Bad idea resurrected: Take action on detrimental development plan

June 21, 2024

The proposed “Kingston” development project in eastern Lee County will have devastating impacts to the western Everglades, including a keystone species: the Florida panther.

Kingston is massive. It would add more than 10,000 homes and associated development at the edge of Lee County, next to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (CREW).  CREW is a 60,000-acre watershed that spans the eastern border of Lee and Collier counties. The property is within the Density Reduction/Groundwater Recharge (DR/GR) area of Lee County, meaning this area should remain largely rural to protect our drinking water supplies. The proposed Kingston development threatens critical wetland ecosystems and water resources.

Ask the Army Corp of Engineers to deny the Kingston project here!

If this project sounds familiar, it’s because Kingston was formerly being considered for a permit with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). After a legal victory in February 2024 that resulted in the FDEP no longer being able to issue these types of permits, decision-making now rests on the Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies.

However, now the applicant is again trying to advance their destructive project and we need your help!

Ask the Army Corps of Engineers for a public meeting regarding Kingston and let them know that Kingston is not in the public’s – or the panthers’ – best interest.

The project would destroy more than 3,330 acres of Primary and Secondary Zone Florida panther habitat while fragmenting additional habitat essential to its survival and recovery.

Compounding endangered species habitat and public lands impacts is the threat of panther-vehicle collisions, the number one documented source of mortality for this species. Development on the Kingston site will add more than 95,000 vehicle trips per day onto already-deadly roadways.

Speak up now to protect the panther and our environmentally sensitive public lands! Take action to protect the panther and the western Everglades.

Kingston project and panthers map