A developer who sought a rezoning to build 423 homes on a failing East Naples citrus grove now hopes to build an Audubon International gold-certified private golf club with 10 transient cottages, but residents made it clear they want the land to remain a citrus grove.
At a county-required Neighborhood Information Meeting on June 25, about 65 residents braved heavy rains and thunder and packed a meeting room at New Hope Ministries church in East Naples to question the petitioner’s attorney, many suspicious the new plans were a veiled attempt to rezone 169 acres at 341 Sabal Palm Road to get a rezoning only to eventually build homes.
“We cannot do residential,” land-use attorney Rich Yovanovich assured the crowd. “This can’t creep in anything but a golf course under our proposed change to the growth management plan. … This will not lead to a residential community.”
“ … The waiting lists at all of these clubs are long. There is no question that this is financially feasible and there’s a market for this golf course,” Yovanovich said, telling residents some of their questions were related to business operations and not the rezoning or amendment the developer was seeking.
He noted a golf course would have less impact on traffic and the environment than a residential community and pointed out there are far fewer players during summer months. The transient cottages cannot exceed four bedrooms, he said, and the maximum stay will be 30 days.
South Naples Citrus Grove had operated since 1979, but due to citrus greening, the grove was no longer productive, and the Smits family were all over retirement age and decided to sell. The produce stand, which also sells juice, marmalade and orange soft-serve ice cream, is still operating but closed for the summer. The property is under contract with Jon Rubinton of SWJR Naples I LLC, but after repeated opposition to developing 423 homes on the land, including affordable townhouses, Collier County commissioners agreed 3-2 to consider a possible purchase of the property using taxpayer-funded Conservation Collier, which acquires and preserves environmentally sensitive lands.
South Naples Citrus land map
The property is within the county’s Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District, a protected status due to sensitive environmental lands. The agricultural zoning only allows one home per 40 acres within that district.
While the Conservation Collier process is pending, SWJR Naples I LLC asked the county for a rezoning to build a private golf course with accessory uses, including a maximum of 10 three- to four-bedroom cottages for use by club members and guests, a clubhouse, driving range, putting greens and practice facilities. The course also may include maintenance, recreation and administrative facilities, gazebos, nature trails, picnic areas and boardwalks.
The proposal also requires a growth-management plan amendment, which means four of five commissioners must vote in favor of creating the Sabal Palm Road Golf Course Subdistrict.
Because the property’s two preserve areas are not contiguous, Yovanovich said, the developer also will seek a deviation. “It’s physically impossible for these to be contiguous,” he explained.
In addition, the developer is seeking a deviation to allow the club’s entry road to be 50-feet wide, rather than 60. “It’s a standard deviation that’s granted when the roads are private and not open to the public,” Yovanovich said.
Plans are preliminary due to the high cost of hiring a golf course designer, but the developer would hire one if plans are approved. Yovanovich said the course would be similar to Calusa Pines Golf Club in Golden Gate Estates and Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, which hosts the national Masters Tournament. He declined to provide details, including the how many members the developer is targeting to ensure economic success.
Audubon International’s website says the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses guides golf facilities in protecting natural resources and enhancing the environmental quality of their property. Participants work on projects to improve wildlife habitats, conserve resources, and engage in sustainable practices, getting recertified every three years. Among Naples courses certified Gold are: Old Collier Golf Club, Tuscany Reserve Golf Club and Hammock Bay Golf Club.
Residents packed a meeting room at New Hope Ministries church in East Naples to question the petitioner’s attorney about details and oppose the golf course.
Aisling Swift
“It requires that we use materials that require less water, less fertilizer and the course is designed to take into consideration the environment around it, which would include critters … and other wildlife,” Yovanovich said, adding there are fertilizer and pesticide limits, turf requirements, and plants that require less water. “It is an environmentally friendly way to develop a golf course, so it’s a higher standard.”
He noted that the cottages would be the typical zoned county residential height, 35-feet high, with an actual height of 45 feet, which includes anything extending from the roof.
About 65 people attended the hearing and 16 spoke out, including several online. Many were from the adjacent Verona Walk community and cited concerns over Sabal Palm Road, forest fires, drainage and increased traffic on already congested Collier Boulevard.
“It’s insane with the traffic,” Verona Walk resident Nancy McGill said, asking how members would access the club.
Yovanovich said it would be accessible off Collier Boulevard, onto Sabal Palm Road, which is maintained by the county up to Verona Walk, and the club is estimated to generate 60 driving trips during peak hours — “far less than was originally proposed as part of the residential development.” The developer has no plans for upgrading Sabal Palm Road.
McGill asked the cost of the club, which wasn’t available. “It’s probably out of my price range,” she said. “I’m not going to be able to join this, so here goes another golf course that I can’t afford, I can’t access. What do we care? Why do we want this? We don’t.”
The South Naples Citrus Grove market at 341 Sabal Palm Road is part of a 166.63-acre property under consideration for purchase by Collier County. Commissioners are weighing whether to acquire the site for conservation instead of a proposed 423-home development.
Harriet Howard Heithaus
Others wanted it to remain “old Florida,” a citrus grove. They questioned how hard the property owners were trying to market the property. Yovanovich said it’s under contract to the developer, but despite conservationists saying they had possible buyers lined up, no one has expressed any interest.
He assured them drainage would be improved with a water-management system and fairways would provide fire breaks to stop fires from spreading. He also pointed out golf clubs aren’t as busy in the summer months, so traffic would be minimal, and this use is better for wildlife, which could roam on the course in the evening hours, when it’s closed.
Verona Walk resident Gwen Ransone contended the project will increase pollution, noise and disrupt their “quiet, safe neighborhoods and wildlife.
“Once the land is rezoned, there is no turning back,” Ransone said, noting she counted 55 golf courses countywide, with half privately owned. “Just leave it, keep it as farmland. Everything is being built up. … It was so nice and quaint. Every time we turn around … all you see is development.”
She called the agricultural land special. “It’s precious and there’s not much of it left. … I’m begging you to leave it alone. Turn it into a farm, plants, vegetables, trees,” she said, contending that could be a lucrative business.
The plans have generated several Change.org petitions, with one garnering 3,039 signatures since March 2025. The plans now head to public hearings before the county Planning Commission on Aug. 20 and the Board of County Commissioners on Sept. 22; the appraisal for Conservation Collier is expected to be completed in August.
In an interview after the meeting, Yovanovich said all the comparable private clubs in Collier County have waiting lists, ranging from one year to 10 years for clubs that cost $300,000 to $500,000 to join, “so you’re talking about a significant demand that’s not being met.”
It wouldn’t be like a course where tee times that occur about every eight minutes for a foursome must be called in, he said, because the course will have 250 to 300 members and only 10 cottages to accommodate them. “You’re talking about a relatively small number of members that can more than sustain an environmentally sensitive, high-end golf course.”
After the hearing, one resident who declined to provide her name said she doesn’t oppose a golf course. “I’m not for it or against it, I’m neutral,” she said, adding others at the hearing also didn’t oppose it. “It’s a hell of a lot better than 423 homes.”
Others involved in the project include: RVi Planning + Landscape Architecture, Trebilcock Consulting Solutions transportation planners, BlueShore Engineering LLC, and Turrell Hall & Associates Inc. marine and environmental consulting.