXON: Good afternoon, Commissioners. For the record, my name is Stephanie Dixon, and I'm here today on behalf of the Greater Naples Chamber. For more than a decade, access to attainable housing has been a top public policy priority for the Chamber. The Chamber has consistently advocated for expanding housing opportunities because our members know a strong local economy depends on employees being able to live in the communities they serve. By including homes for sale price below market rate, SWJR Naples 1 and PulteGroup, the contract developer, demonstrates a clear understanding of the ongoing need for attainable housing for middle-income families. This need is well documented. A recent report found the Naples area is among just 18 metro areas nationwide where families must earn at least $200,000 to earn -- to afford a home. Furthermore, the Collier Community Foundation's most recent community needs assessment found 65 percent of respondents believed housing costs should be a priority moving forward. The Chamber saw similar results in a recent survey of our membership which nearly -- showed nearly 70 percent indicating workforce housing was among the top concerns facing businesses. This project sets aside 85 townhomes for families earning up to 100 to -- 100 and 120 percent of AMI. This project will serve educators, healthcare workers, first responders, and other professionals who are essential to Collier County quality of life. The Chamber is encouraged by the commitment to integrate workforce housing and believes it reflects a realistic understanding of the challenges our communities continue to face. Including for-sale Page 208 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 202 workforce housing also expands access to homeownership, allowing more residents to build roots and long-term investment in Collier County. We respectfully encourage your approval of this project and are confident it will make a meaningful contribution to expanding for-sale workforce housing in our community. Thank you for your continued service and commitment to Collier County. We appreciate it. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Michael Puchalla. He'll be followed by Susan Scalf. MR. PUCHALLA: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Thank you for allowing me some time to speak today. For the record, my name is Michael Puchalla. I serve as the CEO of the Housing Alliance, and we have a mission to unite residents, developers, funders, and policymakers, which is the role you're obviously serving today, in trying to create more attainable housing solutions for our community. So I'm going to be speaking a little bit on that. Mr. Giblin was up here. He spoke a little about what I was going to speak. So I'm here kind of to support some of the points that he had made. You as a board, you've done incredible work in terms of improving the inventory of rental units available to our workforce that are income restricted, and I think we've seen an impact what that's done for our community. But where this proposal is unique is that now we're talking about access to homeownership for our workforce. These are income-restricted units, and it's going to carry that 30-year commitment. So our organization, through our affiliate help, we see individuals in households who are coming in and would love to get into homeownership, and a lot of times they maybe make just a little bit too much to qualify for some of the resources that are available, Page 209 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 203 some of the subsidies, possibly a Habitat for Humanity opportunity, but they don't make enough to qualify for open-market housing. And we've heard the statistic. We made the Wall Street Journal, unfortunately, as one of 18 cities in the entire country that it requires about $200,000 or more to qualify for a median-priced house. So I can tell you that with the cost of insurance, with the cost of -- whether there's going to be homeowner association, we know, and taxes, it's -- these individuals that are earning up to the 100 percent AMI and up to the 120, these 85 units would create an opportunity for them. We also have external down payment assistance opportunity in addition to what Pulte is committing to. Our local SHIP program, federal home loan bank. We have at the state level Hometown Heroes and the Florida Assist Program. Having new construction creates that opportunity for individuals to apply for to have that runway that is often needed in order to qualify for those resources. So I think we can even enhance the buying power to even -- to get to some of these households that maybe earn a little bit less than that 100, 120 percent. And this gives them a unique opportunity with these units being added to the -- to our community. So I would say we're very encouraged by a -- a national developer wanting to come in and enhance our for-sale product. We hope this becomes something we see more of as future development comes into the community. So thank you for your time. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Susan Scalf, and she'll be followed by Amy Clay. MS. OSCEOLA: Oh, she's not here. MS. SCALF: Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners. My name is Susan Scalf, and I respectfully urge you Page 210 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 204 to deny these petitions, both petitions. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida, representing 4,500 members, opposes this rezoning. Although this builder, we've just found out, will now add minimal TDRs to get commissioner buy-in approval, it would undermine the very foundation of the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District program. Once exceptions like this are granted, more developers will demand the same, jeopardizing protections for Sending Lands across Collier County and weakening the smart growth system the County has relied on for years. This parcel was designated Sending Lands for its high environmental values: sensitive habitat, listed species areas, wetlands, and critical flowways. It borders Picayune Strand State Forest and lies fully inside the wildlife -- Florida Wildlife Corridor. With only an estimated 120 to 230 adult Florida panthers left statewide, this site lies within the species' primary zone. Vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death. In 2025, Collier County reported eight panther -- seven panther fatalities -- we had one this year -- contributing to 18 statewide deaths, 17 from vehicle strikes. The year before, 2024, saw 36 deaths statewide. From the proposed 423 homes, adding about 4,000 daily vehicle trips would worsen roadkills and fragment this vital corridor for panthers, black bears, gopher tortoises, and other species. This development would require road widening, traffic lights, stormwater fixes, or buffers. These measures merely attempt to fix problems the project itself creates. Nearby Tamarindo proves these concerns aren't theoretical with homes sitting vacant due to unresolved flooding from drainage failures. Two major wildfires in 2025 burned very close to this grove. The development would heighten flood, fire, and evacuation risks. Page 211 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 205 We have over 4,000 petition signatures opposing it, and we ask you to uphold the Comprehensive Plan and deny these petitions. Keep this grove agricultural. Please review in your packets the panther telemetry map and Joey Waves wildlife and wildfire photos in your packets. Last time we had the meeting, no one could find the telemetry map. It will show you all the sightings of panthers in the area. And thank you for your time. MR. MILLER: Okay. Your next speaker is Kimberly -- is it Heise? MS. HEISE: Yeah. MR. MILLER: She'll be followed by Mia -- ooh, is it Elrich? MS. HEISE: Hi. Thanks for having me. My name is Kimberly Heise, and I'm a wildlife artist in Broward County. I came all at the way over here today to urge to you deny the rezoning of this land. You've heard from the experts about it. It's not an appropriate place for housing, and it is within this -- this zone that is supposed to be for conservation. And one of the biggest concerns that I've seen and other conservationists have seen throughout the state is what happens when you start making exceptions to that? That is one of the biggest concerns, at least for me. It would destroy panther habitat. Here's the telemetry map they're talking about. It would destroy panther habitat, lead to increased car strikes. You see there's the road here. These panthers here are crossing this road. They're utilizing this land. You don't see them over here; that's housing. Panthers and roads do not mix together. It also would degrade the surrounding land. Not only does the land have to burn to reduce wildfire risk to humans, land needs to burn because they have -- it has evolved over millions of years to Page 212 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 206 burn. It's fire dependent. Some plants don't even bloom without a wildfire. So this land here needs wildfires not just to make it the wildfire risk to humans less, but also for the health of that area. That's why it would degrade that land around it. And, you know, increased flooding. They've said a lot of wonderful things. I hope you will listen to the experts that have spoken. People throughout the state of Florida are tired of constant development in every last bit of green space, people throughout the state of Florida looking towards you and your county to protect our state animal and the symbol of our state. All of Florida panther primary and secondary habitat is in your county and surrounding counties south of Lake Okeechobee. Florida panthers do not live and breed in significant numbers anywhere else in the state. We hope that they will continue to move north and populate the rest of the Florida Wildlife Corridor, but they can't do that if their breeding population is not supported here. The amount of land they have to roam is directly correlated with the amount -- is directly correlated with the amount of panthers that can survive there. Every last bit of panther habitat counts. About -- there's about 200 panthers that can survive with the amount of land that we have currently, plus or minus. Every last bit of land that is reduced and taken away from that habitat means less panthers. Because they're territorial, they need a lot of land. You are Florida panther conservation. That's why you've been getting letters from around the state. And I just want to point out that this year is a particularly important time for conservation. There's a lot of attacks with the bills in the legislature. My friends up in Orange County are trying to fight toll roads going through the wildlife corridor. We really need our Page 213 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 207 representatives to stand up for these lands. Thank you so much for having me. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: I'd like to remind our speakers, due to my pronunciation issues, please start your comments by stating your name. Mia, is it Erlich? MS. EHRICH: My name's Mia Ehrich. MR. MILLER: Ehrich, okay. And she'll be followed by Abigale -- ooh -- Augugliaro. I hope that's close. Please begin, Mia. MS. EHRICH: Thank you. So my name is Mia Ehrich. With the exception of my four years away at the University of South Florida, I'm lucky to have lived here in Naples my entire life. I imagine that if the wood storks, the panthers, the boar, the bears, the alligators, snakes, the waterways, all of the plants and other animals supported by these waterways could speak, they would ask you to please vote no to amend this development initiative. Collier County's own executive summary states clearly that this amendment has no fiscal benefit to Collier County. There is no net revenue gain to the public, and what is certain is the permanent loss of environmentally sensitive land located within an area specifically intended to restore natural flowway into Naples Bay and Rookery Bay. I don't think it's appropriate to nit-pick over the language used to describe the land. Sending area, protective lands wetlands, Everglades, whatever you'd like to call it, our actions do affect the environment regardless. Keeping six acres of littoral plantings is not better than leaving the 169 acres of land alone in the first place. Just because the land isn't successful as some orange grove does Page 214 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 208 not mean that it needs to become homes instead. If orange groves are not a fit home for the wildlife, certainly neither are 423 cookie-cutter Pulte homes. The Florida panther does not care whether 15 percent or 20 percent or 100 percent of this housing project is deemed as affordable. It is not the birds' fault that two teachers or a nurse or other essential workers can't afford to buy a home. We do not have a need for 423 new homes that despite having a Walmart and a Home Depot nearby, feel like they're in the middle of nowhere. Eighty-four affordable homes is a drop in the bucket to the housing problem in questions. Banking on the fact that doctors may want to live here once they're done with medical school is very creative, but I urge the people in the room to channel that creativity to come up with a better solution to the housing issue at hand. As a volunteer at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, I regularly meet people who have lived in Naples their entire lives as well as visitors from across the country who come here specifically to experience the natural beauty of our mangroves and estuaries. The development of land in Sabal Palm subdistrict would directly undermine the environment that defines this community and supports its economy. I believe affordable housing is important, but housing is not truly affordable if it comes at the expense of the environment. With that in mind, I ask you not to support this project. I'd also like to thank the Audubon Society for providing tangible alternatives to this development plan, and I hope that the current landowners will consult with them. Thank you. I yield my time. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: I'd like to remind our speakers at this juncture, Page 215 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 209 every word you say is being typed down, so please try to keep it a little bit moderate. Our next speaker is Abigale Augugliaro. She'll be followed by Gwen Ransone. MS. AUGULIARO: Hi. My name is Abigale Aguguliaro. I'm here to deny this Sabal Palm development. I wanted to bring up the topic of reliability. So the Pulte Homes, the developer, has recently pleaded guilty to destroying 22 Florida homes -- or Florida tortoise burrows and had to pay a fine of about $13,000. So I feel like this raises a bunch of concerns about reliability and advocacy. I agree with that. So how do we trust these developers to do the things that they're saying, to do the things that are -- that are right, essentially? So, again, I just urge them to deny the Sabal Palms development and protect Florida land. That's all. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Gwen Ransone, and she'll be followed by Jen Hammer Cardinas. I hope that's close. Commissioners, before you begin real quick, I also wanted to let you know Attorney Klatzkow is under the weather today. He's going to tap out, and Scott's going to take his place. (Mr. Klatzkow left the boardroom for the remainder of the meeting day, and Scott Teach is now present.) CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. MR. MILLER: Okay? Ma'am, please begin. MS. RANSONE: Good afternoon. My name is Gwen. I live on the opposite side of the wall from Sabal Palm in Verona Walk. They want to build 423 houses all the way down a two-lane side street. The road is not conducive to handle this amount of traffic, let alone the noise that will disrupt our quiet neighborhoods. Page 216 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 210 Verona Walk is on the south side of Sabal Palm. Traffic can be heard. This project will increase pollution and noise levels with cars, commercial trucks, and around 850 people. These are all negative effects. Our area already has issues with power outages and low water pressure without hurricane interruptions. We have seen an influx of bears, coyotes, and deer since several communities have been built along Collier Boulevard. Caymas, Seven Shores, Tamarindo, and currently a new 184-unit multifamily community on the corner of Collier and Grand Lely. Affordable housing, Ekos Creekside, Ekos Cadenza, and Greenway, all a few miles away from Sabal Palm. How is there a need for more houses when there has been nonstop housing developments for six years now? Over 6,000 houses/condos are presently for sale in Naples. This project is wrong for the location. If you vote yes, people on Sabal Palm, Brandy, Morgan, Beagle Lake, Rose Apple, and Verona Walk will all have to endure the sounds of constant beeping from construction trucks and loud noises of 423 houses being built for years. When that is complete, what are we left with? More cars and commercial cars traveling up and down the street. I'm asking you to please vote no. I live there. I can tell you how peaceful and safe it is, how clean the air is when enjoying the outdoors. Please do not take our good quality of life away from us. The majority of the residents are veterans or come from a military family, like myself. We deserve a nice neighborhood. Leave it as farmland. Fruit, vegetables, plants, and trees can be grown and are all lucrative businesses. Thank you for your time. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Jen Hammer Cardinas, and Page 217 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 211 she'll be followed by Jean Poll. MS. CARDINAS: All right. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. I'm Jen Hammer Carinas, and I just want to weigh in on this subject of the Sabal Palm property. I am very understanding and empathetic to the need for affordable housing in Collier County. It's a real problem and a real need; however, I am against rezoning this sensitive area for this purpose. It's just not the right place. I grew up in Naples, lived here for 54 years, and I've seen a lot of changes; some for the better, some not so good. But the trend to develop our beautiful and unique natural areas has gotten to a critical level. The very thing that makes Naples a desirable place to live is rapidly disappearing. We need to protect natural areas not just because it's feel good but it also is a safety issue and tourism issue and safety for our wildlife. The area in discussion borders the very unique and sensitive Picayune Preserve. It is a wildlife corridor and a flood zone buffer area that if developed would increase flooding problems. And I learned today -- I mean, I knew it was a wildfire area but didn't realize just what a problem it would be. It would be unfair, I think, for the purchasers of these properties to be put in harm's way not only directly from fire but the respiratory issues in being in a fire zone. That is a real problem. If this area could be possibly allocated as a buffer preserve area, it would be a much wiser use of this land. I do want to say to Mr. Jacobs and to the South Naples Citrus family, you guys have been wonderful and an important part of our community, and I wish you guys nothing but the best, and I hope that we can find some equitable solution. But I really am against this development. Page 218 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 212 Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Jean Poll [sic]. She will be followed by Sophie Amaya. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: To save time, guys, if you would just want to stage at each podium when you hear your name called, so... MS. POLLUM: I won't take long. My name is Jean Pollum, and I've been here since I was nine years old. And Sabal Palm Road is -- you know, Naples has gotten so busy, you can't hardly find an eagle in the palm trees by the beaches anymore. I'm talking for the animals, not for myself, and for my grandkids. I hope they'll be able to catch like I was -- we used to go catch our dinner at the beach, and you can hardly find bait fish anymore. But Sabal Palm, on a cold rainy day, foggy day, you could still go there early in the morning, and you'll see one of the most beautiful sunrises. And there's the owls, the red-shouldered hawks, turkeys. You used to see years ago several -- lots of deer on the side of the road, and now it's just -- in just this past year, if you'll see Joey Waves and also pictures from everyone, the birds are just starting to come back. And we just keep building everywhere. And I'm just -- I'm talking for the animals that have no voice, and it just kills me what we're doing to Florida. I was born and raised here. Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Sophie Amaya. She'll be followed by Damian. And, Damian, you're going to need to give a last name when you get up here, sir. MS. AMAYA: Hello, Commissioners and Chairman. Thank you for attending this meeting to discuss these topics. My name is Sophia Amaya. I am 20 years ago old, and I have been a Florida resident my whole life. I remember my first experience going to the Everglades for a Page 219 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 213 school field trip. It was beautiful to see Florida's natures first hand and seeing the American alligator or the red cardinal. Florida's wildlife is diverse, extraordinary, and resilient. Everyone should have the chance to experience it for themselves. But it is sad to say that Florida's wildlife and habitat has been tested time and time again. It is easy to forget that for the last 70 years development has been the leading cause for Florida's immense habitat loss. I'd say that the development, 341 Sabal Palm Road, can and will be harmful for the longevity of wild spaces in Collier County. This area is a mix of wetlands, flowways, and farms. And while me and my group were driving down here, you can see all the water that resides through and flows through these wetlands. It is a habitat for endangered species such as wood storks, woodpeckers, and the critically endangered Florida panther. There are approximately only 250 or fewer Florida panthers left in the wild today. Their biggest cause of death is vehicle collisions. And the development on this area will increase vehicle movement, resulting in more chances of Florida panthers to be hit and killed. According to the geo data on Florida Wildlife's official website, the map shows that panthers do roam around this area. I know it's pretty small, but I just wanted to kind of show the little graph that there is on the FWC website. And in myfwc.com website, there's a panthers pulse section which highlights panthers on radio collars that have been killed in 2025 alone. The chart shows that almost all panthers in this chart have been killed by a vehicle. Five out of 14 panthers in this graph have been recorded to have died by a vehicle here in Collier County. There's -- I know it's very small, but I just wanted to show some proof. And -- so to hear at today's meeting that Florida panthers aren't seen in this area is extremely confusing, because official FWC Page 220 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 214 websites say otherwise. I also wanted to mention that wetlands are crucial for Florida in general. With ongoing flooding crises, wetlands actually help to mitigate and reduce flooding by absorbing excess rainwater. Developing and adding more concrete will only worsen this issue because rainwater will have nowhere to go, and it will just sit on top of the concrete. This area's also known for wildfires which can threaten residents and -- on the newly developed area. There are many vacant and abandoned areas that can be redeveloped or developed instead of destroying more wild spaces. I would also like to add -- because I know I have very little time left, but I wanted to add that I do support affordable housing, and I think that it can benefit our communities. But I please encourage you guys to vote no and also to please be considerate over the environment and for the residents that will be impacted by this. And I had a couple other things to say, but I just hope that today we are listened to instead of simply ignored. Thank you for your time. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Damian. Your last name? MR. JESUS: Jesus. MR. MILLER: And you'll be followed by Harrison Black. MR. JESUS: Hello, Commissioners. My name is Damian. I'm 20 years old. I've been a Florida resident for more than 12 years. I'm very passionate about animal and nature conservation. I have fallen in love with the beautiful wetlands, animals, and parks in this state. So I urge you to not approve the proposed conversion of the South Naples Citrus Grove of 423 houses. This property lies in the Florida Wildlife Corridor, borders Picayune Strand State Forest. It is home to a lot of wildlife that can be largely negatively affected by this development such as wood Page 221 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 215 storks, Red-cockaded woodpeckers, and Florida panthers who are currently critically endangered and can be at risk of extinction because of this change. According to the National Wildlife Federation, there's an estimate of about 200 left as of 2024 and declining because motor vehicle deaths, which will skyrocket by the incoming traffic that will take place in these roads. Furthermore, wetlands being removed can also cause mass flooding because of the decrease of land to absorb the water. While I see that they are proposing affordable housing, this should not cause the County to abandoned its conservation land-use policies. Instead of building this project, we should direct those funds towards improving already abandoned buildings and vacant homes while also decreasing prices. We need both conservation and affordable housing. Thank you for your time. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Harrison Black, and he'll be followed by Evan Black. MR. HARRISON BLACK: Thank you very much -- thank you very much, Commissioners, for your time and for hearing all of our concerns about this issue. I would like to put forward, for the record, my name is Harrison Black. I am a wildlife filmmaker and science educator. I've been coming to Florida, visiting this state for many years, and I categorically oppose all development of this subdistrict simply because I've heard through the comments that have been presented this afternoon a genuine concern for both following procedure but also preserving the environment and maintaining the ecosystem both health and services that it provides for us. From your comments, it's very evident that you have a care and a desire to protect the ecosystems that we've been so passionately discussing. Page 222 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 216 But what I find confusing is that in looking at a citrus grove whose, as you pointed out, Commissioner, the impact of the pollution, the impact of herbicide and pesticide use on this land, it does impact our wildlife, but then to have the solution to these proposed and stated issues be to develop this land for a significantly more intense use of that land and presenting more infrastructure, that's inconsistent with the stated concern for the environment that we're proposing to protect. The thing that really benefits ecosystem services and their ability to help us and maintain the quality of life and the comfort that we have come to appreciate about living in a place like Florida with the abundance of wildlife and coexistence with natural systems as we've developed -- the thing that perpetuates those ecosystem services is connectivity and healthy function of the ecosystems that already exist. Proposing to replace ecosystem services that someone pointed out have been functional in this area for literally thousands of years, millions of years on a geological timescale, we can't fix the loss of those ecosystem services with Band-Aid solutions, the widening of existing pipes. Human anthropocentric-derived solutions simply cannot and have empirically demonstrated repeatedly to be unable to replicate ecosystem services on any sort of cost- or time-effective basis. So in your genuine and heartfelt concern for our environment, we need to consider both practical and scientific standards for what would make the most sense preserving these lands going forward. Thank you for your time. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, your next speaker is Evan Black. And with your indulgence, the nurse we tried to reach on Zoom earlier is back and has raised her hand. I think she's ready. If you're Page 223 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 217 fine with that, I'd like to take her after this speaker. