A proposal to tweak rules for golf course conversions in Collier County has gone back to the drawing board.

On Thursday, the county's planning commission unanimously agreed more work is needed.

County staff drafted the changes based on direction from county commissioners, who in part are trying to make the rules more legally defensible.

He recalled the hard work that went into establishing the rules in the first place – and he argued the application process for conversions wasn't ever intended to be easy.

Edwin Fryer, the planning commission's chairman, shared Schmitt's "misgivings" about the proposed changes, even questioning the need for them.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," he commented. "I think the system is working pretty well."

While he understood county staff is just trying to answer its "bosses," he said the result of its work seemed to be a "significant tilt" in favor of developers.

"I find that very worrisome," he added.

What did the proposed changes include?

The revisions included removing an intent-to-convert application process as an initial step. The step came with a host of requirements, including holding two stakeholder meetings, exploring a sale of the property to the county or homeowner associations, and presenting alternative proposals for the property.

Other changes would have removed a 35% open space requirement and watered down the width requirements for a greenway. The purpose of the greenway is to provide open space along the outer edge, next to existing residential development.

On the whole, the proposal would have trimmed the rules from nine pages to two.

Mike Bosi, the county's planning and zoning director, said many of the requirements didn't seem necessary or weren't working as intended, including the initial stakeholder meetings, where opposing sides never seemed to want to compromise, remaining "entrenched" in their positions, instead of finding a middle ground.

"We just really minimized the prescribed activities that are going to be required," he said.

Earlier this year, county commissioners had a serious conversation about eliminating the entire process because of the legal issues it's caused, Bosi told the planning commission.

The rules, he said, are primarily aimed at golf courses that aren't part of planned communities because they can be easier to rezone and develop over the objections of neighbors, with less protections and restrictions in place. There are nine such courses, out of 72, in the county's jurisdiction, Bosi emphasized.

Planning board favors minimal changes

Planning commissioner Chris Vernon said he wanted to protect as much of the existing conversion process as possible, but he acknowledged county commissioners aren't likely to keep it the same. So, he suggested at least supporting a few changes to address their concerns.

"They want to change this thing," Vernon said. "I don't think we are going to convince them that they are just wrong on that point."

If the pendulum swings too far in the other direction, however, he warned the county could then face Bert Harris claims from homeowners whose property values are impacted by losing their open space and golf course views.

He suggested county staff should take a "scalpel" to the rules, instead of a "hatchet." Other planning commissioners agreed.

Heidi Ashton-Cicko, an assistant county attorney, told the planning board the legal team defending against the Bert Harris claims had only suggested revising or adding one sentence to make the rules less litigious.

That one sentence would clarify there's flexibility in the width of the required greenway. In both lawsuits, developers have argued that without that flexibility the requirement is too onerous, as a way to give credence to their property rights claims, Ashton-Cicko explained.

Residents opposed the changes

Residents who have fought to preserve golf courses in their neighborhoods opposed the sweeping changes. Several spoke out at the hearing, including Peter Osinski, a board director of the Riviera Golf Estates homeowners association.

The association has fought to preserve the Riviera Golf Course in its community for years. The course has been closed since April 2022, with its owners tied up in litigation.

"We contend that these proposed regulations unnecessarily negate the substance and spirit of the golf conversion regulations to the obvious detriment of neighboring property owners and to the clear benefit of developers intent on building high density housing on small or narrow land tracts precisely like the Riviera Golf Course property," Osinski told the planning board.

The association couldn't help but question why the proposed changes were so "clearly hostile" to its residents' "quality of life, security, safety and property values," he said.

"Accordingly, some of us have wondered if this is a bureaucratic overreaction to a board (of county commissioners') request or is there another agenda at play here?" he added.

What's next for this Collier golf course conversion issue?

Commissioner Schmitt offered up seven points for county staff to consider in rethinking the rule changes before the proposal to modify them comes back to the planning board. His suggestions included dropping revisions that would have allowed greenways to be an average of 50 feet in width (instead of 100), while keeping a minimum number.

Although he agreed the intent-to-convert-process requiring two stakeholder meetings as it exists today might be too cumbersome and might need to be eliminated, Schmitt emphasized at least one neighborhood meeting should be required before a rezoning application can be filed with the county, giving nearby residents a heads up, and an opportunity to learn more about the plans and to offer their feedback.

He suggested a few changes to clean up and clarify the language of the conversion rules.

"If you want to cull this down somehow, OK," Schmitt said. "But we still cannot throw out the intent."

The planning board continued the matter indefinitely.

Before it comes back to the board, county staff will work with the board's chairman behind the scenes to make the changes based on two filters, streamlining the application process and minimizing "Bert Harris exposure."

After the hearing, Osinski said residents of Riviera are pleased by the board's direction.

"Overall, we were greatly encouraged by the planning commission's clear intent to preserve the golf course conversion regulations," he said.