The Marco Island Planning Board has approved the Hilton Hotel’s request for a zoning change to vastly increase the size of the hotel and the inherent density at this location on South Collier Blvd. This now goes to the City Council for approval. As a Candidate for the Marco Island City Council, I say hold on… there is a lot to unpack before the Council takes up this proposal.
The City staff rejected this proposal. The staff says it violates our Comprehensive Plan and that to proceed, the Plan would need to be amended. The Planning Board has overridden the city staff’s well researched and documented recommendation to reject. This has rarely been done…almost never. Certainly never on such a major proposed zoning change.
During Planning Board discussions, it was stated and is now in the record, that the Hilton suggests there is no upper boundary for density on Marco Island. Let that settle in. That means, if you accept this as the Planning Board did, that we have the possibility of unbridled growth.
As a Candidate for Marco Island City Council I say the residents, the owners of OUR City, have a voice. We say we want a government that adheres to our Comprehensive Plan and isn’t sweeping the corners of the Plan for tiny loopholes. We say, there is a limit to density, to commercial growth, and to traffic and tourism. There is a limit and we insist on a government that listens to us. There are now multiple instances of the Council ignoring our laws (Ordinances). Shall the ignoring of our laws, and the Comprehensive Plan continue? I say no!
This isn’t just one property, one project, one more expansion of tourism. This is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, the line in the sand. Some say the residents will benefit from a higher property tax valuation on the property and more tax revenue to the City. The fact is, any additional money is down the road and very marginal at best. There are no benefits to the residents of meaningful tangible value, just more density, more traffic, more cost to the taxpayers, and a terrible precedent. The applicant suggests there will be less market for short term rentals. That is nonsense, and we have the Collier County Tourist Development Council spending millions of dollars on advertising to promote tourism on Marco. This is purely about another scheme to extract more profit dollars from our island, and the residents be dammed.
Here are some facts to illustrate the growth in traffic on Marco Island. Based on data reported by MIPD, inbound traffic on the Jolley Bridge increased as follows between 2024 and 2026.
January up 85%; February up 12%; March up 44%.
In June 2026, the traffic count inbound was up by 33% from June 2025. Up one third in one year. What is the upper limit? The voters will decide that question on November 3rd.