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Go ahead. MR. MILLER: Mr. Black, three minutes, please. MR. EVAN BLACK: Thank you very much for your time, Commissioners. I wanted to expand on what my brother was speaking about just a minute ago. This is an area, as you pointed out at the beginning of this discussion, that you were unsure if the constituents were really familiar with the area where this proposal is being designated for. This happens to be a habitat. Both the Picayune Strand State Forest and the adjacent habitats is an area that I have monitored over many years and have documentation and empirical evidence of the wildlife that regularly utilizes this habitat, and it's something that your constituents here in Collier County clearly feel very strongly about. So the suggestion to convert that potentially viable conservation land into a community is, of course, detrimental to the lives of the wildlife and the people that would then rely on that habitat. So the -- why we're urging you to reject this proposal stems from our collective desire to see this habitat be preserved long-term. A community of this nature would not adequately address the environmental concerns that we've discussed. And furthermore, a habitat, once you fragment it further with the development that's being proposed, it greatly reduces the capacity of that habitat to provide the ecosystem services that benefit not only the wildlife but humans as well. It drastically reduces its role as a fire suppressant and as a water-quality filtration system, as we've discussed extensively at this point. So again, please make a decision that respects the will of your constituents and benefits the environment of Florida's natural heritage long-term and reject this proposal. Thank you very much for your time. Page 224 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 218 MR. MILLER: Your next speaker joining us on Zoom is Mirtha Forero. She'll be followed by Will Larkins. Mirtha, you're being prompted to unmute your microphone. I see you've done that. You have three minutes, ma'am. Mirtha? Why am I not hearing Mirtha? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Mirtha's eluding us. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's a sign. MR. MILLER: I have full audio everywhere. I can see her on the speaker, but -- her little microphone icon, but I'm not getting any audio from you, Mirtha. I'm pretty confident this is -- MS. FORERO: Hello. Can you hear me? MR. MILLER: There you are. Mirtha, you have three minutes, ma'am. MS. FORERO: Oh. Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Mirtha Forero. I'm currently in Physicians Regional hospital, and I wanted to speak in support of the project. A recent article in Naples Daily News reported median rent in Naples was at 3,250 a month, and a typical apartment listed for rent was 44 percent above the state median, meaning someone needs to make more than 125,000 or $60 an hour, which is well above most core healthcare workers' salary. The proposed development for individuals in the health and services fields, an option to own versus wasting money on renting. I ask you vote in favor for this project. Thank you so much. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Will Larkins. He'll be followed by -- is it Tanya Sonos? Am I even close? Yeah, you'll be here next. Go ahead, Mr. Larkins. MR. LARKINS: Hello. My name is Will Larkins. I am an FIU student. I came here from Miami, among my various friends. We all Page 225 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 219 skipped work and class to be here today. I'm studying sustainability. And I'm here to defend the right of future generations to enjoy a healthy ecosystem. So you guys know the facts. There's only about 200 panthers left. The main cause of death is vehicular collision. If you approve this development, that's going to lead to more vehicular traffic in their primary territory which will lead to more panther deaths. What happens if you remove an apex predator from an ecosystem? It is something called trophic downgrading. We saw this happen in Yellowstone. They removed the wolves, and then the elk overate the grass along the banks, and then eventually the river stopped flowing, and a whole series of environmental catastrophes followed. We don't know the level of damage that killing off the panthers will cause. Losing just a few more could cause irreparable damage to the ecosystem. Mr. LoCastro, sir, you are an elected official. I know you said you don't really care how many people are calling you because they're getting their facts wrong. I think you're unfortunately missing the point completely about it doesn't matter if this is being built in the Everglades, it doesn't matter if it's being built in a swamp, or if it's being built in an orange grove. It is going to damage the ecosystem either way. And there are people -- the point is you represent your district, but you also represent Floridians. If a lot of people are calling you, reaching out, coming up here to talk, that means that people feel very strongly about this. I grew up in North Florida. I grew up 10 minutes away from the edge of a river I could swim in on the edge -- on the edge of a forest. It's an hour and a half away now to get to the forest from my parents' house because they've deforested so much. Page 226 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 220 It is an issue personal to us because we were watching the place that we love, a beautiful unique landscape, get destroyed and poisoned because our elected officials are allowing it. Seeing the destruction every time I go back home, it makes me sick. It makes me sick. And I know you said it's not about passion, but you know what, you're representing Floridians, and we're trying to protect our home, because I want my great grandchildren to be able to swim in a crystal clear river or walk through the Everglades or walk through any one of our incredible unique ecosystems, and each piece that we kill makes it worse, right? So I really encourage you to consider listening to your constituents and listening to the people in this room, the people who are calling you. Not all of us have time to do the research like a lawyer can to get all of the correct facts and information, but we know that watching our home get destroyed in front of us is painful to see. Right now imagine being one of those animals that relies on it, right? So, yeah, not to mention new developments with manicured lawns is going to lead to more people putting fertilizer and chemicals on those lawns which is going to create a much bigger problem than an orange grove that hasn't been utilized for many, many years, right? It doesn't matter who owns the property. I don't care who legally owns the property. This is land that you are taking from our future generations and from animals who don't have a legal right to say but definitely should. The way that we develop in Florida is not respectful to the flora and fauna. You know, we clear-cut everything and then start from there. That is not the way to do it. That's what they're going to do, and I encourage you to vote no on this, please. Thank you. MR. MILLER: The next speaker I'd call, Tanya, has decided to Page 227 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 221 cede her time to Joseph Roca. So Joseph will have a total of six minutes, and he'll be followed by Dakota Osceola. MR. ROCA: Hello. How you doing, County -- Collier County Commissioners, how are you guys? I'm glad to see you here and everybody who showed up, especially in support of -- or I apologize -- in opposition of this development. My name is Joseph Roca. If you guys are willing -- willing to hear that, this area here that we're trying to develop or is being propositioned to develop is near the Picayune Strand and the state forest, as you may have talked about. And you know what, this area may not be part of the Everglades, the three-million-plus acres that makes up Everglades National Park or the historical wetlands that used to flow all the way from Okeechobee River all the way down to the South Florida Bay, but you know what, I'm -- I'd like to ask you guys, why should that be an issue as far as not protecting this land? We've talked about, like, oh, these people aren't thinking about the actual ecosystems. Why should we worry -- I mean, it's not part of the Everglades, but it's still part of Florida nature and fauna, and it's important to protect these areas. I mean, you guys have a picture out there in the hallway from Naples back in the 1928s, around that time. It looked a lot different than it does now, much different. In fact, we're talking here about how we don't want this area to turn into Miami; you guys had mentioned that earlier. This is how it starts. You start with one development putting -- and pushing into that county line, and now we have overdevelopment out in Miami. I'm a West Kendall resident, and I live real close to the Krome line out there. And Miami, it's a very big concrete city. And if you guys don't want to get to that point, we cannot keep developing the way we're developing. That's the issue here. We're dealing with the symptoms of a broken system. We are Page 228 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 222 capitalizing, and we're looking for the wrong values. I mean, a system that prioritizes shortsighted fast money ventures over the profitable renewables and long-lasting options, it's not necessarily the best for our future generations. I mean, I ask you guys -- or I would like to ask you guys to look outside of our current lifetime. I mean, we as humans are very finite beings within the overall arcane story of this world. I'd like you guys to look past your own life and think about your children. How are they going to react to this? If we start and set this precedent, how will they go on? We want them -- like, my great friend over there, Will Larkins said, to be able to enjoy these areas as we keep on going. So I do ask you to keep -- that you keep that in mind. And I would like to note that these ecosystems, when they are provided for and cared for, not only are they so much more valuable than what our current system can even appreciate, but they will grow on their own and provide so many different values that we won't have to necessarily come in and venture in for ourself. So if we follow through with this development of these areas at the expense of the land, the benefits, such as the enhancement of the water management and all the other ventures that the developers have mentioned, won't be upset by the destruction of this ecosystem. I mean, I would love to sit here and only say positive things about the development. I would like to be able to do that, but the way that we develop here in Florida is so disconnected from the land itself, and anybody who has ever been out here and has enjoyed the simplicity of the humble and beautiful nature out there will understand that. We don't have to develop the way that we do. There are much more better ways that will help not only ourselves but the land prosper. We are not separate from the world and its wild nature of spaces. We are a part of it. Page 229 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 223 I only wish to encourage you all to look past your own lifespan outside of the current way of doing things, like we just talked about. I mean, a prescribed burn shouldn't be and wouldn't be a necessity when you have ecosystems that have grown and adapted to live with fire. Some of the people here may look at the property, and it's farmland that's impossible to restore, but I'd like us to look east just across onto the Everglades. Down that loop road, there's a development there, or used to be developed area, that all was farmland, and it got destroyed. It was -- I mean, that water was completely gone. Now it has been restored, and we spend countless days out there enjoying that beautiful nature. It's not impossible, and it's definitely not out of our reach. And so the Everglades and adjacent ecosystems, like I said before, are incredibly resilient. If allowed to exist, they will grow, which not only benefits us but the nature around them. I promise you, financially it will be a much better offer turning that land towards the original habitat and building alongside of it rather than destroying it. And lastly, I'd like to note that the jobs being provided, like hospitals -- hospital jobs, teaching jobs, hotels, restaurants, and general sole [sic] jobs around, like, Home Depots and Walmarts, like mentioned before, those are just a few jobs that the developers mentioned. For the most part, these jobs aren't highly specialized. Not only that, but some if not all of those jobs, are at risk or have heavily lost funding due to the current federal institution. The stability that the families look for in these communities isn't as clear-cut as they're trying to make it seem in their current political climate. Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. Page 230 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 224 COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mr. Chairman, how many speakers do we have? Just curious. MR. MILLER: I'm going to guess probably about 25 more, maybe. I'll take a count when -- while this speaker is going on. I'll get a better count, okay? Your next speaker is Dakota Osceola. She'll be followed by RJ Campons. MS. OSCEOLA: Hi. My name is Dakota Osceola. I'm a Collier County resident, and I'm a member of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. My mom is Tina Marie Osceola. My dad's Jimmy Wheeler. My grandpa's OB Senior. He was born in Ochopee at Midway Campground by his mom, Juanita Cypress, who gave him his clan. He was born into the panther clan. His father was Corey Osceola, whose photo is hung up in the Everglades City City Hall. He had a really good relationship with the Collier family. My grandpa OB told me they would let them set up villages anywhere they wanted back in the day. And the last one -- so my family had camps all over South Florida from all down Tamiami Trail to Immokalee to Kendall, and one of them got burned down. Another one is where Treviso Bay is now. One of the palm trees that is there was planted by my great grandpa, Corey Osceola. He had one arm. Treviso Bay is also where I grew up riding four-wheelers, swamp buggies, and fishing with my dad and my brothers. When I saw that my favorite place to hang out in the woods was a golf course and a neighborhood, it broke my heart. I didn't see it coming. One day they put "no trespassing" signs up. Soon after, the woods were gone. It felt like a part of my life was gone. That's pretty much the vibe down here, though, you know. It's pretty -- that's pretty much what everybody sees who's been from Page 231 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 225 here -- who's from here. It doesn't look familiar anymore. It's an institutionalized concrete elitist mess, and we are really going to let that -- it's -- okay. So I'm not reading this. This neighborhood isn't affordable. Like, I don't know who can afford that. Doctors? Apparently, Rich, right? Doctors are going to move in there. I guess they are the ones who can afford to live there. That's really cool. Yeah, minimum wage is 14 an hour. This isn't going to work. Say no. I don't know what else to say. I've got a minute and a half left, but I think I got my point across. If any -- thank you. And I want to say thank you to Brad. That was really awesome, and thank you everybody who came here and spit the facts. Those facts are facts. Like, we're not making that -- we're not making that up, you know what I mean? Like, it's not -- it's not going to be better as a place to house a bunch of people. Like, that doesn't make any sense. Like, it just -- I don't know. I don't see it -- I don't see that being something that's worked because it's kind of something that's been done a lot of times, way too many times, and it's -- and it's gross. Like, what else can I say? But I think I'm going to end it here. We've got a minute left. And everybody get home safe. I know I'm from here. I don't know how many people on the development team are from here, but I don't think -- none? Raise your hand. I'm sorry. Raise your hand if you're from here. Okay. We've got two, three -- no, you're against it, right? Oh, she's against it, right? So she's not part of them. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Like I say, you're addressing us, but thank you. MS. OSCEOLA: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, somehow my estimate was right on Page 232 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 226 the money. We have 25 speakers left between here in the room and on Zoom. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: That's another 45 minutes at least, so let's take a quick little court reporter break. So anybody got to get to the bathrooms. Let's take another -- let's make it 15. Let's just make it 5 o'clock. (A recess was had from 4:47 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.) MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. We're going to bring this hearing back into session, please. So if everybody would take your seats so we can continue on. I believe we've got about an hour and 15 minutes worth of citizen testimony here. MR. MILLER: In a break, I did find a couple of the names in here people had left. So your next speaker is RJ Campons. And he'll be followed by Bay Henning. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: He's not here. MR. MILLER: RJ's not here. Bay Henning, and Bay will be followed by Jennifer Hart. Oh, I'm sorry. Bay's been ceded three additional minutes from Brooke Beardsley. Is Brooke here? MS. HENNING: Yeah. MR. MILLER: So she will have a total of six minutes. When you're ready, ma'am. MS. HENNING: Commissioners, hello. My name is Bay Henning, resident of Collier County. My grandfather, Gary Beardsley, was appointed by the County Commissioners in the '80s to help write the original environment protection plan for the country -- for the County, and this land was marked as sensitive land and meant to have very little -- very limited development. My father, Tom Henning, sat as a County Commissioner from Page 233 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 227 2000 to 2016. I'm a second -- second generational county resident. My mother, Brooke Beardsley, was an environmental consultant in the county for 20-plus years. The direction of this county is very important to me, so much that I am here before you today. I'm opposed to this proposal because it is changing the protection rules, and it is slap in our -- is a slap in the face of our Growth Management Plan that protects environmentally sensitive areas such as this property. Furthermore, if you accept this project, it will cause more problems down the road. Four homes, as currently allowed, is reasonable. Four hundred twenty-three homes is not. Panther habitat needs to be preserved where it originally is -- originally located. Commissioners, although my grandfather's health prevented him from being here, he always spoke highly of the importance of the commissioners in guiding the future of the environment. Commissioners, I urge you, as a powerful body, to decide that this proposed change to the environmental plan is not a good idea. Speaking of the environment and the ecosystem, the ecosystem, including ag, is very sensitive and important to the Florida panther as one -- Florida panther. As one example, if one important species is negatively impacted, the whole ecosystem can be affected. This is important because when I grow up, I would love to see all the animals I saw when I was young and be able to teach my kids how special and important they are. My family and I hope -- my family and I hope to continue and be able to enjoy the ecosystem and animals that live here. Please eliminate the proposal to the -- please eliminate this proposal to the Growth Management Plan. Thank you for allowing me to speak and the opportunity to help the environment. Page 234 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 228 CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Good job, Bay. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Jennifer Hart, and she'll be followed by Christopher Calvano. MS. HART: Hi. My name's Jennifer Hart. I represent Naples Comprehensive Health, NCH. I am the chief cultural officer here at NCH, and I oversee human resources, including our retention and attraction of employees. So I absolutely respect the sentiment that was expressed here. I am a huge passionate person who believes in conservation, and I don't -- I don't disagree with many -- the good points you made, but I will say that I'm very proud to be working for a healthcare organization that is one of the top hospitals in this country and that can provide amazing healthcare and excellence to everyone including here in this room; however, the only way we can do that is if we have a talented workforce that supports that -- those jobs. And I do say from firsthand knowledge, we do employ people that do have a high flight risk because of their either long commutes to Fort Myers or Coral -- Cape Coral or, ultimately, just give up and live somewhere else that can be more sustainable for them and their families. I think one of the things that this community project does offer in that affordable housing is a price point that does work for a huge piece of our workforce, and it also gives them an opportunity to own, which is not always the option when we talk about affordable housing. I will say that I am a mom of four, and I'm a resident in this community who deeply wants to have healthcare and teachers and firefighters and workers who can live here and call this place a permanent home, and I think that is why it is important to us to consider. I worry that -- I do know that a lot of the people here say they supported affordable housing but just not here. I'm just worried Page 235 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 229 that if we keep saying that we won't have any other options. So thank you for your time. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Christopher Calvano. He'll be followed by Julianne Thomas. MR. CALVANO: Hello, Commissioners. Thank you for your time. My name is Chris Calvano. I'm a resident of Broward County, lifelong resident, and I'm also an avid recreational angler and outdoorsman. I've been coming here to Collier County for decades now to camp, to fish, and just to enjoy the beauty of your county, the natural areas of it. I'm here today to express my opposition to this development project. The area that's being proposed for this development and the surrounding land is all habitat for a myriad of our native flora and fauna, a number of which are protected. I know the experts have kind of gone over some species that are in this area, and I know that we've -- we've talked about the Florida panther. You know, I think it's -- it can't be understated, you know, that these animals -- this is one of the rarest and most endangered mammals in the entire country. And, you know, there was one just killed about a week ago here in this county. There were 18 killed last year; 17 were confirmed from vehicle collisions. And it doesn't seem like a high number, but when the entire population's only about 200, you know, that gets a little higher when you do the math. You're looking at about 8 percent of the entire population was killed in one year. So that's very important, you know. And aside from panthers, you know, even in just the last year of my traveling here and driving along Tamiami Trail, I've seen more dead animals than I've ever seen in the 25 years I've been coming out Page 236 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 230 here. And I mean, all species of birds, native snakes. I've seen dead gators. So this -- it isn't just about panther, you know. It's about all the wildlife that you have here. This development, if allowed, would contribute to the decline of Florida panthers by eliminating even more of their habitat and increasing vehicle traffic in this area, further increasing the probability of vehicle collisions with these creatures. The implications by allowing this project to happen and rezoning this area is almost as dangerous as the project itself happening because this would definitely open the floodgates to urban sprawl in this area. Although the area proposed for this proposal may not be a fully functional farm or citrus grove, it does provide habitat for wildlife, like many other areas of farmland around the state that have been designated as conservation lands. There are ways that this area could be better used and preserved instead of demolished for housing. I understand and I'm sympathetic to the need for affordable housing; however, it should never come at the expense of the destruction of our remaining natural areas, because Florida's ecosystems and the plants and animal that inhabit them are special. Please vote to deny the Sabal Palm Road project because the destruction of Florida's natural areas is often death by a thousand cuts. A development here, an office building there, a shopping center here, till there's nothing left. I was born and raised in Broward, and I've watched this happen over my lifetime there, and to say it's heartbreaking is an understatement. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Julianne Thomas, and she'll be followed by Laura Gelly Whittik (phonetic). MS. THOMAS: Good evening. My name is Julianne Thomas. I'm here on behalf of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, and I'll Page 237 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 231 try really hard to not talk too fast for you because I know you've had a long day. The Conservancy has a long history in protecting our lands within and around the Picayune Strand State Forest. One of our historical contributions to Southwest Florida has been assembling this area into public conservation and to further the restoration of the Everglades ecosystem through rehydration of these critical lands and waters. Thus, we must object to the proposed amendment. The subject property is on the western side of the Picayune Strand State Forest and is surrounded by preserve and mitigation lands. In fact, this parcel has been identified as a forest outparcel and has been identified by the state's Florida Forever Program as an essential parcel for conservation. This parcel would be better suited for inclusion in conserved public lands and restored or for it to continue to be used consistent with its current zoning and allowances under the existing Comprehensive Plan designation. This land is sensitive habitat in an important location. That's why it was designated -- properly designated as Sending Lands. We don't believe that the designation was in error. The RFMUD has been relatively successful because landowners who want to intensify must do so on Receiving Lands, and to get their additional density, they must secure Transfer of Development Rights from Sending Lands. If all of a sudden density can be increased not by acquiring Transfer of Development Rights but instead through creating new exceptions in subdistrict and RFMUD, this undermines the very foundation of the program and could jeopardize future participation in the RFMUD. We heard the Planning Commission's concerns about eroding the urban boundary and cutting into the wild and rural areas, and we agree that these concerns are important and must be considered because the erosion of urban service boundaries brings light, Page 238 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 232 pollution, and traffic into areas not envisioned as urban. This is one of those areas where urbanization is not appropriate or necessary. Again, we are not an antigrowth organization, and we understand how important affordable housing is; however, if you are going to make affordable housing considerations, I hope that you also consider the timing of the affordable housing and ensure that this will be -- that the affordable units will be built at the beginning end of the project rather than at the end of the project when they may never get built. So -- excuse me. Again, this is -- this land is sensitive habitat and it's in an important location, and we hope that you will deny the application. Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Laurie Gelly Whittik, and she'll be followed by Richard Sands. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Laurie left. MR. MILLER: Okay. Richard Sands. Is Richard here? Richard's been ceded additional time from Janet Sands. Janet, are you here? Oh, I don't see Richard or Janet. All right. Then let's try Jennifer Johnson. Jennifer is here. Jennifer will be followed by Judith Hushon, and I know for a fact Judith is here. MS. JOHNSON: Sorry. I'm nervous. Good afternoon, Commissioners. Thank you for hearing me today. I'm here to urge you to vote no on this project. This project will destroy critical lands, lands that protect wildlife, filter water, and prevent flooding. These are not just local features. These are essential for long-term longevity and for our communities. This area is prone to flooding, and adding 400-plus homes will increase runoff and strain to infrastructure. Page 239 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 233 The developer, SWJR Naples, LLC, is brand new with no track record, and the -- sorry. Excuse me. PulteGroup has documented history of construction defects and code enforcement issues in Florida. Once these lands are gone, we cannot restore them. This is about protecting our land, our water, and our future generations. For all these reasons, I respectfully urge you to vote no. Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Judith Hushon, and she'll be followed by Tara O'Neill. MS. HUSHON: Hello, Commissioners. I'm Judith Hushon. The Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District, which is where the South Naples Citrus property is located, was carefully divided by scientists into Sending and Receiving Lands back in 2002. The map was upheld during two subsequent reviews which went on, and I sat through them; chaired one. The Sending Lands are environmentally sensitive, and they're designed to be preserved. Now, farmland can be -- is environmentally sensitive. We take that as a given because we have considered that around. A lot of these Sending Lands that you take the TDRs from in the Rural Lands are, in fact, farm fields. The Sending Lands are environmentally sensitive and designed to be preserved with only a density of one dwelling per 40 acres allowed. Development is to be directed toward less sensitive Receiving Lands using the credits that you get from those Sending Lands. That is very far from what's being proposed here. Development is being proposed in the Sending Land, and they are trying to bribe you into abandoning the County's Comprehensive Plan with an offer of affordable housing. We can put affordable housing in other places. There are other locations -- empty pieces of property in this county. Page 240 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 234 Instead of one dwelling per 40 acres, the math for this 167-acre parcel comes up to 2.5 dwellings per acre. That's very different. Like this -- land like this serves the needs of agriculture and wildlife. It is part of the Florida Wildlife Corridor, and it's adjacent to Picayune Strand State Forest and not far from the panther preserve. We know people have seen panthers. If not on this property, they have seen them on the road, Sabal Palm Road. They exist there. You have to go at dawn and dusk to see them. That's when they hunt. You don't see them if you go out there at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and drive down the road. So they're not that far. Also, littoral plantings are really important. I wouldn't let them take all the littoral plantings and put -- they're important down where they're trying to put them to clean up that spillway, but they shouldn't be allowed to drop off all the other requirements for littoral plantings around the lakes. That's what keeps the algae off the lakes; otherwise, you get algae on the lakes. It also keeps the land from eroding around the edges, and the land goes down into the lake, and it fills up the lake. Funny thing about that, we then don't have what we set aside from the South Florida Water Management District to hold our rainwater. So I just wanted to say the littoral plantings are also important. One final thing: Development here will be, again, expensive. You have to do a lot of -- you have to bring the water. You're going to have to bring the electric. You're going to have to put in some things along the road. This isn't a freebie to you. So denying also carries -- or accepting would carry a cost. Denying does not. I think there are other things that can be done with this land. Brad gave you a whole list of good things. And they weren't -- they were really real things that -- or the kind of things that we should be considering. And finally, if you need an expert in environmental transport Page 241 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 235 and fatal pesticides, it's me. I did it for 40 years. So thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Tara O'Neill, and she'll be followed by Jennifer Astling. Once again, folks, I'd ask that if you're here, please queue up to the other podium. It might help me let somebody know if they're not here. Jennifer Astling. Are you still here, Jennifer? MS. ASTLING: I'm Jennifer. MR. MILLER: Oh, you're Jennifer. MS. ASTLING: Yes, sir. MR. MILLER: Okay. So the name I called previous to that, Tara O'Neill, Tara's not here. So Jennifer. Is Todd Lyon still here? Todd, you'll be next at this podium. Jennifer, please continue. MS. ASTLING: Certainly. Thank you all for your time. I appreciate it. I'm going to offer you a different perspective than anyone has had here, at least that I've heard. To the family of south Orange Citrus Grove, I see you, because our families have been friends for eons. Your property started in 1978, as you mentioned here. My father bought his first, which is our home on Brandy Lane, in 1990. The road that you guys are having issues with is a road that got put together by not only your family, but mine, by our neighbors, by our things. Not one of you has come and spoken to me. The road that you guys are talking about, Sabal Palm, you're saying that it's already going to open this floodgate. You opened that with Hacienda. Hacienda now buts up on the back of my property which was supposed to not be that. I now no longer have protected Sending Lands behind my home Page 242 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 236 in anything other than name. I have five-and-a-half acres and eight children. I have three grandchildren. It would not be legal for me to house all of my children on my own land that I've owned for 32 years. It would not be legal at this point in time for me to say to you, "I want to sell my home and house each of my own -- very own children or grandchild on it," but you want to house over hundreds of people on this land. You can tell me, sir, gentlemen -- Rick, sir -- I'm sorry. I'm going to say this directly to you. You can tell me that I'm saying wetlands wrong. You can tell me I'm saying Everglades wrong. Four o'clock this morning on my property, adjacent to this property, there were bears, there were boar, there were animals, and there are every morning. There are all the time. I adore what this family has gone through. They have been wonderful to my father. They have been wonderful to us. I lost my father two years ago. Forgive my voice with this; however, I hate to tell you, but this is a matter of greed, because 35 houses will make all five of your owners or six of your owners very wealthy people as the world has buying your produce, as we have on your road helping to make sure that you stay profitable when farms were burning. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Ma'am, ma'am. MS. ASTLING: Sorry. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You're addressing the Board of County Commissioners, please. MS. ASTLING: I apologize. I'm going to say this to you, and the only reason I am saying this to you is there are a million other options that have not been out there. I have not seen a single one of your commissioners come out and speak to any of us that are owners on Brandy Lane. Our land is the land that's going to be flooded. It is our land that when you choose to do your control burns, if this goes through, that Page 243 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 237 we be what gets burnt. You have a 10-foot wall. There's no 10-foot wall around my five and a half acres. The woodpeckers that you guys are not speaking about or the animals that you're brushing off so callously, all of them have lived here longer than most of you have served on this board. My children deserve to have a future that's the same as their children and yours. We take this land away, and not only do the environmental protections that we have for that land, but the fire takes us over. I've lost my home twice to fires out there. The reason that there's no fire protection, sir, is because you can come out there and put maintenance on that road instead of the farmers that did it, instead of the homeowners that did it, and your fire protection that you're so concerned about would still be there. But 35 houses at affordable housing would still be a benefit. $120,000 as a single mom wouldn't get you into any of these houses that we're speaking about. You're talking people that make more than $40 an hour. That's not this area. That's not these people. We are farmers. We are people that have lived off this land for years, and that deserves just as much protection as a dollar sign. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. (Applause.) MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Todd Lyon. Todd will be followed by Chris Briggs. MR. LYON: Good evening, and thank you for having us, Commissioners, today. My name is Todd Lyon. I wear many hats in Collier County. My day job is that I'm vice president of people and culture at NCH. As my colleague Jen Hart said, we are 4,500 employees, the second-largest employer in Collier County after the Collier County Public Schools. I moved to Naples about 11 years ago, at the time in a Page 244 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 238 relationship with a mental health counselor. I was a healthcare administrator. Our combined gross income was $112,000. We lived with my parents in their condo in Sterling Oaks in North Naples so we could get our feet underneath us to be part of this community that I have now come to love. I currently serve on three non-profit chairs and two advisory boards here in Collier County, and I say that because I was given the opportunity to grow in my career and my service here. One of the committees that I get to serve on is the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. I was just elected to my second term. I've served for two years. I'm about to serve for another two years. I will say that one thing that actually is incredibly encouraging about today is the passion I am hearing from residents of Collier County and Florida at large, whether they're here to want to conserve their land, their property. I have to speak to where my passions are and what I feel my duty is, and my duty is to create a safe community but also a community that offers services so that we can continue moving forward. Through AHAC, we hear, see, and evaluate several projects; many of them are rentals. That's a huge piece. This year for the first time at our benefits fair at NCH we brought in both Habitat for Humanity and a rental company to give that offer as a benefit to our employees because we are desperate to retain them. It's very hard for them to commute to and from Broward and Lee, and they leave us, and when they leave us, it creates cost, and it creates inconsistency, and it can create things that are not safe. So having heard so many proposals of so many different -- different -- from different companies and different plans, I do think that it's sometimes hard for everyone with their internal passion to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Just Page 245 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 239 because I want a viable workforce that has affordable housing doesn't mean that I don't care about the land and I don't care about people's homes. But what we constantly hear here is that if it's -- I want this initiative but not where I live. I want this but not where I live. We need to as a community decide where we can do this, and we need to make it continue to happen. So I will continue to always advocate for affordable housing for our workforce. I see these people every day when I get my coffee, when I drop off my dry-cleaning, when they wait our tables, when they're the nurse that sees -- that sees me at the hospital, or it's the teacher or bus driver that takes my daughter to school. So thank you-all for your consideration of this. I respect any and all plans of affordable housing that come forward, but I think that the right thing to do in this situation is to move forward. Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next -- your next speaker is Chris Briggs, and she'll be followed on Zoom by Ian Clausen. Chris was ceded three additional minutes from Cardinal Alfonso. Is she still present? (Raises hand.) MR. MILLER: Yes, she is back there. So Chris will have a total of six minutes. MS. BRIGGS: Thank you for your service as Commissioner. I'm sure at this point you're having a few regrets. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: People's work. MS. BRIGGS: I would like to say that I have been amazed by the passion of the young people and some of the older people who have been here for 40 years and know what the hell they're talking about. That passion needs to be listened to. The passion is all on one side on this issue, and that is for conservation. Page 246 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 240 If you want an issue that brings us all together, vote no on this proposal. Vote yes for conservation. I came here as a democrat and became an independent and a nominal Republican, but I will tell you that the one thing that brings us all together no matter what our political affiliation is, especially as we age, and clearly when you're young, is passion for the environment, awareness of creatures that are not us. You know the upset that happened in 2023 when you had reasons for taking money from Conservation Collier to stop tax increases. This is your chance to show that you have now heard all of us and understand how important conservation is to bring us together, and that's going to be really important in the future if we get the onslaught of people that you're anticipating that will generate this need for new homes. But now I'm going to go back to my script, and I have three major points. First of all is, okay, you know that according to the Community Foundation, a whopping 63 percent of residents are worried about unchecked growth and development. That's a tremendous increase in, like, seven years from 2018 when fewer than -- when only 38 percent were interested. So do we have a home shortage right now? Okay. According to homes.com, there are over 16,681 homes available for sale in Collier County with prices having declined as much as 17 percent. In addition -- and I don't envy you guys as commissioners -- Collier County faces significant infrastructure costs with the combined five-year funding shortfall of over 649 million for critical road and stormwater projects. Is this the time to be building new homes that need new roads and more stormwater? Perhaps not. Third, 36 percent of our population is over 65. I'm in that group. Trust me, their homes will be available in about 20 years. Do we really need more homes? Page 247 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 241 I am all for providing homes, affordable homes, especially for workmen in our county. But why can't we do what other Florida towns do? Do you know that they use their land trusts to actually buy homes that are foreclosed, and then they repurpose them as affordable homes for people from all ranges, including the passionate woman who lives in the Sabal Palm area with four kids to the doctors that might be beginning and that we're hoping to attract. So my first point was I think -- although I'm not an expert -- I can go and scroll the Internet -- that maybe we don't have the housing crisis that an argument has been made for. Second, are there alternatives to the Pulte development? Well, today we learned there were. Brad Cornell, the Audubon Society, gave us a lot that were realistic. And I have one that's probably not realistic but I am trying to pursue. So you have a choice. There are two conflicting visions for you as commissioners. Do we continue to support what appears to be unchecked development, or do we add to Naples' appeal as a tourist destination? I vote for No. 2, because after all, the Paradise Coast generated $57 million last year in tourist revenue. So here's an idea out of the box. Why not create an orange grove as an educational facility? It could also be a worthwhile experiment. Florida citrus production has dropped more than 90 percent in the last two decades, a blow for the state's economy and cultural identity. Thank God somebody else gave me three minutes. Okay. The Commissioners could take the lead in replacing the dead trees with new citrus greening-resistant trees promoted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Florida. And yes, I have talked personally to Matt Mattia who works for United States Department of Agriculture as a geneticist. He's published articles. Page 248 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 242 I'm going to stop till the beeping stops. He published articles on this -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You know that was your six minutes. MS. BRIGGS: Was it really? MR. MILLER: That was your six minutes. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah. He sets the timer for whatever you have. But go ahead and bring -- land your plane, please. MS. BRIGGS: Okay. My nephew is a deputy administrator of the U.S. -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Let her go. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I am. I'm letting her kind of bring it to a landing here. MS. BRIGGS: I'm sorry. I just thought it was three minutes. You get the gist. But the gist is, let's think outside the box. I've already approached one millionaire, the Bakers, to see if they might go into a plan to help buy this, but I didn't do my research. They weren't environmentalists. I will personally go out and beseech others to -- but think outside the box. If -- and the owners -- I'm sorry, guys, but perhaps -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Ma'am. MS. BRIGGS: -- you have an ethical -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Ma'am, once again, you're addressing the Board of County Commissioners. Let's don't make it personal. MS. BRIGGS: Okay. My last point is simply that we have supported -- we who live in the area have supported the owners and their orange grove, and we would like to see them listen to us as a community. I have more than 2700 residents in the area who signed a petition saying please say no. And if you're more interested in ideas -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you, ma'am. MS. BRIGGS: Thank you for giving me additional time. Page 249 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 243 CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You're fine. Thank you. MS. BRIGGS: I'm sorry I was so confused. MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, the rest of our speakers will all be joining us on Zoom. First is Ian Clausen, and he'll be followed by Matthew Schwartz. Ian, you're been prompted to unmute your microphone, if you'll do so at this time. Ian Clausen. Ian, you're being prompted to unmute your microphone, if you'll do that at this time. Last call, Mr. Clausen. All right. Let's move along on Zoom and try Matthew Schwartz, and he will be followed by Patty Whitehead. Matthew, I see you have unmuted yourself. You have three minutes, sir. MR. SCHWARTZ: Thank you. Can you hear me -- MR. MILLER: Yes, sir. MR. SCHWARTZ: -- Commissioners? All right. I'm going to just reiterate -- this is Matthew Schwartz with South Florida Wildlands Association -- reiterate just a little bit about -- the Rural Lands Stewardship Area is the balancing of conservation with development in Eastern Collier County. And according to the County's website, Stewardship Sending Areas, SSAs, can be approved for preservation purposes creating credits to entitle Stewardship Receiving Areas, SRAs, typically towns, villages, et cetera. The credit system is designed to incentivize preservation of the most important environmentally lands including large connected wetland systems but also significant habitat for listed species. I've spoken many, many times to both this Commission and the Planning Commission about projects in rural parts of the county that I believed were too important as wildlife habitat and specifically as habitat for our endangered state animal, the Florida panther, to be Page 250 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 244 developed. In each of those cases, including the Town of Big Cypress, Brightshore Village, Bellmar Village and others, the projects were approved. And the main rationale for those approvals were that the projects were in conformance with the County's RLSA program put in place more than 20 years ago. I was told, even admonished by -- that the develop -- by the Commissioners that the developers were following the rules, and we cannot change those rules simply because an environmentalist or wildlife lover has objections. In this case, the rules are not being followed. The orchard in question has been designated by the County itself as a Stewardship Sending Area based on its location in far Eastern Collier County, the furthest east that any development in this area has ever gone, and adjacent to the Picayune Strand State Forest. It's near the other critical public lands such as Fakahatchee and the Big Cypress. It is vital panther habitat and wildlife habitat in general, and years of panther science, including from the people who created the primary/secondary zones, et cetera, that active ag lands -- ranches and ag lands found through -- are found throughout the primary zone of the panther and utilized by the species during night hunts that could take up -- that could cover 20 miles. All this land has the designation of Primary Panther Habitat. The developer is now asking that his property status be changed from Sending to Receiving and that these 423 residents on Sabal Palm Road, a road that is currently used almost exclusively for access to the Picayune Strand State Forest, not even paved, be allowed to be built. This Commission -- I've used it many times to go into that area. This Commission has touted the RLSA program as the answer to Collier's dilemma between growth and preservation. Turning the Page 251 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 245 program on its head now because someone has asked you to do so is not the way to move forward. The decision would undermine the County's commitment to sound development. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Support your own RLSA program, use the same line you have used on other projects and what you have told me, and say no to a development in an area that has a critical importance -- critical importance to the future of wildlife and habitat in our state. I have a little bit of time left maybe. Population of Collier County in 2000 Census, 251,000. The estimated population in 2025, about 422,000. Significant. If you want to look like your sister kind-of-mirror county to the east, Broward County, that's a decision your constituents do not want, and I guarantee you, as ground zero for the Florida panther, the only puma species in the Eastern United States, wildlife lovers, wildlife scientists do not want that to happen either. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right, sir, if you can bring it -- sir, if you can bring it to a landing, please, because your timer went off already, your three minutes. MR. SCHWARTZ: Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't hear that. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: That's all right. MR. SCHWARTZ: Let me just give you the definition of -- Browardization is a term used primarily in Florida to describe the negative consequences of rapid, poorly planned urban development and auto-dependent sprawl. It is a pejorative term used by growth control advocates to warn against overdevelopment. You're getting the warning now. Let's not go that way. Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Patty Whitehead. She'll be followed by Rhonda Roff, and then I must tell you Ian Clausen has his hand raised. I take it that means he's back in front of his Page 252 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 246 computer, so we'll go to him after Rhonda. Patty, I see that you've unmuted yourself. You have three minutes, ma'am. MS. WHITEHEAD: Yes. Can you hear me pretty well? MR. MILLER: Absolutely. MS. WHITEHEAD: Okay. I'm going to just turn up my microphone -- excuse me -- or my speaker, thank you. Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Patty Whitehead. I represent the Responsible Growth Management Coalition here in Southwest Florida. We're here to state that we want no adulteration, no perversion of the RLSA and RFMUD program. We are against allowing developers to create their own wish list land-use changes within subdistricts in Collier County's most ecologically and environmentally sensitive areas regardless of the prior use of the subject land area. Yes, Sabal Palms is ag land, but it is also designated RLSA Sending Land, open space, green space vital to our far-ranging critically endangered and very precious Florida panther. This land in its current state also provides vital buffer protection to the rich bio-diverse Picayune Strand and the Hacienda Lakes conservation lands which supply our aquifer and which surround this tract. Furthermore, this land is ripe for ecological restoration, and it would be a key puzzle piece acquisition for Conservation Collier to add to and enhance the expanse of native ecosystem diversity and aquifer protection afforded by Picayune Strand. The development plan presented by the developer is a serious and significant intrusion, encroachment of urbanization beyond the bright line urban growth boundary. And those are the facts, regardless of how the developers' consultants use illogical mental Page 253 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 247 environmental gymnastics at the podium. And I shall add it's really disappointing to see someone like Wayne Arnold cheerlead for this project. The Wayne Arnold I remember is a gentleman who in 1996 led the Arnold Committee and wrote the Arnold Report to protect Southeast Lee County's DR/GR, priority one panther habitat, from high density growth and urbanization. Sad to see someone who was such a champion on protecting Lee County's rural and conservation lands now consulting for developers and landowners seeking from this county easy land-use designation changes on pieces of vital Sending Lands that are core to the Eastern RLSA area and are critical to maintaining the value, integrity, and significance of the RFMUD program. As we know, developers want these changes to Sending Lands only to fulfill their personal financial aspirations, not because it makes sense to the foundational guiding principles of the RLSA program which strives to protect the most ecologically sensitive areas of our Western Everglades, our endangered panther population and their dwindling habitat, habitats so vital for other imperiled species and our groundwater resource areas essential to supporting the growing human population in our area. Commissioners, you are setting a terrible precedent if you approve this project, a precedent that drives a nail in the coffin of the RLSA program and makes a mockery of the value of Sending Lands that are so vital to the ecological and environmental integrity of Eastern Collier County. The County's own staff report from the Sabal Palm's land -- for the Sabal Palm's lands clearly states, quote, "Sending Lands are those lands that have the highest degree of environmental value and sensitivity and generally includes significant wetlands, uplands, and habitat for listed species." The proposed subdistrict is also located within the BMHEO, Page 254 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 248 which stands for Belle Meade Hydrological Enhancement Overlay, which is to restore natural flowways and rebalance freshwater flows into two natural systems, Naples Bay and Rookery Bay. Naples Bay has been adversely impacted over the years due to abundant freshwater from the Golden Gate Canal and Rookery Bay. I urge you today, please reject and deny this development proposal on this piece of land to save the environmental values of Eastern Collier County for future generations. Thank you for your time. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Rhonda Roff, and she'll be followed by Ian Clausen. Rhonda, you're being prompted to unmute yourself. I see that you've done that. Rhonda, you have three minutes. MS. ROFF: Can you hear me okay? MR. MILLER: Yes, ma'am. MS. ROFF: Great. Wonderful. My name is Rhonda Roff. I live in Clewiston actually on the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation. I am the conservation chair for the Sierra Club Clusia Group which has 2,000 approximately members in the Southwest Florida four-county region. I'm speaking on behalf of them. I am actually very sorry to hear the story of the citrus industry in general -- we have the same problem in our area -- and the family that has worked the land for as long as it has. What I am really sorry to see is that the County hasn't provided the family with enough options, other options. Conservation Collier hasn't stepped up, and I heard the reasoning before. It was because they can't unless a landowner requests it. I know Brad Cornell went through a few other options that could have been exercised. But at the very least, this discussion needed to have a few options, a few different possibilities other than just development or Page 255 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 249 no development, because no development leaves the family with nothing. I heard you say that this land was going to be very expensive for Conservation Collier, and I wonder how much of that is because it's contaminated. I heard on one hand that a citrus grove was established on upland because they can't live in the wet, and then I heard that this is very wet, and all of that contaminated pesticide/herbicide fertilizer water was going to have to be pumped off, but it would have to be treated. So I don't know really which is true. I think there's a disconnect here between the different scientists that are speaking about this. When I look at the aerial map, I see possible habitat for -- I mean, not passable as in just good enough. I mean habitat that is perhaps migratory corridors for, as Matthew Schwartz was saying, our state mammal which is very endangered right now. Bears. I heard you talk about bonneted bats. Wading birds, those can probably currently not only migrate through there but also feed in that area. So what will happen? Look at what it is right now just from the eye of, say, an animal. What will -- what does this look like now? It's dark. It's untrammeled. And now it's going to be covered with lawns, lights, streets. Will those lawns be treated with fertilizers? Will they -- will herbicides be running off? Will the residents be required to use bear-wise principles? We hear lots of problems with bears. We just had a bear hunt. That was devastating to the population, which we don't even know because FWC does not have the numbers. There are a lot of things we don't know about what wildlife needs, but carving up and removing their habitat is never a good thing. So I'd hate to see all of this area interrupted. