Property across from Margaritaville goes up for sale weeks after winning approval from Town Council to eliminate parking
One month after gaining approval from the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council to be allowed a variance from the town’s land development code, in order to eliminate all required parking spaces at 1161 and 1165 Estero Boulevard, property owner John Richard has put the land up for sale.
The lot, which includes a mixed-used commercial and residential building, is located across from the Margaritaville Beach Resort at the town’s busiest intersection with Crescent St.
The Town of Fort Myers Beach Council voted unanimously last month to overrule a decision by the Fort Myers Beach Local Planning Agency (LPA), in order to allow Richard to eliminate all parking on the site. The LPA had voted in May to recommend denial of the proposal to eliminate parking on the lot.
The property currently houses the offices for a construction company, and has vacation rental units upstairs.
The vote last month also overruled a recommendation from the town’s own planning staff to deny the request. Town planning staff was concerned with, among other issues, the loss of a handicapped parking space in front of the commercial property, and the loss of parking for the commercial and residential users of the lot.
Richard owns multiple properties downtown, including businesses, parking lots, vacant commercial lots and rentals. Richard told the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council last month that his current commercial tenant, a contractor, will soon be moving out. He told the Town Council last month he is currently looking for a new tenant, and said at the time that tenant could include a restaurant or bar who could use outdoor benches and tables.
Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers, along with other councilmembers who agreed to go along with the request last month, cited the situation as a public safety issue. “That is a very dangerous parking lot to pull in and out of,” Allers said last month. Eliminating parking at the property, he said, “is in the best interest of the community.”
Since the meeting, Richard has placed concrete planters to block the parking spaces in the front, after a request by Town of Fort Myers Beach Councilmember John McLean.
The vote by the Council was the latest in a series of votes going back two years in which the council has voted repeatedly to do away with parking requirements in the Land Development Code and grant generous variances and deviations from the town code to commercial property owners and developers who have sought to significantly reduce parking requirements on their lots.
The Council has previously waived parking requirements for project such as the Arches Bayfront hotel at Moss Marina, to the Myerside resort project, and Lighthouse Resort Inn & Suites expansion, among others.
The Local Planning Agency rejected the proposal by Richard in May, with members raising concerns about what Richard’s plans were for the property and whether the elimination of the parking was the first step for other plans. The lack of details in any plans were a primary concern for their recommendation of denial.