Old Marco, Infrastructure and Priorities

I happened to speak with a city councilor over this last weekend. Our time together gave me the opportunity to chat a little about the area which is known as “Old Marco.” Last week, that area of the community was the focus of a considerable amount of discussion at the March 7 City Council Meeting regarding a proposal for a 268-seat restaurant on property adjacent to another popular establishment.

A month ago, the project sailed through the Planning Board with a 7-0 vote, after less than an hour’s discussion. This was despite the concerns relative to parking and safety, which were first raised by Planning Board member Geoff Fahringer, a retired law enforcement officer with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. “Shouldn’t we be asking for something from Chief Frazzano regarding any historical data on this?” inquired Fahringer. His request for that information was met by Daniel Smith’s response that it was more of a “Code” issue and the question was dismissed. Smith is the Director of Community Affairs for Marco Island.

The Board’s Chairman Jason Bailey stated, “For seven or eight years now, council has been commenting that Old Marco is a problem. I really think this is a cool project, but I think it is going to make that neighborhood much worse.”  

Even the board’s attorney asked that Vice Chairman Honig include a sentence in his motion stating, “It meets the provisions of the Land Development Code and its relative provisions.” The Planning Board voted 7-0 to approve and send it on to the City Council.

I, like Bailey, have struggled with the “laissez-faire” attitude at all levels of the city administration’s response to this and several other problem areas that turn up continually on a regular basis. You cannot continue to bury your head in the sand until a tragedy hits the front pages in the media and hope that it will fade away.

Over the years we have continued to give lip service to the special significance of the Old Marco area, while turning our backs on the extremely recognizable problems that exist with parking and safety issues along Bald Eagle Drive.

On March 1, 2010, City Council voted 5-2 to change the seating and parking matrix from one parking spot for every four seats, to one space per every 200 square feet. As part of those changes, the new matrix would increase the number of “compact” spaces that would be available. As a result of these changes, the city allowed a smaller operation to receive a full liquor license for their establishment by expanding their seating, without worrying about the necessary parking. 

Although the parking matrix issue eventually reverted to the original formula later in 2015, the horse was already out of the barn. The problems in Old Marco continue to exist today, with the larger question of not whether, but when a tragedy may occur in an area that has become a popular venue for residents and visitors alike. 

In 2017, the city established an Ad Hoc Parking Solutions Committee to look at problems created by legislative makings of our own design back in 2010. In the meantime, many of those existing owners joined together to help fund an engineering study to improve the swale parking in their area and alleviate the parking congestion, while the Ad Hoc Solutions Committee continued their work. 

Their report was presented to the City Council, but to date the only project that has been accepted and funded was the alleyway parallel to North Collier Boulevard that runs behind the businesses from Amazon Court to Saturn Court. Council rejected the request for funding for the project in Old Marco but has seen no problems moving forward with another 268-seat restaurant in an area that is already bursting at the seams.

The dates on the term “season” we often hear referred to no longer are in existence. Marco is becoming more and more of a fulltime community due to a number of factors, as has the City of Naples and our entire surrounding area. 

Our restaurants are some of the finest in the area, here in Old Marco, as well as anywhere else on the island on Goodland or in Isles of Capri. I don’t know where the gentleman was from that degraded our selection of eating establishments at the last council meeting, but he needs to get out more often.

We shouldn’t be in the “blame game” here, but instead should concentrate on solving problems as they relate to our infrastructure needs, in addition to health and safety. I commend the councilor who came to Old Marco to view the congestion and other problems to make himself more aware of the community’s needs, and for having the courage to look deeper into the concerns of the neighbors in the area. I am amazed that more site visits are not done by City Council or even Planning Board members.

Maybe it’s time to prioritize the “needs” in a more reflective way to better deal with the priorities that do exist, to insure we are getting the “best bang for our buck” where we spend those dollars. I don’t think I’m alone in that belief and hope moving forward that we take on a more commonsense approach in that regard.