Collier Planning Commission continues discussion for apartments near Fiddler’s Creek

Heated words were exchanged at the Collier County Planning Commission hearing Thursday on a proposal to build apartments in a conservation area near Fiddler’s Creek.

“We’ve taken many steps in our neighborhood to educate residents, and many people have really come to understand what the whole picture, what the whole story is,” said John Erario.

More than 50 people showed up with emotions and tensions running high.

“They promised to put this land under preservation and to keep it preservation because it was going to be very beneficial to endangered species,” said Gary Oldehoff, an attorney representing Erario, Susan Caglioti and Protect The Preserve. “In this instance, they ate the steak, and they don’t want to pay, and in the end, what they really want is another steak and still not have to pay.”

The developer of Fiddler’s Creek wants to build hundreds of luxury apartments on a slice of a 600- plus acre property known as Section 29, but many neighbors believed the area would remain untouched.

“Just to simplify it, after five years of noncompliance with that permit, they did eventually file covenants,” Erario explained. “And so they’re here today, basically trying to develop this land and dealing with some of those problems, as you’re hearing here at the hearing with not having complied at different times with various requirements.”

Erario lives in the area and says it’s hard to get answers about the project.

“They really don’t want you to know the history of this because the more that you unfold, and the more that you explain, the more difficult it is for them to convince us of why certain things did or didn’t happen,” he added.

Of 750 proposed apartments, 225 would be rent-restricted to provide more affordable workforce housing, pointing to a critical shortage in the county.

“I am not opposed to affordable housing. But since the only way this project could get approval from staff was through affordable housing bonuses, some of the objections here are based on that aspect,” said one speaker during public comment.

People were nervous about what could happen, but after 7 hours of discussion and public comment, the item was continued to July and no decision was made.