Naples advisory panel pleased with, recommend Boat Haven Marina plans

On a 4-0 vote, the board OK'd five requests for approval for different aspects of the development by Antaramian and his team that will go to the City Council for a final vote on Dec. 3.

Board member Falconer Jones abstained because he is a neighbor of the coming development, saying that might give the appearance of a conflict of interest.

In fact, the board almost didn't have enough members present to vote on the recommendations, since Board member Sam Noe also owns a boat slip nearby as well. But City Attorney Robert Pritt said Noe was on relatively safe ground, though he threw in a caveat that the bad advice from an attorney was not protection for Noe from a complaint to the Florida Commission on Ethics, should someone choose to make one.

Though the recommendations sailed pretty easily past the board, members and neighbors of the coming development sought some concessions from Antaramian, who was not present but was represented by his attorney, John Passidomo.

They wanted a promise that the Ruffina development would proceed quickly and that the park promised would be built as quickly as possible.

That concern came up because Antaramian also owns Grand Central Station at the intersection of Goodlette Frank and U.S. 41 East, another large development that might put Ruffina on the back burner.

Ruffina is slated to be a 170-unit residential development along with private recreational facilities. Across Sandpiper Street will be a park that leads to the Naples Bay Marina.

That development will be comprised of an 85-unit hotel, 30 waterfront condominiums, shops, restaurants and 98 boat slips. There will be public access from one end of the development to the other.

Passidomo said building the latter without the former would make it more difficult to sell the property to prospective buyers.

"It is in our economic best interests to build this project," he said.

Other neighbors, ones from Beau Mer across the Gordon River from the old Boat Haven, said they are looking forward to the improvement but aired concerns of their own.

Judie Lyte said she's had to listen to a crane in operation across from her condominium, and she doesn't want it replaced with nighttime noise from eateries or clubs at the new marina.

Passidomo said the city has a noise ordinance to address such concerns but added that the hope was to sell the 30 residential units on the marina side for upwards of $1 million apiece.

Owners there wouldn't want the noise either, he surmised.

As well, the developer changed parking and building lengths to allow passers-by to see the water from the road rather than a long building.

Development will also include dredging the boat basin and removing the sediment now toxic from years of runoff to a landfill as well as dredging Curlew Canal. Both projects will shield larger Naples Bay from those sediments as they are stirred up.

Building is scheduled to begin in the spring.