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. Page 256 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 250 MS. ROFF: Wait -- and just one more thing. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Your time just ran out. Sorry. MS. ROFF: Okay. I just think that the mitigation tends not to work. So our Sierra Club would like to see a no vote on the rezone. Thank you very much. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Brooke -- or excuse me -- Ian Clausen, and then he will be followed by Brooke Gaebe. Ian, you've been prompted to unmute yourself, if you can do that for us at this time. There you are. Ian, you have three minutes, sir. MR. CLAUSEN: Thank you. Can you hear me? MR. MILLER: Yes, sir. MR. CLAUSEN: Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Ian Clausen, a real estate broker on Marco Island, and I am speaking in full support of the proposed changes and development of the Sabal Palm property. As a real estate company with deep roots in this community since the early '60s, our family sold the first 10 lots on Marco Island for the Deltona Corporation when we heard -- held the franchise for all of Latin America. My father, who recently retired, also played a significant role in selling and developing several key properties in this area, specifically Marco Island. He sold the last commercial beach lot on Marco Island where the Somerset Condominium now stands. His clients were from Venezuela. He brought together various owners -- overseas owners mainly from Latin America to sell what is now known as Veterans Park, which was eventually sold to the City of Marco Island. He coordinated with different owners, once again, from South America to sell and develop property known today as Villas at Waterside. Over the years, there have been many other meetings and Page 257 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 251 developments that he's attended, and I've continued this work as well. As a company, we firmly believe that property owners have the right to make changes to their properties. What we see today is a result of people like my father guiding property owners towards the best use of their land as Collier County has expanded and evolved. Furthermore, the proposed changes at Sabal Palm would not only benefit the owners but also contribute to the growth and appeal of our county by providing much-needed affordable housing. This initiative represents a significant opportunity for progress, and I encourage you to consider the positive impact it can have on our community's future and to vote in favor of this plan. Thank you for your time. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Brooke Gaebe, and she'll be followed by Laura Torres Fernandez. Brooke, you have been prompted to unmute yourself. I see you have done that. You have three minutes, ma'am. MS. GAEBE: Okay. Thank you. My name is Brooke Gaebe. I'm a former guide in Big Cypress National Preserve. I used to volunteer for the Florida Trail Association guiding swamp walks and one time, for about five minutes, I had the privilege of sitting by a campfire with a majestic and beautiful Florida panther. I'm 100 percent certain that this proposal is a major threat to their existence on this planet. I also want to note that the developer here doesn't seem to have a good track record. A really quick Google just to the Wikipedia page alone informed me that the Florida Attorney General fined them $4.7 million for -- to make repairs and restitution for bad homes. Fifteen to 18 panthers died last year. Half of all of these deaths were in your county. If anyone should be stepping up and doing more to protect these beautiful creatures and ensuring that they Page 258 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 252 remain on earth, it should be you. And this proposal seems to fly in the face of that intention. I know that to me with all that I know about Big Cypress and these creatures, this proposal reads like -- more like a pathway to extinction. And I know a lot of people outside of Florida care about whether these animals are able to continue to exist on this planet. To me this proposal sounds like a handout to the farmer and the developer and disguised as affordable housing at the expense of creatures that are about to disappear. It's heartless. I can think of a million different ways to provide affordable housing. If you want to talk to me, please feel free to reach out about that. It shouldn't be housing versus conservation. A good democratic government will do both. A good democratic government listens to their citizens and doesn't scold them for being passionate. You know, I feel like this is like an "only in Naples" kind of thing, like, where a doctor and people making over $100,000 a year get homeownership and you call it affordable housing. I'm asking you to please deny this proposal. Please have a heart. Please ensure these creatures can stay on earth. I love them. Please don't do this. I'm begging you, please. Thank you for your time. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Laura Torres Fernandez, and she'll be followed by Matt Adams. Laura, you're being prompted to unmute yourself, if you'll do that. And, Laura, you have. Laura, you have three minutes. MS. TORRES FERNANDEZ: Okay. Can you hear me? MR. MILLER: Yes, ma'am. MS. TORRES FERNANDEZ: Great. Members of the Board, thank you for allowing me to speak. My name is Laura Torres Fernandez. Page 259 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 253 I'll keep it straight to the point. The applicant proposes over 400 new homes on approximately 169 acres emphasizing that six acres will be used for littoral plantings and about 10 acres of native vegetation will be preserved, 16 acres total. Framing this as meaningful conservation is misleading. Preserved land does not function in isolation when it is surrounded by more than 100 acres of housing and before that 100 acres of construction. Clearing, paving, lighting, draining, and permanent alteration of the majority of the site cannot be offset by setting aside a small fraction. We are also told that because this land is a citrus grove that is no longer producing, it has little value unless it is developed. I strongly disagree. Land should not be valued solely for its industrial output. When farmland is no longer economically viable, that is not an argument for paving it over. It is an opportunity to allow the land to recover, re-wild, and serve an ecological purpose that is increasingly rare in this region. The claim that this development will provide affordable housing for students or nurses working miles away does not hold up. These homes will be for sale, not for rent, and in today's market, even with down payment assistance, the idea that most college students or working nurses can afford a newly-built townhouse is unrealistic. This is speculative development. If you want affordable housing and a quick commute, make the housing that is already developed affordable. Rural Fringe land is intended to function as a buffer, not as a temporary placeholder awaiting urbanization. I also want to acknowledge the family that owns the property. I understand they are of retirement age and feel they have no viable option but to sell. I sympathize with that reality, I do; however, Page 260 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 254 development should not be fast tracked simple because conservation efforts have not yet made an offer. Many people are only now learning about this property because of the public outcry. If the County does not wish to take on preservation costs, there should be time and transparency for conservation organizations or public/private partnerships to come forward as they have in this meeting. While this land may not be officially designated Florida panther territory, ecosystems do not operate within meet boundaries. Fringe areas matter, even if they're not the Everglades or conservation lands or wetlands, Mr. LoCastro. Even if this location is not their ideal environment, that does not mean the panthers are not there, as Mr. Cornell pointed out. Encroachment increases human/wildlife conflict and destabilizes the broader ecosystem. Even strict mitigation is not better than avoiding development altogether. It is the difference between buying carbon offsets and not polluting in the first place. Finally, there are known flooding and infrastructure issues in this area, which the proposal claims it will address. If these improvements are necessary and publicly supported, why must they be tied to a large housing development? Why can't roads be improved and water systems restored through public investment? This same question applies to the environmental enhancements being touted. Much has been made of exceeding minimum requirements today, but addition mitigation does not make an unsuitable project appropriate. These are no gold stars for extra credit. This board has the opportunity to pause, reassess, and choose long-term stewardship over short-term development. Once this land is gone, it is gone. I urge you to deny this proposal and allow space for better, more responsible solutions to emerge. Page 261 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 255 Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, we move to our final registered speaker for this item, Matt Adams. Matt, you've been prompted to unmute yourself, if you'll do -- I see that you have, Matt. Matt, you have three minutes. MR. ADAMS: Hey, everyone. Can you hear me? MR. MILLER: Absolutely, sir. MR. ADAMS: Awesome. Thank you, everyone, and I appreciate everyone coming here and listening to everyone speak. I strongly urge you to deny the proposed plan for 341 Sabal Palm Road. This land is currently used by a variety of species, including the Florida panther, which is less than 200 individuals remaining in the world. This animal is an icon of Florida, and we must take any chance we can of protecting it, which soon it may be too late. Vehicle collisions are the No. 1 cause of death of panthers. Personally, I get the email alerts for Florida panthers, and it seems like every other week there's at least one alert of another dead panther, and the cause is always vehicle collision, and it's always in Southwest Florida. Adding this number of houses will increase the likelihood of vehicle collisions with panthers because of the number of people and the additional roads closer to nature. This is especially important since this is a piece of land that has been confirmed to have been used by panthers. Their other greatest threat is the loss of land. Their range is already so limited and is cut off by roads and developments. And any loss of land is detrimental to the species. Additionally, this is being touted as an affordable housing Page 262 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 256 development; however, only 8.25 of the 169 acres will actually be used for the affordable housing portion. The majority will not be. Affordable housing is important, but it should not be a good excuse for destroying this important land since the main goal of this development is not affordable housing but developer profits. The land also may be mostly farmland and may not technically be conservation land, but it is still important for the animals, and it is connected to the state forest. And as we know, wildlife actively use this area of the land. If this is developed -- even if it is not, like, restored completely to natural land, if it's not developed, it still has value as land for wildlife. Additionally, this developer, PulteGroup, also killed protected gopher tortoises a few years back on the development and destroyed 22 protected gopher tortoise burrows, pleaded guilty, and received fines for this. This isn't a great track record, and they should not be trusted to uphold their environmental commitments for this project if it is approved. They may claim they are bettering the environment, but I think we all know that they aren't. They claim that this development will actually benefit the environment, but I think we all know that it won't. More development never actually benefits the environment. Please deny the amendment and deny this development. Thank you. MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, first meeting of the year and my first mistake. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: That's all right. MR. MILLER: My complicated system here of marking who has spoken already failed me. We actually have two more speakers. The first is going to be Tiffani Mensch, and Tiffani will be followed by Margaret Bradley. Page 263 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 257 Tiffani, you're being prompted. I see you've done that. My apologies, Tiffani. You have three minutes. Please go ahead. MS. MENSCH: No, that's okay. Thank you so much. Can you hear all right? MR. MILLER: Absolutely. MS. MESSAM: Perfect. Good evening, Commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Tiffani Mensch. I'm a resident of Naples, and I serve as the president and CEO of the United Way of Collier and the Keys. I'm here to express our strong support for the proposal at 341 Sabal Palm Road. United Way of Collier and the Keys' mission is focused on supporting ALICE families, Asset -- ALICE is an acronym that stands for Asset Limited Income-Constrained and Employed. And the ALICE data captures households who are working often multiple jobs yet still cannot afford the true cost of living in our community, including housing, childcare, transportation, healthcare, food. In Collier County, ALICE data shows that a family of four needs to earn well over $100,000 a year just to cover their basic necessities. That's not getting ahead. That's not savings but simply to just get by. Forty-three percent of families in our community fall below that ALICE threshold, representing a significant portion of our workforce. These are the people who teach our children, they care for our loved ones, they protect our community, and they keep our businesses running, yet many experience ongoing financial instability and, you know, they're forced to commute long distances because homeownership in Collier County remains out of reach. One of the biggest challenges ALICE families face is access to affordable, attainable for-sale housing. Many earn too much to qualify for housing assistance but not enough to purchase a home at today's prices, and as a result, they remain stuck in high-cost rentals. Page 264 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 258 They're unable to build savings, equity, or long-term security. So that's why affordability commitments included in this proposal are so important by expanding the number of income-restricted for-sale homes, deepening affordability to reach working families, and pairing these homes with down payment assistance for essential service personnel. I mean, this proposal is such a meaningful step forward towards making homeownership attainable for the people our community depend on every day. There are broader community benefits. You know, the people -- when people work and live in Collier County, we reduce traffic congestion, shorten commute times, ease strain on infrastructure, and help employers address workforce shortages while keeping local dollars in our local economy. And while no single project will solve our housing challenges, right, this represents a probable and meaningful step forward and I think demonstrates what's possible through thoughtful public/private partnership. United Way of Collier and the Keys believes our community is strongest when the people who serve it can afford to live in it. And for those reasons, we respectfully encourage your support of this project. Thank you for your time and leadership. MR. MILLER: And we'll try this one more time. This time your final speaker is Margaret Bradley. Margaret, you're being prompted to unmute yourself, if you'll do this -- do so at this time. There you are, Margaret. Margaret, you have three minutes. MS. BRADLEY: Okay, thank you. My name is Margaret Bradley. I'm a Florida resident who listened to the October 2nd Collier Planning meeting and today's meeting regarding the Sabal Palm grove, and I'm passionate on -- in support of the project. Page 265 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 259 I met the family who owned the grove when I was 12, working at their farm stand in Illinois. The whole family worked long days. And one son, who was nine at the time, is now my brother-in-law. They've been farming in Illinois in the summer and Florida in the winter for over 40 years. I first visited the Collier County grove in the early '80s when the family was clearing the land, and there was literally nothing there. 951, now Collier County [sic] Boulevard, was a narrow two-lane road surrounded by native vegetation that was pitch black at night. At the Planning Commission -- at the Planning meeting, one commissioner said he was voting a token no on the proposal, as it was nibbling away at conserved land. If anything, though, the grove was the first developed nibble, as farming drastically alters the native landscape. Everyone keeps talking about the land east of the grove, but less than 700 yards west are extensive developments that have already eliminated much of the native Florida landscape and habitats. And because it had been long developed as a grove, it never really met criteria as a Sending region in 2002. That designation seems arbitrary, especially since no other farms, including a much large one in the same region, were designated as environmentally sensitive regions. Comments about the County respecting and the farmers maintaining the property as Sending depend on the land being appropriately designated that way in the Growth Management Plan in the first place, which is questionable. Second, the pleas to save the wildlife and save the grove somehow missed the mark. The units that will be devoted to wildlife mitigation is a one-million-plus-dollar contribution. This will do more for panthers than having them roam on property too close to homes and roads now to be safe for wildlife, people, or pets. As Page 266 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 260 many have noted, panthers and other wildlife in the area are already threatened by all the existing developments built right next to the grove. And all of us in Florida know about the greening disease that's destroyed the citrus groves. There aren't any clear solutions for saving them in sight and none that don't require a ton of time, money, and research. No other farmers or conservation people have expressed any interest in this relatively small parcel. It's kind of ironic that the homes purchased by some opponents were much more recently developed on native Florida vegetation where panthers and wildlife live. No one's recommending they reclaim and sell their property to return the land to its original state. Instead, they want the grove owners to do so with their developed property, which isn't reasonable or consistent with Florida's property rights laws. If truly committed, residents in the nearby developments, perhaps with the help of Audubon or other conservation groups, could raise the funds to purchase and reclaim the grove themselves and then donate or apply to Conservation Collier County [sic]. Basically, though, it's easy to understand why those owning this family-operated grove, which is this relatively small parcel right next to highly developed land faced with the greening disease on property that doesn't seem to have ever met Sending criteria, have opted for an alternative development. If they were among the first -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right, ma'am -- ma'am, if you can just bring it to a close. Your time was up. I just didn't know if you heard the beep, but go ahead. MS. BRADLEY: I'm sorry. I didn't hear -- I have one sentence. As they were among the first, not the most recent residents in Collier County and because all other farmland in the same region was designated receiving, it's only fair to allow them to proceed. Page 267 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 261 Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you, ma'am. So that was it? Are you sure? COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Troy, what was her name? MR. MILLER: Her name was Margaret Bradley. And that is it, sir. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. So the public comments have come to end. Usually the petitioner's opportunity to rebuttal some of the things that were said or he may have picked up on but... MR. YOVANOVICH: Okay. We do have some additional comments we want to make and then obviously respond to any questions you may have. I'm going to -- I'm going to kind of -- so I can go -- I'm going to -- so I can go back to my presentation, I'm going to take one item out of order, so I need to go to the visualizer if that's okay, and it's an important issue that deals with the wildfire allegations and the concerns and the claims. And it seems to me that people either didn't read our petition or didn't listen to our presentation today. I think a lot of people came with their speeches, and they were going to give that speech regardless of what the actual facts and evidence are. This is from our PUD. We are required to have a wildfire prevention and mitigation plan in place which will address structural design, building materials, location of defensible space, plant selection within defensible space, and commitment to provide a copy of -- the homeowners with the copy of the wildfire prevention and mitigation plan. Our residents will not be in harm's way for wildfires. We have to coordinate it with the Florida Forest Service. So we have an obligation to make sure our project is properly designed to mitigate and prevent impact of wildfire, which was something that was hit Page 268 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 262 pretty hard by Mr. Cornell. So either he didn't read our materials or he just chose to ignore it when addressing that. In addition, the Hacienda Lakes conservation preserve areas do not require prescribed burns. That is a factually incorrect statement. Mr. Hall can come up here and correct it. That will be cleared by hand. That's how they chose to address whatever issues they need to deal with. So to get up here and tell you that we're putting people in harm's way because of prescribed burns related to Hacienda Lakes is a factually incorrect statement. Mr. Hall testified to prescribed burns by the State. We have a firebreak in -- on our boundary of our property. In addition, professionals who do the prescribed burns in the Picayune forest are required to put firebreaks in place before they do their prescribed burns. So with regard to wildfires, that is an issue that is not supported by the actual facts in this instance. So that -- those statements by Mr. Cornell are not supported by the facts. A couple of other things. You-all know I'm not an expert in environmental issues. I'm not an expert in transportation issues. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Ma'am. Ma'am. MR. YOVANOVICH: I am an expert in proper behavior. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You started it. MR. YOVANOVICH: I'm not an expert in planning. I'm a lawyer. My job is I'm an advocate. Mr. Cornell is an advocate. Testified under oath at the Planning Commission on this particular project that he is not an expert in environmental issues. He is not an expert in transportation issues. He is not an expert in planning issues. He's not an expert on any of those issues. He's got a job to do. He's an advocate. He's a very good advocate. But you cannot take his testimony as expert testimony. He's not an expert. Page 269 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 263 MS. KANTER: Stop pointing at me. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Ma'am, stop. MS. KANTER: He pointed at me. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I think he was pointing at Brad Cornell sitting behind you. MR. YOVANOVICH: I'm not even pointing at Brad. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Well, he's not pointing at you. He never mentioned your name, did he? MS. KANTER: No, but he pointed right at me. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. We're not going to have this. Stop. MS. KANTER: Okay. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. MR. YOVANOVICH: I'll put my hands in my pocket so I don't point. We brought experts to talk about every one of these issues. And as I said at the very beginning, your experts, the people you pay as your staff, have confirmed everything our experts have said as being correct, and that's with regard to all of the environmental impacts, all the environmental benefits of our project. Now, this, quote, urban sprawl, the State reviewed our proposed amendment. The State also reviews for urban sprawl. The State has no objections to this project. They're not saying its urban sprawl. Matter of fact, the State, as Mr. Cornell pointed out, in 2002 approved the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District standards. Guess what? The State approved our modification to the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District and did not find that removing this 169 acres from the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District was going to jeopardize any species or harm the environment. They approved or did not object to this proposed change. As far as fairness to other Sending Lands, we're buying TDRs. Page 270 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 264 That's exactly what Sending Lands do. They have their TDRs sold. We're buying TDRs from other Sending Land owners. So we're providing a benefit to those Sending Land owners. Now, we've been in this process since 2023, since 2023. Brad Cornell gets you here today and gives you eight issues -- these eight alternatives that could be considered. Now, I've known Brad a long time. I've had the same cell phone number since 1991. I've had the same office phone number since 1998. Brad has yet to talk to me about the real true viability of any of those options. Conservation Collier, not an option. We fail four of the eight criteria to be considered by Conservation Collier. I believe that -- I believe that means it's not Conservation Collier eligible. COMMISSIONER HALL: Make the A list. MR. YOVANOVICH: What's that? COMMISSIONER HALL: Four out of eight, you'd make the A list. MR. YOVANOVICH: But it's not the right list. