Big Cypress, Florida

Big Cypress is a future planned town in Collier County, Florida. The project, originally called Rural Lands West,[1] is being developed by Collier Enterprises and will consist of three villages, Rivergrass, Longwater, and Bellmar.

Big Cypress, Florida
Planned community
Town of Big Cypress
Wordmark
Wordmark
Big Cypress is located in Florida
Big Cypress
Big Cypress
Location in Florida
Big Cypress is located in the United States
Big Cypress
Big Cypress
Location in the United States
Coordinates: 26°15′07.0″N 81°30′40.6″W
Country US
State Florida
County Collier
WebsiteOfficial website

The town will be named after nearby Big Cypress National Preserve.[2]

Collier County gave the project its final approval on June 27, 2023.[3]

Geography

Big Cypress will be east of Golden Gate Estates and southwest of Ave Maria.[2]

Much of the land being used for the development is currently used for row crops.[4]

Villages

Rivergrass
The first of the three villages to be approved by the Collier County Planning Commission (2020),[5] the 998-acre (4.04 km2) development[6] will be located off of Oil Well Road in what is currently Immokalee, Florida.[7]

Longwater
The 999-acre (4.04 km2) planned village,[6] to be east of Desoto Boulevard N and south of Oil Well Road,[8] is the second of the three villages to be approved.[9] Of the nearly 1,000 acres, more than 260 are to be dedicated to lakes.[10]

Bellmar
The proposed development, of about 1,800-acre (7.3 km2), is the southernmost community within the town of Big Cypress, about one mile away from the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.[11] The village was approved by the Collier County Planning Commission in 2021.[12]

Controversy

The three Big Cypress villages will be within the environmentally sensitive Rural Lands Stewardship Area (RLSA).[9]

Major concerns surround the development's impact on the endangered Florida panther. According to wildlife experts, the project will destroy around 2,000 acres of land that are essential for the continued survival of the already declining population.[13]

References
  1. "RURAL LANDS WEST". Domain Realty Group. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  2. Dodd, Colt (May 19, 2021). "Town of Big Cypress to be Located in East Collier by Golden Gate Estates". Florida YIMBY. YIMBY. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  3. "Town of Big Cypress gets final approval from Collier County". Gannett Company, Inc. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  4. Layden, Laura (May 25, 2021). "Collier commissioners delay vote on rural villages Longwater and Bellmar, Town of Big Cypress". Naples Daily News. Gannett Company, Inc. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  5. Olson, April (December 29, 2022). "Court of Appeals sides with Conservancy's right to challenge Rivergrass development". Florida Weekly. Hoffmann Media Group. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  6. "Big Cypress Stewardship District". Passarella & Associates, Inc. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  7. Dodd, Colt (November 2, 2022). "Rivergrass Village to Offer 2,500 Homes in Collier County, FL". Florida YIMBY. YIMBY. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  8. Riley, Patrick (September 7, 2019). "Proposed villages in rural Collier draw concerns from environmentalists". Naples Daily News. Gannett Company, Inc. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  9. Layden, Laura (April 1, 2021). "Collier County Planning Commission recommends approval of controversial rural village". Naples Daily News. Gannett Company, Inc. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  10. "Longwater". Collier Enterprises. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  11. "The Fight to Protect the Panther Continues with the Bellmar Development". Conservancy of Southwest Florida. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  12. Layden, Laura (April 20, 2021). "Rivergrass, Longwater and now Bellmar: Collier planners recommend approval of another rural village". Naples Daily News. Gannett Company, Inc. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  13. Vande Panne, Valerie (March 17, 2021). "Development Impacts Panthers And Taxpayers". WGCU. PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
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