Town Council approves Gullwing, Incognito duplex
The Fort Myers Beach Town Council approved a pair of measures to move along a rezone for a long-awaited project that has gone through numerous incarnations to a second hearing and to allow for the building of a duplex on a property that hadn’t been zoned for only a single-family unit.
Gullwing Resort, a project that dates back more than 40 years, was seeking a rezoning on a 1.5 acre parcel from Commercial Resort to Commercial Planned Development.
The site contains The Gullwing condominium resort, consisting of 66 living units and 9,975 square feet of general office and support facilities, parking, tennis courts, a swimming pool and tiki hut.
The applicant requested a rezoning to allow for the redevelopment of 4,275 square feet of commercial space into six, one-bedroom guest units.
Not everyone was in agreement. Dave Nusbaum, president of the Island Winds Condominium Association, next door to Gullwing, said the residents were against the idea, as it would make traffic even worse and they would have to eject more people who use their amenities during season when they aren’t supposed to.
Chris Thornton, a lawyer representing another resident, said the parcel is non-conforming to town codes in so many ways that development is next to impossible.
The Town Council approved the request, with conditions, on a 4-0 vote, to move to a second public hearing on Nov. 5. Bruce Butcher was not at the meeting.
It also approved a request for a couple who just moved to the area and own a plot of land on Estero Boulevard to demolish the single-family home on the property and build a duplex.
The main issue is that while previous staff has allowed this, it is not allowed now as it relates to the code and how it is interpreted. A similar issue arose a few weeks ago regarding the construction of a pool.
Current code does not permit two dwelling units because the property is more than 15,000 square feet. The total size of the parcel is approximately 19,655 square feet, approximately 11,250 square feet of which is within the Mixed Residential Land Use District which allows six dwelling per acre.
The remainder in the Recreation Land Use District which allow 1 dwelling per 20 acres.
Owner Hank Incognito said a denial would create great hardship as they have already invested large amounts of money on the property and a denial would force them to start over again.
Councilmember Joanne Shamp said since the plan had been approved previously, she would support it now. Dennis Boback concurred, which he said was the only reason he would approve it.
In other business, council also voted to move a legislative public hearing on amending Ordinance 10-08 on the way the town handles declarations of emergencies along for a second reading and vote on Nov. 5.
The Town Council also, by a 3-1 vote shut down an ordinance to declare a temporary moratorium on the process of any development applications for six months.
Town attorney John Turner said it was unknown what would happen if the moratorium passed. He said if they wanted to restrict future development, it could be a benefit. If the goal was to simply clean up the language, then no.
The main issues are still whether to allow duplexes or two individual homes on properties with 15,000 square feet of land, rights of way and variances.