Project Location: Collier County, FL
Collier County, located in extreme Southwestern Florida, has been one of the fastest growing communities in the nation for the past 15 years. Some 70 percent of the 2,025 square-mile county is under public ownership. These lands are invaluable, providing open space and critical habitat for many listed species, including the Florida panther. However, there also are hundreds of thousands of acres of privately-owned lands in eastern Collier County that provide critical listed species habitat and contain important flow ways and vast agricultural operations.
With growth pressures and federal and state private property rights protections, absent some regulatory changes, these lands would certainly be the target of the typical southwest Florida development scenario — primarily single-use, sprawling, relatively low-density, residential development. At the urging of several local, state, and national environmental groups, under final order from the state and in collaboration with — and significant funding from — several assessment area landowners, the County took action in June 1999 and embarked on a three-year study of these lands, covering more than 290,000 acres. The study was called the Collier County Rural and Agricultural Assessment (“Assessment”). Its primary purpose was to develop strategies to protect wetlands, wildlife and habitats; manage stormwater, protect water quality; and protect agricultural lands from premature conversion to other uses.
Assessing potential conversion of these lands for other uses, in appropriate locations would discourage sprawl; direct incompatible uses away from critical habitat; encourage development utilizing creative land planning techniques including rural villages, towns, satellite communities, area-based allocations, clustering, open space provisions, mixed-use and compact development.
Collier County contracted with RWA’s Planning Team to guide land use regulation for the development of this agricultural/rural area. Key to accomplishing this project objective involved assisting in the drafting of Growth Management Plan amendments and providing direction and support through the plan amendment promulgation process. The purpose behind the amendment efforts was to address the Growth Management Plan’s goals, objectives, and policies for protecting natural resources and agri-business and assessing the potential to convert agriculture land to other land uses.
The award winning program provided incentives to encourage landowners to voluntarily remove certain development rights or layers of rights from areas containing important natural resources.