Ave Maria Stewardship Community District
Board of Supervisors · Seat 5
Greg Colker
For Ave Maria
- Ave Roots since 2010
- Zero Developer Connections
- An Independent Voice
About Me
I finished high school at sixteen so I could serve full-time as a Christian missionary in Ukraine, Western Europe, Africa, and Asia. I’ve seen what life can look like in places where power and preference dominate.
I came to Ave Maria in 2010 to study. Met my wife here, graduated from AMU in 2013, and moved to Atlanta for a job. But we missed the Ave Maria community and moved right back to an affordable apartment in Naples. In 2019 we finally bought our home here, where we’re raising our six children.
Today I consult private and family businesses outside Ave Maria looking to grow and sell. I have been serving as the President of Emerson Park’s HOA for 5 years.
I’m not connected to any developer. I have no other agenda. I just want the town my children grow up in to be run honestly and fairly for everyone.
The only candidate without them
Zero developer connections.
Not one.
The list of the developer's subsidiaries, partners, and vendors goes on and on.
I have zero ties to any of them. My family has zero ties to any of them.
My only dealings with them have been as a citizen on behalf of my fellow Emerson Park homeowners who elected me as President of our HOA.
The developer’s network
The developer’s network includes:
- Barron Collier Companies — the landowner and master developer of Ave Maria
- Ave Maria Development — the joint venture that develops the town
- The Master Association — the association over the town's common areas; Ave Maria Development is its Declarant
- FirstService Residential — the vendor that manages the Master Association day to day
- Peninsula Engineering — Barron Collier's engineering firm, which engineers the town's land development
- Pulte — a home builder active in Ave Maria
- CC Homes — a home builder active in Ave Maria
- Lennar — a home builder active in Ave Maria
- Ave Maria Utility Company — a Barron Collier subsidiary that runs the water and wastewater plant
- The Ave Maria Sun — the local newspaper, whose editorial advisor uses a Barron Collier email address
- Collier Environmental Services — a company under the same parent
- Collier Family Farms — a company under the same parent
- Collier Insurance Agency — a company under the same parent
- Kutak Rock — a law firm that represents the District and has also lobbied for Barron Collier, including on HB 4023
- CAPREIT — Barron Collier's partner on a 300-apartment project in Ave Maria
- Minto — under contract for Barron Collier's 1,000-acre Latitude parcel
- Latitude Margaritaville — the new development planned on Barron Collier land
Normal resident
Greg Colker
Candidate, Seat 5
- No paycheck.
- No leases.
- No deals.
- No favors.
- No family working there.
- 0 connections to any of them
- $0 earned from any of them
- 0 allegiance to any of them
The other candidate has been on this board since 2010
Here is how each of his terms was decided, which is a matter of public record:
| Year | How the seat was decided |
|---|---|
| 2010 | Elected by the developer (having lived here just about a year) |
| 2014 | Elected by the developer |
| 2018 | Elected by the developer |
| 2022 | Ran unopposed in the first resident election for this seat |
| 2026 | First contested resident vote for Seat 5 — this is the one you decide |
Both Tom DiFlorio and his wife Carol have long-term professional relationships inside the developer’s network. Their DJ business has been hired by Ave Maria Development and the Master Association. Carol has been the Lifestyle Director for the Master Association for over a decade.
To the developer’s credit, when it chose who would sit in this seat, it chose a resident. That mattered: it meant someone on the board actually lived here. But it was still the developer’s choice of resident.
I like Tom personally, and his work in areas like traffic safety and quality of life has been solid. But we need better engagement on the big contentious issues facing us today.
No one in that network chose me, pays me, or employs anyone in my family.
How I’ll serve
Independent doesn’t mean hostile
Yes, I’m independent of the developer’s network. That doesn’t make me hostile to them. I’m thankful for their work.
Barron Collier partnered with Tom Monaghan to build this town and set aside 17,050 acres for conservation to do it. They laid out a vision I still believe in. Stewardship is in the District’s name, a standard they set for themselves and for us.
Their seats on the board are legitimate. So is our voice as the people who live here, and it belongs at the center of every District decision.
