Residents voice concerns about San Carlos plan
Lee County did not get a warm welcome on the beach last week.
A comment card written by Lorraine Semmer summed up succinctly the feelings of many who attended the San Carlos Island Community Plan open house at Moose Lodge 964 on San Carlos Boulevard Wednesday.
“You don’t listen. We want to stay a small village. No high rises over three stories, no off-island parking. You are a bunch of carpetbaggers coming to rape and pillage our island. Who is paying you to do this?” the card read.
Attendees were angry at what they saw as the county’s vision: 23-story skyscrapers and acres of parking lot in their neighborhoods.
Last year, Lee County staff hosted a visioning meeting for the area, which has been the first step in updating the community planning goals for the area.
Staff stated the goal would be to manage growth within the San Carlos Community plan area to promote commercial fishing and tourism industries, support redevelopment, protect water resources and quality in the estuary and encourage commercial redevelopment to serve the daily needs of island residents.
Mikki Rozdolski, community development planning manager, said the goal is to preserve the waterfront adding people seem confused by what commercial redevelopment means.
“There was a desire for residents to be able to get amenities like a sandwich without having to leave the island because of the traffic,” Rozdolski said. “We incorporated a mixed-use overlay on San Carlos Boulevard to help the mom-and-pops that want to come in and redevelop.”
More than 70 residents saw the vision the county had, and most of them were not impressed.
“We don’t need a big development here. We survived this long without it. All they have to do is instead of giving the big developers the chance to do things easier, give the local people the chance,” Sandy Blakley said. “Let’s not wait for someone with the big money up north.”
“We want it improved and beautified, but commercial high-rise buildings in the middle of a neighborhood, we don’t want this to be another Miami Beach,” said Richard Powers. “We don’t want to increase the density here, and building high rises and cramming people in a small area isn’t in anyone’s best interests. Traffic is already bad. To bring in more will make it worse.”
As for Semmer, she said what the residents wanted was for the county to leave them alone and let the community grow naturally.
“We don’t need your help. I want them to go away. And then they came back with a plan that’s outrageous,” Semmer said. “We had these stores and they went out of business because nobody went there. They want mixed use, but that also means condos.”
On the other side of the argument, there are those who say changes are necessary for a changing town in changing times.
“These changes clear up a lot of ambiguity in the current language and it will help us assemble some parcels for people to redevelop on San Carlos Boulevard that have been stagnant for years,” said Jack Mayher. “Everything has a shelf life and change is inevitable. Big buildings don’t scare me. What scares me is the status quo.”