A Message to City Council Regarding 2026 Goals

I am disappointed that this City Council has not prioritized acquiring additional Open Space as a 2026 Goal. My City Council acquired more Open Space in four years than all other City Councils since the City of Marco Island was founded. You need to continue this work and, at a minimum, include the following goal:

Goal # 1: By the end of 2026, the City of Marco Island will acquire the following vacant lots:

363 South Barfield Drive, 507 West Inlet Drive, 511 West Inlet Drive.

These lots will add to The Barfield Burrows Preserve located next to Publix. This preserve, acquired through the hard work of my City Council, represents the single-greatest acquisition of Open Space through the Conservation Collier Program on Marco Island since the program’s creation.

The lots identified in Goal # 1 are in the middle of what I had envisioned as the Marco Island Conservation Trail that starts at The Barfield Burrows Preserve and ends at the Otter Mound Preserve, the first-ever Conservation Collier acquisition.

The trail would proceed along S. Barfield from Publix, turn south onto S. Inlet Drive, and follow the ridge to the Otter Mound Preserve. The trail follows the geological ridge that forms the backbone of Marco Island and is home to countless Burrowing Owls and Gopher Tortoises. It also is within walking distance to 1125 Caxambas Drive, a waterfront lot my City Council also acquired from Conservation Collier.

Goal # 2: By the end of 2026, the City of Marco Island will create waterfront park access for safe paddling at two City Park locations.

I am disappointed that nobody on this City Council seems to care about safe kayaking, canoeing, and paddleboarding, as evidenced by your failure to include opening up access for safe paddling as part of your 2026 Goals.

One of the reasons I worked very hard to convince the developers of the Watermark Assisted Living facility to donate a free public park to the City of Marco Island was that I envisioned it to be the southern link to a safe paddling area for kayakers, canoeists, and paddle boarders. The northern terminus would have been Veterans Park.

One of the reasons I do not support the AWT proposal to clean up Marco Island’s canals is that those safe waterways are not accessible to the two-thirds of our population who do not live on them. The canals, like our roadways, are owned by every homeowner and taxpayer on Marco Island.

Two thirds of Marco Island’s residents either live in condominiums along the beach and the San Marco River or in single-family homes in center island bordered by S. Barfield Drive, Winterberry Dr., Bald Eagle Dr., and S. Heathwood Dr. I am included in this population and it just doesn’t seem fair to me to spend millions of dollars to clean up our canal waterways without providing access to them for safe, protected paddling.

All residents willingly pay taxes to maintain our roadways because they are open to everyone. If AWT advocates want everyone to share the cost of cleaning up the island’s canals, they need to make opening them up to everyone part of their proposals.  

My modest proposal to provide two access points in publicly owned parks would be a way to jump-start creating other public access points that open up the canals to safe paddling for paddlers of all ages and to garner more support for AWT.  

Thanks for considering these two goals.