Last month, after the LPA approved Estero Island Beach Club’s new building proposal, the Town Council denied it. The reason, not enough public benefit to warrant a 10-story building. The denial was done ‘with prejudice’ which means EIBC has to sit out the process for a year.
According to town code if an application is denied ‘with prejudice’ that applicant cannot come back to the town with a new application for 12 months. This is done to prevent the LPA and the Town Council having to look at an application over and over again, meeting after meeting. EIBC is asking the Town Council to reconsider their denial ‘with prejudice’ and change it to either a denial without prejudice or to continue their application to another date.
The EIBC team believed they were following the direction of the town staff when they proposed a 10-story building that created a view corridor from the beach from Estero Boulevard. Then the Town Council decided a view corridor wasn’t that big of a deal to them even though the town code makes reference to a view corridor as a public benefit.
The Town Council has agreed to look at whether they should change the reason for denying the EIBC proposal this Monday at their next meeting. If it is changed from ‘with prejudice’ to ‘without prejudice’ or the proposal is allowed to be continued, EIBC would be able to come back to the town with a revised plan before March of 2025.
EIBC was not asking for more density but the height of the new building certainly attracted some negative comments from residents on the island. During their first visit to the LPA, the EIBC team presented an unflattering looking building that LPA members felt was too close to Estero Boulevard. They were sent back to the drawing board and came forward with the 10-story building backed away from Estero and they eliminated two sidewalk cuts on Estero. The EIBC team believed they were responding to what town staff was asking them to do by adding a view corridor which is actually a public benefit listed in the town’s code. Apparently the LPA agreed and approved the project by a 5-2 vote back in September. They simply couldn’t sell it to this Town Council.
Before Hurricane Ian EIBC was 2 buildings of about 2-3 stories. After Hurricane Ian EIBC has less land to build on thanks to the 1978 Coastal Construction Line. A portion of the north building lost 6 units and a portion of the south building lost 2 units. The property is owned by about 2,200 to 2,300 people and operates as a time-share. And, to put one rumor to rest there is nothing in the EIBC HOA documents that says every unit has to have a clear view of the Gulf of Mexico.
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