Commissioners Delay Conservation Collier Amendment After Public Pushback

The Collier County Board of Commissioners delayed a vote on a controversial amendment to the Conservation Collier program until its next meeting, after public sentiment suggested it would gut the program and open up development on multiple preserved wildland parcels.

Conservation Collier, a voter-approved land conservation initiative established in 2003, has preserved 6,672 acres in 28 designated zones across the county. The stated goal of the proposed amendment is “to make additional changes to the program to continue improving efficiencies,” according to the executive summary. Parts of the amendment, though, would also allow the conservation status of the properties to be revoked and development rights to potentially be granted for previously protected land.

Commissioners agreed to revisit the amendment at a later meeting, instructing county staff to create a more clearly defined document outlining what the changes would mean for Conservation Collier and its properties, to provide greater clarity for the public.

“The intention is to keep the program, make it robust, make it better. In no way, form or fashion are we looking to violate the voters and get rid of this program,” said District Two Commissioner Chris Hall, who said he resented the remarks of some members of the public who say the Board is attempting to sunset the program.

He added that he felt that the spirit of the amendment was to create recreational opportunities on the properties like horseback riding or petting zoos, something that would complement the spirit of Conservation Collier with educational programming rather than things like residential or commercial development.

“We’re not looking to do anything else besides what the voters asked for and keep the integrity of the program,” Hall said.

The commissioners also discussed the future of the Conservation Collier Land Acquisition Advisory Committee, which is responsible for assessing and procuring property for the program. Under the amendment, their duties would be drawn back in scope, which some commissioners argued is in the interest of reducing bloated bureaucracy.

Commissioner of District Three, Burt Saunders, said, however, that he felt the CCLAAC was being cut out of significant input into the decision-making process, where it had valuable experience to offer the Board. One revision that was being made was cutting out the CCLAAC’s ranking system, which categorizes properties A through C based on how important they determine purchasing different properties are for their ecological value - which guides how the county prioritizes procuring certain parcels.

“I don’t know why we’d eliminate the ranking, because we have a group - just like the planning commission - that’s making recommendations. I think the rankings are helpful,” said Saunders. “I think this reduces their mission to a point where I wouldn’t want to serve on that committee … I want to continue that citizen input because I think it’s critically important.”

Some members of the public remained highly critical of the amendment, believing that it could lead to the dissolution of Conservation Collier. Cody Davis, a Collier County resident and candidate for District Two Commissioner, remarked that one of the additions to the amendment is that the CCLAAC will lose all of its responsibilities if the Conservation Collier program runs out of funds.

Citing an instance in 2023 when the Board removed $53 million from the program to fill a budget shortfall, he said the amendment would allow the CCLAAC to cease functioning entirely if all funds were withdrawn if that were to happen again. That, along with the potential allowance for rollbacks in conservation easement protections, he said opened the door for potential abuse.

“There’s no accurate way to describe this other than an erasure of the program, in direct contravention of the express and overwhelming will of the people of Collier County,” Davis said. Another speaker, Dylan Scott, expressed a similar sentiment.

“There’s a lot of public support for this program, and my concerns with these amendments is that it seems the Board of County Commissioners is setting the stage to gut Conservation Collier,” Scott said, warning that the program was important for safeguarding against storms and other hazardous weather events.

“It seems we want to keep pushing into the wildlands, developing more of these untouched natural areas, but I want to reiterate the importance of prioritizing these conservation properties in order to buffer the community from these impacts of climate change.”

After tabling the amendment for approval at a later meeting, the Commissioners also voted unanimously to approve $1.1 million to purchase 18 parcels of land recommended by the CCLAAC. Much of the land, distributed across various areas of Collier County, is property adjacent to existing wildlife preserve areas. The purchase extends existing conservation areas as part of several broader multi-parcel projects that CCLAAC has proposed to preserve key areas of concern for various animal and bird species.