A little more than two years ago, Letitia Accarrino watched as giant poles came into view from her backyard at Quail Creek Estates in North Naples.
The purpose of the poles: To support new fencing designed to protect golfers from wayward balls coming from a nearby practice driving range.
The fence poles started going up without any notice to neighbors, and without any permits from Collier County.
“It was a complete surprise,” Accarrino said. “They didn’t tell us anything about it.”
By they, she means the golf club’s management.
The lack of communication − and failure to obtain a permit − led to code enforcement complaints against the Quail Creek Country Club, a private members-only club.
The complaints resulted in a Stop Work Order and a code enforcement case that is still pending, as the club’s management works to remedy the situation, with hopes of keeping the poles.
According to county records, not only was construction done without a permit, but by an unlicensed contractor.
Fencing needed to protect golfers
The towering poles started rising in April 2024, along the western edge of the driving range, located off Valewood Drive, roughly one mile east of Interstate 75 and north of Immokalee Road.
The netting is meant to prevent errant practice balls from reaching Hole No. 10 on the Quail Course. The decision to install mesh fencing came after six golfers got hit by range balls on that hole, with one of the golfers suffering what’s been described as a “major injury.”
The club property is within a Golf Course and Recreational Use (GC) Zoning District. In the district, a driving range is classified as an accessory use, but the Land Development Code is silent on height limits for accessory uses in the district.
Principal uses in the district are limited to 35 feet, but it doesn’t extend to accessory uses.
The fence poles installed by the Quail Creek Golf Club are about 70 feet tall, sitting on a berm, about 240 feet from the edge of the Accarrinos’ property.
“Technically speaking, they are 63 feet high, but almost 70 feet on top of the berm,” she said.
She likens the tall and tapered appearance of the poles to “industrial smokestacks,” with the line of polls extending 850 feet.
According to county records, two golf courses, Imperial and Hibiscus, have driving ranges with barrier fences taller than 35 feet.
Golf club seeks code amendment
In an effort to resolve the dispute, the Quail Creek Country Club is now pursuing a Land Development Code amendment that would allow fencing up to 70 feet in the GC District. The new section would include design standards − addressing everything from setbacks to landscaping requirements.
The fencing would require the approval of a site development plan and a building permit. Applicants who don’t meet the new design standards could still ask for conditional use approval from the county.
In a statement, Chris Evans, general manager at Quail Creek Country Club, said: “Driving range errant golf ball containment barriers are a critical component of safe golf course operation. While the Collier County Land Development Code does not address this safety feature, numerous containment barriers are located on other golf courses in Collier County and a containment barrier was approved for the Collier County golf course, The Gate. Quail Creek is committed to the safety of its golfers and its neighbors and is seeking to correct, with standards, a missing piece in the County’s Code.”
Letitia Accarrino and her husband, Frank, have proposed a competing amendment that would cap the height of golf course fencing at 35 feet, unless the county grants a conditional use, which would require a public hearing.
In reviewing the competing proposals last month, the county’s Land Development Review Subcommittee, a technical panel under the Development Services Advisory Committee, voted 4-1 to recommend in favor of the amendment offered up by the club, with conditions.
The full Development Services Advisory Committee is slated to take up the amendments on May 6.
Future hearings are anticipated before the Collier County Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners, which is expected to make the final decision.
Fence poles installed without permits
The county’s Special Magistrate for code enforcement found the club in violation of county rules on April 4, 2025, for putting the poles up without a permit. The club was given 120 days to come into compliance, but it never did.
The club has tried other ways to resolve the violation, but none of them have panned out, including seeking a variance, Accarrino said.
Meanwhile, fines continue to accrue at $200 a day, but they have yet to be collected. They began accruing last August.
“We are extremely unhappy with the way Code Enforcement has handled this,” Accarrino said. “The Special Magistrate has twice extended the hearing on imposition of fines against Quail Creek in the face of our objections and explanations that the violation has cost homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The hearing on the imposition of fines is now scheduled for July 10.
Accarrino sees the club’s attempt at amending the Land Development Code as its last-ditch effort to keep the poles it planted behind her home. The errant balls didn’t become a problem until after the club removed protective trees to expand the driving range a few years ago, she said.
The addition of a berm and palm trees hasn’t done enough to shield golfers on the Quail Course, and now more balls from the driving range are hitting houses and cars as well, Accarrino said.
“We get tons of errant balls on our lawn, which is kind of funny,” she said. “They aren’t looking to protect us.”
Neighbors claim fencing has hurt property values
The fence poles have hurt property values, creating an eyesore, especially for the 12 homes in Quail Creek Estates that directly overlook them, Accarrino said.
“It’s a nice community,” she said. “We have bigger lots. We have lots of trees. So, when you put up those things, it just really looks horrific.”
She added: “This could happen to anyone. I would be very reluctant to buy on a golf course again. I don’t think I would do it again. Learned my lesson.”
Between the two houses that have sold since the poles went up, Accarrino estimates the sellers lost almost $2 million in value combined.
Becky Hundley, a former resident of Quail Creek, is one of the affected sellers. She and her husband invested a lot of money in their home, and they thought they would get most, if not all, of the money back, but that didn’t happen.
“Quail Creek Golf Club changed the outside, so all that we did inside was for not, because they screwed up our view,” Hundley said.
The club, she said, essentially took the land value away, when it removed so many trees over the years and then started putting up what she described as Topgolf-like fencing.
“So, we didn’t even a chance to really test the house on the market. Our Realtor told us to list the house at $2.5 million and the poles went up, and we had it lowered to $2 million,” Hundley said.
After they had no takers at $2 million, they ended up selling the house for $1.25 million in September.
“How can they do this? Leave these polls up for over two years, and the people trying to sell their houses lose,” Hundley said. “I lost $1.25 million because they didn’t take them down. I don’t understand why they didn’t take them down.”
As a business owner without a retirement plan or pension, she said she counted on the money from the house sale to help her retire this year at 65, but now she can’t afford to do it.
“For me, at this point, it’s too late,” Hundley said. “The damage is done, but my neighbors are going to suffer the same fate, unless something is done about this. It’s just so unfair that they can do this.”
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This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Quail Creek Golf Club’s fence poles spark property rights fight in North Naples
Reporting by Laura Layden, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Naples Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
