If you spent the hot months away from the Boulevard and came home expecting either a construction fence at the end of Seagate Drive or a headline declaring the whole thing over, neither is waiting for you. The pool expansion Naples Grande Beach Resort calls Clam Pass Cove is not moving forward this fall. It is also not dead. Sometime this spring, the site plan behind it was quietly withdrawn, a development that got far less attention than the packed commission chamber back in March.
That distinction is worth sorting out if you own in Bay Villas, in Seagate, or in one of the towers on the south end of Pelican Bay. Several neighborhood roundups published this summer still describe this as a live fight that requires you to track the next hearing date. What actually happened is narrower, and in some ways more interesting: the developer pulled its application, the legal challenge to how the county classified the project keeps moving underneath it, and nobody involved has said what happens if that challenge fails.
What Everyone Remembers From March
The public version of this story is the one that made the news. Naples Grande's co-owners, South Street Partners and the British firm Henderson Park, proposed a 3.3-acre addition on the resort's eastern edge: a pool, two water slides estimated between 21 and 25 feet tall, a lazy river, and a cafe. The resort called it an amenity. Its neighbors called it what the renderings from design firm Cooper Carry Inc. showed: a water park.
Here is the shape of that spring, laid out in order:
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| March 11-12, 2026 | Pelican Bay's Design Review Board holds information sessions on the Clam Pass Cove proposal |
| March 20, 2026 | County Planning and Zoning Director Mike Bosi rules the project can proceed as a customary accessory use, without a Planned Unit Development amendment |
| March 24, 2026 | Nearly 100 residents attend the Board of County Commissioners meeting; public comment on the proposal is not taken |
| April 17, 2026 | Pelican Bay Foundation files an administrative appeal challenging Bosi's ruling; Bay Villas Association files its own appeals |
| By late May 2026 | Naples Grande withdraws its Site Development Plan Amendment, according to a county communication to Bay Villas' attorney |
By the time the March 24 commission meeting happened, the No Waterpark Coalition had collected nearly 5,000 signatures and raised close to $150,000 for its legal fund. Bay Villas Association, the neighborhood directly across from the proposed site, had already spent $100,000 on legal and professional fees and raised close to $40,000 through its own GoFundMe campaign.
Why a Word Choice Decided the Zoning Question
The fight over what to call this thing was never just semantics. Collier County's determination hinged on whether the addition counted as a customary accessory use to an existing hotel, which does not require a Planned Unit Development amendment, or as a standalone commercial attraction, which does. Bosi's March 20 ruling sided with the first reading.
Patrick Wack, president of the Seagate Property Owners Association and a founding member of the No Waterpark Coalition, put the argument plainly: "It's not a water amenity." His point was that families buying a day pass would describe their destination the way anyone would, not the way a zoning memo does. That framing is why the coalition's fight was never really about a pool. It was about whether an accessory-use classification could stretch to cover something this size.
Paused Is Not the Same as Denied
The withdrawal reported by Park Shore Association this spring means the specific site plan Naples Grande filed is no longer active, which is why nothing broke ground this summer and why the resort has instead moved forward with room remodels and other hotel upgrades. It does not mean the underlying dispute is resolved. The administrative appeals the Pelican Bay Foundation and Bay Villas Association filed on April 17 against Bosi's Official Interpretation are still working through the county process, and the county communication that confirmed the withdrawal also noted the hotel may reconsider the project once those appeals are decided.
Ken Silverman, president of the Pelican Bay Property Owners Association, framed the stakes beyond this one parcel when he asked commissioners:
"If this happens, what's going to stop the Ritz-Carlton? What's going to stop the Inn on Pelican Bay?"
That question is the reason residents on the south end of the community are still watching this closely even with the immediate application off the table. The interpretation being appealed applies to more than one hotel along this stretch of coastline. If it stands, other properties with similar zoning could point to it.
Who's Actually Holding the Line
Three organizations are doing distinct work here, and it helps to know which one does what before you write a check or send a comment letter.
- Pelican Bay Foundation is the master homeowners association for the community and filed its own administrative appeal against the county's Official Interpretation on April 17, arguing the project should require a PUD amendment.
- Bay Villas Association represents the neighborhood immediately across from the proposed site and has led its own separate appeals, funded through direct assessments and a community GoFundMe campaign.
- Seagate Property Owners Association, through the No Waterpark Coalition, has organized the broader public opposition campaign, including the petition and legal fund that drew support from Pelican Bay, Seagate, Naples Cay, Park Shore, and Gulf Shore residents.
Before any of this reaches a public vote, it still has to move through the Pelican Bay Design Review Board, which studies applications and passes a recommendation to the Pelican Bay Foundation board. That sequence has not changed. What changed is that there is currently no active site plan for the Design Review Board to study.
What to Actually Watch This Fall
If you live south of the North Tram station, the honest answer is that there is no pending hearing to put on your calendar right now. What is worth tracking:
Whether the appeals filed against Bosi's Official Interpretation get a hearing date this fall, and whether that hearing goes before the county's Hearing Examiner or the Board of Zoning Appeals, a distinction Commissioner Chris Hall spent part of the March 24 meeting clarifying for a frustrated room.
Whether Naples Grande files a revised site plan once those appeals are settled, since the withdrawal was described as tabling the project rather than abandoning it.
The No Waterpark Coalition maintains a website tracking the process for residents who want primary documents rather than secondhand summaries. That is a better source than any single blog post, including this one, for exact hearing dates once they are set.
None of this changes what your Tuesday looks like right now. The tram still runs its usual routes, Marker 36 and Sandbar are open on their regular schedules, and the walk down Seagate Drive to Clam Pass Park is the same walk it was in April. What has changed is quieter: the paperwork that paused a fight most residents assumed would end in a public vote, and the appeal underneath it that has not gone anywhere at all.
If you are weighing what any of this means for a specific address in Pelican Bay, whether you are watching the south end for resale timing or simply want a clearer read on how neighborhood decisions like this tend to play out, Maureen Sexson has spent years following Pelican Bay building by building and is glad to talk through what she is seeing.
