A members-only golf club proposed on a nearly 170-acre citrus grove in East Naples has to start its public approval process all over again, after a procedural misstep wiped out months of work. Collier County commissioners unanimously approved the project's growth-plan amendment and rezoning on Sept. 22, but FloridaCommerce later deemed the amendment withdrawn and returned it without action or implementation.
FloridaCommerce deemed the amendment withdrawn under state law and sent it back to the county without taking any action, according to Golfweek. County planning and zoning director Mike Bosi confirmed the project now requires a new round of public hearings after the missed state deadline, as reported by the Naples Daily News. Bosi put it bluntly: the project must start back at square one.
How the Clock Ran Out
The timeline traces back to May 27, 2025, when county commissioners voted to transmit the original amendment to the state for review. The state sent its comments back a little over a month later, on July 2, 2025, the same account notes. From that point, the county had 180 days to hold its second and final hearing and formally adopt the amendment, unless it secured an approved extension — and per the same report, no such extension was ever requested.
The county commission did hold a second hearing on the amendment, but not until Jan. 13, 2026 — a date that, per the same account, would still have missed the state's deadline even if it had counted. Commissioners went ahead and approved the amendment and rezoning on Sept. 22, after the deadline had already run out months earlier.
What the State Law Actually Requires
Under Florida law, a local governing body is required to transmit a complete proposed comprehensive plan amendment to state and regional agencies immediately following a public hearing, according to Florida Statutes. The same statute provides for written public comments within 30 days after notice of transmittal, setting a defined window for public input. Collier County's extended gap between its 2025 transmittal and its eventual 2026 hearing appears to be exactly the kind of delay the law's deadlines are meant to prevent.
A Grove Reborn as a Private Club
The project itself has already been through one major reinvention. The golf club proposal followed the county commission's response to an earlier plan to build as many as 423 homes on the same property: commissioners balked at the housing request and asked the developers to return with a less intensive proposal or find a way to preserve the property, the Naples Daily News reported in its earlier coverage. What's now on the table is a private, members-only 18-hole golf course on the roughly 169-acre citrus grove off Sabal Palm Road, with up to 10 cottages planned for members and guests.
Demand for that kind of exclusive access appears to be real. A golf-course consultant told the planning commission that 10 high-end private clubs in Collier County had roughly 700 people on waiting lists, with reported waits stretching from about three to 10 years, the paper's earlier report noted. That kind of pent-up demand helps explain why developers pivoted from homes to a golf club in the first place, even as the project now faces a procedural do-over before it can move forward again.
