Pelican Watch owners object to proposed food truck park steps away from their pool
Town of Fort Myers Beach council will need to approve setback deviaitons and rezoning for commercial project near beachfront residential property
Owners within the 48-unit Pelican Watch are contesting plans by a neighboring landowner to build a food truck park directly in front of their prime beachfront condo building property in the heart of the island just south of the busy downtown business district.
The Fort Myers Beach Local Planning Agency, in a 4-3 vote last week, issued a recommendation for the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council to approve a rezoning of land along with deviations from the town’s setback rules in its local development code to allow the food truck park within seven and a half to 10 feet of the Pelican Watch pool. The Town Council is expected to hold public hearings on the rezoning ordinance next month.
The applicants would require a deviation approved by the town council from the Local Development Code that requires a 15 feet setback, along with the rezoning. The town’s planning staff issued a recommendation of approval for the project with 27 conditions.
The food truck has been proposed on seven-tenths of an acre just a stone’s throw in front of the Pelican Watch property and would sit seven and a half feet at its closest point from a fence surrounding the condo association’s pool. The application documents provided by the town states 10 feet through representatives of the proposed foot dtruck park said at a public hearing that it would partly be about seven and a half feet.
The proximity of the park to Pelican Watch is due, in part, to the complex land arrangement on the property line that tethers the closely-grouped lots along Estero Boulevard.
The Pelican Watch building’s pool is surrounded by a fence. Opposite that fence is a house being built by another property owner. Also on the same side of the fence within seven and a half feet would be the food truck court with a building that would be able to house live music that could potentially be on from morning to night. On the other side of the pool is the Pelican Watch parking lot.
James Hotka is proposing the park as part of Empire Holding Corp., an Indiana corporation. The park would be built over where a home used to sit and that was destroyed by Hurricane Ian, with the parking lot constructed where restaurants have previously stood in the past.
“I know there is nothing in the town code to allow that,” Hotka said at a public hearing in front of the LPA regarding the proposed food truck park.
Randy Briesath, president of the Pelican Watch Condo Owners Association, called the live music proposed by Hotka as
“the No. 1 issue.”
Briesath said the commercial “intrusion into the neighborhood” can’t be mitigated.
“We have a seven-and-a-half foot proposed buffer to our land,” Briesath said. “The day this place opens is the last day we have peace and quiet at the pool.”
Briesath sees the expanded parking lot in front of their property and near the beach access as another potential problem that will lead to more foot traffic around their property and more vehicles passing through their garage when motorists search for parking.
The town’s planning staff, as part of a recent trend, recommended approval of the project with 27 conditions, citing what they believe is less intensity than is allowed at the site.
In the past, town staff would automatically deny most projects needing deviations from the local development code or that were inconsistent with the town’s comprehensive plan.
That has all changed in the past year as projects such as Seagate Development Group and the Pink Shell Beach Resort and Marina hotel project won the endorsements of town staff in their proposals with deviations needed from the town’s Local Development Code.
The food park proposal is occurring just as the Pelican Watch Condo Owner’s Association is working on repairs to its pool that was damaged by Hurricane Ian. The condo association invested approximately $10 million into repairs on their property after Hurricane Ian (only about half of which was covered by their insurance) in order to open up last year with the early second wave of condo reopenings on the island. The condo association is $2.85 million in debt for the renovations it has undertaken since Hurricane Ian. “We lost all our plumbing, electrical, elevators, everything on the ground level,” Briesath said.
Briesath and other owners fear their peace and quiet from the pool and the tranquil beachfront setting of their condos will be ruined by any music next door.
LPA Chair Anita Cereceda picked up on the live music issue during last week’s public hearing and said she believed it was the most contentious issue surrounding the project.
“Would you agree to no live music and you all control it (as ambient music inside)?,” Cereceda asked of Hotka.
“We could do it through our amplifiers,” Hotka said. “I don’t even know if we need music.”
Cereceda said live music can be “obtrusive” to neighbors who don’t care for the music.
Briesath said he had meetings with the property owners and their planning representatives The Neighborhood Company regarding the live music and other issues. Briesath said he has asked if the food truck court could be placed further away from their pool but was told that wouldn’t work.
Voting in favor of the approving the ordinance for the rezoning was LPA members Jim Dunlap, Doug Eckmann, John McLean, Jane Plummer and Don Sudduth.
Voting against was Cereceda, James Boan and John McClean.
The Town of Fort Myers Beach Council will have to approve the ordinance for the proposal to move forward and could take up the proposal as early as next month.
“I have received emails in opposition to the project from some of the surrounding neighbors,” Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers said. Allers said he had not yet seen the LPA hearing and said it would be “premature” to comment before he watched the hearing.
Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt said he has visited the site of the proposed food truck park.
“I have met with both sides of the issue and have visited the proposed site,” Atterholt said. Atterholt declined to comment further pending the council’s hearing on the proposal.