Changes to Lee County’s long-term growth plan are on hold after county commissioners agreed this week to slow down the process.
Commissioners Kevin Ruane and David Mulicka asked to delay voting on the changes during Tuesday’s meeting. They said they haven’t had time to digest the 344-page report and additional 140 pages they received September 11. They also said they need more time to meet with constituents.
As a result, the amendments will no longer be considered at the Board’s Oct. 7 meeting.
Ruane said he has been inundated with emails and phone calls about the plan. He had 28 meetings scheduled with residents who are concerned about the changes.
“There’s a lot of anxiety and I want to remove any anxiety. I don’t see the urgency,” he said.
He asked that commissioners cancel the current schedule as well as the Community Development staff create a community outreach plan.
“I don’t want a gun to my head, and I feel there’s a gun to my head right now” he said.
The most controversial amendments are to the growth plan, which eliminates the 17 community plans, some created as far back as 1989 and no longer required to hold countywide public information meetings.
County commissioners asked the Community Development staff to streamline and update the Comprehensive Plan 15 months ago.
“I never in a million years would have thought it would have meant deleting the names of the community plans all together,” said Commissioner Mulicka, who seconded the motion 15 months ago for the staff to streamline the plan. “I thought they would make everything consistent.”
Senior Planner Brandon Dunn, who presented the changes at a meeting of the Local Planning Agency last month, said the intention was to make it easier and more predictable to implement. He said many of the goals of the community plans were only moved elsewhere in the growth plan and weren’t removed. There would be no changes in density.
Mulicka said he’s not for or against the changes and some parts might be improvements, but he has yet to get the breakdown of the changes that would be made in each plan.
Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass said he was surprised by the two commissioners’ requests. He said he had all the information and documents. He complimented the work staff did to develop the plan. He blamed the controversy on politics and misinformation on the Internet.
Commissioner Brian Hamman told the story about a woman coming up to him at church and telling him to save Pine Island. He assured her nothing would change on Pine Island.
He was glad the motion includes staff creating a community outreach plan. Mulicka originally suggested Community Development staff meet with each of the communities, but the motion left it up to the department about how to develop the plan.
Commissioners must create a consensus, Hamman said.
The full discussion, which was part of the Sept. 15 Board meeting, is available on the county's YouTube channel.
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