In a unanimous decision, city council denied plans for new hotel rooms on Fifth Avenue South in downtown Naples, seeing them as the wrong fit.
The vote came Wednesday, just weeks after a city election, with three new faces on council.
Much of the campaigning in the election centered around growth and development, with the word “overdevelopment” often bantered about, as a threat to the city’s small-town charm.
Two of the new councilors garnered strong support from builders and developers in their campaigns, leading some residents to fear their influence on decision-making for current and future projects.
Bill Kramer, one of those councilors, described the proposal for hotel rooms as trying to stuff 100 pounds of flour into a 50-pound bag. Others on the board agreed.
Council unilaterally saw the hotel rooms, included as part of a new mixed-used building, as overdevelopment. The rooms would have sat atop a new restaurant.
Berne Barton, the other new councilman, backed by builders and developers as part of a slate that ran as “Team Naples,” said he worried that allowing the hotel rooms as part of the redevelopment project would set a bad precedent, which could then be copied up and down the street.