We won’t always agree with the developer. That’s why the law gives the developer and residents representation on the board, and why every supervisor has to work through those differences honestly.
I’ve done that kind of work all my life: with reconciliation ministries in Northern Ireland and South Africa, in Ukraine, in business deals, and for years as Emerson Park HOA President.
More win‑win, less win‑lose. But when that fails, the rules must decide. Not power and preference.
The big issues today
We didn't sign up to subsidize Margaritaville.
- Barron Collier won valuable development rights for Latitude Margaritaville by presenting it to Collier County as part of Ave Maria, just like Del Webb.
- But unlike Del Webb, and every other development here for twenty years, they're trying everything to shield Margaritaville from the responsibilities that come with those rights.
- Over the years, that's millions of dollars Ave Maria homeowners would have to make up.
- I've spoken against this at District meetings and before the Collier County Planning Commission. Special treatment for one developer weakens the rules for everyone.
- Tom DiFlorio voted YES with all three developer-elected supervisors to let Margaritaville out of paying into Ave Maria.Robb Klucik, the other resident-elected supervisor, was the only no. Resolution 2025-07 asked the Legislature, at Barron Collier’s request, to remove the roughly 1,001-acre Latitude Margaritaville land from the District. It passed 4 to 1 on June 3, 2025. Source: District meeting minutes.
- I spoke against it, at District meetings here and before the Collier County Planning Commission in Naples.“It violates basic principles of logic and fairness for a development to claim it meets the highly integrated, interconnected, and shared service requirements of the Ave Maria Town SRA while also promising to … ‘fight’ to exclude itself.” Greg Colker, public comment to the Collier County Planning Commission, May 7, 2026.
The law says residents elect a Board majority at 50%. Now the developer wants to change it.
- The 2004 law that created the District says residents elect 3 of the 5 supervisors once the town reaches 50% “urban area.”
- We haven’t hit 50% yet. Today residents elect 2 of the 5.
- There’s a flaw in how the law measures that percentage: it doesn’t account for permanent preserve acreage that can never be built on.
- The developer wants to fix this by making sweeping changes to the method — and pushing the turnover point from 50% to 60%.
- I spoke against it at public District meetings.The law is flawed, and I want to correct it fairly, without moving goalposts or needlessly complicating things. I am firmly against moving the turnover point past the promised 50%.
We shouldn’t pay for lobbyists, and the developer should take responsibility for the reserve shortfall.
- Despite controlling a majority of the Board, the developer now pays only 8 cents of every dollar that funds the District.
- The District’s 2026–27 budget sets aside $100,000 for “legislation changes”: paying attorneys and lobbyists to change our District’s law. The District shouldn’t be pursuing changes so controversial that it needs lobbyists to push them.
- The reserve fund was neglected for decades. Only now, as the developer’s contributions dry up, are we starting to save. The developer should make the reserve right by contributing directly to it.
- I asked the developer to help fill the reserve at a public District meeting, and showed how doing the right thing for Ave Maria would be good for their bottom line.
- I’ve budgeted responsibly and fairly as Emerson Park HOA President. When our neighborhood was turned over, our reserve was short too, and we fixed it without a special assessment.I spoke against this line at the August 4, 2026 budget hearing. I will never vote for a budget that pays for lobbying to change our District’s law. Any change should have such broad support from residents that lobbyists aren’t needed. The developer paid lobbyists to push HB 4023, and it still failed after residents spoke up.
Hear it from me
As Election Day draws closer, I hope to share more detail about these issues and others that come up. If you’d like me to let you know when that happens, enter your email here.
These emails come from me.Not a campaign machine.
I won’t share your contact details with anyone else. You’re my neighbor, I respect you.
Seat 5 · General Election
Vote Greg Colker
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Every vote in the District counts.
- Register by October 5, 2026. You must be registered to vote in this election.
- Early voting: October 22–31, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Bring your photo ID. Florida requires it to vote.
- Want a mail ballot? Request one by 5 p.m. on October 22.
- Ave Roots since 2010
- Zero Developer Connections
- An Independent Voice