City of Naples getting more strict with small developments.
Developing a giant project under five acres? You got more work to do now in Naples.
(note: Collier County as a whole is more restrictive, but City of Naples was much more lenient -Ken)
NAPLES — Spot zoning in Naples could become a thing of the past.
A decision earlier this month changed the face of planned developments in Naples, making it more difficult for developers to put large scale projects on small parcels of land.
Naples City Council on Dec. 3 voted unanimously to change the requirements for planned developments, commonly known as PDs. Those changes mean that planned developments can not be built on any parcel of land smaller than five acres, said Planning Director Robin Singer.
“What happens with PDs under five acres is (developers) are changing the zoning,” said Planning Advisory Board member Dorothy Hirsch. “What they’ve been doing is spot zoning.”
This changes a policy that had once allowed parcels of land as small as 40,000 square feet to be rezoned to planned developments. “It is the single most important thing to preserve the character and charm of Naples that has happened since the passage of the height limitation charter amendment,” said Councilman Bill Willkomm. “And as far as I’m concerned (it is) more important.”
A planned development, according to the city’s code, is a zoning district that allows for a “mix of well-designed residential, commercial, recreational” uses.
The district encourages “imaginative, high-quality land planning by approving development compatible with surrounding land and activities.”
More simply, a planned development allows developers to ask the city to change the code to fit their needs.
Willkomm, who has been a strong supporter of the change, said the old code allowed developers to abuse the system.
“What a lot of people don’t realize is a PD ordinance allowed someone to totally ignore zoning on any piece of property in the city of Naples,” he said.
There are nearly 60 planned developments in Naples, including the Coastland Center mall, the Naples Airport Authority and the Inn of Naples.
There’s even more in Collier County, but the county has stricter guidelines when it comes to who can request a planned unit development.
According to Collier County code, planned unit developments, or PUDs, are required to be 10 contiguous acres. While the county allows for some exceptions — property separated by planned or developed public rights-of way must be at least 5 acres — smaller parcels of lands aren’t allowed to be used for planned unit developments.
Naples Mayor Bill Barnett said he didn’t think the new regulations will have much affect on future development, since there aren’t many large parcels of land available.
“There really aren’t any (around),” he said. “I don’t think it has a major impact on anyone. We passed it, and there really wasn’t any ground swell from it.”
The city has taken into account the relatively small amount of large parcels of land within the city’s boundaries, Singer said. Developers can now request a site plan with deviations, if their proposed development includes variations to the code.
One company that could have benefited from the site plan with deviations zoning was Walgreens on 26th Avenue. Singer said the developers requested a planned development because they wanted small variations to the current zoning of the property.
They could’ve requested a variance, but Singer said council generally frowns on granting variances. Now the developers wouldn’t have been able to request a PD, but the site plan with deviations request would have allowed them to proceed with their plans.
44NAPLES — Spot zoning in Naples could become a thing of the past.
A decision earlier this month changed the face of planned developments in Naples, making it more difficult for developers to put large scale projects on small parcels of land.
Naples City Council on Dec. 3 voted unanimously to change the requirements for planned developments, commonly known as PDs. Those changes mean that planned developments can not be built on any parcel of land smaller than five acres, said Planning Director Robin Singer.
“What happens with PDs under five acres is (developers) are changing the zoning,” said Planning Advisory Board member Dorothy Hirsch. “What they’ve been doing is spot zoning.”
This changes a policy that had once allowed parcels of land as small as 40,000 square feet to be rezoned to planned developments. “It is the single most important thing to preserve the character and charm of Naples that has happened since the passage of the height limitation charter amendment,” said Councilman Bill Willkomm. “And as far as I’m concerned (it is) more important.”
A planned development, according to the city’s code, is a zoning district that allows for a “mix of well-designed residential, commercial, recreational” uses.
The district encourages “imaginative, high-quality land planning by approving development compatible with surrounding land and activities.”
More simply, a planned development allows developers to ask the city to change the code to fit their needs.
Willkomm, who has been a strong supporter of the change, said the old code allowed developers to abuse the system.
“What a lot of people don’t realize is a PD ordinance allowed someone to totally ignore zoning on any piece of property in the city of Naples,” he said.
There are nearly 60 planned developments in Naples, including the Coastland Center mall, the Naples Airport Authority and the Inn of Naples.
There’s even more in Collier County, but the county has stricter guidelines when it comes to who can request a planned unit development.
According to Collier County code, planned unit developments, or PUDs, are required to be 10 contiguous acres. While the county allows for some exceptions — property separated by planned or developed public rights-of way must be at least 5 acres — smaller parcels of lands aren’t allowed to be used for planned unit developments.
Naples Mayor Bill Barnett said he didn’t think the new regulations will have much affect on future development, since there aren’t many large parcels of land available.
“There really aren’t any (around),” he said. “I don’t think it has a major impact on anyone. We passed it, and there really wasn’t any ground swell from it.”
The city has taken into account the relatively small amount of large parcels of land within the city’s boundaries, Singer said. Developers can now request a site plan with deviations, if their proposed development includes variations to the code.
One company that could have benefited from the site plan with deviations zoning was Walgreens on 26th Avenue. Singer said the developers requested a planned development because they wanted small variations to the current zoning of the property.
They could’ve requested a variance, but Singer said council generally frowns on granting variances. Now the developers wouldn’t have been able to request a PD, but the site plan with deviations request would have allowed them to proceed with their plans.
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