Litter fills lot meant for Grace Romanian Baptist chapel

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla.– Litter bugs have taken over a lot that the Grace Romanian Baptist once envisioned as the site of their new chapel. Now neighbors are worshipping Collier County Code Enforcement for stepping in.

The church owns the wooded lot on the Southwest corner of Golden Gate and Weber Boulevards.

In January 2019, members of the congregation went before County Commissioners, asking to rezone the 6-acre property from residential to commercial.

The proposal left neighbors like Lauren Osborne upset, fearing traffic would clog up Weber Boulevard. Lucky for them, the project fell through. But Osborne said what’s there now isn’t any better.

“It’s mostly just the trash. It just builds up,” she said.

The lot holds litter on the north side of the property off Golden Gate Boulevard. A gate on the south side of the property, on 1st Avenue Southwest, couldn’t stop dumpers from leaving piles of construction debris.

“We’ve seen it all, we’ve seen clothes, we’ve seen tires, tin cans. I mean if no one wants it, they just dump it for convenience,” she said.

Collier County Code Enforcement issued the church a Notice of Violation for the litter, giving members until April 29th to clean up. A County spokesperson said the deadline could be extended.

“They could build a fence, they could fix up their lot.”

NBC2 reached out to the Grace Romanian Baptist Church of Naples to find out what their plans are for the property. The church did not return our calls

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