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Found that out today. MR. YOVANOVICH: So we would not be considered Conservation Collier property. And there is -- I'm going to ask Ms. Cook to come up here in a little bit because she's got an exhibit that will talk about this, quote, creep of if you give this project approval, all of Sabal Palm Road's going to all of a sudden become eligible to become Receiving Lands or development lands. Pretty much all of Sabal Palm Road is already in conservation easement. So they'd have to not only change the Comp Plan. They'd have to undo their conservation easements and the mitigation they've provided for other projects. This piece of property is not in a conservation easement because it's a farm field that wouldn't qualify as a conservation easement. Page 271 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 265 Your Emergency Management staff signed off on this project. They wouldn't sign off on this project if we were a wildfire risk. We're not asking for a reduction in any water-quality standards. And in fact, the testimony is we're improving the water quality and the rehydration. All the expert testimony says we are doing exactly what your Comprehensive Plan wants for water restoration and rehydration. I do want Tim to come up here and talk a little bit about the environmental issues and, you know, rebut some of the incorrect statements made by nonexperts. I find it a little odd that the two people who most recently testified and claim they were experts from the East Coast couldn't even get the right -- program right. They were talking about the RLSA. We're not in the RLSA. We're in the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District. So they're talking about a portion of Collier County that is not even applicable. So I think that when you look at this project and you look at what we're proposing to provide, we're providing 135 TDRs. Right now we're at 85 affordable housing units. And if you agree -- and I think the right answer is this property should have never been designated as Sending in the first place -- we would have 34 base units. So of the 423 units, we're talking about 254 units that are being paid for, if you will. The TDRs are paying for some and then the affordable housing is paying for others. We're asking for 200 -- I'm sorry -- 169, quote, free units. Those aren't free units because they're being subsidized by the commitment to provide affordable housing, to provide down payment assistance. That -- that -- those -- that 95 -- or the 85 units is almost 50 percent of the 159, quote, free units. So they're being -- they're being offset. One other question was, can we really afford to deliver the units Page 272 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 266 at the price points we're required to do? Yes. Pulte Homes has already done it in Sarasota, and they have -- they have the financing plan in place. They have their own -- as the Chairman pointed out, they have their own mortgage lending. So they are soup to nuts and can make it happen. They're not worried about other banks somehow supporting this. Heidi Ashton asked me to clarify some things on the record regarding to the additional commitments we made. We committed to $170,000 of down payment assistance. She wants that to be phrased that at each closing we will provide $2,000 of down payment assistance to put -- make it measurable so there's not a pot of money and we can just allocate it how we want. So it would be $2,000 at each closing for down payment assistance for those units, and the PUD will be modified to say that. We would acquire the TDRs at the 50th CO for the non-affordable units. So we would only get 50 units of -- I don't know the right word -- I'll call them free units -- before we have to actually acquire the TDRs to move forward with the single-family homes. Again, to have a measurable point of time when we have to get the TDRs. The -- since we're at 423 units, not the original 450, the trip cap comes down to 355 units [sic], so that's a modification that the County Attorney's asked me to put on the record on how we were going to address those commitments. So with that, I want to -- I want to turn it over to -- I want to turn it over to Tim to talk about the environmental comments. I think that's the bulk of the comments we heard from the community about how we're destroying the environment with this project. And I would like him to rehash the environmental benefits of this project as we're moving forward. MR. HALL: Good evening, Tim Hall for the -- from Turrell, Page 273 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 267 Hall & Associates again. With respect to a lot of the comments, they kind of swirled around a couple of different, you know, main topics. One was the animals, the listed species on there. Specifically the panther was mentioned multiple times. As I had said in my initial comments, the property is within the Panther Primary Zone Area, which is an area designated for increased scrutiny, has, you know, higher benefit opportunities for panthers, and those are the areas that are really looked at strongly, all of those. Primary and secondary habitats are looked at by Fish and Wildlife Service when any project comes forward. You know, it's -- but that designation runs all the way to 951. So just because an area is designated as primary habitat doesn't mean that development is prohibited within that area. It just means it has to go through that federal review to ensure that what's being proposed is not a jeopardy opinion. It's not going to cause the extinction of the species. That's specifically what Fish and Wildlife Service looks at when they look at all of the things associated with the projects. And in conjunction with that, they don't just look at the project itself. They also look at cumulative impacts, secondary impacts associated with that. And cumulative impacts are other impacts that are reasonably expected to occur as a result of the project -- sorry, secondary impacts. Cumulative impacts is how this project, in conjunction with other projects that may be permitted within the area, together would impact the panther. So they look at all of that stuff in their reviews. And as I had said, depending on the scope of the impact that they determine, there are mitigation options available to developers to provide benefits to the species in exchange for the impacts that they recognize are happening on a property. Page 274 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 268 I also heard comments about RCW, Red-cockaded woodpeckers. Those are a pine-tree-living -- or pine-tree-specific species. They're one of the only birds that creates its nest in living trees. And to support them, you have to have pine trees. There are no pine trees on this property. So we're not impacting any forging or nesting habitat for the RCWs. And there are communities -- further north -- there's a very limited population down here. To the north of this project about two-and-a-half or three miles is one of the few remaining colonies within the county. But as you go further north, in northern Florida and up into South Carolina and all, there are colonies of these birds that are living in proximity -- close proximity to other development areas. So the development doesn't preclude RCW utilization. And then other species -- you know, all of those species are going to get addressed as part of the state review through Water Management District and the federal review. So with respect to species, that's -- that's kind of the position that we're in. With respect to the water quality and the hydrology of the area, Brad said something when he was talking about, you know, the critical for minimizing your risk of fire damage is restoring hydrology, and -- I don't remember what the second thing was -- restoring hydrology and prescribed burning. A component of this project is, as what was explained, is being put forward to try to help restore hydrology throughout this area both on the north and south sides of the road, establishing a more natural sheet flow which will get back to that -- you know, to that -- that natural hydrology counteract the limitations that have been put in place by the dam created by the road, by Sabal Palm Road. Prescribed burning happens out there. The Forest Service does it. Hacienda Lakes is -- their approved preserve management plan requires them to maintain the preserve, but it does not require fire. It Page 275 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 269 allows for them to use fire if they choose and if the conditions are right to allow it, but it doesn't absolutely require it. I agree with some of the other folks out here. My preference would be to let them burn it, because you do have certain species of plants that need that fire in order to be able to reproduce and to flower, but the alternatives that are included within that Hacienda Lakes plan as opposed to fire are actions that the Forest Service uses as well. You can't always get the conditions right to do a burn. They need to have proper wind, proper temperatures, proper humidity, soil -- soil humidity -- or soil saturation, and -- you know, all of these things that go into determining whether or not a fire is applicable or not. When it's not, they have alternate actions that they can do like ROGO chopping or trimming where they can go in and knock down the brush and reduce the fire load so that accidental fires -- if they're not able to burn, they can remove some of that load. I think he called it shrubification, that that can be taken care of -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Shrubbify. MR. HALL: -- outside of -- outside of burning through other manual activities, and that also helps to minimize that risk of an out-of-control fire when one does get started. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I have a question for him. MR. HALL: And then -- oh, the -- well, the littorals, I mean, I think we explained the littoral, you know, areas. The amount that we're providing is what's required. The deviation is just to put them within the flowway instead of within the lakes. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner LoCastro, you have a question? COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So I have a question for you. When you're explaining that -- sort of that panther footprint that you say goes all the way out to even 951, that doesn't mean you can't Page 276 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 270 build on there. It just means you have to go through all the different requests and rigmarole that you have to go through. I get that. So my question that I have is, did Hacienda Lakes and Verona Walk -- do those large communities that are already built, were they also in that same footprint of panther activity and the same sort of things that we're -- or does all the panther population stop at the Verona Walk, you know, marker and then it goes -- it's to where Sabal Palm is now? Educate us a bit on that panther footprint. MR. HALL: I was involved with the permitting for what's called Tamarindo now. It was -- had a different name when I worked on it, but that had to go through the same panther review. They were in panther habitat as well and had to go through that review and provide -- provide mitigation. I know Hacienda Lakes went through the big review as well. And the -- you know, one of the reasons why they have those big preserves, they were able to use those preserve areas as mitigation, put those under conservation easement in exchange for the area that they were impacting. I wasn't involved in Verona Walk, so I don't know what they may or may not have gone through. Based on -- based on the mapping, they're in that primary habitat, and they should have gone through that same review if it was done after that zone was established. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Any other questions for Mr. Hall? MR. YOVANOVICH: I forgot to mention one other thing. When I was doing my math, I had mentioned the number 95 instead of 85. The reason I -- I mention that -- and this is really up to the Commission. Pulte is willing to do the entire 95 townhomes at the 100 percent category if the Commission prefers that than having a few market-rate units in the townhomes. Obviously the rest of the Page 277 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 271 project is going to be market rate, so it's still going to be a mixture of product within the community. But if the Commission would prefer 95 units versus 85 units, that's your call. That's -- and if you do that, then you're talking about -- you're talking about at that point, 95 out of 169 -- you'd have 159 units that are, quote, free. So over -- over 60 percent of the, quote, free units would be -- or bonus units would be provided through the affordable housing commitment, which -- it's not giving you a whole lot of units to offset the expense of providing affordable housing as well as the other commitments that we've made towards down payment assistance and the other commitment to the environment and the environmental improvements. So that's -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I just want to clarify what you just stated. You said you could go up to 95, which is the total townhouse area, at 100 -- MR. YOVANOVICH: At the 100 percent. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: -- AMI. MR. YOVANOVICH: 100 percent AMI. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Not having the 120 anymore? MR. YOVANOVICH: No 120s. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: So it would be all 95 at 100 percent AMI. MR. YOVANOVICH: You know, I don't care what anybody says, that's a significant affordable housing commitment. No developer has done that. And if that doesn't fly you're basically telling the market-rate guys, don't even bother trying. So that's our -- I mean, I'm not going to go tit for that on all the rebuttal. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I'll get the conversation started. MR. YOVANOVICH: I think we addressed everything in Page 278 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 272 our -- I know you were paying attention when we did our presentation. So those are the highlights we wanted to hit. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I see you lit up again, Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. So I'll get the conversation started. I mean, I think we've heard from all sides and from experts, from passionate people, and I respect all of them. We say up here a lot of times "facts matter." And so even though I love and respect the passion of citizens and of developers and landowners, you know, the facts are that it was a small group of actual experts that we heard from. And so advocates are one thing. And you sort of stole my word. And I respect the advocate, and Brad certainly is a great advocate and brings detail, passion, and facts to the -- to the -- to the discussion. I will say I like how, you know, folks called me out on -- you know, when I talked about the difference between Everglades and wetlands and the conservation land and preserve. Well, the reason why that matters is you can't send me 200 emails saying, "I can't believe you're about to approve 400 homes in the Everglades and destroy that pristine, fragile environment." Then that tells me that's a person that's passionate about the environment, same as I am, but that's not what we're talking about here. So I tried to wade through those passionate citizen emails that I respect greatly, but you can't just talk off the top of your head. There is a big difference between wetlands and preserved lands and conservation land and areas that have panther impact, but it's not a panther preserve. We have to deal with facts up here and also make a -- make an educated decision using the law, but also passion, and weigh everything. I will tell you, I've been sitting up here for five years. I don't think there's any project, anything -- I think the Pope could want to Page 279 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 273 build a convent here, and we would -- we would get pushback on it. We went -- we had a meeting in here to build a medical school, and we almost had to beg to have it where any other county would be dropping rose petals at the feet of the people that want to put a medical school in their county. And so it's frustrating at times that almost no matter what it is -- and then a lot of times the passion's coming from people that live in some of the largest communities that cut down the most trees and affected the most wildlife, yet I'm sure they're happy to live where they live here, and that's what makes these jobs difficult, weighing, you know, when do we stop? When do we not? That sort of thing. But a lot of times you hear a lot of passion and not facts. Here's what disappoints me the most. There's only one time where both sides came together before they came here and just dumped the problem in front of the Commissioners, and it happened to be in my county [sic], and it was at the corner of Lely and Collier. There's a little strip of land there that Stock Development owns, and it was zoned commercial. And the citizens -- there was a huge uproar that -- initially. "Don't rezone it residential." You know, "We don't want more apartments." And then when we had some town hall meetings -- much like Commissioner Hall, you know, he brought back people for the West Mercato -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Mercato. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- because it was the same thing, wanted to separate rumor from fact. I did a similar thing. Once the citizens got a little bit more informed that if we left it commercial, there'd actually be way more traffic, it would be way more unsightly. You know, the condos that are on the other side looking right at the -- at the piece of property would be looking at the back of basically dumpsters of restaurants and strip mall, you know, Page 280 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 274 type things where now what's going to get built there is -- it's been downsized significantly because the citizens and the developers came together. And if you guys remember that meeting, the HOA president stood right at that podium right next to a member of Stock Development, and they said, "Commissioners, you don't even have to debate this. We've done it for you. And we have 13 different requirements," and they held up a piece of paper. I don't know if you were part of this, Mr. Yovanovich, but this is the only one success story I've ever seen since I've been here. And they said, "They've already agreed to these 13 things, so we 100 percent support the rezone and the new redesign of the development, and that's what's going to go there, and then we are going to hold them to those 13 things." I had Brad Cornell in my office yesterday. Maybe we all did. I love the slide that says "landowner options," but where I'm disappointed is between the Planning Commission and now, I can't believe that you guys didn't exchange phone numbers. And, you know, you're shocked by the landowner slide. He's shocked by the TDRs and the number and the things that you're proposing. It helps us when there's communication. And maybe that's not required, but if we're trying to sort of work together, and if we really do care about the environment and animals and all the different things, I'm really disappointed that there hasn't been that sort of conversation. But, like I said, it's not required. So that's my statement. My question for you, Mr. Yovanovich, is I'd like to hear your rebuttal or comments on the list of landowner options that Brad put on his slide. I will tell you when he was in my office, I was like, "God, those all sound like great ideas." "So let's take them one by one. Are there really six or seven Page 281 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 275 different organizations that have money that would buy the land?" "Well, no, probably not, but, you know, it's something that could be looked into." Okay. Let's go to the second one, because I was as excited as maybe the citizens in the audience here, hey, there's maybe options to explore. It's not, you know, a development or no development. But you've got to -- you've got to also flush those things out. You can -- you can throw a bunch of Jello at the wall and hope something sticks, but I didn't -- in the meeting in my office with Mr. Cornell -- and I say this with all respect if there was something that was -- I even asked him, "Would the Audubon Society buy that property? Would the Conservancy buy that property? Have you -- have you had meetings with them? Do the citizens all want to kick in money and" -- I love what -- what was her name? Margaret Bradley. She probably was the most eloquent speaker because she really sort of talked about both sides. But said, you know, you've got to really have some maturity when it comes to what's going on here. But, you know, Mr. Yovanovich, anything on the landowner options that you think we should -- we should take a continuance, kick this for two weeks, and you're going to explore the eight options or whatever the number was that's on that slide as being viable and work with Mr. Cornell because he's worked hard to flush those out? MR. YOVANOVICH: No. At the end of the day, he was committing other people's potential money, and those people have not come forward nor has he -- nor has he gone to them and said, "Hey, Rich, it's worth having a conversation." No, we're not aware -- we're not aware of any money that's really on the table to come buy this piece of property. There's a whole lot of maybe, could have, would have, should haves. You know, we're happy to sell Brad's -- his organization the land for the -- you know, for -- I mean, I'm sure the developer will say, Page 282 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 276 "Rich, we want to develop it," but if -- the farmers, the current owners will take the same amount of money from somebody else. That money doesn't exist. The cost to do a mitigation bank is not -- you've got to improve the lands. You've got to do a whole lot of stuff. And then you've got to hope someone's going to buy those mitigation credits. That's all pie in the sky. It doesn't exist. It's not an easy solution. We've thought about those options. They just -- they're not real options. They're theoretical options that just are not there. They don't exist. You -- Conservation Collier's the solution to buying every piece of vacant land in Collier County. How many times have I been here where they say, "Conservation Collier ought to buy this land." You know, it's somebody's budget. They want -- the general public should pay to fix the hydrology. You have a developer who's going to fix the hydrology. The general public should buy houses for affordable housing. Now a developer's going to provide that affordable housing. It's got to be a public/private partnership to solve these issues. We're the private. All we're asking for is the ability to move forward on a piece of property that's been impacted at a low density in exchange for 95 affordable housing units at the 100 percent category for sale. That's a real option. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So I'll see what my colleagues think, but I don't know of too many developers that have brought this -- this type of proposal and this many positives to the table. I'm not sitting here saying it's a slam dunk. I'm not saying -- like I said at the beginning, no matter how we vote, half of the people are going to walk out of this room unhappy. It doesn't matter how we vote. So we have to sit here and look at the facts. You know, it's -- I appreciate you bringing your experts, but I also put the most stock into the experts from the County. And I can tell you right now, Mr. Bosi, Jaime Cook, anybody else, Cormac Page 283 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 277 Giblin, who is our housing expert, if any of those folks thought this was a bad option for the County -- and they've said it before at the podium. "Hey, this isn't something that -- it's got a lot of issues with it." This thing's been fleshed out quite a bit. I would -- I'd feel more happy if there was more communication between the two sides. Like I said, I realize it's not required, but it certainly makes it much -- much more helpful and professional. But having said that -- and going to 85 or 95, I mean, it -- all those things are a difference, but I would hope there's no commissioner up here that would say, "I'm a definite no. Oh, you just added 10. Okay. Well, I'm a definite yes now." I'm looking at the overall project. We don't own the land. There's a lot of people that came to the podium and almost made it sound like, "Well, the County should just keep it a zoo, should just keep it a farm." This is somebody that owns the land, and they're allowed to request this. We're allowed to shoot it down, and we might, and we might. But we also have to look at, you know, the viability of what's really realistic. And, you know, I'll turn it over to my colleagues here. I'm looking at all the positives. And I basically made two lists of the things that I think are the positives and what the experts said, the thing that I have that are concerns. And I have more on the positive side, but at times -- that's where I really value what my colleagues say. Sometimes, you know, especially like Commissioner McDaniel, he'll really talk about TDRs and educate us on his depth in his third term here about different land-use things and that sort of thing. And so, you know, I think we should all hear from each other and see if there's something we're missing -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We're trying. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- or if something that, you know, my four colleagues value the same as me. Page 284 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 278 CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Saunders. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm going to kind of ramble a little bit, and I apologize for that. I've got about five pages of notes. I will tell you I've gone back and forth on this thing. I can't tell you how many times I've changed my mind as I've listened to the petitioner and I've listened to the public. And I sort of come down to a couple things. First of all, one of the things that makes this hard is we're looking at a property owner that's got a piece of property that's a problem, and we try to solve problems, but we also have a community that is struggling with rapid growth, we're struggling with roads that are clogged, and we have a plan in place that theoretically kind of deals with the issues of development, and that's our Growth Management Plan, and that's our -- all of the policies we have in place dealing with the Sending areas and the Receiving areas. And so I kind of come back to what kind of a precedent are we setting where we have a Receiving area or a Sending area -- perhaps this should have been a Receiving area instead of a Sending area. I don't have an issue with that. But we have a Comprehensive Plan in place that we believe will be the pattern for keeping this county beautiful, protecting the environment. And we're dealing with a property owner that has run into a collision with that plan. And I'm concerned that we solve that property owner's problem, well, there's going to be the next one and the next one and the next one. Also, are we setting some sort of a precedent here that creates a problem? I understand that the experts have talked -- have spoken in support of this project. I understand our staff has supported this. But our staff has also pointed out that part of the reason that they're recommending approval is the public benefit, and that public benefit Page 285 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 279 is the workforce and affordable housing. That's a judgment call. Do I believe that that benefit is sufficient enough to outweigh the potential costs which are precedential value of this, the issue of do we really want to protect this pristine environment that we have in this community? I keep going back and forth on this. I've got friends I've worked with for years that are part of the development team. I trust them. I know that they're honorable, honest people. I know when they say something at the podium that they're telling the truth, not -- they're not shading anything. And I know the people on the other side are very passionate, and our staff is very passionate about these things. So it's a judgment call. And I'm kind of leaning towards the judgment of that this project, though it's got tremendous public benefit, those benefits don't outweigh the potential cost to this. Those benefits don't outweigh the fact that we've got a plan in place and we keep trying to change it piece by piece by piece. A couple years ago, we were dealing with Immokalee Road and some of the land-use and Comprehensive Plan changes that were coming before us on that, and we talked about, well, we're making these piecemeal changes. Well, these piecemeal changes add up. And right now I'm coming down on that I'm not going to support this project. It's not that I believe that this project in and of itself is a terrible project. I think that what's been put together is probably a beautiful project. And there is public benefit, but I don't think it outweighs the negative aspects, which are the precedence, the fact that we're going to have the next property owner that's in a Receiving area or a Sending area that's going to have a similar type of a problem. Also, I will -- I will say that I'm not convinced that because a piece of property, a farm is impacted that it's lost its environmental value. We're talking about the long-term future here. We're not Page 286 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 280 talking about what this property's going to look like tomorrow or 10 years or 20 years from now, but what is it going to look like 50 years from now? So if you look at it long-range, as everybody has said, the environment tends to repair itself over time. So I think there are other alternatives that we might want to take a look at. Now, this is not a Conservation Collier piece of property because it doesn't fit all those molds. It doesn't mean we can't say to Conservation Collier, this is a valuable piece of property. We are willing to purchase this property for more than what the appraised value would be at a farm, recognizing that there's a lot of sweat and tears that have gone into that property, so that the property owner can come out reasonably well with it. There are -- I think there are ways we can do that. That would take some creative thinking. But I'm coming down on that I'm concerned about this piecemeal approach that we're taking and what the long-term future of this community looks like. Our environment is the most important aspect, most important characteristic of this community that's made it a wonderful place to be. