Bellmar Development Case Could Alter Environmental Permitting

Environmental groups are prepared to ask people to rally if a federal court does not prevent state wetlands permits from being issued for developments in Collier and Lee counties.

The Bellmar and Kingston developments would lead to the loss of more than 4,500 acres of endangered panther habitat, opponents warn.

Representatives of land owner developer Collier Enterprises, which is now part of the Tarpon Blue Family of Companies, could not immediately be reached for comment as of press time.

Panther deaths would increase as a result of the two developments by a combined 40 panthers or more each year, which could represent a loss of a significant portion of their population, according to estimates from the Mountain Lion Foundation and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. FWC estimated there may be 120 to 230 panthers in Florida, most restricted to south Florida.

The developments could push endangered panthers to the brink of extinction, biologists warn. The Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in federal court on December 4 to prevent state issuance of 404 wetland permits for Bellmar Village. Bellmar is more than 5,000 acres off Golden Gate Boulevard East. Kingston Village is 6,676 acres of land on Corkscrew Road in Lee County.

On Jan. 30, Earthjustice, which is the legal team representing the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, presented oral arguments at the US District Court in Washington DC, said Elise Pautler Bennett, Florida director and a senior attorney with Center for Biological Diversity in an email.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a nonprofit founded in Arizona in 1989 to protect endangered species through legal action, science, media and activism.

“Given the serious legal flaws with the state's permitting program and the projects' deadly threats for Florida panthers, we're hopeful the Court will rule soon and halt the permits for these sprawl developments,” said Pautler Bennett.

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss announced during those proceedings that he would render a decision by February 16, which is the soonest Florida Department of Environmental Protection can grant the Bellmar developments 404 permit, wrote Sierra Club officials in a prepared statement. The soonest that DEP can grant the Kingston 404 permit is March 1, wrote Sierra Club lead organizer Michael McGrath in an email.

If permits are granted or the judge provides a “bad verdict,” activists plan to stage a die-in with people in panther masks laying on the ground outside the DEP office in downtown Fort Myers, McGrath wrote.

If the verdict is positive, a celebration will be announced, he added.

In a legal report on Law360.com, journalist Jared Foretek wrote that Moss stated he may rule in favor of one of the environmental group’s motions regarding the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s “incidental take statement” that could allow the individual projects in Florida to bypass Endangered Species Act requirements, killing Florida panthers.

According to Foretek’s article, Judge Moss’s decision could impact not just these planned developments in Southwest Florida but also other developments that have already received permits under the Florida program since it began in 2020.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on December 17, 2020, that the State of Florida applied for and received approval to implement a Clean Water Act Section 404 program, joining Michigan and New Jersey as the only states in the country with such authority. The action transferred permitting authority under CWA Section 404 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the State of Florida.

Betty Osceola of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and conservationists had warned at the time, more than three years ago, that the transfer of oversight to the state agency put environmentally sensitive areas in peril due to an overworked state department.

Bellmar Village is planned to include 2,750 homes in a new Town of Big Cypress in eastern Collier County. Collier County Commissioners approved the project in June 2023 for owner developer Collier Enterprises, which is now part of the Tarpon Blue Family of Companies.

Big Cypress is also to include villages Rivergass and Longwater, approximately 15 miles east of Naples.

Kingston development in Lee County is a 6,676-acre development on the east end of Corkscrew Road in Estero to include as many as 10,000 homes by developer Cameratta Companies. FWS estimated more than 20 panther “takes” from the project each year.

The motion claimed the projects will cause irreparable harm to the endangered Florida panther and to the threatened Audubon crested caracara, a large species of raptor that has been nesting at Bellmar in recent years as well as in Kingston.

FWS, coordinating with FWC, also estimated that Bellmar Village will “adversely affect” bonneted and tri colored bats in their September 18 letter to DEP recommending the permit approval.

The 404 permitting is for discharging dredge or fill material into waterways.

FWS biologist Adam Knutson suggested approval of the 404 permit with some stipulations for protection of species, including building wildlife crossings, removing exotic plant species and preserving approximately half of the 5,000-acre project area, among other provisions.

To mitigate the impacts the discharges would have on approximately 144 acres of wetlands, Collier Enterprises Management, the developer, will conserve about half of the land that is to be Bellmar Village or approximately 2,570 acres of it, said Jonathan Guinn, an environmental specialist with DEP

These projects are a part of a larger development to include the Town of Big Cypress covering approximately 12,000 acres and more than 8,000 homes in eastern Collier County between Golden Gate Estates and Ave Maria, nearing Immokalee. Together, these developments in eastern Collier County would be more than twice the size of nearby Ave Maria.

The Bellmar and Kingston projects would destroy thousands of acres of panther habitat and result in the “take” of eight to 27 panthers a year, Earthjustice stated in the court filing. The projects will then result in the “take” of at least six to 25 panthers per year thereafter.

In this context, to “take” means to kill or lead to the death of or cause significant harm to habitat that results in death or injury, according to the September letter of recommendation by FWS to approve the permits.

FWC estimated that 15 additional panther deaths could occur each year due to traffic consequences of Bellmar by 2042.

The permit exempts the developers from any consequences of a “take,” according to the September letter.

The projects could dismantle plans for the Florida Wildlife Corridor, which is meant to provide contiguous areas for panther, black bear and other species to roam the state.