Checking on developers' promises turns residents into county friends

It was an ordinary Collier County workshop Tuesday with commissioners and key staff members seated around a table, talking about a county program in front of the audience.

The public was allowed the usual three minutes apiece to comment. And the timer buzzed, as usual, when their minutes were up.

But what was unusual Tuesday was what the public had to say, and the fact that no one stopped them from saying it even after the buzzer sounded.

In a rare occurrence at a County Commission meeting, speaker after speaker praised the board and staff for starting a program three years ago called PUD/IOU. The acronyms stand for Planned Unit Development, which is what planned communities in Collier County are called. And the IOU, means exactly what it says. The program is designed to find out whether the developers of the PUDs, in fact, owe the county any promised commitments.

“I am here to commend you for the insight it took to start a program like this,” said Barbara Black, a resident of the Dela Sol community off Livingston Road.

Since the county started the program, residents of planned communities have been learning, before taking over the common areas, whether all commitments to the county have been met.

“It was put together because many developers left the homeowners associations holding the bag,” said commission Chairman Frank Halas.

The county can use a hammer of penalties, code enforcement fines and withholding final certificates of occupancies if the developers don’t comply before the transfers to homeowners take effect. If the PUDs are found out of compliance after the handover, the homeowners associations are responsible for the commitments.

“This program is vital to residents,” said Floyd Chapin, a resident of Sapphire Lakes in North Naples. “The information you are giving us is invaluable.”

The county started the program in June 2003 after random inspections of 25 planned unit developments revealed that 20 were not in compliance.

PUDs are tailor-made area zoning plans that are submitted to county commissioners for approval. The PUD usually calls for the developer to do something for the community at large, such as setting aside property for wetlands, building access roads or installing street lighting. When the program began, there were 321 PUDs. Today, there are 353. Of those, 204 have been inspected.

Senior planner Maryann Devanas, whom many residents praised by name, briefed the board on the status of the PUD inspections since the last report in September 2005.

Devanas said that of the recent 50 inspections, 26 PUDs are in total compliance; four are in substantial compliance; 11 have been brought into compliance and seven are out of compliance. Two others from past inspection reports still are not in compliance.

The seven out-of-compliance PUDs and the areas in which they are noncompliant are: First Assembly Ministries, in East Naples, which has inadequate sidewalks and no plants around the lake; Harvest for Humanity, in Immokalee, which has no final permit from South Florida Water Management District, SFWMD, and a blocked entrance off Carson Road; Lemuria in North Naples, no SFWMD final permit, a sidewalk issue, a wildlife management plan is needed for gopher tortoises and too many cattails are in the lake area; Mission Hills, North Naples, no final SFWMD certification and the preserve on the east side was cleared, which means mitigation is needed; Moon Lake, near Old Naples, where a sidewalk is needed and plants around the lake are not in compliance; Toll Gate, East Naples, has no SFWMD final certification and the preserve is failing; White Lake Industrial Park must pay more than $100,000 for its fair share of road improvements.

The two leftover PUDs still not in compliance since the last review are the Collier Boulevard Mixed Use PUD and the Orangetree community, near Immokalee. The Collier Boulevard PUD needs to dedicate an easement. Orangetree needs to make turn-lane improvements, improve a sidewalk and needs SFWMD certification. So what is happening at this stage of the program that is making residents so happy?

Staff has educated the community and developers about the program and now, before developers hand over the common areas to the property owners associations, residents are learning about what needs to be done.

Dawn Bricco, president of The Sanctuary at Blue Heron, near Berkshire Lakes in East Naples, said the community is scheduled to take over from the developer, MK Inc., on Aug. 1.

The county’s PUD inspection showed what residents already knew. The developer needs to improve the drainage lakes and make some other improvements to the clubhouse.

“The program should be continued,” Bricco said, commending the board and staff.

Commissioners said little about the praise. They nodded silently and smiled.

Of course, they did not cut off the speakers who were praising them, even after the buzzer went off.

And there was one other occurrence that was unusual Tuesday. The commission room was void of land-use attorneys, traffic engineers and consultants for developers.

Only some two dozen residents appeared.