CONSERVANCY OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA

Protecting Southwest Florida’s unique natural environment and quality of life…now and forever.

CONSERVANCY
OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
SOCIAL LINK:                                         ADDRESS:

Facebook.com/ConservancySWF                          1495 Smith Preserve Way
Twitter.com/ConservancySWFL                          Naples, FL 34102
                                                     239.262.0304
                                                     www.conservancy.org

 Failure to provide required fiscal impact assessment

   $92.2 M in road projects passed on to taxpayers

   Town Agreement has no timing mechanism

Aerial Support provided by Lighthawk

“The SRA will be planned and
designed to be fiscally
neutral or positive to Collier
County at the horizon year
based on a public facilities
impact statement . . . . .
(Policy 4.18)

“Each SRA must demonstrate
that its development, as a
whole, will be fiscally neutral
or positive to the Collier
County tax base.”
(LDC 4.08.07 L.1)

SRA Economic Assessment must include analysis of potable water
 and wastewater

RLSA Policy 4.18: “The SRA will be planned and designed to
be fiscally neutral or positive to Collier County at the horizon
year based on a public facilities impact assessment, as
identified in LDC 4.08.07.K . . . “At a minimum, the
assessment shall consider the following public facilities and
services: transportation, potable water, wastewater,
irrigation water, stormwater management, solid waste, parks,
law enforcement, and schools.”

4.08.07.L “An Economic Assessment meeting the
requirements of this Section shall be prepared and submitted
as part of the SRA Designation Application Package. At a
minimum, the analysis shall consider the following public
facilities and services: transportation, potable water,
wastewater . . . “
  Photo: Toward Better Places: The Community Character Plan for Collier County

Photo: Collier County
Phase 1 of new Water and Wastewater treatment plant

• $48.4 M = Water
  Adds treatment capacity for 5 MGD

• $108 M = Wastewater
  Adds treatment capacity for 4 MGD

• Plus, $28 M = storage tanks and pipelines for
  Interim Plant, which will be
  decommissioned once 4 MGD plant is
  operational.
Sources: 2020 AUIR: P. 76/128 and 2019 AUIR - p. 66 and p. 98.

Longwater and Bellmar =
 $92.2 M economic shortfall for road projects
being planned because of the village’s traffic
impacts.

“This TAZ #2870 had been shown with a strong concentration of
employees in a major retail and office center that would serve
residents on land likely to be developed by 2045 (formerly
known as Rural Lands West) and nearby residents in eastern
Golden Gate Estates. The demand for this center was
forecasted in 2017 by CIGM based on the assumption that the
development pattern would be a new town immediately east
of Golden Gate Estates.” Further down the LRTP states, “Given
the current uncertainty whether a town will in fact be built at
that location, the concentration of employees (and commercial
square footage) in TAZ 2870 was deemed no longer
appropriate. Consequently, that concentration was reduced to
match the currently proposed commercial development levels
for the four villages that could replace the previously
proposed town.”

THE REST OF THE ICEBERG:

ECPO’s plan for 200 Miles of
new and expanded roads

Fiscal neutrality all starts
with Longwater and
Bellmar!

Preliminary Cost Allocation
$125 Million Not Covered (2019 $)
                                       Rivergrass   Longwater       Bellmar       County        Total
        Randall Blvd  8Th
                        St NE to
        Everglades Blvd                $     2.8    $    8.2    $       6.2   $      34.4   $      51.6
        Oil Well Rd Everglades Blvd to
        Oil Well Grade Rd              $    12.7    $    3.2    $       1.7   $      19.3   $      36.8
        VBR Ext to 16th St NE         $      7.4    $   16.2    $      16.4   $      81.0   $     121.0
        VBR Ext to Everglades         $      0.3    $    5.6    $       5.9   $      18.2   $      30.0
        VBR Exp to Big Cypress        $      9.3    $    9.3    $       9.3   $       9.3   $      37.3
        Big Cypress Parkway (Oil Well
        Rd to VBR Ext only)           $      8.2    $   16.5    $      16.5   $        -    $      41.2
        Everglades Blvd from
        Immokalee Rd to VBR Ext       $      6.0    $    4.5    $       5.6   $     105.9   $     122.0
        5 intersections               $      4.3    $    4.3    $       4.3   $      72.7   $      85.5
             Total allocated cost     $     51.0    $   67.8    $      65.9   $     340.8   $     525.4
        Approved mitigation fees      $      0.2    $    0.6    $       2.2
        Impact fees (preliminary)     $     18.0    $   18.7    $      19.8                 $      56.5
        Not covered                   $     32.9    $   48.4    $      43.8                 $     125.1
                                                                                                          12

