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Plans advance on controversial new Bonita Springs development

Site for Revana Lakes, a 299-home community in Bonita Springs.
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Site for Revana Lakes, a 299-home community in Bonita Springs.

Plans for an upscale community along Bonita Beach Road live on after a suspenseful city council meeting Wednesday night.

Council voted 4-3 to allow for changes to its comprehensive plan that will enable Seagate Development Group to build Revana Lakes, a 299-home community across from the Palmira community.

Comprehensive plans are blueprints for how cities and counties want to control growth.

The comp plan changes now go to the state for review. The amendments then come back to the city for final approval. Seagate will have to go through the zoning process before beginning the project.

City council went against Bonita’s Local Planning Agency recommendation to disallow the comp plan change. Council’s vote was a turnaround from last year when it voted against Seagate’s request.

Bonita Springs and unincorporated Lee County share the 204-acre property. Seagate wants to annex the 90 acres in Lee into the city and change the land use from Density Reduction/Groundwater Resource (DR/GR) to Urban Fringe Development.

The DR/GR was created in 1990 to protect the county’s water supply. Development was limited to one home per 10 acres. Lee County since then has allowed several communities to build on land once designated DR/GR.

Seagate had the option of going to a more lenient Lee County to build homes on the 90 acres if the comprehensive plan change wasn’t approved. The developer could have built affordable housing on 30 of those acres zoned industrial without any density requirements thanks to a new state law.

Council members who voted against the amendment to the comp plan were afraid of setting a precedent with the DRGR designation. Other developers would come to the city seeking changes.

Having the project built within the city was the lesser of two evils for council members who voted for the project. The city would have some say in the zoning process if council approved the changes.
Mayor Mike Gibson voted in favor because it assured the project would be a low-density project with 299 homes.

Deputy Mayor Jesse Purdon cast the deciding yes vote, a change from last year when he voted against the project.

“Do we want to be the driver or the passenger?. “The project won’t go away with a vote no,” he said.
“It was a long process,” a happy Seagate CEO Matt Price said after the meeting. Seagate bought the property in 2020 with Barron Collier Companies and later became the sole owner.

He commended those who spoke in favor of the project.

More than 100 people crowded into council chambers. Sixteen residents, most living in communities that spill on to Bonita Beach Road, spoke; nine spoke in favor and six spoke against it. More than 1,200 people signed a petition asking council to pause development along Bonita Beach Road, especially Revana Lakes.

Most of those speaking against Revana Lakes were concerned about traffic it will bring to Bonita’s already clogged roads. They said widening of I-75 planned to begin in two years is not the answer. They want a pause in development until the city determines the impact the Midtown development near I-75 and other nearby projects approved by the county have on traffic.

“If we allow this development further, it’ll increase traffic congestion, which will become a larger problem with new homes being built,” said Jim Lucas, who lives in Palmira.

Many of those who spoke in favor echoed Will Handy, a resident of Valencia Bonita, a community on the south side of Bonita Beach Road.

“ I feel that the job Seagate has done not only with the proposed development but from what I’ve seen of the existing developments is high quality, first class,” Handy said. “I think it would be an asset to Bonita Springs to have this additional development in there.

“I love the idea of the 100,000 feet of retail, especially seeking a boutique grocer for the east end of Bonita Beach Road. I think that would be a big asset to many.”

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