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you, Chairman. I'm going to ramble a little bit. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You're all ramblers. COMMISSIONER HALL: First of all, property owners have the right to ask. They have the right to come forth with a good plan to put together. Listening to community, listening to the people that are putting all the pieces of the puzzle together, they have the right to do that. Whether it's Sending Lands, whether it's Receiving Lands, whether it's Neutral, I really don't care. All of the changes that have come forth were really thought out Page 287 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 281 well. You know, from the TDRs, the culverts, the notice of burns, the littoral plantings, the -- you know, going to 95 percent [sic] affordable -- affordability. All that's very well thought out. The $170,000 down payment assistance, I mean, every single thing was a positive for their plan, but what it boils down to with me is, you know, it's not -- it's not about the animals. It's not about the panthers. It's not about the birds. It's not about any of that. I love the animals. What I don't want is the people out there. We have -- we have never turned down a project that's just creeped and creeped and creeped. I'm not calling it sprawl. I'm not going to do that. But this is outside the line. We've already got one encroachment into the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District, and that's right there on the north. That's Hacienda. Justifying another one is not justified. What it boils down to me for -- and I've said this in the last two or three meetings so it shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. I'm not -- I'm fed up with increasing the density and building projects to get a token amount of public benefit with affordable housing. If this project was 50 percent affordable housing in this spot, I would turn it down because it's not enough public benefit for me. Every person I talk to -- it's not me. I'm not sitting up here coming up with my own stuff. Every person I talk to, "Commissioner, when are you going to stop the building? When are you going to stop the density? When are you going to stop this? When are you going to stop that?" I said, you know what, all I can do is try. I'm going to stop it. I'm not going to vote for this project. It doesn't have anything to do -- (Applause.) COMMISSIONER HALL: It doesn't have anything to do with the owners. They have -- they've got a problem with this farm, and my heart goes out to them because there's not a real good solution, but it's not the people's responsibility to fix that problem. Page 288 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 282 We have to decide whether we want to change our Future Land Use Element, and I don't want to change it. We have a Comp Plan; I want to stick to it. And we have 5,000 units that are not out of the ground yet affordability-wise. You can say "But this -- Commissioner, this was a for-sale." You know what, it was a for-sale, but 22 percent at the 95 units is not enough benefit for me to come out there and mess up this Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District. So, you know, it's -- somebody said earlier it's death by a thousand cuts. It's death by a thousand cuts. I'm drawing the line on the increasing the density for a little bit of public benefit. Now, there would be 95 people that would benefit, but there would also be 328 market homes on our roads, you know, at our intersections to get that small amount, and that's just not enough for me. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner LoCastro is next -- Bill, did you want to go? COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Did you want to go next? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I mean, I'll go next or you can. Either way. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: No. I agree with everything that Commissioner Saunders and Commissioner Hall said. I just also think that the landowner is also one of our constituents. I think it would be irresponsible for us to just vote no and say, "See ya. Bye. Good luck." So I like what Commissioner Saunders had to say, do we reconvene? I mean, we run Conservation Collier. Do we -- and also, is there anything that was on Brad Cornell's slide that maybe he didn't -- he didn't vet out, you didn't vet out, but is any of that possible? And maybe we go down the line, and it's all not possible. But I think for us to just vote no and say, "Hey, I'm really sorry about your farm, bye," I think we have more responsibility than that. Page 289 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 283 So I'm not sitting here advocating for the homes, but I think we -- you're also our constituents, and we're also here to represent you. So working together and figuring out if we are going to preserve this land, not just saying, "Too bad, so bad, you know. Hope you find another farmer that can tear up all the land and put in all new orange groves and whatnot," I don't think that's realistic. So, you know, if that means reconvening and coming back here and having our Collier -- Conservation Collier team come to the podium, if there's other organizations -- you know, Brad Cornell and a whole host of other environmental groups are following this, if they want to come forward and give us an answer. I think our job here is not just say to yes or no, but it's to help solve problems. So if the building is not going to solve a problem -- and I don't disagree with anything my colleagues said -- I think we still have a responsibility to figure out -- you're not going to be orange grove farmers anymore. Can't. The land doesn't support it. What is possible? So I'd like to see us come back here. And if this -- I mean, you need four votes. You've already got two maybe three that are kind of not supportive of it. But what I am supportive of is trying to figure out the best possible solution. And some of those environmental organizations have our ear. We have an environmental organization that falls on us that we work with closely in Conservation Collier. I think we still have a responsibility to walk out of this room and figure out the best way to protect, to utilize, whatever the right term is, that piece of property because you're our constituent as well. And there's a lot of people that were -- that spoke passionately at the podium that even gave you praise, "Thank you for all that you've done for your community." I bet you there's more than a handful on this side that do care what happens to your family, and it's not just, Page 290 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 284 "Hey, sorry. Sell it for five cents an acre," and you know, it just -- you know, "It sucks to be an orange grove farmer right now." None of us, I think, feel that way. So I want to help find an answer that is the best possible solution not only for your family but for this part of Collier County. And so I think there are several things that were kicked around here that need to be vetted to see if there is another alternative. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Now I'm ready. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I want to do -- I know we're going on seven hours now with this particular item, and we still have work to do after you guys leave this room, believe it or not. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm ready to go now. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Can I just give the court reporter a little break? I've got a message that -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You're going to miss my -- you're going to miss my -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Are you all right? Can you go? COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: You're going to miss the best? THE COURT REPORTER: (Nods head.) CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Ten minutes. You pick the time, Chair. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: If she's okay, we'll go on. I mean, I kind of got a little message that it's time to take a break. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I don't care. It's all good. If you want to take a break, let's go. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Let's finish this item, because I think we're at the end of this particular -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Sorry. I tried. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Are you all right? You going to make it? Because you're not -- she's not the only one that's Page 291 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 285 hurting. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: She's tough. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, Commissioner McDaniel. Thank you. I want to say this. And I've told -- I told you this yesterday or the day -- yesterday when we met. I've had a difficult time with this project. I was a hard no on this at the transmittal hearing. I didn't like this project. It was -- it was a lot for me, a lot in a not appropriate location for what was being requested. There's an enormous amount of public benefit that comes with this. Can that public benefit be attained in another manner? That's yet to be determined. Nobody's come forward to offer any alternatives as of yet. Enormous amount of drainage issues. The folks that live on Sabal Palm that spoke got my heart. There's all kinds of rehydration efforts that are going on to the north of Sabal Palm, and Tim called it what I called it yesterday when we were talking about the damn dam, Sabal Palm itself. No one contemplated the rehydration efforts of $1.6 billion worth of pumps out in the Picayune moving water and rehydrating up north and then not having the proper capacity to move that water south. Can that be accomplished in another manner? I don't know. That is accomplished here, theoretically, if your hydrologist's modeling is, in fact, correct. I'm -- I've been sitting up here, and I don't -- I don't usually go back and forth. I'm usually for or not for, and this particular instance I don't think it's time to say no. I think that we -- I can count noses. I mean, right now my move is to make a motion to continue the item, do further exploration, and come back with a different approach. MR. YOVANOVICH: That was -- I would like to give Page 292 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 286 Commissioner Saunders' option time, see if there is another option. I mean, I think that -- I think what he was suggesting was maybe there is another option. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. So I was going to make that motion, but I'll second that motion. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You can do it. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Well, I'll make -- I'll make the -- I'll second that motion. We're all paddling the same direction. But what I would -- what I would echo is, please be more aggressive in you-all communicating. If you just leave this room and come back in two weeks and we just pick up where we left off, I don't think we've done anything good for anybody here, the community, the landowner, the County. So now you can't force that. I mean, I remember I had an issue in another part of my district, and basically I told the other side, please meet with Mr. Yovanovich, and you know how that went. They went to your office, said, "We're not here to meet with you. We don't really want to talk." I think you have people here that are more communicative and more professional, and I think there's other options. So I'll make the motion or second the motion that we continue this, look at other possible options that would be fair to the landowner and I think even the people here that want to -- that don't want to see houses built there aren't looking to kick the landowner to the curb. A lot of them were very complimentary. But that would be my motion that -- and not that we necessarily come back in two weeks. The timing is up to you. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I was going to say, the timing with advertising is an issue. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. MR. YOVANOVICH: I would prefer that you leave it Page 293 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 287 open-ended. We may have to readvertise. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. Well, you'd have to. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah. We would have to probably readvertise -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That was my question. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: -- once we get to a solution -- MR. YOVANOVICH: Right. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: -- or attempted solution. MR. YOVANOVICH: Right. And so I would like to leave it open-ended. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: All right. MR. YOVANOVICH: I'm happy to meet with Brad just about any time. Brad knows where my office is, I think. I'll go to his office. I've always been willing to talk. I've had instances where people just show up to my office to say, "You know what, we're not going to talk." We're willing to talk, always been willing to talk. If they -- if we can find another option to be fair property owner -- that may not be in Pulte -- in John's best interest, but the property owner has an -- should -- you know, they may have to pick up the tab from this point forward, but they should be given the opportunity to talk. And hopefully Brad's right, maybe there's another way to get to exactly the same place. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Well, I think this case is going to get enough publicity, enough coverage, I hope, and there might be an organization out there, and even the citizens. You know, a lot of you said a lot of passionate things. Don't just go home and hope that this all works out. There's a lot of influential people in the communities that are right around this area. Help us come to a solution. Bring some people to the table. It might be a collection, a group of environmental organizations that have an idea, an option. Page 294 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 288 And so, you know, we're public servants, but in a way so are the citizens. So I think we're all sitting here saying we want the right thing to happen. And I think we're heading in that direction. So there's -- maybe the solution is something we haven't even thought about. It's not just Conservation Collier or nothing. There's a lot of people here that are passionate about protecting this land, and I'd love to see several options come to the table. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Hall, you were queued up next, so... COMMISSIONER HALL: I just -- I don't mind kicking it down the road, but this is what we have to decide, whether we're going to rezone or not or change the FLUE. If we want to do something else, I'll be glad to have that conversation. But I'm not going to support changing the Comp Plan, and I don't think that we need to kick that down the road just to come up with another solution. The other solution's not going to include this. MR. YOVANOVICH: It may. You may have to amend the Comp Plan to implement a solution to do something other than what's in front of you today. So I would hate to start all over and go back to three years' worth of work. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Saunders. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, first of all, what I was thinking was that this is a piece of property that is valuable from an environmental standpoint. I would certainly volunteer to work with Mr. Yovanovich and the property owner to come up with some sort of a value to see if there's a value that would satisfy the property owner. Continuing this just generally, I guess I have a concern with that because we've got two commissioners that have said we're not going to support this project. We've got hundreds of people that are kind of on the edge of their seats. If we continue this, they're going to still be Page 295 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 289 on the edge of their seats because they're not going to know if this is going to come back, you know, three months from now, and all of a sudden we're going to sneak it through. And so I just -- I just think that we need to dispose of that petition tonight. I will volunteer to work with Mr. Yovanovich to see if there's -- and of course, and perhaps it's really working with the property owner -- to see if there's a solution. Are you thinking -- is what you're thinking that maybe there's a low-density development? Is that -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: No. Well, first off, let me just say this is my district, so I'll volunteer to work with the attorney and with the landowner. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: No, no. I'm out of it. I've been told that it's Commissioner LoCastro's district, and I agree with that. So I'm out of it, but -- so -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I mean, it doesn't preclude any of us from talking with Mr. Yovanovich and everything separately as what -- but as far as, like, the team approach and, you know, my -- I think everybody knows my phone number as well. But I agree with you, I think we don't -- we don't have the appetite for this -- or the approval for this project, so I don't know what the right course of action is. Do we have to -- we take a motion to vote against this and changing the zoning and whatnot, and then -- you know, let's make sure we're doing this correctly. MR. YOVANOVICH: Well, here's my thought. There's nothing that says we can't modify the text of the Comp Plan amendment to do some of the things that Commissioner Saunders is discussing. I'd hate to start over and go through the expense of doing this. We heard loud and clear that a 423-unit project is not going to get approved. That doesn't mean that something else that Brad and others can agree to that would result in a tweak, maybe a significant Page 296 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 290 tweak to what's there, and not have to start over and start a two-year odyssey again. We're just asking for that continuance for that period to discuss potential options. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: As long as we leave the continuance open -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: That means we didn't approve it. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- we don't have to -- we don't -- it still allows them to not put away the good that has, in fact, been offered up as of yet. It allows an -- it allows for other alternatives to come through to provide viability, so I think we should continue the item. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, Mr. Chairman, we have a motion and second. Why don't we just go ahead and call for the vote then. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. So we have a motion to continue it? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: And a second. All in favor of continuing it -- oh, God. I can't even talk anymore -- please identify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. Oppose continuing it? COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: So I have 3-2. We only need three to continue, correct? Four to pass. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Correct. Page 297 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 291 CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. So we're continued. Look for other options. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We going on a break? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah. Let's go on a break right now. So we'll be back. Make it a 15-minute break. (A recess was had from 7:00 p.m. to 7:16 p.m.) (Commissioner Saunders is absent for the remainder of the meeting.) MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic. Chair? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. We're going to -- we still have work to do. There's nobody left in the audience. MS. PATTERSON: All right. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: You understand Commissioner Saunders had to go to a commitment? MS. PATTERSON: Okay. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: So he departed the property. So you know it's the four of us left. MS. PATTERSON: Okay. Well, we do have -- we have two items left. Item #12A RESOLUTION 2026-17: APPOINT THOMAS SABOURIN TO THE COASTAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE. - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HALL – ADOPTED MS. PATTERSON: We are onto Item 12A, which is formerly 16K1. This is a recommendation to appoint Thomas Sabourin to the Coastal Advisory Committee. This item was moved to the regular agenda at Commissioner McDaniel's request. Page 298 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 292 COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. And if I may, I'd like to go ahead and make a motion to approve the gentleman that was recommended to be approved. I found out that the position that's available on the Coastal Advisory Committee is for an unincorporated resident. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And Scott's in the city. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah, he's a city resident. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I missed that correl- -- I didn't know the other fellow from Adam. And he obviously is a nice fellow, but I didn't know him. But I'll make a motion for his approval. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All right. So we have a motion for his approval. Have we got a second? COMMISSIONER HALL: Second. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: We've got a motion and a second by Commissioner Hall. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Ayes have it. It passed. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: It did? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: It did. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: It did? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Then we've got 12B. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: 12B, I believe. COMMISSIONER HALL: It's about the removal of the exotics. MS. PATTERSON: It went back -- it went back to summary, so we're good on that one. Okay. All right. Sorry. We're having a sidebar. Page 299 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 293 Item #12B PROCLAMATION/RESOLUTION 2026-18: A PROCLAMATION DECLARING A LOCAL STATE OF EMERGENCY TO REPAIR PRIVATE, IMPASSABLE ROADS WITHIN UNINCORPORATED COLLIER COUNTY WHICH POSE A THREAT TO THE HEALTH, SAFETY, AND WELFARE OF COLLIER COUNTY CITIZENS AND FINDING A VALID PUBLIC PURPOSE FOR EXPENDING PUBLIC FUNDS TO IMMEDIATELY REPAIR PRIVATE, IMPASSABLE ROADS. - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO – ADOPTED MS. PATTERSON: All right. That brings us to Item 12B, formerly 16K19. This is a recommendation to approve a proclamation declaring a local state of emergency to repair private impassable roads within unincorporated Collier County which pose a threat to the health, safety, and welfare of Collier County citizens, and finding a valid public purpose for expending public funds to immediately repair private, impassable roads. This one did have an updated fiscal impact of $1,238,800 and is being moved to the regular -- or was moved to the regular agenda at Commissioner LoCastro's request. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. Crystal, this informative booklet here, did every commissioner get one? MS. KINZEL: Yes. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. So here's all I would say -- and I'll be brief. It's been a long day. Amy and I talked about this a bit. This has to do with the Six L Farm road being unpassable, right, basically? And others, right? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It has to do with 78 miles in Page 300 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 294 our county that are still unpassable. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, and others. Usually we sort of -- at least from my district, so point well taken. So I'll just say in summary, it's great to hear 10 reasons why we can't do something. I think we need to figure out what we can do. So I could read 100 volumes of things that say illegal, immoral, unethical, illegal, immoral, unethical. Okay. Then what's our direction to the citizens of all these unpassable roads? Because I will tell you, if my grandmother lived at the end of the unpassable road and had a heart attack -- what's more concerning to me are the letters we got from EMS saying, "We're worried we can't -- we can't make it through those roads." And I think if I sent them a copy of this, I'd be embarrassed to do that. And not that this isn't -- this isn't valuable, it is, but we have to come up with an answer of how we're going to be able to make those -- bring those roads up to standard. And what I don't want to talk about for three hours is what the citizens should have done and it's a -- we got that, okay. Nobody's got a DeLorean. We're not going back in time and getting the citizens to do what they should have done in many cases. But what can we do now? So I don't know if this is something -- you know, I think it's something that we -- should be continued. I just got this on my desk today. We probably all did. As I was flipping through it, it's like, there's, you know, a whole lot of things in here that we can't do, but I would like to know what we can do. Go ahead, sir. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, he's -- there's somebody ahead of me. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner Hall was ahead of you. COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you, Chairman. Page 301 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 295 I have two things that concern me about this, and they may be able to be worked out. The one of them is declaring an emergency when we don't have an emergency just to say that we can get to the -- and the other thing was in lieu -- in align with that -- along with that, is it only lasts for 42 days. Now, we may be able to get around that in some kind of way, but those were the two things that I understood -- I just didn't have peace about declaring an emergency when we don't have one. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. And now for the rest of the story. I -- we have been working on this circumstance forever, and it preceded this entire board, clear back -- ever since time in memorial. There are multiple ways to cure this issue. My suggestion is the County Attorney and I -- and he has told me that by the declaration of emergency we stay in the envelope of allowable expenditure of public -- public funds on private property. Regardless -- I mean, the Clerk gave me the book -- I haven't read it yet. I will, I promise. I usually don't read your stuff, but I will read it. But the bottom line is, the County Attorney, who I rely upon to give me legal advice as to what we can and can't do, has recommended that we do the declaration of emergency, which is what this is for. Second -- in part to that, we are going to the AG for an opinion of the AG to ensure that we don't engage a contractor, hire a contractor, and then she's feeling obligated or being told that she can't do it because of a legality. That will lift that shroud. And so my suggestion is go forward with the declaration of emergency. We'll then submit -- we may need to continue the item or do whatever we need to do timewise until we get the AG's opinion Page 302 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 296 back, but that should lift the veil with the Clerk with regard to whether or not she can, in fact, hire the contractor. The good news about all this, because of what our Clerk has brought forward, by the methodology that's, in fact, been put in place, there was 110, 111 miles of private roads that weren't being tended before. Now, with this opt-out provision that the County Attorney worked -- and I worked with, we have formal written commitments from property owners on those lands to tend that -- those 40-some-odd miles that weren't there before. So there's bonuses coming out of these -- what we feel -- what I feel like are gyrations. They're not gyrations. But my suggestion is, our -- our County Attorney has said with this -- I don't -- she's standing there at the podium. But with this declaration of emergency, this helps the cause with regard to this methodology. