Marco Island Is at a Crossroads

More traffic. More congestion. More tourists competing for space on our roads, beaches and waterways. More pressure on police, fire, utilities and other public services.

That is what Marco Island residents could face after the Planning Board advanced two large and controversial development projects in just eight days.

The Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort wants to grow from 310 rooms to as many as 626, construct another hotel tower reaching up to 150 feet, add a parking garage and open another restaurant. Rose Marina’s redevelopment includes a new approximately 200-seat restaurant, expanded marina activity with up to four large commercial vessels and three large tourist buses at any one time, and other substantial changes.

Together, these projects could significantly intensify tourism and commercial activity on both sides of the island. Residents will live with the cumulative effects of these projects long after the approvals are granted.

Hilton Advances Despite Staff Opposition

On July 31, the Planning Board considered the Hilton’s request to rezone its property at 560 S. Collier Boulevard from Residential Tourist to a Planned Unit Development, or PUD.

City staff strongly recommended denial. Staff concluded that the proposal conflicts with the Comprehensive Plan and the City’s stated goals of preserving Marco Island’s small-town character and maintaining or reducing density.

The Comprehensive Plan caps this property at 16 units per acre. The Hilton is seeking approximately 60 units per acre, approaching four times that limit. The applicant reaches that number through “fractional density,” a concept City staff said does not exist in the Comprehensive Plan.

Despite those findings, and despite opposition from both the Planning Board chair and vice chair, a majority voted to recommend approval.

That result surprised many residents and raises serious questions about why established density limits and professional staff recommendations were so readily set aside.

Why a PUD Instead of a Comprehensive Plan Amendment?

City staff indicated that a project of this density should require an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan. That would force the applicant to openly seek a change to the rules governing the property.

Instead, the Hilton is seeking a PUD rezoning and asking the City to accept a density calculation staff says the Comprehensive Plan does not recognize.

So what is going on? It turns out that approval of the PUD rezoning would require four votes from City Council, while a Comprehensive Plan amendment would require five.

That begs the question: Is the PUD approach being pursued because it provides an easier path to approval?

We cannot state the applicant’s motive as fact. But residents have every right to ask why a development approaching four times the plan’s density limit should be approved through a four-vote rezoning rather than the five-vote Comprehensive Plan amendment staff says should be required.

A PUD is intended to provide flexibility in exchange for coordinated planning, innovative design, mixed uses or meaningful public benefits. City staff found that this proposal did not meet that basic intent.

This appears to be a massive hotel expansion dressed up as a PUD to obtain density and height that would not otherwise be permitted.

Residents Will Experience the Impact

Increasing the Hilton from 310 rooms to 626 would affect far more than the hotel property.

More rooms mean more guests. Another restaurant means more diners, employees, deliveries and vehicles. A parking garage may store more cars, but those cars must still travel on Collier Boulevard and through nearby intersections.

The expanded resort would require more employees and generate additional service, vendor and delivery traffic. During season, residents already experience congestion around the beachfront hotels, particularly near Winterberry Drive.

The additional burden on roads, public safety, utilities, beaches and other infrastructure will not stop at the Hilton’s property line. It will be shared by residents throughout the island.

Two Projects, One Larger Concern

The Hilton vote came only eight days after the Planning Board advanced the Rose Marina redevelopment.

Rose Marina has every right to improve its property within the law. But residents raised legitimate concerns about traffic, parking, noise, cruise vessels, marine activity and the increasing intensity of commercial operations near residential neighborhoods.

These projects cannot be evaluated in isolation.

Residents experience their combined effect: more traffic, more crowded public spaces, greater demands on infrastructure and the gradual loss of the quiet, manageable scale that attracted many of us to Marco Island.

Tourism is important to our economy, but tourism should support our community, not overwhelm it.

My Public Comment to the Planning Board

Below is the full text of the public comment I delivered to the Planning Board on July 31 regarding REZN-24-000098, 560 S. Collier Blvd. (Hilton Hotel):

"I’d like to start by reading what City Council adopted in 2019 following a community-based process, our Strategic Plan, which establishes a single vision statement for Marco Island in 2034:

'Marco Island 2034 is a great residential community with small town charm. Marco Island 2034 is distinguished by our beauty, our world-class beach and natural environment, and our waterways. In 2034, our residents enjoy our convenient coastal living and take pride in our Marco Island community.'

That vision is anchored by seven principles: great residential community, small town charm, beauty, world-class beach and natural environment, waterways, convenient coastal living, and pride in our Marco Island community.

When I moved here in 2016, I thought I was moving to a community that was the antithesis of the density and development you see in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. I was surprised to learn the Marriott was building its huge Crystal Shores addition. It seemed out of scale to me with the rest of Marco Island.

Now we have this proposal from the Hilton. Do you know the density they’re proposing, 60 units per acre, roughly matches what Fort Lauderdale allows citywide in its most permissive zoning district, and comes close to Miami Beach’s most intense oceanfront standards? Our own Comprehensive Plan caps this property at 16 units per acre, less than a third of what’s being requested.

Going from 310 rooms to 626 rooms doesn’t just add rooms, it roughly doubles the size of this hotel. That means hundreds more cars, plus all the additional staff needed to serve them, on a stretch of Collier Boulevard that already carries heavy beach traffic at Winterberry Drive.

City staff has already reviewed this application and recommended denial on two grounds. First, the density conflicts with our Comprehensive Plan’s 16-unit-per-acre cap. The applicant only reaches 626 units through “fractional density,” a concept staff confirms doesn’t exist anywhere in our Comprehensive Plan. Second, staff found this doesn’t meet the basic intent of a Planned Unit Development, which is supposed to deliver mixed use and design innovation in exchange for flexibility.

This proposal offers neither. It’s an expansion dressed up as a PUD to escape density limits that would otherwise apply.

My final question is directed to both the Planning Board and City staff. If Hilton petitioned the city to make a Comprehensive Plan amendment, would city staff and the Planning Board support such an amendment?

Is a 626-room, 60-unit-per-acre hotel consistent with what we adopted in 2019 as our vision for Marco Island? Is this the precedent we want to set going forward?

Thank you."

Is This the Marco Island Residents Chose?

A 626-room resort with another tower, another restaurant, a parking garage and approximately 60 units per acre moves us in the opposite direction from the vision I read into the record above.

Once the City accepts a new interpretation allowing one developer to exceed established density limits, others can demand the same treatment. Every exception becomes the justification for the next exception.

That is how a community is transformed without residents ever making a deliberate decision to transform it. Indeed, in this case, residents have made strong objections, but those objections were ignored.

The Planning Board’s votes are recommendations, not final approvals. These projects will now go to City Council.

Council members must decide whether they will enforce the Comprehensive Plan and protect Marco Island’s residential character, or allow business interests to once again take precedence over those of the people who call Marco home.

This is a wake-up call, Marco neighbors. Please pay attention, watch or attend meetings, reach out to members of City Council and voice your concerns, and above all: vote wisely on November 3. It’s essential to elect candidates who have no conflicts of interest or hidden agendas, whose number one goal is to keep Marco a great place to live.

Marco is home. Let’s protect our future.

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