Missed State Deadline Stalls Private Golf Club Planned for a Citrus Grove in East Naples, Florida
A plan for a private, members-only golf club on the South Naples Citrus Grove in East Naples, Florida, has stalled after Collier County missed a state deadline. Commissioners approved it 5-0 on Sept. 22, but the state returned the amendment to the county.
Collier County's approval of a growth plan amendment for a private golf club on the South Naples Citrus Grove in East Naples, Florida, has stalled after a missed state deadline. Florida's commerce department has deemed the county's approval of the required amendment withdrawn, Golfweek reported.
County commissioners voted 5-0 on Sept. 22, after an hours-long hearing, to approve the growth plan amendment and the rezoning. The 18-hole course would be private and members-only, managed under Audubon International's Signature Sanctuary program at the Gold level, according to the county's hearing notice. It would be another new private club in Florida, joining Miakka Golf Club in Myakka City.
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A deed restriction against residential development, a 10,000-square-foot cap on the clubhouse and written notice to members about prescribed burns accompanied the approval, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida said. Naples Press reported that land-use attorney Rich Yovanovich made concessions, saying the developer would not build 10 cottages and would limit the clubhouse to 10,000 square feet, after Vice Chair Bill McDaniel Jr. expressed a desire to avoid a "Taj Mahal." That cap is about a quarter the size of the 38,318-square-foot clubhouse that Kensington Golf & Country Club, elsewhere in Naples, renovated.
FloridaCommerce, the state's land-planning agency, said in an Oct. 7 letter to the county's planning and zoning director that the amendment "is deemed withdrawn and is being returned to the County," according to SignalData. An amendment is deemed withdrawn if the second public hearing is not held within 180 days of the state's comments, unless the deadline is extended by agreement with notice to the state. The letter said: "FloridaCommerce did not receive any such notice, and the amendment was adopted after the 180-day deadline."
The county sent the original amendment to the state after a May 27, 2025, vote, and the state returned its review on July 2, 2025. At a second hearing on Jan. 13, 2026, commissioners delayed action on the developers' plan for up to 423 homes, including affordable housing. They balked at the request but did not deny it, asking for a much less intensive plan.
"As of now, we do not have certainty on the path forward," said Mike Bosi, the county's director of planning and zoning, as the county attorney's office coordinates with FloridaCommerce. As of the Oct. 30 report, the county had not said what hearings would be required. Matthew Schwartz, executive director of the South Florida Wildlands Association, which fought the plans, said, "The math is simple: 447 days had passed between the state's July 2, 2025, review and the county's September 22, 2026, approval vote." The Conservancy, which also opposed the project, says the property holds habitat for the endangered Florida panther.
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The 169-acre grove borders the Picayune Strand State Forest and other protected preserves inside the Florida Wildlife Corridor. It sits in the county's Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District as a "sending area" that limited development without an amendment. Citrus greening, an incurable disease, has decimated the trees, and the grove's roadside market plans to reopen in mid-to-late November, though this season could be its last. Whether a members-only golf club, with no homes and a 10,000-square-foot clubhouse, can replace a failing grove on the edge of the Florida Wildlife Corridor is now back in the county's hands.
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