A 300-home apartment complex with 90 income-restricted affordable units is planned for East Naples, where county planners agree the need for workforce housing is dire.
The county Planning Commission on Dec. 19 unanimously recommended amending the land-use code to allow 300 multifamily rental apartments with affordable housing and up to 64,000 square feet of commercial uses on 24.41 acres at the northwest corner of Tamiami Trail East and Greenway Road. Planning commissioners also recommended rezoning the land from rural-agricultural to a mixed-use, planned-unit-development zoning district called Tamiami Trail Greenway Road MPUD.
The recommendation will go before the Board of County Commissioners for approval Jan. 28. Once the developer gets the go-ahead, Florida Department of Commerce must approve the land-use amendment, which increases allowable building density.
“The current land development code does not allow enough density for there to be economically viable projects that would include income-restricted units,” land-use attorney Rich Yovanovich told planning commissioners, noting this request is consistent with others that were approved. “… This project addresses what the county commission has directed to address affordable housing.”
Noting “everybody acknowledges” Collier County has an affordable-housing crisis, Yovanovich said the apartments would allow teachers, nurses, firefighters and police officers “to actually live here.”
Planning staff noted the need for affordable housing is great in Collier County. A University of Florida Shimberg Center for Housing study shows 51,368 cost-burdened households countywide this year, with 25,687 households spending more than 50% of their monthly income on housing expenses; 30% is the recommended maximum. The study noted that over the past decade, the county’s average rent has doubled to $3,234 this year.
To be approved for increased density, 30% of the apartments will be set aside as income-restricted units, with 45 renting for 100% and below the area median income and 45 apartments renting for 80% AMI and below.
For 80% AMI and below, one renter could earn no more than $58,480, or $66,800 if two wage-earners lived together, while at 100% AMI, one renter could earn no more than $73,100, or $83,500 for a two-person household. At 80% AMI, rents would range from $1,566 for a one bedroom apartment, $1,878 for two bedrooms, and $2,170 for three bedrooms. At 100% AMI, a one-bedroom would rent for $1,958, a two-bedroom apartment would be $2,348 and $2,713 for three.
The developer agreed to market the affordable apartments to essential-services personnel and military veterans. The county restrictions and commitments will be in effect for 30 years. The buildings would be up to three stories high, but renderings were not yet available.
A study by the developer shows numerous health care employers, including Lee Health at Coconut Point, commercial activity centers, such as Pine Ridge and Airport roads, and Naples Comprehensive Health and Arthrex facilities are located within 15 to 30 minutes away. As a result, county planning staff agree there’s a need for additional housing opportunities and commercial development to serve future residents in that area. They noted the traffic and stormwater infrastructure over the next five years can accommodate it.
The proposed apartment complex is north of Fiddler’s Creek and Charlee Estates, a Habitat for Humanity community, and other developments planned or being built nearby, including two others offering affordable, workforce rentals, 309-unit Elanto and a 750-unit complex at Fiddler’s Creek. A county planner said they’d received no calls or public opposition to the proposed development.
Yovanovich noted there’s a 7-Eleven at the corner of Greenway Road and U.S. 41 and a Publix supermarket across the street.
“We have a transportation related commitment that we will pay our fair share toward intersection improvements,” Yovanovich said, adding it includes the intersection build-out and a traffic signal. “We will be helping to offset some of the costs that Fiddler’s Creek is incurring to put in the traffic signal at Greenway and 41.”
Because about 40% of renters in the development may require an emergency shelter during a hurricane, Emergency Management Director Dan Summers requested the developer provide a $48,000, 45-kilowatt rental-grade diesel towable generator that can be used during a hurricane, such as at a school shelter or to power a lift station. Generators or several thousand dollars’ worth of cots is a standard county request for large developments.
The property owner, DJ Greenway LLC, purchased the five parcels, including residential and agricultural properties, for $3.7 million this year. If the rezoning and amendment are approved, Investment Properties Corporation of Naples (Realtors David Stevens and Robert Carroll) will purchase the land.
The project team also includes engineering firms Hole Montes, Trebilcock Consulting Solutions transportation engineers, Davies Duke and environmental consultant Passarella & Associates.
