Ave Maria

Overall RLSA Facts First receiving area: Ave Maria, 2005 Town category – 1,000 to 4,000 acres 1,000 dwelling units (2.2/acre average) 1.38 million square feet non-residential 5,027 acres (university + new town) Sending areas: 17,050 acres 77% sending and 23% receiving area ratio

Ave Maria Pictorial Site Plan Collier County RLSA Map

Adapted from text from The Ave Maria Site

As participants in the Rural Lands Stewardship Program, Ave Maria University and Town will put into protection some 17,000 acres of vitally important environmental lands. Included are areas within Camp Keais Strand, and important flow way and habitat area, and areas within or adjacent to the Okaloacoochee Slough, a significant regional wildlife corridor and upland-wetland habitat.

Ave Maria (the University and Town) are the first implementation of the Rural Lands Stewardship Program, designed to plan for the future of 200,000 acres of undeveloped land in Eastern Collier County while protecting the environment, agriculture, and economic vitality. When fully implemented in the entire Rural Lands area, the plan will produce results as listed below.

Protecting the Environment

Incentivizes landowners to protect environmentally valuable land
Places nearly 90,000 acres, or 47% of privately-held lands within the Study Area, into Stewardship designation
Protects 90% of uplands and wetlands
Incorporates 91% of panther telemetry points
Requires less than 20% of the development footprint
Enforces environmental protection standards in Stewardship areas
Incentivizes restoration of land
Works with or without public funds

Protecting Agriculture

Protects 75,000 acres, or over 80% of all agricultural resources
Maintains inherent value of land (loan value)
Protects private property rights through incentive-based program
Provides for use of local, State, Federal and private revenues for land acquisition
Forms Agricultural Advisory Committee for Collier County

Protecting Economic Vitality

Accommodates 2025 population projection in compact form of development
Protects an average of 5-7 acres of Stewardship areas for each acre of rural development
Utilizes innovative planning techniques, such as rural, commercial villages, i.e. Smart Growth
Promotes substantial, long-term positive effects on employment
Allows growth in manner that results in positive net fiscal impact for Collier County

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