Growth Does Not Pay for Growth
• This was the justification for the one cent sales tax: “The current
  impact fee collections are not keeping pace with the need and do not
  cover the cost of these roadway projects which have an approximate
  total shortfall of $114M. It would take 9.5 years to cover this shortfall
  with impact fee collections, assuming no new projects.”
  (collieronecenttax.com)
• One cent sales tax used for VBR extension to serve development
• Collier County road budget also includes borrowing against future gas
  tax revenues

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Why Impact Fees Don’t Pay for Growth

      1) It is assumed that observed traffic growth is
         “background”; however, traffic growth is not caused
         by people now living in the RLSA – it is caused by
         development like Longwater and Bellmar
      2) “Need” as identified in the LRTP assumes Rivergrass,
         Longwater, half of Bellmar and significant commercial
         (equivalent to NCH Baker Hospital + 2/3 of the
         Coastland Center)
      3) Transportation impact fees are the same for
         development in the RLSA as in the rest of the County
         even though the cost of serving the RLSA is much
         higher due to long travel distances and limited
         existing infrastructure
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Preliminary Cost Allocation
$125 Million Not Covered (2019 $)
                                       Rivergrass   Longwater       Bellmar       County        Total
        Randall Blvd  8Th
                        St NE to
        Everglades Blvd                $     2.8    $    8.2    $       6.2   $      34.4   $      51.6
        Oil Well Rd Everglades Blvd to
        Oil Well Grade Rd              $    12.7    $    3.2    $       1.7   $      19.3   $      36.8
        VBR Ext to 16th St NE         $      7.4    $   16.2    $      16.4   $      81.0   $     121.0
        VBR Ext to Everglades         $      0.3    $    5.6    $       5.9   $      18.2   $      30.0
        VBR Exp to Big Cypress        $      9.3    $    9.3    $       9.3   $       9.3   $      37.3
        Big Cypress Parkway (Oil Well
        Rd to VBR Ext only)           $      8.2    $   16.5    $      16.5   $        -    $      41.2
        Everglades Blvd from
        Immokalee Rd to VBR Ext       $      6.0    $    4.5    $       5.6   $     105.9   $     122.0
        5 intersections               $      4.3    $    4.3    $       4.3   $      72.7   $      85.5
             Total allocated cost     $     51.0    $   67.8    $      65.9   $     340.8   $     525.4
        Approved mitigation fees      $      0.2    $    0.6    $       2.2
        Impact fees (preliminary)     $     18.0    $   18.7    $      19.8                 $      56.5
        Not covered                   $     32.9    $   48.4    $      43.8                 $     125.1
                                                                                                          15

Projected Severe Immokalee Road Traffic Congestion is
an Avoidable Train Wreck
      • 2020 AUIR forecasts
        deficiencies when growth is
        added
          • Livingston Rd to I-75 2028
          • I-75 to Logan Blvd 2025
          • Logan Blvd to Collier Blvd
            2027
          • Collier Blvd to Wilson Blvd
            2021
          • Wilson Blvd to Oil Well Rd
            2028
      • Longwater and Bellmar add
        significant traffic
      • 2045 LRTP does not
        eliminate these problems

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