Council moves forward Beach Baptist rebuild and residential home development plans

The Town of Fort Myers Beach Council voted unanimously to move a proposed development order forward for the rebuild of the Beach Baptist Church along with 12 single-family homes on their Connecticut Street property.

The council approved a first reading of the ordinance, which will move the plans to a second hearing and review on Nov. 3.

The church was destroyed by Hurricane Ian and later demolished.

The plans for the phased development of the homes and rebuild of the church call for a 4,343-square-foot church on 1.1 acres while splitting its lot on Connecticut Street in order to sell 2.1 acres of land fronting Estero Boulevard to finance the reconstruction of the church.

The development agreement would rezone one of the parcels from institutional to residential conservation for the construction of the 12 homes developed by SJ Collins Enterprises.

While the approval of the plans passed unanimously, councilmembers Scott Safford and Karen Woodson expressed reservations during their votes and asked that the legal representatives of the church and the construction planners address issues raised by the council and town staff.

Safford said he wants language in the development order that would allow for the neighborhood to be consulted before special events or services.

Safford said “there is a vagueness here about how we are going to coordinate things with the church.”

Safford said he was worried that if there aren’t enough safeguards “they can do whatever they want.”

Mayor Dan Allers said there was already a town process for special events.

Woodson mentioned the food pantry that the church has long operated on the property.

“I don’t want to just clamp down on everything, that you can’t do anything, but at the same time I don’t want the wild, wild West,” Safford said.

Woodson expressed reservations about approving the plans while code violations were outstanding.

“This has been an ongoing issue with this property and I have a problem with it,” Woodson said.

The property has faced code enforcement issues over trailers on the property the town wants removed to be in compliance with FEMA regulations. The property owners are scheduled to have a magistrate hearing this month based on the structures being noncompliant with the town’s flood regulations.

Town attorney Nancy Stuparich said the church could be facing fines if the trailers aren’t removed by Oct. 19.

The project requires five deviations from the town’s Land Development Code, mainly for setbacks.

The plans were unanimously approved previously by the Local Planning Agency with conditions.

Originally, the church was working with a developer on a condo tower plan though that faced opposition from the community.