London Bay hearing on Outrigger continued by LPA
The Fort Myers Beach Local Planning Agency (LPA) voted on Friday 4-2 to continue the hearing on the London Bay Development Group’s proposed comprehensive plan text amendment to redevelop the former Outrigger Beach Resort, to a meeting on Tuesday at the request of London Bay’s representatives.
The decision occurred following a public hearing in which most speakers expressed opposition to London Bay’s project. Speakers opposed to the plans argued that the project was not compatible with the town’s comprehensive plan and would compound existing traffic and infrastructure issues in the town.
London Bay sought the extension due to the absence of LPA member Doug Eckmann, who was not in attendance. London Bay representatives want a full board before presenting the update to their plans, which is expected to lower the maximum height of the project from 195 feet to 158 for the tallest building.
The original plans called for multiple buildings on the beachfront property, with the tallest building at 15 stories. Another tower would reach 12 stories high. Town code limits height for buildings to three stories over one floor of parking. There would be 150 condo and hotel units, and 46 multi-family units, along with a 200-seat restaurant, tiki hut bar and a rooftop bar.
Town planning consultants said on Friday that they hadn’t been able to fully review changes proposed by London Bay Development Group that were made since last month’s LPA meeting. That meeting had been continued to Friday’s special meeting.
Planning consultant Jason Green said staff “will try to review as much as possible” before Tuesday’s meetings but may not have enough time to recalculate the impacts in time based on the changes recently submitted by the developers .
London Bay’s attorney Richard Yovanovich said the developers would not be presenting their updated plans until all LPA members are present for a meeting.
“I don’t know how we can guarantee that,” LPA member Don Sudduth said.
Vice Chair Jane Plummer said “we should be able to have a meeting whether we have a full board or not.”
Some town residents who spoke said they flew back into town just to speak on the proposal.
At the public hearing, the public’s opinion of London Bay’s plans were largely tilted in opposition.
Dave Nusbuam, Island Winds condo board president, was one of the few supporters of the Outrigger redevelopment proposal. “Time is a merciless thief,” Nusbaum said. “For the last three and a half years, we have had our lives stolen.”
Since Hurricane Ian, Nusbaum said “We don’t have enough bars, we don’t have enough restaurants, we don’t have enough people.”
He lamented that many projects that were approved in town have not yet started construction.
“We need progress,” Nusbaum said. “The longer we wait, the more time steals from us.”
London Bay’s CEO Mark Wilson has said the earliest construction could be completed on the resort would be 2030 or 2031.
Marcia O’Brien, who lives next door at the luxury condo develipment Gulfside Twelve, expressed concern at the proposed locatio of a tiki bar, which she said will be 50 feet from their community pool.
“We will no longer be able to see stars at night due to the lights at the resort,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said owners could suffer a loss of privacy due to the location of the tiki bar and rooftop bar.
O’Brien expressed concern for traffic impacts. “It will become increasingly difficult to make a left turn” onto Estero Boulevard, she said. She objected to their plans to use golf carts from Fish-Tale Marina to bring visitors by boat. She is also opposed to a seawall that London Bay has floated for the former Outrigger site.
Lori Webster said “This town incorporated to prevent large-scale development from crushing our island.” Webster said the town’s zoning “wasn’t done randomly,” but
was done strategically.
“Rules were put in place to protect the island from overdevelopment. A lot of time and money were put in,” Webster said.
“This proposal makes so little sense that they need to rewrite the comprehensive plan to accommodate it. They can’t accomplish what they want from variances alone. They need their own classification. That is not responsible development. That is arrogance and greed. Despite what some residents believe, bad development is not better than no development,” Webster said.
Beth Ann Burwinkel, a longtime resident, called the plans “an insult to the neighbors” and said “Their ROI (return on investment) is not our problem.”
Ellie Bunting said an approval for London Bay would set a bad precedent. “We are not Naples or Miami Beach,” Bunting said.
Cindy Johnson said that changing the comprehensive plan to suit London Bay’s interests would be detrimental to the area.
She raised specific concerns about impacts to the stormwater infrastructure in the town, and how much stormwater from the site would ultimately be carried out to local canals off residential streets that have been struggling with plumbing since Hurricane Ian.
“They need to make some space on their property to deal with stormwater,” Johnson said.
Johnson also expressed concern for how far onto the beach the projecy may encroach.
Barbara Hill said the project is too dense and in an “established neighborhood of single-family residences. That alone should have stopped the LPA in its tracks in considering this project.”
Voting in favor of continuing the hearing to Tuesday were LPA members James Boan, Jim Dunlap, Don Sudduth and Edward Schoonover.
Board Chair Anita Cereceda voted against the continuance along witu Vice Chair Jane Plummer. Plummet argued that the board had a quorum to hear the proposal and vote.
Dunlap had suggested the LPA shouldn’t discuss the proposal without Eckmann present. Cereceda asked if that meant that every time an LPA member was absent, that the board should not be able to discuss a project.
Dunlap said “this is not a normal meeting.”
Dunlap also suggested that if the plans of London Bay were rejected they could build workforce housing with not as much input from the LPA. Dunlap requested that London Bay present at the next meeting what type of workforce housing could be built on the site.
Sudduth waid he would like London Bay to present an option for what the project could be built put by right without any requests for variances and deviations from the town code.