Naples leaders pause, ask for new downtown garage contract

Naples

Facing pushback from a large group of residents who packed City Hall, Naples leaders Tuesday rejected a $6 million contract to buy land for a downtown parking garage.

But the garage isn’t off the table entirely.

Instead, council members narrowly advanced a proposal to renegotiate the land purchase contract to $5.5 million and committed to delaying another vote on the garage until the spring. Councilors said the delay will allow more time for public input.

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Linda Drogue, a Naples resident since 1979, voices her opinion during a public Naples Community Redevelopment Agency meeting to discuss the potential acquisition of land to be used for a parking garage downtown at the Naples City Council Chamber on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017. "I'm totally for it. Fifth Avenue is so well-developed, it is so beautiful, and people come from all over," Linda said. "I do feel like the City Council is obligated to provide parking for the businesses, which they allowed on that street." The garage would replace the parking lot along the intersection of Fourth Avenue South and Fourth Street South. Money slotted for the project is upwards of $16 million.

More than 30 residents spoke during Tuesday’s nearly six-hour hearing, most opposed to the city’s proposal to build a 350-space garage at Fourth Street South and Fourth Avenue South, where a parking lot now sits.

Those residents said they are concerned the garage would increase downtown traffic and encroach on the nearby residential area.

“If this garage gets approved, we can all say goodbye to the small town look and feel of Naples as we know it,” Naples resident Julie Kapler said.

Some residents said the garage is needed to manage future growth on Fifth Avenue South.

“Build the garage and continue to regulate development, making Naples the envy of all Florida cities,” Naples resident Thompson Dyke said.

Mayor Bill Barnett, from left, Vice Mayor Linda Penniman and Chairwoman Ellen Seigel listen to public comments at the Naples City Council Chamber on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017, during a Naples Community Redevelopment Agency meeting to discuss the potential acquisition of land to be used for a parking garage downtown. The garage would replace the parking lot along the intersection of Fourth Avenue South and Fourth Street South. Money slotted for the project is upwards of $16 million.

Council members, acting as the board for the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, signaled support for buying the lot from Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate but stopped short of a commitment to construct the garage.

After another round of public meetings during the upcoming tourist season, if the council is opposed to the garage, the city may sell the land back to Hoffmann, according to draft provisions of a new contract the council agreed to Tuesday. Naples officials were working Tuesday afternoon to negotiate the revised contract with Hoffmann.

Council members voted 4-3 to advance the revised contract, with Vice Mayor Linda Penniman, Councilmen Doug Finlay and Sam Saad opposed. They said they wanted to offer a lower purchase price.

“If I were Hoffmann, I would be laughing right now if I were watching this,” Finlay said.

The revised contract would require the city to begin construction of a garage within five years of closing on the property or sell back the land. The contract would allow for a time extension if a project was held back by litigation.

Mayor Bill Barnett, who made the motion on the revised contract, proposed using direct taxpayer money to buy the land, rather than CRA funds.

Kit Kitchen-Maran, a visitor, and now full-time resident of Naples, since the 1960s, voices her opinion during a Naples Community Redevelopment Agency public meeting Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017, at the Naples City Council Chamber to discuss the potential acquisition of land to be used for a parking garage downtown. "Quantity does not mean quality," Kitchen-Maran said near the end of her comments. "What we've got here is a development greed that is starting to overwhelm the quality of life here in Naples."

The city’s redevelopment panel had urged the council to take out a $20 million loan to fund the garage proposal using CRA money, but some critics said the anti-blight aid shouldn’t be used for a project off swanky Fifth Avenue South.

Penniman has called for an outside audit of the CRA fund amid those concerns.

Some residents told the council during Tuesday’s hearing that CRA money should instead be allocated to the River Park neighborhood, the CRA’s lone low-income area.

“My community hasn’t been given any type of treatment ... since it’s been in Naples,” River Park resident Antonio Dumornay said.

If the city bought the land from Hoffmann, it would open the lot’s more than 100 parking spaces to the public, according to the contract revisions.

That could address some of the problems that business owners said they have with a lack of parking on Fifth Avenue’s west end. Maria Furetta, executive chef of Bellini on Fifth Italian Ristorante, told the council her end of the avenue deserves a garage.

“I’m talking about between the east and the west side; we have inequality,” Furetta said. “We are not balanced for parking spaces.”

Councilors are expected to give final approval to the proposal during Wednesday’s regular City Council meeting.