STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

More All

• Royal Wood Golf & Country Club doesn’t ask for, but demands, good course management
• Renaissance in the sky: Tom Cinquini’s condo showcases his interests
• The tale of the Olde Naples Pier

Share and Enjoy [?]

Goodland megahouse opponents have scored a small victory in their efforts to stop any more mansions from popping up in the village.

Trying to strengthen the island’s zoning by amending the land development code, a group of Goodland residents addressed the Collier County Commission at a meeting this week. They wanted to let commissioners know of their efforts and requested a hearing on March 13 so commissioners could impose transitional zoning to help the process along.

“We feel this could properly protect Goodland until the amendment becomes law,” said Goodland resident Greg Bello, who spoke at the meeting.

On a 4-0 vote, commissioners agreed to schedule a March 13 hearing on the amendment proposal, but they wanted to make sure that the group was representing the concerns of a majority of villagers and not just a few residents.

“I would suggest that when you come back with it if you could have a petition with signatures or something, so we can see that most of the village is in agreement with what you’re doing,” said Commissioner Donna Fiala, whose district includes Goodland.

“What has happened to us time and time again, is that people come up and say they’re ‘representing their community,’ and lo’ and behold they’re representing their community of five people. It’s blown up in our face.”

Commissioner Tom Henning added that the group also needed to have all the legal wording for the proposed amendment completed before any transitional zoning could be approved.

“I think the board needs to have in writing what the language of the land development code would be,” Henning said.

A Goodland Zoning Overlay Committee was created in February after county commissioners concluded that Goodland property owner Jim Inglis had properly pulled the county building permits to build a six-bedroom, 10-bathroom house with 6,863 square feet of living space “under air,” and 7,470 square feet of non-living area, including two garages, a porch, lanai, balcony, portico and storage area, for a total of 14,333 square feet.

The average-size home in Goodland is 600 square feet to 800 square feet. There are some bigger homes that range in size from 1,000 square feet to nearly 3,000 square feet.

County officials found that the village overlay’s purpose and intent wasn’t enough to stop construction, because even though the Village Residential Zoning District Regulations and the Goodland overlay contain descriptions relating to village character, low-profile homes and small footprint for a home, neither code actually set a limit on the maximum size of a dwelling.

The overlay, which is a distinct set of rules for the village above and beyond the county’s ordinances, was unanimously approved in 2000 by the County Commission to preserve the village’s Old Florida characteristics, which include low-profile buildings and houses with “small” footprints.

The county report said that the “action could not have been defended if challenged,” so Goodlanders decided to take matters into their own hands.

A detailed survey asking Goodland property owners what changes, if any, they would like to see made to the village overlay was recently mailed out.

The results will be incorporated into the proposed amendment that the group hopes to submit to the county.

Bello said that he understood the commission’s concerns and had been working with County Attorney David Weigel on the legal issues.

He added that the overlay committee also would bring all the survey results to the March 13 meeting to assuage the representation doubts.

“We put a lot of time into this,” Bello said after Tuesday’s commission meeting. “The community has really come together. It’s been a very positive experience.”