A judge in Florida’s 20th Circuit Court has denied a petition challenging Lee County’s zoning approval for South Seas Resort on Captiva, which allows the approval to stand.

In a decision signed Oct. 21, Judge James Shenko denied the petition, finding the Board’s decision was based on competent substantial evidence, applied the correct law, and provided the public participants with the required due process.

For decades South Seas offered a 107-room hotel, employee housing and quaint amenities.

But after Hurricane Ian hit Captiva Island on Sept. 28, 2022, it caused significant damage to many residents and business owners and the resort was not spared.

In the aftermath, the resort sought development approvals to quadruple the number of hotel rooms and replace employee housing with private condominiums.

The resort is situated among more than a dozen clusters off privately-owned community associations. Collectively they made up some 900 different dwelling units. For decades there’s been a cap not to exceed 912.

More

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• Lee County staff gives nod to planned resort expansion; public now weighing in on South Seas

But South Seas wanted to change that.

The employee housing and hotel has been torn down. In their place, the owners sought to build two hotels consisting of 435 rooms. Also sought was another 193 dwelling units for guests, which would exceed the 912 limit by hundreds of units.

The resort and private villas make up 304-acres. Since the 1970s there’s been a long-standing rule that there could be no more than 3½ units per acre on the property. Of note, it was the resort’s former owners that voluntarily lowered the density threshold.

In the recent decision, Judge Shenko wrote that the Lee Board of County Commissioners was “free to rezone SSIR's property in a manner that honored Lee Plan policies benefitting the entirety of Lee County given the rapidly changing environment that required climate resiliency and economic benefits to the entire citizenry-while simultaneously respecting SSIR’s (South Seas’) property rights."

In response to the County’s approvals, the Captiva Civic Association filed several lawsuits attempting to prohibit South Sea’s redevelopment plans. In each suit, the association made allegations of legal improprieties and inconsistencies with Lee County’s Comprehensive Plan and Development Codes.

In each of those previous cases, the association’s legal challenges failed, including a May 26, 2026, decision by 20th Circuit Court Judge Kyle S. Cohen, upholding the Lee Board of County Commissioners’ approval of the resort’s zoning application.

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. WGCU reporter Eileen Kelley contributed to this report.