The first signs of homebuilding have started in the Town of Big Cypress in eastern Collier County.
Workers with heavy machines are digging ponds, laying water and sewer pipes, and building the first streets Inside Rivergrass Village. That's where Lennar is building its own neighborhood that is also called Rivergrass on a 545‑acre plot planned for more than 1,000 residences off Oil Well Road in Collier County.
Lennar is the first builder to get to work in one of the Town of Big Cypress’ three villages: Rivergrass, Longwater, and Bellmar.
Collier Enterprises advertises the Town of Big Cypress will have thousands of new homes in the three villages and more than 1.6 million square feet of shops, offices, and other commercial spaces.
Environmental groups are concerned about the villages’ proximity to the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, since new subdivisions bring new roads and new vehicles and being hit by vehicles is the most common way panthers are killed every year.
Collier Enterprise touts that it’s preserving more than 12,000 thousand acres of wildlands around the development for panthers and other animal to roam free. The idea is to keep most new homes in a few planned areas instead of spreading houses all over the countryside.
The Town of Big Cypress has faced multiple lawsuits since it was first proposed.
The Conservancy of Southwest Florida sued over the Rivergrass Village approval and reached a settlement with developer Collier Enterprises in July 2023 that preserved hundreds of acres of panther habitat and reduced the overall amount of land available for development in eastern Collier County.
That settlement cleared Rivergrass for construction, but at least one of the other two villages remains in legal limbo.
In February 2024, a federal judge ruled that the EPA violated the Endangered Species Act when it allowed Florida to issue wetlands permits instead of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The ruling specifically cited concerns about panther deaths from vehicle collisions in developments like Bellmar, which sits about a mile from the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. The case is on appeal, and it is unclear whether a decision has been issued or will be soon.
Either way, that looks not to be the developer's last legal challenge. Last month, the South Florida Wildlands Association filed a required 60-day notice of intent to sue over alleged Endangered Species Act violations related to the Town of Big Cypress.
Last week the Town of Big Cypress and the Picayune Strand were perfect examples of the tug of war between developers building needed homes for Florida's still-burgeoning population, and environmental groups spearheading conservation of wildlands for endangered species happening at the same time.
In Rivergrass at Big Cypress, its builders were happy to see those bulldozers clearing the 545 acres to build roads, laying pipes to carry water in and wastewater out of the subdivisions, and getting ready to pour concrete foundations for people to move in.
Should all the permits be issued, and the current designs realized, Big Cypress will total around 8,300 homes housing about 11,000 residents at build-out.
About 10 miles away at the Picayune Strand, environmentalists and civil engineers were celebrating the reclamation of 85 square miles in the Western Everglades after hundreds of miles of roads were ripped out and dozens of miles of canals were filled in.
Hundreds of miles of wildlands were returned to the Florida panther, black bear, and the plants and other animals that thrive in the unmolested edges of the Florida Everglades.
Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by VoLo Foundation, a non-profit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
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