Commissioners want plan to enforce PUDs 
Article Courtesy of The Naples Daily News

 
By LARRY HANNAN
Wednesday, June 4, 2003

Collier County commissioners are vowing to get tough on developers after random inspections of 25 planned unit developments (PUDs) in the county revealed 20 of them are not in compliance. 

PUDs are tailor-made area zoning plans that are submitted to county commissioners for approval. The PUD usually calls for the developer to do something for the community at large, such as set aside property for wetlands, build access roads or install street lighting. 

County officials say those requirements were not met in most of these cases. 
 

"A PUD is a county ordinance that has to be complied with," said Community Development and Environmental Services Administrator Joe Schmitt. "We have several golf courses (zoned PUD) that agreed to have environmental preserves. Those areas have instead become part of the golf course." 

The county has no method for enforcing PUDs at the present time. 

"Right now, developers tell us what they did and we believe them," Schmitt said. "We have no way of enforcing the regulations." 

County commissioners talked about the issue with staff at a workshop on Tuesday. Commissioners authorized staff to come up with a plan for how PUDs can be enforced that would include penalties for violators. 

"I'm disturbed by the lack of honesty and integrity," said County Commissioner Jim Coletta. "We're talking about people who stood before us and lied." 

David Ellis, executive director of the Collier Building Industry Association, said he was puzzled and bewildered by the county's action. 

"I don't think the county has approached any of these communities to let them know about this," Ellis said. "A lot of this stuff is fairly inconsequential and the violations are sketchy." 

Most of the developers are not aware they are violating the PUDs and would have fixed the problems if the county had told them about it, Ellis said. 

"This is an enforcement problem," Ellis said. "The county didn't keep track of its PUDs." 

The county's records have not always been accurate in the past and some of the developments have told him they are in compliance with the PUDs, Ellis said. 
 
COMPLIANCE ISSUES 
Collier County officials conducted site inspections of 25 Planned Unit Developments and discovered 20 of them were not in compliance. The reasons the PUDs were not in compliance ranged from failure to build access roads to a failure to set aside land for environmental reasons. 

In compliance 
Cay Lagoon 
Creekside Commerce Park 
Davenport 
Greentree Center 
Granada Shoppes 

In substantial compliance with minor issues to address 
Briarwood 
Hawk's Ridge 
Hideaway Beach

Not in compliance, but can be brought into compliance 
Audubon Country Club 
Arbor Lakes Club (Arbor View) 
Carillon 
Carlton Lakes 
Cedar Hammock 
Collier Tract 22 (Collier's Reserve) 
David A. Gallman Estate 
Eagle Creek 
Emerald Lakes (Bridge Lake) 
Foxfire 
Golden Gate Villas (Meadowwood Club) 
Green Heron (Sapphire Lakes) 
Grey Oaks

Out of compliance 
Berkshire Lakes 
Citrus Gardens (Lakeside) 
Forest Glen of Naples (Naples Gold Estates) 

Not in compliance and in litigation with Collier County 
Lely Resort 
County staff grouped the 20 noncompliant PUDs into three categories. Three PUDs were in substantial compliance with only minor issues to be worked out; 13 were not in compliance but could be brought into compliance; and three were not in compliance and county officials didn't think they ever could be because they are located in areas that are built out. 

The final PUD, for Lely Resort, is in litigation with the county. County officials say it is noncompliant but don't put it into any of the three categories. 

Schmitt said the examination of the 25 PUDs involved on-site inspections. There are 321 PUDs in Collier County and the county has reviewed 179 of them since the beginning of the year to determine what the zoning requirements are for each one. 

The county did this because commissioners in October ordered staff to audit the PUD process. 

Schmitt said the county plans to review all 321 PUDs and will then do on-site inspections of each. He does not know how long that will take. 

"We really do not have the staff to do compliance reviews," Schmitt said. "We'd originally planned to do 50 (on-site reviews) before this workshop, but we didn't have the time to get them all done. We had to borrow staff from other departments to get these 25 done." 

It is not clear if enforcement can be done with existing staff or if the county will need to hire more employees. 

Coletta said he wanted all county PUDs investigated to determine which developers routinely violate zoning rules. 

"I want to identify people who blatantly do this so we can deal with them appropriately the next time they go before the board," Coletta said. "These people blatantly lied and I want to know who they are." 

Commissioner Frank Halas said he wants the county to compile a list of developers who violate PUDs. 

"They're not just lying to us," Halas said. "They are lying to all the citizens of Collier County." 

Commissioner Fred Coyle said his primary concern is fixing the problem so it doesn't happen again. 

"After we fix the problem, we can go back and look at existing PUDs," Coyle said. "Some of them will be very difficult to fix and we'll need to concentrate on the most egregious violations first. I think repeat offenders will be more scrutinized in the future." 

It would be a mistake the treat the inconsequential violators as harshly as those who deliberately violate the rules, he said. 

Coyle said it is a mistake to put all the blame on developers because the county should have been enforcing PUDs. 

"I'm reluctant to go back to homeowners associations and punish them because we didn't do our jobs," Coyle said. 

Tom Henning, commission chairman, also said it would be a mistake to group all the noncompliant PUDs together. 

"I know of one community in my district that doesn't have sidewalks, and the community doesn't want sidewalks, even though the PUD calls for them," Henning said. "The developer is long gone and it's not fair to charge the homeowners association" for the money it would take to construct sidewalks. 

County Manager Jim Mudd said the county needs to enforce PUD requirements while a project is still being built. 

"We need to take advantage of a developer while he is still building," Mudd said. "It becomes much more difficult after they're done." 

Schmitt said the county would come up with new enforcement policies in the next few months and ask commissioners to approve a land development code amendment for PUDs in August.