Immokalee Road duplex, single-family community now headed to Collier commissioners

Rezoning for a rental community of duplexes and single-family homes with 30 percent set aside as income-restricted is heading to Collier Board of County Commissioners.

Collier County Planning Commission voted unanimously Thursday to send the rezoning and Future Land Use Element (FLUE) change request to county commissioners to consider Feb. 27 after county staff, attorney and applicant JLM Living LLC agreed to the wording of five conditions. Discussion, public comment and presentations lasted more than three hours.

Austin, Texas-based JLM is under contract to buy 37.2 acres of vacant agricultural land 1.6 miles east of Collier Boulevard. The property is adjacent to a charter school and LaMorada community to the west, the Ventana Pointe residential project to the east and the Calusa Pines Golf Club to the south.

Rezoning, overlay district proposed

JLM is asking for the property to be rezoned to Planned Unit Development (PUD) and for an amendment to the FLUE to create an overlay district to allow for the multi-family community. The area is in the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District, which covers about 77,000 acres located east of Collier Boulevard.

The gated community, known as JLM East, would consist of 305 one-story and two-story units with minimum of 650 square feet. It Some would have garages. Others would have streetscape parking or parking near the amenities. JLM also would include resort-style amenities such as a large pool, pool deck and clubhouse.

Horizontal build for single-family, duplexes

"It’s a unique type of multi-family community because it’s horizontal," Wayne Arnold, project planner with Grady Minor & Associates, told planning commissioners. "Nobody is living above each other. Looks very much like a single-family community or duplex."

At the most, 10% of the community would be duplexes, Naples land-use attorney Richard Yovanovich told commissioners.

"A great number of people who don’t want to live in an apartment anymore but can’t afford a house – this is a gap between those products," JLM CEO Dan Deichert told the board. "We build these projects to hold them. We own them. The project is very high end. North of $300,000 apiece to build."

Compromise with neighbors

To satisfy neighbors in LaMorada and Ventana Pointe, JLM agreed to build only one-story units directly adjacent to LaMorada and at the narrowest point of an existing preserve that will serve as a buffer to Ventana Pointe. JLM also extended the preserve along the entire eastern portion of its property that abuts Ventana, where it previously planned homes.

Of the 305 units, 92 would be set aside as affordable housing spread throughout the community of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, Deichert said. JLM Living communities are usually 35% one-bedroom units, 35% two-bedroom units, and 30% three-bedroom units, but that arrangement will depend on the market, he said.

When the affordable housing units are first advertised for rental, essential services personnel in Collier County will be notified and have an opportunity to rent them, JLM agreed upon request from the commission. Essential services personnel include those with jobs such as firefighter, police and sheriff's department staff, teachers, active-duty military and government employees.

About 10 people spoke on the project during public comment, eight from Ventana Pointe. Concerns included increased traffic, homes being built so close to their homes that they could see into each other's bathrooms, safety for children and whether more affordable housing is needed.

Approximately 40,000 people, or about 17.4%, commute daily from outside of Collier County, according to the Collier County Community and Human Services Division. That's mostly because they can't afford to live where they work.

"I highly support low-income housing and taking any of my 170 employees and find them housing within an hour of us," said Doug Brown, who said he works at Heritage Bay Golf & Country Club on Immokalee Road and has lived in Southwest Florida for 32 years.

Similar project nearby being withdrawn

Another concern from the Ventana Pointe residents was that JLW had a similar project in the works on the other side of LaMorada.

Yovanovich said JLM had an application pending for JLW West in that location, however, "that project is going to be withdrawn." JLW is not under contract for the property, he said.

Deichert said JLM is always willing to work with neighbors and listen to concerns.

"We’re thoughtful developers," he said. "We hope that we have addressed the concerns of the adjacent neighborhood."

More: Collier County planners to consider residential development with affordable housing

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Collier commissioners to consider 305-unit rental housing project