Who the Fort Myers Beach Town Council appoints to the LPA to fill 3 two-year terms will be very interesting on October 6th. Five people, including 3 incumbent members, have applied for 3 open seats.
Members are appointed, in a public vote, by the Town Council. The Local Planning Agency is a state-mandated committee of 7 that makes recommendations to the Town Council on planning and zoning issues. In recent years, they’ve been the first set of eyes on all of the major rebuild projects following Hurricane Ian.
Like Town Council members, LPA members are permitted to meet individually with developers and residents who may come before them. They must disclose those meetings to the public whenever an applicant comes before them. Florida’s Sunshine Law also applies to LPA members so they are not permitted to discuss any business outside a public meeting that may come before them.
Incumbents Anita Cereceda, Jane Plummer, and James Boan are all hoping to hold onto their seats. Beach residents Amy Loughery and Ed Schoonover have also applied
In normal times, politics would not play a role in who gets appointed to the LPA. These are not normal times on Fort Myers Beach.
The approval of the Seagate/Red Coconut redevelopment project has divided this once tight-knit small community. The LPA recommended the Town Council deny the Seagate project. The Town Council approved it. That vote unleashed a recall campaign against John King and Karen Woodson and a court case to try to stop the project.
Back in April Council members Karen Woodson and Scott Safford openly criticized Cereceda over her donation to Protect FMB, the group that filed a Writ of Certiorari against the town hoping to stop the Seagate project. Woodson and Safford said Cereceda could not be impartial when looking at these projects as chair of the LPA after openly donating to Protect FMB. Cereceda defended herself by saying she certainly could be impartial and she would continue to judge every project fairly. Cereceda did not vote for Seagate and spoke out against it during public comment at a Town Council meeting. Woodson voted to approve Seagate. Cereceda did vote in favor of the new Moss Marina project, which passed the LPA unanimously and Town Council (4-1). Woodson and Safford voiced their concerns shortly before the Moss Marina project was coming before LPA.
Also, Cereceda, who’s been on the LPA for years and was Mayor of Fort Myers Beach several times, applied for a seat on the town’s Charter Review Commission. She did not receive enough votes from this current Town Council to be appointed.
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Sorry Ed but politics are always involved in political appointments, especially in something as controversial as land use matters.
No different on FMB.
There is no one as educated, impartial and open minded as Jane Plummer. She has always approached all of her decisions, within the LPA, with the best interest for the island. The plethora of service years, she has given, is inspiring.