Nine months ago I wrote this, “Bald eagles, egrets, herons, alligators, manatee, dolphins and panthers make Florida their home. For sure, increasing human population is a dangerous threat to pristine nature. Which makes it all the sweeter to visit places in the state that are hard to reach and therefore relatively untouched. The Ten Thousand Islands are such a place, as is Keewaydin, a barrier island between Naples and Marco Island. Keewaydin is accessible only by boat. There are homes, but very few. You can walk the beach and see no one. That’s a true joy in modern times.”
Tonight I heard from a concerned citizen in Naples who informed me Keewaydin is in danger of being opened to resort-type development. Some Collier County mucky mucks want a new place for another private club, is the short of it. To their credit, the developers say they want to do it right. But that’s not the point. The point is once you give an inch the game is lost, for some other jackasses will be lined up to take a mile.
Naples News: Basil Street Partners LLC, a company making a redevelopment mark on downtown Naples, wants to build a 2,925-square-foot beach club on land the company owns on the barrier island within the boundaries of the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.
The club would serve as a private amenity for as many as 750 club members and their guests. Members would be condominium and boat slip owners at Naples Bay Resort, a collection of Basil Street Partners projects at the former Boat Haven site, at the intersection of U.S. 41 and Sandpiper Street and at Grand Central Station. The general public also might have a chance to buy memberships.
Basil Street Partners, which is managed by developer Jack Antaramian, needs approval by Collier County commissioners to build the beach club.
Please voice your opposition by August 19, 2005, to:
Linda Bedtelyon, Community Planning Coordinator
Community Development and Environmental Services Administration
2800 North Horseshoe Drive, Naples, FL 34104
Phone: (239) 213-2948
Fax: (239) 403-2395
email: [email protected]