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 would have 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. On Monday EIBC asked the Town Council to reconsider their denial ‘with prejudice’ and change it to a denial ‘without prejudice’ which they did by a vote of 5-0. That change means EIBC can go back to the drawing board and return to the town with a new proposal before October of 2025.
The EIBC team now plans to reconvene with their legal team, planners and board members to plan their next steps and what changes need to be made to their proposal in order to get it approved by the Town Council. Any new proposal would have to go back before the LPA according to the Town Attorney.
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.
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 although they could not sell it to the Town Council where the plan failed to garner three votes.
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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