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: And before I go to you, Commissioner, I just want some clarity. And since the attorneys are here -- when I spoke to the attorney and when I asked -- I posed the question, I think -- I think in his legal mind or mindset was if we just go to the AG and ask if we can use public money for private roads, I think he knew the answer already. I think this was an avenue to get something in front of the Attorney General's Office with this mindset. I don't think this was to declare the emergency. This was just a mindset to get another opinion if we went this route and get an opinion on this route, not that we're declaring anything and not doing anything until we get an opinion. Is that clear, or is that -- MS. ASHKAR: If I may, Sally Ashkar, Assistant County Attorney. So the reason that this is before you today is that there is an existing AG opinion that says if there is a declared state of emergency, then public funds may be expended for private use. In this case, it would be for the roadway. Page 303 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 297 CHAIRMAN KOWAL: But that's state. You just said state; "declared state of emergency." MS. ASHKAR: Yes. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: So that would have to come from the Governor's office. MS. ASHKAR: No, sir. Under chapter -- COMMISSIONER HALL: State of -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Oh. As in state, okay. MS. ASHKAR: Yes, sir. So -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And we -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Let her finish, because this is -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm sorry. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: This is something that I was trying to get clarity on, and I don't know if I got clarity, so I want to hear what you -- MS. ASHKAR: Yes, sir. So Chapter 252 of the Florida Statutes is the emergency management power statute in the state of Florida, and that gives local governments the broad powers to declare state of emergencies. And to answer Commissioner Hall's question from earlier, "emergency" is a very broad definition under that statute. It means any occurrence or threat, whether natural, technological, or man-made which results or may result in substantial injury or harm to the population or substantial damage to or loss of property. So that broad definition of emergency gives us the ability as a local government to declare that state of emergency in this case to be able to fix those roads. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. So by that means, then -- by your definition, then, we have an ordinance with Conservation Collier that if we declare a state of emergency, we can use their funds? Page 304 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 298 COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Correct. MS. ASHKAR: Yes. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: That's one option. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's an option. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: It's an option. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's not the option being proposed for this right now, but that's an option. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I know. I'm just saying, because the way that's verbalized -- and we created that ordinance. COMMISSIONER HALL: Make a motion to declare emergency. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: We created that ordinance -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm trying to do that. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: -- in a way. And what you're saying -- MR. TEACH: Commissioner, I could tell you in other context, in procurement and construction context, there's case law out there that says that if the Board determines there is an emergency, there's deference to what you determine is an emergency. So, basically, what you say is an emergency is an emergency. In this context, I don't have the background that Sally has, but I know in other contexts in the state of Florida, whatever you deem is an emergency will be accepted as an emergency. MS. ASHKAR: And that definition in the state statute is consistent with what Mr. Teach just told you. And so based on that prior AG opinion that says that in a declared state of emergency those public funds may be expended to repair private roads, and we've got a specific AG that says that, that's the reason for this being before you -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: That's what I thought. MS. ASHKAR: -- so that when we do go to the AG we can say, "Look, you've already got this AG opinion from years prior that says Page 305 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 299 if you have a declared state of emergency we can move forward with this MSTU." And so that is the purpose of this. Commissioner Hall, to answer your other question about the dating on this, what we can do is make the effective date of the state of emergency after we get the AG opinion back. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah. That's what I was hoping, that it would be after the fact of the AG opinion. MS. ASHKAR: Of course, depending on the result. So if the result is in our favor, then, of course, we would simply date the state of emergency after we receive that opinion to give us the full 42 days. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Do we have to revisit it, though? I think that was the other question. MS. ASHKAR: There's an extension, so it can be extended. So based on the time frames in the statute, it would have to come back for an extension. But other than that, the total time frame is 42 days, and that's all you would have to do. COMMISSIONER HALL: It comes in seven-day increments. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah, seven-day increments, that's what I understand. MS. ASHKAR: Exactly, exactly. COMMISSIONER HALL: So just let me be clear, the emergency would be that we can't get down the roads and the people's health and people's welfare are in jeopardy. So it's not like a state of emergency where we have to have a flood or a tornado or a hurricane? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Correct. MS. ASHKAR: Correct. And you can also think about it, Commissioner, from the perspective of evacuations, wildfires, the spreading of wildfires -- COMMISSIONER HALL: Okay. MS. ASHKAR: -- to be able to access the areas. If we can't get Page 306 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 300 there, those wildfires will spread, as, you know, flooding and other types of natural disasters and things like that. So this is a preemptive measure to address that need. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah. I just didn't want this to be a vote that leaves this dais tonight, and then Trinity goes out hires somebody to fix these road, and the AG comes back and says, "Oh, no, you can't do that." MS. ASHKAR: We are still going to proceed with the AG -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I just want to make sure we're still going to proceed with the AG -- MS. ASHKAR: We are still going to proceed, but this gives us teeth so -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah, that's what I thought. It was kind of a way of going around it to get an opinion. MS. ASHKAR: Yeah, it gives us teeth. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Well, I just want to remind everyone -- I don't want to debate the semantics of state of emergency. If it helps us or hurts us, you know, you do whatever you think's best. But I just want to remind everyone, when -- like you said, we've been talking about this for a while, and I don't know about you-all, but I got several letters from EMS folks because like you said, it's not just my Six L Farm road -- it's many more -- but that's the one I'm focused on that actually sent letters that talked about an emergent need. And, you know, when you have EMS saying, "We're really worried about being able to go down and save a life" -- I mean, I can dig those letters out. We had -- some of those were just -- were verbal conversations. But there was a -- when we first started talking about this, our first responders felt this was an emergent requirement to solve. Page 307 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 301 MS. ASHKAR: Yes, sir. When you have your Emergency Services division saying, "We can't access the area," who better to tell you that there's an emergency. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: If I can just reiterate -- CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Go ahead, Commissioner McDaniel. I'll take you off the list. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Good. I am still president of the Corkscrew Island Neighborhood Association when Coletta tapped me 25 years ago, because we used to establish MSTUs for private roads, and he wanted to do one individually for the Corkscrew Swamp area, No. 1. Number 2, I lost a friend on Frangi -- or on Lilac, who -- because we couldn't get an ambulance in there to get him when he had his heart attack. And this -- this path that we're on right now has been done in the past. We have established a state of emergency on Platt Road twice and spent an inordinate amount of money fixing Platt Road which was the access point that the ambulance needed to do to get to my friend on Lilac. So this -- what we're -- what we're proposing here hasn't not been done. The Clerk's Office has been able to pay under a -- under a declaration of emergency. We have expended public money on private property and fixed those roads in the past. For your brain, my plan is, staff's looking at this. We're aware of these circumstances on these -- on these -- on the condition of these roads. We had fire, EMS, and Sheriff go inspect. All three of them gave us reports and rated these roads. This -- the estimates of this -- my battle plan is is once this construction and the repairs are complete, then -- because we're going to lift the cap. Remember we Page 308 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 302 set a one mil cap on this tax? We're going to lift the cap and then allow for an appropriate charge to go back to the roads that we're, in fact, going to fix so that it's not burdening the rest of the people for the balance of the ongoing expenses. So there's more to this than just this. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: No, I agree, I agree. I just felt we wanted to make sure we had clarity on this step what we're going to take into consideration today. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: So I have nobody else lit up. Do you have anything else you want to add? MS. ASHKAR: I have nothing else. I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll move for approval. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Second. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I have a move for approval and a second. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. MS. KINZEL: Commissioner. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Oh, Lord. I didn't even see you standing there. MS. KINZEL: That's okay. I just -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Oh, Lord. MS. KINZEL: -- did want to put on the record that we agreed, obviously, that we were moving forward with the Attorney General Opinion. Commissioner McDaniel, please do read the totality of the packet that I have provided you. There's quite a bit of information. Page 309 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 303 Because there are specific examples in the AG already put forward that whether an ambulance or a school bus or any of those things cannot go on a road does not make it a public purpose. And so I think the problem and the difference of declaring an emergency right away and doing some repairs right away, the difference here is that it is purely private property not accessible to the public, and those are some of the differences that we can explain in the AGO. But I did want to put on the record this came forward rather surprisingly. Because we had worked with the County Attorney's Office on the AGO. We sent them a draft of our position. They were going to add the County's position. And then this was put forward. So I provided you additional information on all the research that we've done, and we'll work it forward. I hadn't spoken to Sally till 10 minutes ago. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I'm sorry, by the way -- MS. KINZEL: But the AGO's the end. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- from me to you. MS. KINZEL: Go. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I have always contemplated being a state of emergency as a portion of what we were, in fact, doing. I didn't ever know that it wasn't part of the original transaction. So I may -- could have communicated that to you. MS. KINZEL: There are multiple definitions of the emergency and the purpose they're used. So I would say -- we will hash that out and do a proper AGO, and then we'll both get an answer. No need to argue it here, I guess, but -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We're not arguing. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Crystal, you agree there's a way that we could at least approach it? What you listed are ways that we shouldn't do it. Because I did scan this, and I was like, "Wow, Page 310 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 304 these are things we should not do," but, you know -- MS. KINZEL: Commissioner, I think there are ways that the public -- that the private individuals have to take care of their private property. We create an HOA in our private community, and we contribute to that, and that pays it. Not everything is a public purpose. And very specifically, the AGOs say just because an ambulance can't get there, it's still the individual's responsibility for their own property, where they choose to live and the repairs for those. If I don't repair my driveway, he says, "Oh, that doesn't make sense." Well, why? You need -- there are private responsibilities, and I think that's what the statute's set out to do. But let's go back and ask the people that made the laws, and I'm willing to do that. That should clear it up. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, the last thing we want to do is put you in a spot -- MS. KINZEL: Thanks. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- where you aren't willing to pay a contractor that we've hired to take care of a circumstance prevalent within our community. MS. KINZEL: And I really appreciate that. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And that's where I threw out the anchor a month or so ago -- two months ago and then brought this forward. MS. KINZEL: Correct. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: One point of clarity. You've said this multiple times on the record. These are private roads, but they are accessible by anybody that chooses to drive down them. Remember that. You said it multiple times that they're private roads and they're not accessible to the public. These are accessible to the public. You can't -- Page 311 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 305 MS. KINZEL: There's no purpose for the public to be on them; hence, they are not public roads as declared for a public road. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Not unless you're deer hunting or coming to my house. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: If you're visiting somebody, yeah. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I mean, now on some of these roads, you've got to have a four-wheel drive if you want to go down them, but you're allowed to go. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: My concern is that our job is public safety -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- and if the citizens drop the ball and they can't get there from here now because it's been too long, great. But we can't undo that. But I think we still -- it's still our responsibility for public safety. MS. KINZEL: And some of the -- and just to offer, some of the solutions, it's the same thing you do with Code Enforcement. If people have a house that's a danger to them, you cite them, but they're responsible for making the repair. And as a matter of fact, then you penalize them if they don't make the repair appropriate for their own well-being and safety. And that's probably an even-up approach as we do with other elements of private homes, private pools, private things, and something that you might want to consider. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thank you. MS. KINZEL: Thank you. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thank you, Crystal. All right. So we've got -- I guess we already took the vote. COMMISSIONER HALL: We passed it. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I didn't realize she was at the podium. Page 312 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 306 That's all right. All right. So that's been passed. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Did we vote on that? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah, we did, but then Crystal -- I didn't realize she was standing there. All right. So 12B's done. MS. PATTERSON: That brings us to Item 15, staff and Commission general communications. Item #15A PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE CURRENT OR FUTURE AGENDA BY INDIVIDUALS NOT ALREADY HEARD DURING PREVIOUS PUBLIC COMMENTS IN THIS MEETING MS. PATTERSON: 15A is public comments on general topics not on the current or future agenda by individuals not already heard during previous public comments in this meeting. MR. MILLER: I think we heard from everyone in the county already. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Thanks, Troy. Item #15B STAFF PROJECT UPDATES MS. PATTERSON: Item 15B is staff project updates. We have none. Item #15C Page 313 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 307 STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS MS. PATTERSON: That brings us to 15C, staff and Commission general communications. I'll hold anything I was going to say to the next meeting. County Attorney. MR. TEACH: No comment. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Okay. Commissioner Saunders -- oh, no, you're gone. Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: I have nothing. Commissioner LoCastro, good luck tomorrow. Prayers with you. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Oh, yeah, thank you. Tomorrow's not going to be a great day because of my mom. Do you want me to go next? CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Go ahead, Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I was going to bring up the pedestrian ordinance and e-bikes and whatnot. It's been a long day, so I'm going to table that for a future meeting, but I think it's worth possibly discussing it here to see if we've got all the details covered in there. You know, Commissioner Kowal did a great job bringing us a draft and adding more things into it, but, you know, I can tell you I was driving down Fifth Avenue yesterday and I saw four kids on e-bikes popping wheelies, going on the wrong side of the road. And I'm not saying an ordinance fixes all that. But I'm also getting emails from people that are still asking, kind of, questions. Things are a little ambiguous. Some people sent me some suggestions. So it's another time for another meeting. What I would just tell my colleagues is if you have an upcoming town hall or you have a Page 314 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 308 newsletter or something, you know, you might want to mention to citizens, "Hey, I'm looking for feedback of" -- And then what I did in my last newsletter, I attached our ordinance and said, "Here's what it says." I sort of summarized it a little, too, to make it easy, and then I did get some input. And, you know, lastly -- and I don't want to ramble, but this is important to me; it should be to all of us. So recently at the Naples Pier, right, a lot of activity, right, finally, three years later. So there were podiums and a lot of elected officials and a lot of people were making big speeches and taking a lot of credit and doing a lot of things. But I tell you where podiums weren't and where the news was absent was when our county crew -- and I've got a list of names here. People like Marshal Miller; John Benoit; Coastal Zone Management, Andy Miller; solid waste team, you know, led by Kari; Eric Short from facilities; Robert von Holle from Wastewater; we have Lisa Blacklidge; Jaime Cook; Trinity Scott; Jamie French; James Hanrahan from Parks and Rec; and a host of other people who right after the hurricane were doing unbelievable work, were performing miracles. I can tell you there was no podium or Fox News down at Caxambas when we opened it in record time at basically zero expense to the County. I didn't see any podiums at a boat launch on 951 across from Isles of Capri when I was out there with Jamie and his team, and, you know, we were standing out there by ourselves looking at this unbelievable beautiful boat launch that had been almost totally destroyed by Ian. And I'm saying that that's the same as the pier. The pier's a landmark. It's huge. I'm not taking anything away from that. But I just wanted to give a shout-out to our team who did a lot of stuff Page 315 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 309 behind the scenes and didn't get Fox News coverage. There were no podiums. I didn't see any congressmen there, you know, bragging about what a great job Collier County was doing. So to those people I just listed and the other people that they represent, thank you very much. A lot of the damage was in my district, but all of us had -- had issues. And those things, as far as I know, are -- in my district, they're all long resolved, and the outcome was beautiful and a huge improvement. And I hope, you know, the pier has the same end result. But there was a whole lot of things that happened in Collier County well before people made speeches in front of the pier bragging about that they're finally going to get started on it. So thank you to all those folks that I mentioned and everybody in between. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well said. Well said. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, sir. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I've got two. Quick like a bunny, where are we at on the fire ban? MS. PATTERSON: We haven't hit the drought index yet. I'll check in again with Chief Burn, but I did tell him that we're prepared to implement the burn ban as soon as we hit the 600 drought index. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. MS. PATTERSON: And that's the -- that's the standard that's used in forestry, et cetera. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Lean in on that. And I know every time we get to talking about it, then the good Lord sends us some rain. But we need to lean in on that -- MS. PATTERSON: Agreed. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- sooner than later. MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. Page 316 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 310 COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm watching what's going on. I mean, the hydration's good in some of -- in our wetland areas and things, but it's close, and I don't want to be late ever. MS. PATTERSON: No, sir. As soon as we get there, we'll do it. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And then probably at -- not in comparison. We all know we're about -- we are celebrating our 250th anniversary of our country, and I would like for us as a government, as our county, to do as much as we possibly can to acknowledge that, celebrate it. Some of you in the back that think up really happy things think up something really happy. And I'm looking at you, Trinity, because she thinks up happy things all the time. So I would like for -- I would like for -- some -- something to be done by our government, by our county in acknowledgment of this historic event. I'd like to see that. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: You think an event proclamation or -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, all of the above. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: All the above. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: All of the above. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I'll grab a six-pack and some sparklers. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm down. COMMISSIONER HALL: Wasn't Trinity Square Bob -- Square Pants -- Sponge Bob Square Pants or something? She dressed up. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That would -- I just -- MS. PATTERSON: Piñata. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I think that's something we ought to do. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah, for sure. It's not every time -- I remember the 200th year anniversary, 1976. Page 317 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 311 COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You weren't born yet. I was born. I was 10 years old. Stop. I'm an old man. But I just want to -- I kind of -- I'm going to -- I might as well just bring it up now, but -- I don't know if there's an appetite for it, but I've been getting a lot of -- in my district -- you know, I have a ton of gated communities with their own HOAs and their own little governments and things like that exist. And I've had a couple situations where I have HOAs, like, allow -- like, their particular board at the time allows to park, like, a small RV or something like that in their driveways, but our ordinance does not allow it. So they get these letters, and then they're getting hit from the County even though their community -- or the people they elect in their HOAs allow those type of things. And I was talking with staff and talking that maybe -- even if we put maybe an extra line or two at the end of our ordinance that puts all the responsibility back on the HOA. If that's something they allow within their gated community, put it back on them, and then, you know, like a little thing that says in there, as long as you have written permission, you know, from your HOA, you know, that ordinance -- it could be in the ordinance, but remember that if your board changes and they don't approve it anymore, then you have to abide by your HOA rules, so -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Jeff Klatzkow gave me a good two-liner that I cut and pasted. I had several that reached out to me and said, "Oh, they're making us do A, B, C, D, and E, but the County doesn't allow it." And Jeff basically, in really clean English said, "Once you drive through that gate of your HOA" -- I mean, it's not like, oh, you can do whatever you want, but the things that the people had listed that they were upset about, "Hey, that's -- if you want to live in Fiddler's Creek and they don't want you to park a boat in your driveway and you don't like that, then don't -- you don't live Page 318 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 312 in Fiddler's Creek." It was that kind of thing. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah. COMMISSIONER HALL: Subject to HOA rules. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: Yeah, subject to HOA rules, like, that pertain to RV, you know, recreational vehicle parking on their own property. Maybe we'll visit something. I can get good language written up with the staff and figure out and maybe bring that back. But I just want to thank everybody for being gentle on me today -- COMMISSIONER HALL: You did a good job. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: -- for my first chairmanship. COMMISSIONER HALL: Just 406 speakers. