CONTROLLING GROWTH AROUND IMMOKALEE - GOES TO VOTE
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COLLIER COUNTY — The lines were drawn for Tuesday’s vote on how to control growth around Immokalee.
On one side were proponents of a cap on the number of acres that could be developed; on the other, proponents of a cap on development credits landowners could earn through preservation and use to build on other land.
At the end of Tuesday’s hearing on proposed growth plan changes, Collier County commissioners voted 3-2 to move forward with both.
Commissioner Fred Coyle proposed the dual-cap measure as a compromise between the opposing sides, but it remains to be seen whether both sides will agree to it.
“It is destructive for us to fight about preserving land because we all want to do that,” Coyle said.
Commissioners Frank Halas and Tom Henning voted no. Halas wanted a lower cap on development credits, and Henning said he didn’t have enough information to make a good decision.
The 3-2 vote leaves commissioners one vote short of the four-commissioner majority needed to amend the county’s growth plan after hearings that will play out over coming months.
In a second vote, commissioners voted 4-1 for rural landowners to foot the bill for the growth plan amendment review, which could come to $90,000. Coyle voted no.
Halas proposed the funding plan, saying the county didn’t have the money to proceed with the growth plan changes.
Landowner lawyer George Varnadoe objected, saying the growth plan changes were the work of a county study committee, not landowners.
Landowners joined environmental groups — Audubon of Florida, Collier County Audubon Society, Florida Wildlife Federation and Defenders of Wildlife — to back the committee’s recommendations.
The committee recommended a 45,000-acre cap on new development across almost 200,000 acres in eastern Collier County.
The plan would preserve up to 134,000 acres of natural lands and agricultural lands, including the heart of habitat for the endangered Florida panther.
A landowner analysis showed it would take 404,000 development credits to be able to build on 45,000 acres. Coyle’s proposal capped acres and credits at those levels.
The Conservancy of Southwest Florida had pushed a 315,000-credit cap, which equals the number of credits possible under the existing growth plan.
Conservancy President Andrew McElwaine said he “wasn’t thrilled about it” but said the Conservancy could support a cap on both acres and credits.
He wasn’t sure 404,000 credits was the right number though, he said.
He questioned whether landowners were getting too good a deal by getting two development credits for every acre of agriculture they preserved.
“They’re going to have to justify that in the growth management plan amendment process or we’re going to continue to have real problems with it,” McElwaine said.
Halas said he was “very emphatic” about sticking to the cap of 315,000 credits.
He said he feared an acreage cap would lead to “voodoo math” to find a way to use extra development credits.
“I don’t feel comfortable with it,” he said.
The 315,000 credits would allow development on 43,300 acres — almost as much as the 45,000-acre cap.
But critics of a credit cap said it risked leaving some landowners out and would limit preservation and restoration.
Commissioners heard from about 60 public speakers Tuesday, most of them in favor of the lower credit cap.
They raised issues about water supply, road costs and wildlife protection.
“We have to start realizing we have to stop developing what doesn’t need to be developed,” Golden Gate resident Sal Mellon told commissioners.
Nature photographer Clyde Butcher and Joe Browder, the leader of the campaign 40 years ago to establish the Big Cypress National Preserve, were among those urging caution about too much growth around Immokalee.
A member of the county committee that recommended the changes to the growth plan said a return to “primeval purity” isn’t possible.
The only option is to try to control the inevitable march of growth into eastern Collier County, committee member Gary Eidson told commissioners.
“If I can’t stop the railroad from coming through, maybe I can direct the tracks,” Eidson said.
Tuesday’s vote was a significant step
Tuesday’s
With Tuesday’s vote commissioners set the stage for further hearings on growth plan amendments. During the hearings commissioners will review proposed language changes to the growth plan. The will have to vote at the end of the process to make those changes part of the growth plan. The state must also sign off on the changes.
On one side were proponents of a cap on the number of acres that could be developed; on the other, proponents of a cap on development credits landowners could earn through preservation and use to build on other land.
At the end of Tuesday’s hearing on proposed growth plan changes, Collier County commissioners voted 3-2 to move forward with both.
Commissioner Fred Coyle proposed the dual-cap measure as a compromise between the opposing sides, but it remains to be seen whether both sides will agree to it.
“It is destructive for us to fight about preserving land because we all want to do that,” Coyle said.
Commissioners Frank Halas and Tom Henning voted no. Halas wanted a lower cap on development credits, and Henning said he didn’t have enough information to make a good decision.
The 3-2 vote leaves commissioners one vote short of the four-commissioner majority needed to amend the county’s growth plan after hearings that will play out over coming months.
In a second vote, commissioners voted 4-1 for rural landowners to foot the bill for the growth plan amendment review, which could come to $90,000. Coyle voted no.
Halas proposed the funding plan, saying the county didn’t have the money to proceed with the growth plan changes.
Landowner lawyer George Varnadoe objected, saying the growth plan changes were the work of a county study committee, not landowners.
Landowners joined environmental groups — Audubon of Florida, Collier County Audubon Society, Florida Wildlife Federation and Defenders of Wildlife — to back the committee’s recommendations.
The committee recommended a 45,000-acre cap on new development across almost 200,000 acres in eastern Collier County.
The plan would preserve up to 134,000 acres of natural lands and agricultural lands, including the heart of habitat for the endangered Florida panther.
A landowner analysis showed it would take 404,000 development credits to be able to build on 45,000 acres. Coyle’s proposal capped acres and credits at those levels.
The Conservancy of Southwest Florida had pushed a 315,000-credit cap, which equals the number of credits possible under the existing growth plan.
Conservancy President Andrew McElwaine said he “wasn’t thrilled about it” but said the Conservancy could support a cap on both acres and credits.
He wasn’t sure 404,000 credits was the right number though, he said.
He questioned whether landowners were getting too good a deal by getting two development credits for every acre of agriculture they preserved.
“They’re going to have to justify that in the growth management plan amendment process or we’re going to continue to have real problems with it,” McElwaine said.
Halas said he was “very emphatic” about sticking to the cap of 315,000 credits.
He said he feared an acreage cap would lead to “voodoo math” to find a way to use extra development credits.
“I don’t feel comfortable with it,” he said.
The 315,000 credits would allow development on 43,300 acres — almost as much as the 45,000-acre cap.
But critics of a credit cap said it risked leaving some landowners out and would limit preservation and restoration.
Commissioners heard from about 60 public speakers Tuesday, most of them in favor of the lower credit cap.
They raised issues about water supply, road costs and wildlife protection.
“We have to start realizing we have to stop developing what doesn’t need to be developed,” Golden Gate resident Sal Mellon told commissioners.
Nature photographer Clyde Butcher and Joe Browder, the leader of the campaign 40 years ago to establish the Big Cypress National Preserve, were among those urging caution about too much growth around Immokalee.
A member of the county committee that recommended the changes to the growth plan said a return to “primeval purity” isn’t possible.
The only option is to try to control the inevitable march of growth into eastern Collier County, committee member Gary Eidson told commissioners.
“If I can’t stop the railroad from coming through, maybe I can direct the tracks,” Eidson said.
Tuesday’s vote was a significant step
Tuesday’s
With Tuesday’s vote commissioners set the stage for further hearings on growth plan amendments. During the hearings commissioners will review proposed language changes to the growth plan. The will have to vote at the end of the process to make those changes part of the growth plan. The state must also sign off on the changes.
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