Two more villages may be coming to eastern Collier County

Collier Enterprises met with Collier County staff earlier this month to discuss plans to build two more 1,000-acre villages within the Rural Lands Stewardship Area (RLSA) — Bellmar Village and Longwater Village.

Bellmar Village would consist of 2,750 homes and approximately 85,000 square feet of commercial uses; whereas, Longwater Village would consist of approximately 2,600 homes and 65,000 square feet of commercial uses.

The proposed location of both villages is an egregious affront to the principals of environmental stewardship because 100% of the sites’ acreage consists of primary habitat of the endangered Florida panther. The 2,000-acre loss of primary panther habitat from Bellmar and Longwater Villages would be in addition to the over 700 acres of primary habitat loss from the applicant’s other proposed village, Rivergrass Village. Rivergrass would be located directly north of the two other villages. Even though Collier Enterprises owns land outside of primary habitat, they seem bound and determined to press on with their plans to destroy habitat that scientists assert are essential to the survival of the Florida panther.

Not only is the location of the two villages inappropriate, but by building three villages side-by-side in lieu of one larger town Collier Enterprises would be able to circumvent rules which require towns to provide greater infrastructure and services. The design of the two villages is yet to be disclosed; however, we are concerned that the design of the two villages will be similar to Rivergrass Village, which is inconsistent with the requirements of the RLSA program. The Conservancy will continue to provide you with updates on Bellmar and Longwater Villages as more information is submitted to the County.

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