One of the first major development projects the LPA and Town Council may be voting on comes from Moss Marina owner Ben Freeland. After several months of radio silence Freeland announced Monday that he’s submitted two applications to the town to get his new development rolling.
The last plan the Moss Marina team showed the public several months ago included 3 hotels with different price points, totaling 400 rooms, a 1,000-foot long community bay walk, a marina, bars, restaurants and shopping. Take a video look at the project HERE.
Back in May Freeland told the community there are three elements to making his project work: “Is it a benefit to the neighbors? Is it a benefit to the business community and the island as a whole? Is it financially feasible?” Freelend had said the 400 hotel rooms is what makes the entire project financially feasible. Not much has changed from the last plan the community was presented.
On Monday, Freeland shared the following with Beach Talk Radio News, “With all the community outreach and input we feel our team put together a world-class development that is perfect for the future of Fort Myers Beach. Only minor adjustments have been made recently based on additional suggestions from neighbors.”
This will be the first real test for the LPA and the Town Council and what they now have on the books in their Land Development Code and Comprehensive Plan.
Here are the two items the Moss Marina team submitted to the town:
The first is a “map amendment” to the Town’s Comprehensive Plan requesting to expand the Downtown District to include all of the proposed new ARCHES Bayfront properties with a Pedestrian Commercial future land use.
The Freeland group recently purchased the Smokin Oyster Brewery restaurant location on Old San Carlos and a parcel the S.O.B. owners also owned across the street, to expand the amount of property they hope to use for this project. They hope to keep the S.O.B open and are actively looking for a restaurant operator to take it over.
The second application is a request to entitle the properties under a CPD (Commercial Planned Development) with the uses of hotel, marina, restaurant, retail and civic uses.
The process from here would be for the staff to review the requests and then send them on to the Local Planning Agency with recommendations for approval as is, recommendations with suggested conditions, or denial. The LPA would then vote on the issue, following a public hearing, before the matter is sent on to the Town Council.
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