State returns Collier County’s Sabal Palm golf course amendment as withdrawn, saying the county adopted it after the 180-day deadline

Florida’s land-planning agency has sent back Collier County’s approval of a private golf course on a former citrus grove at 341 Sabal Palm Road, next to Picayune Strand State Forest. In an Oct. 7 letter to the county’s planning and zoning director, FloridaCommerce said the county adopted the plan amendment after a 180-day state deadline had passed, so the amendment “is deemed withdrawn and is being returned to the County.”¹ The letter was first made public by the South Florida Wildlands Association, which said local residents obtained it.¹

What the letter says

The letter, signed by Yazmin Valdez, chief of FloridaCommerce’s Bureau of Community Planning and Growth, says the agency received the county’s adopted large-scale amendment, 25-01ESR (county petition PL20230016340), on Oct. 2, 2026. It says the ordinance was adopted Sept. 22, 2026, and that the agency’s review of the proposed amendment was sent on July 2, 2025.¹ (The letter says the review was sent “to the City”; the amendment is Collier County’s.)

Citing section 163.3184(3)(c)1. of the Florida Statutes, the letter says an amendment is deemed withdrawn if the local government does not hold its second public hearing within 180 days of receiving the agency’s comments, unless the deadline is extended by agreement with notice to the state. “FloridaCommerce did not receive any such notice, and the amendment was adopted after the 180-day deadline,” it says.¹²

The dates

• April and May 2025: Commissioners hold transmittal hearings and send the amendment to the state for review, according to the county’s Oct. 2 letter.¹ At that point it would have allowed up to 423 homes on the grove, Naples Press reported.³
• July 2, 2025: FloridaCommerce sends its review.¹
• Dec. 29, 2025: 180 days after July 2, 2025, by SignalData’s count. The statute counts from the county’s receipt of the comments, a date neither letter gives.²
• Jan. 13, 2026: Commissioners vote 3-2 to continue the hearing on the 423-home plan, Gulfshore Business reported.⁴
• Aug. 20, 2026: The county Planning Commission recommends the golf course version 5-1.¹
• Sept. 22, 2026: Commissioners approve Ordinance 2026-30 5-0, 447 days after July 2, 2025.¹
• Oct. 2, 2026: The county sends the adopted amendment to the state.¹
• Oct. 7, 2026: FloridaCommerce returns it as withdrawn.¹

One amendment, two projects

The amendment began as a 423-home plan. After residents objected, the landowners switched to an 18-hole private golf course, Gulfshore Business reported.⁵ The county sent the golf course version to the state under the same number, 25-01ESR. Its Oct. 2 cover letter, under the heading “Changes Since Transmittal,” says only that after the April and May 2025 transmittal hearings the county “incorporated the recommendations and actions outlined in the CCPC Adoption Hearing Staff Report.”¹

The county’s letter describes the amendment as moving the land from the Rural Fringe Mixed Use District’s sending lands to a new “341 Sabal Palm Road Golf Course Subdistrict,” for an 18-hole course run under Audubon International’s Gold Signature Program “and transient lodging facilities in the form of 10 member/guest golf cottages.”¹ Gulfshore Business reported that the cottages were dropped at the Sept. 22 hearing, along with a deed restriction limiting the land to golf course use and a 10,000-square-foot cap on the clubhouse.⁵ The letter also calls the Sept. 22 vote an approval “for transmittal by Ordinance 2026-30.”¹

Before the vote, the county had offered to buy the land through its Conservation Collier program for about $8 million; the owners turned it down, Gulfshore Business reported.⁵

Why the land matters

Sending lands in the Rural Fringe Mixed Use District are limited to low-density homes, farming, conservation and the sale of development rights for use elsewhere. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida, which opposed the project, describes the grove as important habitat for the endangered Florida panther.⁶

What the records do not show

• When the county received the state’s July 2, 2025 comments, or why it did not seek an extension or start a new amendment.
• Whether the 10 cottages listed in the county’s Oct. 2 letter are in Ordinance 2026-30 as adopted; Gulfshore Business reported they were dropped.
• What the county will do next, or whether the rezoning approved the same day is affected. The letter does not say.