Last count, households have received over 40 campaign mailers….not to mention dozens of campaign emails. It is a lot to digest.
In brief Summary
There is an unprecedented amount of money —with an estimated $500,000 plus from developers, real estate related and/or other special interests —supporting candidates in the 2024 City of Naples elections. And a significant amount is from non- residents of the City and by Political Action Committees (PAC’s).
With all of the attempts by special interests to influence the elections - it is important to “follow the money”, do homework on the candidates and take the time to better understand the issues being raised during this campaign.
Following are thoughts to share regarding some issues that have been raised by candidates during the campaign:
Managing Growth and Development
Most if not ALL of the major projects in the City of Naples approved by prior councils have exceeded the three floor and 42’ height limit in the City of Naples Charter and/or obtained some type of significant variance.
The current council is not anti- development. Their objective has been to try to preserve the integrity of the Land Development (zoning) codes, so that there is a “level” playing field for all versus certain developers benefiting from obtaining significant “exceptions/variances” to the land development codes—which unfortunately has been the case in the past.
Specific initiatives undertaken by the current council include 1) reaffirming the 3 floor and 42’ height limit in the City of Naples Charter—which members of the community feel very strongly about—2) clearly defining variance criteria and 3) rethinking the site plan with deviation process -a process which was often used by developers to “circumvent” the land development (zoning) codes.
Property Rights
Some candidates have been indicating that there have been changes to the code that impact property rights.This is not true. There has been no “moratorium” on building nor have there been any changes to the land development codes impacting property rights.
NCH Cardiac Heart Institute
It is unfortunate that misinformation has polarized the community. It is very disturbing that some candidates continue to suggest that City Council was responsible for the delay.
City Council has not been the cause of delay—the rezone just came before council in January of this year. And the rezone of the property has been approved.
The delay was primarily due to NCH’s not submitting documents/plans —that would normally be required-for any project — until fairly recently.
Recent Slanderous Campaign Mailers Sponsored by Political Action Committees
This is the first time in recent history that Political Action Committees have been so aggressively involved in a City of Naples Election. One has to wonder why.
There have been four PAC’s trying to influence the 2024 City of Naples election. Two, iePatriots with PrincipalsandCollier Citizens for Responsible Governmentare supporting Gary Price. Collier Citizens for Responsible Government has sponsored some very slanderous campaign materials.
Citizens Awake Now(associated with Alfie Oakes) has been supporting Ted Blankenship. This PAC has called out Gary Price on the “big bucks being raised by development leaders” in support of his campaign and his “record” on development and taxes.
A fourth PAC,WIN Americahas ties albeit indirectly with Matt Hurley. While Matt Hurley has been linked to Ted Blankenship -there is no evidence to indicate that Ted was aware of /involved with the very misleading, slanderous campaign brochure and email messaging disseminated by WIN America.
Mayor Heitmann is not associated with any PAC. All of her financial support has come from individual contributors. Never before have we experienced such negative slanderous campaign rhetoric in a City of Naples election. One has to wonder why —and about the character of— candidates that would be complicit in PAC’s sending out such slanderous messaging.
Thank you for the opportunity to share these thoughts with you.