Is Naples area becoming like Miami? Some residents think so, but others see limits

Naples is growing fast, and many locals are worried that the charming town will become the next Miami.

With a slew of new construction projects — apartments, storage units, high-rise condos, and plans for more overpasses and roads — people living in the Naples area are concerned about everything from gridlock on the roads to a landscape littered with towers.

“I love Naples, but it is turning into a big town and that little charm is gone,” said Naples resident Audrey Jake on a Daily News Facebook post. “Too much building and people are ruining the environment and our waters. I hope Collier County finds a slower balance.”

More:More or less traffic? Apartments planned for North Naples intersection worry residents

Some experts say Naples never will be like Miami, but that doesn't mean residents will avoid certain problems of big-city life, such as more snarled traffic. Still, city and county leaders are not likely to approve changes — such as high-rises on world-famous Fifth Avenue — that could tarnish the charm of the city. 

Collier County Planning Director Mike Bosi said Naples will not be the next Miami.

“There is no way possible we can (become the next Miami),” he said. “We don’t have the density.”

Bosi, who moved to Naples 16 years ago, said the concern that has been around for a decade within Collier is summed up in the phrase “Don’t east coast the west coast.”

Residents weigh in

That doesn't do much to soothe the worries of residents such as Lynn Mitchell-Huff.  

“Enough already! We are turning into Miami,” Mitchell-Huff said. “If people wanted to live in Miami, they would buy there!”

Several residents have urged the county to slow the growth and have called Naples a “mini Miami.”

Another Facebook user, Charlie Fiene, said, “Naples looks more and more like Miami everyday.”

It’s true that Naples’ appearance has changed over the past few decades due to the significant amount of growth and development, especially with the boom in luxury condos and apartments being built.

More:Proposed 350 apartments called Allura in North Naples draws criticism at public hearing

In the past five years, two new luxury towers, Kalea Bay and Mystique, have been built and a third, known as One Naples, is in the planning stage. The third tower would hug the crowded coast too.

Collectively, the three towers would add almost 1,000 homes in Naples and hundreds of car trips daily along U.S. 41 and other roads.

In addition, Collier County has plans for more than 10 multifamily complexes, which would add more than 4,000 apartment units in the next couple of years, according to county planning documents.

And  companies such as Arthrex have moved into Naples, making it their global headquarters, with plans to continue expansion.

More:Editorial: Feeling the growth pains for inland Collier County

However, Bosi insists zoning ordinances won’t permit Naples to become like Miami.

“There are a lot of misconceptions,” Bosi said. “The zoning, the future land use map and the future land use element is just not allocated to be able to provide those kinds of densities.”

Collier County is the largest county in Florida at about 1.5 million acres, and only 25 percent of that can be developed because of factors such as conservation areas and restricted land uses.

Florida has 67 counties, and 12 of them are considered "constrained" counties. The densest constrained county is Miami-Dade, and Collier is No. 10 on the list.

Traffic woes

Collier County Planning Commission Chairman Mark Strain agreed Naples never will be the same as Miami, but he said there are areas open to improvement when it comes to planning Collier’s future.

“We are not doing a good job on keeping up with some of our infrastructure,” Strain said.

More:In the Know: Major development planned at Immokalee Road and Collier Blvd.

Strain conceded the county might not be using the best science when determining whether its roads can sustain more population density, but they are making plans for improvements.

“Has a government official ever tried driving down Immokalee Road near Interstate 75 around 6 p.m.,” resident Anthony Scopano asked on the Facebook post. “The infrastructure needs to exceed the population growth. It’s common sense!”

Anyone who commutes on Immokalee Road in North Naples about that time, especially during season, knows the drive can be frustrating. It is the same for several other Collier areas, such as Pine Ridge and Goodlette-Frank roads.

The county has filed plans to improve the infrastructure, including road extensions, interchanges and four overpasses in Collier, but projects like that cost several millions of dollars and take time to complete.

“For us to get as big as Miami, we would have to build up in our constrained area that state of density comparable to theirs, but the intent is that we don’t want to be that crowded,” Strain said. “Are we going to feel more dense as time goes on? Yes. But will we ever get as dense as Miami? No.”

More:Florida grapples with growth, development impact on wildlife

Flyovers and interchanges sound great, but there is one solution that Miami historian Paul George thinks is missing in both Naples and Miami — mass transit systems.

“The problem with Naples and Miami, they are relatively young cities, but they don’t have a mass transit infrastructure, and so it’s just cars and expressways and nothing else,” he said. 

Although the two cities share the nightmare of busy roads, even George, who has lived in Miami for almost 50 years, thinks the claim of Naples becoming the next Miami is far-fetched.

“I know Naples is growing incredibly fast … it’s got a long way to go to catch up (to Miami),” he said.

More:Immokalee Area Master Plan gets a new chance at approval

Comparing apples and oranges

“Comparing Miami to Naples, now that’s comparing apples and oranges,” said Naples real estate broker Jason Andis. “Naples will always be small. It’s a town where I can circle around in less than an hour and always get from point A to point B without needing my SunPass.” 

When looking at data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Naples and Miami are very different. 

The population in Naples was 21,948 as of 2017, while the population in Miami was 463,347, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Collier County’s population was 372,880 and Miami-Dade County was 2.8 million. 

According to county data, Collier's population is expected to reach more than 482,000 by 2040, which still would be much less than Miami-Dade's. 

Although many acknowledge that growth and development are inevitable, Naples-area residents are asking for growth to be smarter and more sustainable.

“The growth doesn’t match our ability to accommodate. We can’t staff restaurants and stores, the traffic is astronomical, the schools are overflowing,” said Naples resident Susan Marie.

Andis and several others who provided comments to the Naples Daily News said they would like to see more clean growth that would include more corporate campuses and tech companies in the Naples area. That would help provide higher-wage jobs and improve the quality of life for working families, they said.

“Planned growth is good. Growth cannot be stopped. Let’s encourage the right growth so we continue to be well served, sustainable and safe,” said Naples resident Coco Alenyon.

More:Golf course purchase proposal moves forward with Collier Commission vote

What is good growth?

So what is the “right” and “good” kind of growth that residents want to see?

“I think how we develop, where we develop, how fast we develop, and the type of infrastructure and what types of development, is either going to sustain a reasonably good quality of life for people who live here,” said Rob Moher, president and CEO of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, “or if we do it wrong, it is going to add to a lot of headaches that we already see starting to emerge.”

Although Moher doesn’t foresee Naples becoming the next Miami, he thinks the county has growth management issues. 

“I think our big challenges are controlling sprawl in Collier County,” he said. “We've got to take our time and not build a new city, not when someone wants a new city, but when we need a new city.”

More:Rural Lands town idea scaled back from 4,000 acres to Collier village of 1,000 acres or less

Recently, Collier Enterprises pulled the application for the project known as Rural Lands West. 

Instead of building the initially proposed 4,000-acre town off Oil Well Road east of Golden Gate Estates, the company now intends to file an application to build a smaller village that would be 1,000 acres and include an 18-hole golf course. 

“The idea that you can drop 300,000 to 400,000 people east of Interstate 75 and they are all going to stay out there is a myth,” Moher said. “If we develop all these towns and villages out there with all that road infrastructure, the impact on wildlife is going to be tremendous.”

There are currently plans for four or five other “villages,” like Ave Maria and the Collier proposed rural village, that could pop up in the county in the near future. 

“Our motto is go slow and go smart," Moher said. "Let’s make the cities we already have very successful before we start building new cities, and let’s cluster developments."

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