The pleas of more than 40 speakers couldn’t convince the Lee County Planning Agency to delay or deny changes to the road map that determines how the county will grow.
The LPA, which makes a recommendation to the county commission, voted 4-2 to approve changes to Lee County’s long-term growth plan, also known as the Comprehensive Plan. The LPA also voted to approve changes to the Land Development Code, which enforces laws and regulations to see that the growth plan is met.
The most controversial amendments were to the growth plan, which eliminates the 17 community plans, some created as far back as 1989 and no longer being required to hold countywide public information meetings.
Senior Planner Brandon Dunn presented the changes to the plan, saying the intention was to make it easier and more predictable to implement.
“The intent is to make it clearer and easier to use without changing how much development is allowed,” said.
Many of the goals of the community plans were only moved elsewhere in the growth plan and weren’t removed, he said. There would be no changes in density.
Speakers from Pine Island, Alva, Buckingham and North Fort Myers were skeptical about the removal of the plans. They talked about how much work went in to creating the plans and how they were unique to their communities.
“The Buckingham Community Plan supports the county’s goal to provide a diversity of lifestyles for its citizens,” said Bill Burdett, representing the Buckingham Community Association. “And we believe these goals simply cannot be achieved by a generic countywide land use plan.”
Speakers also complained about the lack of time they had to digest the 344-page comp plan and the removal of the public meeting requirement.
Chris Blum, a Bokeelia resident and a member of the Pine Island Civic Association, said the process needs to be slowed down. She also said removing the community plans will make it harder to find information in the Comp Plan.
“Even the concept of cutting apart the different plans, there’s really no logic to it,” she said. “And if they are not being eliminated, doesn’t the proposed changes make this more cumbersome and inefficient?”
She asked where people will know where to look for the information.
She suggested the staff take each community plan and lay out where the policies were moved to, what regulations were removed and why and give examples.
“It would help us fully understand what are the real impacts, and if there are no impacts, then wonderful. But it’s just not clear on the way it’s being presented today,” she said.
Dunn admitted people aren’t happy and there’s a lot of concern from the public.
“I think we needed to do a better job of identifying what was in the plan and what’s going to remain in the plan,” he said. “And I don’t know that we did a great job with that last Tuesday,” he said referring to a public information meeting.
LPA Chairman Stan Stouder suggested staff put together a matrix showing the changes. Dunn said he can have one finished by the end of the week.
LPA member Jennifer Sapen made a motion that included the planning staff to continue to work with the community distributing information and to continue public participation meetings. Sapen, Stouder, Tina Ekbland and Dawn Russell voted in favor.
Henry Zuba and Dustin Gardner voted no. Zuba said the amendments are not compliant with the comp plan because the plan talks about the importance of public input and community plans.
The Executive Regulatory Oversight Committee (EROC), a committee that evaluates the impact of new regulations on the local economy, will visit the issue Sept. 9. No date has been set when it will be discussed by the county commission.
WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.