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: 7:44. You should be ashamed of yourself for keeping us here that long. CHAIRMAN KOWAL: I know. Maybe I'll keep you here a little longer. No. All right, guys. I appreciate it. We are adjourned. ******* ****Commissioner Hall moved, seconded by Commissioner Kowal and carried that the following items under the consent and summary agendas by approved and/or adopted**** Item #16A1 CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE BOND IN THE AMOUNT OF $37,640, WHICH WAS POSTED AS A GUARANTY FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER Page 319 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 313 PL20230006651 FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH ST. KATHERINE’S GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH – THE AS-BUILT LAKES WERE INSPECTED BY DEVELOPMENT REVIEW ON NOVEMBER 18, 2025 Item #16A2 CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE BOND IN THE AMOUNT OF $25,000, WHICH WAS POSTED AS A GUARANTY FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER PL20230003023 FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH SIENA LAKES WEST – THE AS-BUILT LAKES WERE INSPECTED BY DEVELOPMENT REVIEW ON NOVEMBER 18, 2025 Item #16A3 CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE BOND IN THE AMOUNT OF $271,708, WHICH WAS POSTED AS A GUARANTY FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER PL20240003520 FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH OPUS STONE – THE AS-BUILT LAKES WERE INSPECTED BY DEVELOPMENT REVIEW ON NOVEMBER 24, 2025 Item #16A4 COUNTY MANAGER, OR DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE THE UTILITIES PERFORMANCE SECURITY (UPS) IN THE AMOUNT OF $19,515.20 TO THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED AGENT FOR FIDDLER’S CREEK GOLF CLUBHOUSE, PL20240002827 – THE BCC GRANTED FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF UTILITIES ON NOVEMBER 12, 2024 Page 320 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 314 Item #16A5 COUNTY MANAGER, OR DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE THE UTILITIES PERFORMANCE SECURITY (UPS) IN THE AMOUNT OF $26,539.86 TO THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED AGENT FOR ALLEGRO AT HACIENDA LAKES, PL20230012818 – THE BCC GRANTED FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF UTILITIES ON NOVEMBER 12, 2024 Item #16A6 COUNTY MANAGER, OR DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE THE UTILITIES PERFORMANCE SECURITY (UPS) IN THE AMOUNT OF $12,537 TO THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED AGENT FOR FIDDLER’S CREEK MARSH COVE PH. 2 - 8" FORCE MAIN REPLACEMENT, PL20240007859 – THE BCC GRANTED FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF UTILITIES ON NOVEMBER 12, 2024 Item #16A7 FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF A PORTION OF THE WATER UTILITY FACILITIES FOR BRICKYARD CARWASH AT RANDALL CURVE, PL202500010708 – ON NOVEMBER 3, 2025, STAFF CONDUCTED A FINAL INSPECTION AND FOUND THE FACILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE Item #16A8 Page 321 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 315 FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER FACILITIES FOR TERRENO AT VALENCIA GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB PHASE 3B, PL20250007730 – ON OCTOBER 1, 2025, STAFF CONDUCTED A FINAL INSPECTION AND FOUND THE FACILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE Item #16A9 RESOLUTION 2026-01: A RESOLUTION FOR FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE PRIVATE ROADWAY AND DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS, AND ACCEPTANCE OF THE PLAT DEDICATIONS, FOR THE FINAL PLAT OF MAPLE RIDGE AT AVE MARIA, PHASE 6B, APPLICATION NUMBER PL20180001175 (PPL) AND PL20190000868 (PPLA) AND AUTHORIZE THE RELEASE OF THE MAINTENANCE SECURITIES IN THE AMOUNT OF $428,299.92 Item #16A10 RELEASE OF A CODE ENFORCEMENT LIEN WITH AN ACCRUED VALUE OF $1,367,905.69 FOR A REDUCED PAYMENT OF $30,770.50 IN THE CODE ENFORCEMENT ACTION TITLED BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS VS. RONALD ABEL, IN SPECIAL MAGISTRATE CASE NO. CEPM20180004112, RELATING TO THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 2172 41ST TER SW, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA Item #16A11 Page 322 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 316 THE SECOND AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT NO. 25-8360 “NORTH COLLIER REGIONAL PARK FOOD SERVICES” WITH TEXAS TONY’S BBQ, INC., (“TEXAS TONY’S”), TO REMOVE THE INITIAL 25% PAYMENT AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AMENDMENT Item #16A12 STAFF TO ADVERTISE AND BRING BACK FOR A PUBLIC HEARING AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, PURSUANT TO F.S. 125.022, TO REVISE TIMEFRAMES FOR PROCESSING APPLICATIONS FOR APPROVAL OF DEVELOPMENT PERMITS OR DEVELOPMENT ORDERS [PL20250010243] Item #16A13 – Continued to the January 27, 2026, BCC Meeting (Per Agenda Change Sheet) CHAIR TO SIGN A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE INVENTORY LIST OF COUNTY-OWNED REAL PROPERTY DECLARED APPROPRIATE FOR USE AS AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND APPROVE THE PUBLICATION OF THE INVENTORY LIST TO THE COUNTY’S WEBSITE IN COMPLIANCE WITH SECTION 125.379, FLORIDA STATUTES Item #16A14 CONSERVATION COLLIER HENDRIX HOUSE PROPERTY INTERIM MANAGEMENT PLAN UNDER THE CONSERVATION COLLIER PROGRAM AND TO NAME THE Page 323 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 317 PROPERTY BLACK BEAR PATH PRESERVE – THE 17.66-ACRE PROPERTY WAS PURCHASED ON JUNE OF 2025 Item #16A15 – Moved to Item #11E (Per Agenda Change Sheet) PROPERTIES ON THE CONSERVATION COLLIER LAND ACQUISITION ADVISORY COMMITTEE’S NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 2025 RECOMMENDED ACTIVE ACQUISITION LISTS AND DIRECT STAFF TO PURSUE THE PROJECTS RECOMMENDED WITHIN THE A-CATEGORY, FUNDED BY THE CONSERVATION COLLIER LAND ACQUISITION FUND – Item #16A16 TERMINATION OF GRANT AGREEMENT (L2301) BETWEEN THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION (FDEP) AND COLLIER COUNTY FOR THE LEGISLATIVE LINE-ITEM COLLIER COUNTY PARKS AND RECREATION ATHLETIC COURTS RESURFACING PROJECT AND AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS – THE COUNTY HAS OT RECEIVED ANY GRANT REVENUE TODATE FOR THIS PROJECT Item #16B1 ISSUANCE OF A PURCHASE ORDER UNDER AGREEMENT NO. 21-7842 “ROADWAY CONTRACTORS” TO AUTHORIZE THE REPLACEMENT OF THE MULTI-USE GREENWAY PATH ON VANDERBILT DRIVE TO QUALITY ENTERPRISES USA, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF $845,066. (PROJECT #1617-162543) Page 324 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 318 Item #16B2 RESOLUTION 2026-02: THE REMOVAL OF UNCOLLECTIBLE ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE IN THE AMOUNT OF $109.03 FROM THE FINANCIAL RECORDS OF THE MPO GRANTS FUND (1809) IN ACCORDANCE WITH RESOLUTION 2006-252, DETERMINE THAT THIS ADJUSTMENT IS IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE COUNTY, AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO EXECUTE THE ATTACHED RESOLUTION Item #16B3 AGREEMENT FOR THE DONATION OF A DRAINAGE EASEMENT (PARCEL 120DE) REQUIRED FOR THE EVERGLADES CITY DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (ESTIMATED FISCAL IMPACT: $100) – ON COLLIER AVENUE Item #16B4 RESOLUTION 2026-03: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CHAIR TO EXECUTE A PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION GRANT AGREEMENT (PTGA) WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (FDOT), FPN# 452749-1-84-04, IN THE AMOUNT OF $565,316, PROVIDING FOR STATE FUNDING FOR ELIGIBLE COLLIER COUNTY FIXED-ROUTE TRANSIT ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONAL EXPENSES ON THE US 41 CORRIDOR, AND APPROVE THE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENT Item #16B5 Page 325 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 319 RESOLUTION 2026-04: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CHAIR TO EXECUTE SECTION 5339 PUBLIC TRANSIT GRANT AGREEMENT (FPN 457348-2-94-25) WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO ACCEPT FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION GRANT FUNDING IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $208,305 TO IMPROVE EXISTING BUS STOPS TO SUPPORT FIXED ROUTE SERVICES IN THE RURAL AREAS OF COLLIER COUNTY AND TO APPROVE THE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENT Item #16B6 AN ADMINISTRATIVE AMENDMENT TO THE FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION (FTA) FOR THE SECTION 5307 FHWA FLEX FUND (FL-2017- 055) AND THE SECTION 5339 BUS AND BUS FACILITIES FORMULA GRANT (FL-2017-017) GRANT AWARDS; TO ADD THE PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE (POP) FIELD WITHIN THE AGREEMENT AND TO INCORPORATE THE RESPECTIVE POP END DATE; AND TO AUTHORIZE THE EXECUTION OF THE AMENDMENT IN THE FTA’S TRANSIT AWARD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (TRAMS) Item #16B7 A BUDGET AMENDMENT TO THE SECTION 5324 FY18 (2019- 025-02) EMERGENCY RELIEF FOR IRMA GRANT AWARD BETWEEN THE FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION AND COLLIER COUNTY TO OBLIGATE THE ADDITIONAL ALLOCATION IN THE AMOUNT OF $10,505,421; AUTHORIZE THE EXECUTION OF THE AMENDMENT THROUGH THE FTA TRANSIT AWARD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (TRAMS), Page 326 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 320 ACCEPT THE AWARD AND AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS Item #16B8 STAFF TO UPDATE THE COLLIER COUNTY WELLFIELD PROTECTION ZONE MAPS ALONG WITH THE ACCOMPANYING SECTIONS OF THE LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE AND GROWTH MANAGEMENT PLAN AND BRING THE UPDATE BACK TO THE COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS FOR CONSIDERATION – ENSURING THE PRESERVATION AND SAFETY OF PUBLIC DRINKING WATER SUPPLIES Item #16C1 – Moved to the January 27, 2026, BCC Meeting (During Agenda Changes by Commissioner McDaniel) AWARDING REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL NO. 25-8412, “DISASTER DEBRIS REMOVAL AND DISPOSAL SERVICES,” TO ASHBRITT, INC., CERES ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC., CROWDER GULF JOINT VENTURE, INC., DRC EMERGENCY SERVICES, LLC, AND PHILLIPS ENVIRONMENTAL, LLC, AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENTS Item #16C2 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AS THE EX-OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD OF THE COLLIER COUNTY WATER- SEWER DISTRICT, AWARD INVITATION TO BID NO. 25-8380 TO QUALITY ENTERPRISES USA, INC., FOR THE PINE RIDGE Page 327 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 321 ROAD & I-75 IQ MAIN REPLACEMENT PROJECT, IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,921,026, APPROVE AN OWNER’S ALLOWANCE OF $100,000, AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENT (PROJECT NUMBER 70289) – RELOCATING AN ESISTING 10’ IQ WATER PIPELINE ACCOMMODATING FDOT PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS AT PINE RIDGE AND THE I-75 INTERCHANGE Item #16C3 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AS THE EX-OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD OF THE COLLIER COUNTY WATER- SEWER DISTRICT, AWARD INVITATION TO BID NO. 25-8392 TO UNIVERSAL CONTROLS INSTRUMENT SERVICES, INC., FOR INSTRUMENT CALIBRATION, REPAIR, AND REPLACEMENT SERVICES, TERMINATE FOR CONVENIENCE AGREEMENT #20-7750 WITH UNIVERSAL CONTROLS INSTRUMENT SERVICES, INC., TRINOVA INC., AND BENRO ENTERPRISES INC., AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENT Item #16C4 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AS THE EX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD OF THE COLLIER COUNTY WATER- SEWER DISTRICT, APPROVE UPDATED AGREEMENTS WITH THE GREATER NAPLES FIRE CONTROL AND RESCUE DISTRICT AND THE NORTH COLLIER FIRE CONTROL AND RESCUE DISTRICT TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO RAW WATER FOR FIREFIGHTING PURPOSES Page 328 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 322 Item #16D1 CHAIR TO SIGN A MOU BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND THE DAVID LAWRENCE MENTAL HEALTH CENTER, INC., TO SUPPORT THE LOW-INCOME POOL FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE USE SERVICES (GENERAL FUND- (MENTAL HEALTH) 0001) Item #16D2 CHAIR TO SIGN THE FIRST AMENDMENT BETWEEN METRO TREATMENT OF FLORIDA, L.P., D/B/A NEW SEASON TREATMENT CENTER 9 (NEW SEASON) AND COLLIER COUNTY TO UPDATE THE PAYMENT DELIVERABLE LANGUAGE, EXTEND THE PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE, AND UPDATE GRANT COORDINATOR INFORMATION (OPIOID GRANT FUND 1850) Item #16D3 CHAIR TO EXECUTE TWO (2) RELEASES OF DECLARATIONS OF RESTRICTION FOR IMMOKALEE FRIENDSHIP HOUSE, INC., (ST. MATTHEW’S HOUSE) RELATED TO ACTIVITIES FUNDED UNDER THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT EMERGENCY SOLUTIONS GRANT (ESG) PROGRAM IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $194,473, AND TO APPROVE THE CORRESPONDING BUDGET AMENDMENTS RECOGNIZING NON-GRANT REVENUE OF $181,232.96 AND ESG PROGRAM INCOME OF $13,240.04. (HOUSING GRANT MATCH FUND 1836 & HOUSING SUPPORT FUND 1806) Page 329 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 323 Item #16D4 CHAIR TO SIGN EIGHT (8) MORTGAGE SATISFACTIONS FOR THE STATE HOUSING INITIATIVES PARTNERSHIP LOAN PROGRAM IN THE AMOUNT OF $145,000.00 AND TO APPROVE A BUDGET AMENDMENT TO RECOGNIZE $66,666.67 IN REVENUE FROM LOAN PAYOFFS (SHIP GRANT FUND 1053) Item #16D5 CHAIR TO SIGN ONE (1) MORTGAGE SATISFACTION FOR THE STATE HOUSING INITIATIVES PARTNERSHIP LOAN PROGRAM IN THE AMOUNT OF $10,000.00 DUE TO THE DEATH OF THE BORROWER(S) (SHIP GRANT FUND 1053) Item #16D6 CHAIR TO SIGN ONE (1) RELEASE OF LIEN IN THE AMOUNT OF $7,570.20 FOR PROPERTIES THAT HAVE REMAINED AFFORDABLE FOR THE REQUIRED 15-YEAR PERIOD SET FORTH IN THE STATE HOUSING INITIATIVES PARTNERSHIP (SHIP) IMPACT FEE PROGRAM DEFERRAL AGREEMENTS FUND 1053 – Folio #61737480002 Item #16D7 CHAIR TO SIGN ONE (1) RELEASE OF LIEN IN THE AMOUNT OF $2,537.92 FOR A PROPERTY THAT HAS MET THE PERIOD OF AFFORDABILITY FOR THE STATE HOUSING INITIATIVES PARTNERSHIP (SHIP) DISASTER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. Page 330 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 324 (FUND 1053) – LOCATED AT 273 QUAIL ROOST UNIT II-A Item #16D8 CHAIR TO SIGN FOUR (4) RELEASES OF LIEN FOR FULL PAYMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $59,807.71, PURSUANT TO THE AGREEMENT FOR DEFERRAL OF 100% OF COLLIER COUNTY IMPACT FEES FOR OWNER-OCCUPIED AFFORDABLE HOUSING DWELLINGS – LOCATED AT 1172 ALLEGIANCE WAY, IMMOKALEE; 1474 DURSO CT, IMMOKALEE; 3752 JUSTICE CIRCLE, IMMOKALEE; AND 1823 FREY CT, NAPLES Item #16E1 RATIFYING PROPERTY, CASUALTY, WORKERS’ COMPENSATION AND SUBROGATION CLAIM FILES SETTLED AND/OR CLOSED BY THE RISK MANAGEMENT DIVISION DIRECTOR PURSUANT TO RESOLUTION NO. 04-15 FOR THE THIRD AND FOURTH QUARTERS OF FY 25 Item #16E2 ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT BY THE PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR VARIOUS COUNTY DIVISIONS’ AFTER-THE-FACT PURCHASES IN ACCORDANCE WITH PROCUREMENT ORDINANCE NO. 2025-34, AND THE PROCUREMENT MANUAL AND AUTHORIZE THE TIMELY PAYMENT OF OUTSTANDING INVOICES IN THE AMOUNT OF $19,956.25 – FOR THE AFTER-THE-FACT FORM SUBMISSION BY EARTHTECH ENTERPRISES, INC. Page 331 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 325 Item #16E3 ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT PREPARED BY THE PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR THE DISPOSAL OF PROPERTY THAT IS NO LONGER VIABLE AND REMOVE CAPITAL ASSETS FROM THE COUNTY’S CAPITAL ASSETS RECORDS Item #16F1 AGREEMENTS FOR INVITATION FOR QUALIFICATION NO. 24-8200, “ANNUAL AGREEMENT FOR GENERAL CONTRACTORS,” FOR COUNTY-WIDE GENERAL CONTRACTOR SERVICES TO O-A-K/FLORIDA, INC., CAPITAL CONTRACTORS, LLC, A2 GROUP, INC., ENVIROSTRUCT LLC, RYCON CONSTRUCTION, INC., FL STAR CONSTRUCTION, LLC, MADE IN RIO, INC., DEC CONTRACTING GROUP, INC., EBL PARTNERS, LLC, WM. J. VARIAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC., VANTAGE CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, LLC, VETOR CONTRACTING SERVICES, LLC, AND TO AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENTS Item #16F2 CHAIR TO EXECUTE THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE GRANT (EMPG) AGREEMENT G0635 FROM THE FLORIDA DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (FDEM) IN THE AMOUNT OF $100,739.99 FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM PLANNING, RESPONSE, AND MITIGATION EFFORTS, AND AUTHORIZE NECESSARY Page 332 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 326 BUDGET AMENDMENTS. (FUND 1833, PROJECT NO. 33973) – THIS GRANT IS EFFECTIVE AS OF OCTOBER 1, 2025, THRU SEPTEMBER 30, 2026 Item #16F3 DRAINAGE EASEMENTS FROM THE CONTESSA CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC., (“CONTESSA”), AND BAY COLONY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, INC., (“BCCA”), FOR ACCESS AND DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE OF THE MASTER PELICAN BAY STORMWATER SYSTEM – PBSD TO ASSUME THE ADDITIONAL DRAINAGE MAINTENCE RESPONSIBILITIES WITHIN BAY COLONY Item #16F4 RESOLUTION 2026-05: A RESOLUTION APPROVING AMENDMENTS (APPROPRIATING RESERVES) TO THE FISCAL YEAR 2025-26 ADOPTED BUDGET Item #16F5 RESOLUTION 2026-06: A RESOLUTION APPROVING AMENDMENTS (APPROPRIATING GRANTS, DONATIONS, CONTRIBUTIONS, OR INSURANCE PROCEEDS) TO THE FISCAL YEAR 2025-26 ADOPTED BUDGET Item #16F6 A REPORT OF ADMINISTRATIVE BUDGET AMENDMENTS TO THE FISCAL YEAR 2025-26 ADOPTED BUDGET APPROVED Page 333 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 327 BY THE DESIGNATED BUDGET OFFICER IN ACCORDANCE WITH BUDGET AMENDMENT POLICY AND PROCEDURE RESOLUTION NO. 2025-188 AND SECTION 129.06, FLORIDA STATUTES Item #16J1 TO RECORD IN THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, THE CHECK NUMBER (OR OTHER PAYMENT METHOD), AMOUNT, PAYEE, AND PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE REFERENCED DISBURSEMENTS IN THE AMOUNT OF $40,334,526.49 WERE DRAWN FOR THE PERIODS BETWEEN NOVEMBER 27, 2025, AND DECEMBER 10, 2025, PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE 136.06 Item #16J2 REQUEST THAT THE BOARD APPROVE AND DETERMINE VALID PUBLIC PURPOSE FOR INVOICES PAYABLE AND PURCHASING CARD TRANSACTIONS AS OF DECEMBER 17, 2025 Item #16J3 TO RECORD IN THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, THE CHECK NUMBER (OR OTHER PAYMENT METHOD), AMOUNT, PAYEE, AND PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE REFERENCED DISBURSEMENTS IN THE AMOUNT OF $113,606,560.94 WERE DRAWN FOR THE PERIODS BETWEEN DECEMBER 11, 2025, AND DECEMBER 31, 2025, PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE 136.06 Page 334 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 328 Item #16J4 REQUEST THAT THE BOARD APPROVE AND DETERMINE VALID PUBLIC PURPOSE FOR INVOICES PAYABLE AND PURCHASING CARD TRANSACTIONS AS OF JANUARY 7, 2026 Item #16K1 – Moved to Item #12A (Per Agenda Change Sheet) APPOINTING THOMAS SABOURIN TO THE COASTAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE – FILLING IN A VACANT TERM THAT EXPIRES ON MAY 22, 2027 Item #16K2 RESOLUTION 2026-07: REAPPOINTING ERIC KELLY TO THE PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD – TO A FOUR- YEAR TERM EXPIRING ON DECEMBER 31, 2029 Item #16K3 RESOLUTION 2026-08: REMOVING TWO MEMBERS AND APPOINT FOUR NEW MEMBERS TO THE BLACK AFFAIRS ADVISORY BOARD – REMOVING JIMMY BAYES AND MICHAEL PATTERSON; APPOINTING JEAN PAUL, PHYLLIS TYLER (BOTH W/TERMS EXPIRING ON JUNE 25, 2029), AUBREY FULTON (W/TERM EXPIRING ON JUNE 25, 2026) AND KEESHA MORISMA (W/TERM EXPIRING ON JUNE 25, 2027) Item #16K4 Page 335 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 329 RESOLUTION 2026-09: REAPPOINTING TARIK AYASUN TO THE COLLIER COUNTY CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD – WITH TERM EXPIRING ON FEBRUARY 14, 2029 Item #16K5 RESOLUTION 2026-10: APPOINTING JOHN MCKINNON TO THE COLLIER COUNTY CITIZEN CORPS – REPRESENTING THE RED CROSS FILLING A VACANT TERM EXPIRING ON NOVEMBER 11, 2026 Item #16K6 A STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $80,000 PLUS $22,324 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1283FEE REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249 – SETTLING FULL COMPENSATION FOR THE TAKING OF THE PARCEL Item #16K7 THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO MAKE A SETTLEMENT OFFER OF $2,500, AS A NUISANCE THRESHOLD FOR LITIGATION STRATEGY PURPOSES, IN THE MATTER STYLED ANTONIETTA IANNELLI COLBOURN V. COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, CASE NO. 24-CA- 2582, PENDING IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA Item #16K8 Page 336 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 330 A THIRD AMENDMENT TO A RETENTION AGREEMENT FOR LEGAL SERVICES WITH WOODS WEIDENMILLER MICHETTI & RUDNICK, LLP, EXTENDING THE TERM OF PERFORMANCE AND INCREASING PARTNER HOURLY RATES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER FOUR YEARS – EXTENDING THE AGREEMENT THROUGH JANUARY 13, 2029 Item #16K9 THE CHAIR TO EXECUTE A SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT IN THE LAWSUIT STYLED COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS VERSUS CABULL-LINK, INC., (CASE NO. 25-CC-3391), NOW PENDING IN THE COUNTY COURT OF THE TWENTIETH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, FOR THE SUM OF $16,773.56 Item #16K10 A STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $190,000 PLUS $45,971 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1295FEE REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249 Item #16K11 A STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $120,000 PLUS $22,063 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1297FEE REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249 – FOR APPROXIMATELY Page 337 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 331 0.38 ACRES IN EXTENT Item #16K12 A STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $142,500 PLUS $30,911 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1354FEE1 REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249, AND DELEGATE AUTHORITY TO THE COUNTY MANAGER OR HER DESIGNEE TO PROCESS PAYMENT OF ADDITIONAL STATUTORY ATTORNEY’S FEES FOR SUPPLEMENTAL PROCEEDINGS, IF ANY, AS AUTHORIZED BY CH. 73, FLA. STAT., BUT NOT TO EXCEED $4,000 – FOR APPROXIMATELY 0.38 ACRES IN EXTENT Item #16K13 A STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $145,000 PLUS $31,694 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1354FEE2 REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249 AND DELEGATE AUTHORITY TO THE COUNTY MANAGER OR HER DESIGNEE TO PROCESS PAYMENT OF ADDITIONAL STATUTORY ATTORNEY’S FEES FOR SUPPLEMENTAL PROCEEDINGS, IF ANY, AS AUTHORIZED BY CH. 73, FLA. STAT., BUT NOT TO EXCEED $4,000 – FOR APPROXIMATELY 0.38 ACRES IN EXTENT Item #16K14 Page 338 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 332 A STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $92,000 PLUS $25,004 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1279FEE REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249 – FOR APPROXIMATELY 0.17 ACRES IN EXTENT Item #16K15 A STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $125,000 PLUS $27,472 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1287FEE REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249 – FOR APPROXIMATELY 0.41 ACRES IN EXTENT Item #16K16 A STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $90,000 PLUS $16,702 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1349FEE REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249 – FOR APPROXIMATELY 0.24 ACRES IN EXTENT Item #16K17 A STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $83,000 PLUS $22,499 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY FEES, EXPERT FEES, AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1276FEE REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD Page 339 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 333 EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249 – FOR APPROXIMATELY 0.17 ACRES IN EXTENT Item #16K18 A STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $250,000 PLUS $54,643 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1509RDUE REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249 – FOR APPROXIMATELY 0.15 ACRES IN EXTENT Item #16K19 – Moved to Item #12B (Per Agenda Change Sheet) A PROCLAMATION DECLARING A LOCAL STATE OF EMERGENCY TO REPAIR PRIVATE, IMPASSABLE ROADS WITHIN UNINCORPORATED COLLIER COUNTY WHICH POSE A THREAT TO THE HEALTH, SAFETY, AND WELFARE OF COLLIER COUNTY CITIZENS AND FINDING A VALID PUBLIC PURPOSE FOR EXPENDING PUBLIC FUNDS TO IMMEDIATELY REPAIR PRIVATE, IMPASSABLE ROADS (PER AGENDA CHANGE SHEET) [UPDATED] (FISCAL IMPACT: $1,238,800) (COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO) Item #16M1 AFTER-THE-FACT SUBMITTAL OF AMENDMENT NO. 3 TO AGREEMENT 21CO1 WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION BUREAU OF BEACHES AND COASTAL SYSTEMS BEACH MANAGEMENT FUNDING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM TO EXTEND THE AGREEMENT TO Page 340 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 334 DECEMBER 31, 2026, TO CONTINUE COLLIER COUNTY BEACH RENOURISHMENT AND MAKE A FINDING THAT THIS ITEM PROMOTES TOURISM Item #16M2 AFTER-THE-FACT SUBMITTAL OF AMENDMENT NO. 4 TO AGREEMENT 20CO3 WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION BUREAU OF BEACHES AND COASTAL SYSTEMS BEACH MANAGEMENT FUNDING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM THAT EXTENDS THE GRANT AGREEMENT TO DECEMBER 31, 2026, TO CONTINUE COLLIER COUNTY BEACH NOURISHMENT AND MAKE A FINDING THAT THIS ITEM PROMOTES TOURISM Item #16M3 AFTER-THE-FACT SUBMITTAL OF AMENDMENT NO. 2 TO AGREEMENT NO. 23CO3 WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION BUREAU OF BEACHES AND COASTAL SYSTEMS BEACH MANAGEMENT FUNDING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM THAT EXTENDS THE GRANT AGREEMENT TO DECEMBER 31, 2026, TO CONTINUE ELIGIBLE RESTORATION ACTIVITIES FOR DAMAGE CAUSED BY HURRICANES IAN AND NICOLE AND MAKE A FINDING THAT THIS ITEM PROMOTES TOURISM Item #17A RESOLUTION 2026-11: A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, Page 341 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 335 PROVIDING FOR AN ESTATES REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION FACILITY AS AN ANCILLARY PLANT FOR THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA WITHIN THE ESTATES (E) ZONING DISTRICT PURSUANT TO SECTION 2.03.01.B.1.C.10 OF THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE FOR A 28.75± ACRE PROPERTY LOCATED AT THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF IMMOKALEE ROAD AND 47TH AVENUE NE, IN SECTION 10, TOWNSHIP 49 SOUTH, RANGE 27 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA [PL20240005691] Item #17B RESOLUTION 2026-12: A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A CONDITIONAL USE TO ALLOW A 140-FOOT-TALL MONOPOLE COMMUNICATIONS TOWER AND RELATED EQUIPMENT WITHIN THE ESTATES (E) ZONING DISTRICT PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 2.03.01.B.1.C., 5.05.09.E.1 AND 5.05.09.H OF THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, FOR A 6.23+ ACRE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 4670 43RD AVENUE NE, IN SECTION 9, TOWNSHIP 48 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA. [PL20240000441 - GRIZZLY RANCH TOWER CONDITIONAL USE (CU)] Item #17C RESOLUTION 2026-13: A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A CONDITIONAL Page 342 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 336 USE TO ALLOW A 160-FOOT-TALL MONOPOLE COMMUNICATIONS TOWER WITHIN THE ESTATES (E) ZONING DISTRICT PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 2.03.01.B.1.C.12 AND 5.05.09 OF THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, FOR A 2.65+ ACRE PROPERTY LOCATED AT THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF EVERGLADES BOULEVARD NORTH AND 58TH AVENUE NE, IN SECTIONS 31 AND 32, TOWNSHIP 47 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA. [PL20240008204 - MILESTONE TOWERS- ESTATES CONDITIONAL USE (CU)] Item #17D ORDINANCE 2026-01: AN ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AMENDING THE URBAN ESTATES SUB-ELEMENT OF THE GOLDEN GATE AREA MASTER PLAN OF THE COLLIER COUNTY GROWTH MANAGEMENT PLAN SPECIFICALLY TO AMEND THE GOLDEN GATE PARKWAY AND COLLIER BOULEVARD SPECIAL PROVISIONS OF THE CONDITIONAL USE SUBDISTRICT TO ALLOW A CHURCH THE SUBJECT PROPERTY IS LOCATED AT 5890 GOLDEN GATE PARKWAY, IN SECTION 29, TOWNSHIP 49 SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, CONSISTING OF 2.81± ACRES. [PL20230012851] (THIS ITEM IS A COMPANION TO ITEM #17E) Item #17E RESOLUTION 2026-14: A RESOLUTION FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A CONDITIONAL USE TO ALLOW A CHURCH ON PROPERTY ZONED ESTATES (E) PURSUANT TO Page 343 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 337 SECTION 2.03.01.B.1.C.1 OF THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, ON PROPERTY LOCATED AT 5890 GOLDEN GATE PARKWAY IN SECTION 29, TOWNSHIP 49 SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, CONSISTING OF 2.81+ ACRES [PL20230010505] (THIS ITEM IS A COMPANION TO ITEM #17D) Item #17F ORDINANCE 2026-02: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE TO UPDATE THE REGULATIONS PERTAINING TO THE REMOVAL OF PROHIBITED EXOTIC VEGETATION [PL20250006145] Item #17G RESOLUTION 2026-15: A RESOLUTION APPROVING AMENDMENTS (APPROPRIATING CARRY FORWARD, TRANSFERS AND SUPPLEMENTAL REVENUE) TO THE FISCAL YEAR 2025-26 ADOPTED BUDGET Item #17H – Continued to the January 27, 2026, BCC Meeting (Per Agenda Change Sheet) RECOMMENDATION TO APPROVE AN AUTHORIZE THE AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 2003-37, AS AMENDED, CITED IN CHAPTER 110, ARTICLE II OF THE COLLIER COUNTY CODE OF LAWS AND ORDINANCES, WHICH REGULATES CONSTRUCTION IN THE PUBLIC RIGHTS-OF-WAY, TO ADD ADDITIONAL RIGHT-OF-WAY PERMIT REQUIREMENTS AND A SECTION REGULATING Page 344 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 338 EXCAVATION ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE PUBLIC RIGHT-OF- WAY Page 345 of 3707 January 13, 2026 Page 339 There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 7:44 p.m. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL ___________________________________ DAN KOWAL, CHAIRMAN ATTEST CRYSTAL K. KINZEL, CLERK These minutes approved by the Board on ____________, as presented ______________ or as corrected _____________. TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF VERITEXT BY TERRI L. LEWIS, REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL COURT REPORTER, FPR-C, AND NOTARY PUBLIC. Page 346 of 3707