Q: Will Costco try again for another building site in South Naples? — Millie Wilcox, East Naples

A: Costco Wholesale Corp. is moving ahead with plans for a second store in Collier County on the southeast corner of Rattlesnake Hammock Road and Collier Boulevard, immediately north of Physicians Regional Medical Center-Collier Boulevard. Site development plans and renderings were created last fall for a 158,316-square-foot Costco store with a freestanding fueling station that would provide relief for the chain’s busy longtime location on Naples Boulevard in North Naples.

Costco proposes to develop nearly 26 acres on that heavily wooded corner at 8392 Collier Blvd., leaving 4 acres for outparcels fronting Collier Boulevard. The warehouse membership club would include the sale of groceries and merchandise; tire sales and installation areas; walk-in dairy and produce coolers; and a 2,000-square-foot liquor store, according to the warehouse concept plan created in September.

At a staff meeting last fall at Costco in North Naples, employees were told that the newly proposed Costco is targeted to open in 2026. Its construction is expected to be a fast-track project designed to be quickly built, most likely with tilt walls. Nevertheless, the project still is not a done deal.

In December, the national retail chain filed paperwork with Growth Management requesting a waiver of Collier County’s Land Development Code requirement that commercial lots with automobile service stations be separated by 500 feet. Costco’s proposed lot with a fueling station is only 132 feet from the new 7-Eleven convenience store with gas pumps on the northeast corner of Rattlesnake Hammock Road and Collier Boulevard. The county notes that the measurement is the shortest distance between the nearest property line points of any two lots occupied by an automobile service station or one for which a building permit has been issued.

The waiver request would be decided after a public hearing by the Collier County Hearing Examiner, a quasi-judicial officer who reports directly to the Board of County Commissioners. The Hearing Examiner’s Office was established in 2013 to augment the county’s Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals for hearing, evaluating and deciding specific land use and development proposals. The applicant or any county department may appeal the final decision of the Hearing Examiner to the Board of County Commissioners.

“A party to the hearing can appeal to the BCC; all others would have to appeal to the Circuit Court,” said Planning & Zoning Division Director Mike Bosi, who notes that county commissioners otherwise do not need to “bless” the Hearing Examiner’s decision.

The Hearing Examiner may grant a waiver if the applicant can show that the site proposed for development of a service station is separated from another service station by natural or man-made structures or other features that minimize the necessity for the distance requirement, the county reports. The proposed member-based Costco gas station and the conventional 7-Eleven gas station are separated by the four-lane Rattlesnake Hammock Road, Costco notes in its waiver request.

Both 7-Eleven and the proposed Costco are part of the Hacienda Lakes mixed-use planned unit development. Collier commissioners approved the commercial development there more than 13 years ago.

Hacienda Lakes MPUD was created in October 2011 when more than 2,260 acres of mostly agricultural land was rezoned by a supermajority vote of the county commission. The project was permitted to include 1,760 homes, 327,000 square feet of retail space, 70,000 square feet of professional and medical office space, 135 hotel rooms, 140,000 gross square feet of business park or educational facility, and a school. Hacienda Lakes of Naples conveyed a tract of land to the Collier County Public Schools for a future elementary school.

Specific businesses or types of businesses have not been proposed yet for the 4 acres of commercial lots planned on the Hacienda Lakes corner between Costco and Collier Boulevard.

The “Tim Aten Knows” weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at tim.aten@naplespress.com