The Board of County Commissioners will meet in January to hear arguments for and against Stock’s plan for One Naples Development at the corner of Vanderbilt Beach Road and Gulf Shore Drive. We intend to continue our unrelenting opposition and are encouraged by more and more individuals and organizations joining our efforts. We have prepared an Executive Summary of our position and it is available for your review on the SVB website. This summary has received the support of the Vanderbilt Residents Association, the Pelican Bay Property Owners Association, the Naples Park Area Association, the Regatta, the Trieste, and others.
As you might expect, it is no small task to get everybody pulling in the same direction but when the stakes are this high, our supporters numbering in the thousands have put aside their personal agendas and rallied to a position common to us all…defeat this over-reaching and ill-conceived proposal!
Moving Forward
We must now move forward with continued effort and diligence for The Final Push. Our incredible team of experts will be in the lead, but we need to take our opposition to the next level by bringing public opinion to bear. We must convince the County Commissioners to deny Stock’s plan as proposed. And by “Commissioners,” we mean all five! Commissioner Solis who represents District 2, where the property is located, and who has historically voted with developers, has never seen an outcry from his constituents such as the one in opposition to One Naples. Nor, quite frankly, have the other Commissioners. Also, historically, Commissioners tend to vote with the Commissioner in whose district a property is located. We’d like to rely on Commissioner Solis voting against the amendment to the Growth Management Plan that Stock seeks, and then counting on the other Commissioners to follow his lead, but we cannot. We must actively pursue other strategies.
To that end, we have designed, and are embarking on, a final campaign to insure the vote of all the Commissioners. This is a multi-pronged effort based on the following premise. We believe that the attitude in the County toward growth and development has been changing. This change parallels that of the City of Naples, where last March, the voters threw out the members of the City Council and the Mayor in favor of candidates who supported fewer variances, and more restrictive development. Discussion about Collier County and Naples turning into another Miami-Dade are more prevalent than ever, and the County Commissioners must not be deaf to this. Our message, between now and the January hearings is that the One Naples development is not simply about the corner of Vanderbilt Beach Road and Gulf Shore Drive, it’s about the entire County. An approval of this out-sized, irresponsible design foretells of similar developments throughout the County, not just in our District 2, but in Districts 1, 3, 4, and 5 as well. It’s up to all of us to protect all of us. Every County Commissioner must be told that enough is enough.
The Campaign
Our final campaign has been designed to utilize all forms of media, social and otherwise, to reach all of the citizens of the County and to explain how important it is for each of them to reach out to their own Commissioner expressing their concern that a vote for One Naples will ultimately negatively affect their own neighborhood just as it does that of Vanderbilt Beach. Such a campaign is not inexpensive. We have budgeted it at $25,000. It includes newspaper advertising, radio and TV as well as social media. We will be promoting and hosting a series of informative virtual Zoom events to educate those who are not aware of the potential impacts of One Naples, and to solicit their support. We are calling the campaign, “The Final Push.” This is a separate effort from Save Vanderbilt Beach’s general fund which covers the expense of our experts in planning, traffic, coastal high hazard, and our attorneys who have been so effective to date. Their work, in combination with all of the community support SVB has received, resulted in The County Planning Commission effectively recommending denial of the project as it is planned to the County Commissioners.
Funding
We have received a lead gift of $5,000 from one donor who has seen the value and importance of The Final Push. In addition, we have a pledge of an additional $5,000 which will be released as a dollar-for-dollar match, as the first $5,000 in new donations are received. That gets us past halfway to our goal. Your participation is vital to our success. You can effectively double your support by donating today. Thanks, in advance, for your help with The Final Push!
Here’s how to donate.
https://givingtools.com/give/1133/2877
Remember, it’s not just the money. Please take a moment to call or write your own County Commissioner and inform him or her of your opposition. Here’s how to do that. Write Commissioners (prewritten letter and automatic addressing. Please personalize the pre-written letter)
LINKS
Write Commissioners (prewritten letter and automatic addressing. Please personalize the pre-written letter)