San Carlos project remanded by “imperfect system”
The developer of the Bay Harbour Marina Village project on San Carlos Island got what he wanted: his project was sent back to Lee County planning staff for further work.
But the process was called flawed and imperfect at the Nov. 16 Lee County Commissioner’s zoning meeting, by commissioners, staff and residents alike.
“Today began with a flawed zoning issue built on a flawed comprehensive plan amendment,” said District 5 Commissioner Frank Mann.
Jack Mayher of Inkwerks Coastal Design Firm applied to the county to develop a 7.58-acre property on Main Street and Oak Street into a 113-condo high rise, marina, boat barn, parking garage and restaurant. While planning staff recommended approval, both the Local Planning Agency and the Hearing Examiner recommended either remand or denial of the project.
The project as it stands will require both a comprehensive plan amendment to the Lee Plan from industrial to central urban designation as well as a rezoning application from mobile home residential, light and marine industrial, and commercial to mixed use planned development.
Rather than face a vote on Nov. 16, the developer’s attorney asked that the project to be sent back
Mayher applied to the county for both the amendment and the rezone concurrently, a right he had under a state law from 2011, but some of the Lee County Commissioners did not like the two items appearing before them at the same time.
“You’ve got the zoning driving the comprehensive plan,” said District 3 Commissioner Larry Kiker. “It’s a part of the confusion and contention and I’m not comfortable with that.”
Kiker said the “traveling together” of the two requests through the county’s planning process caused him concern because he was advised not to speak to the public about the project. The zoning request is a quasi-judicial matter, so by county rule he cannot speak to anyone about any zoning case until it comes to the county commission. The Lee Plan amendment is a legislative matter, however, since the two items were virtually intertwined, county staff advised him to stay tight-lipped about Bay Harbour as a whole to avoid any potential legal slip.
Kiker also said the pairing of the Lee Plan amendment and zoning request for the same project did not follow the process he was used to: he said typically the comprehensive plan amendment came before the board first, then the zoning followed at another meeting on another date.
Mann agreed: “When did this change?”
District 4 Commissioner Brian Hamman offered his perspective: comprehensive plan changes offered a big-picture idea and zoning changes gave specifics, so when done together, it eliminated uncertainty about what the developer’s plans were for its property.
Thirteen residents spoke in public comment asking that the board not remand the project but deny it all-together.
“We who live there see it as completely outlandish,” said San Carlos resident Nick White. “We sat in hearings for four days, wrote letters, worked hard. The process was convoluted.”
Town of Fort Myers Beach principal planner Matt Noble spoke on behalf of the town council to express its disapproval of the project just outside its limits.
“The project is out of character and goes against the vision of the area for industrial use,” he said. “This is rare land. The shrimping industry and others depend on a location near water.”
Ultimately, the commissioners agreed to remand the rezoning request to staff while delaying, or continuing, the Lee Plan amendment until the rezoning request reappeared – the second piece of which Mann voted against.
Kiker obtained permission to talk to residents and the applicant about the Lee Plan amendment with county legal staff present.
“This is not just a regular project we can look at individually,” Kiker said. “From the community’s standpoint, this means everything. This could devastate the shrimpers.”
He reiterated the county’s need to “regroup” and rethink “how we do business” in approving projects by looking at the cumulative development pressure on an area rather than one project’s immediate affect.
Despite residents voicing their disapproval of the project, Kiker said just remanding the project or denying part of it was “not going to make this go away,” he said. Rather, the remand would allow him a little time to speak to stakeholders.
“This is an opportunity to reach out to everyone,” he said.