One month after the Fort Myers Beach Local Planning Agency recommended the Town Council deny a new 40-unit Pink Shell Resort, the Town Council will vote on the proposal today.
The Pink Shell team went before the LPA to make several upgrades to the resort. The biggest item was a request to build a new 40-unit, 6-story boutique resort on the Bay side of Estero Boulevard on the Bowditch Park side of the dilapidated house (the owner of that house is also proposing to build a boutique resort). The property The Pink Shell owns is now a parking lot. There used to be tennis courts on the property which is located directly across the street from Vacation Villas.
It appeared up until last month everyone believed The Pink Shell had no density remaining to build on the Bayside of Estero after a rezone years ago where they asked for – and received – more density to build more units on the beach side.
Community Development Director Sarah Probst said she researched the covenants on file and it did not include the tennis courts/parking lot area. It only included the property on the other side of the dilapidated house, closer to the marina. She said, “The covenant restriction that was adopted does not appear it was intended to include that other piece of property. I can’t find any reference that the density transfer included the tennis court property”
Years ago the town passed a resolution that covered 3.2 acres of Bayside property that The Pink Shell could not develop after the density transfer. Nobody knows where that 3.2 acre number came from because all the land The Pink Shell owns on the Bayside only adds to about 2 acres total (see picture below).
Staff recommended denial of the new Pink Shell boutique resort for two reasons. They say the building is not consistent with the height of other buildings in the area (see picture below) and there was no good way to evaluate the equivalency factor the Pink Shell used to get to 40 units. According to the town code developers can convert living units to hotel rooms with a 1 to 2.5 multiplier, depending on where the property is located. The multiplier for the new Pink Shell resort is 6.7.
The proposal now goes to the Town Council for a vote where new development projects have been received more warmly than the LPA. Mayor Dan Allers will most likely abstain from the vote because he does business with The Pink Shell through his Golf Cart company.
I’ll save time and tax payers money approved, next. That going to be outcome even though it doesn’t fit into the Comp plan.
Jim, Karen and John will vote to approve. They ignore facts and comp plan. THEY won’t listen to LPA or residents. Just my opinion
Totally agree! AND, they approved density for Neptune and height for Seagate. Anything goes now, the flood gates have been opened! So sad!
Agree 100%. Can’t wait until Moss Marina comes back and they vote to approve. Wait…. not in my backyard Woodson??????
This is a reach- sorry to think the town would seriously look at this scale of development here and particularly with the CPD transfer previously completed. I love Pink Shell but not here and certainly not this much.
The “3.2 acres” comes from the Pink Shell Bay Side CPD, established by zoning resolution Z-95-017. The Master Concept Plan attached to this resolution is titled “Master Concept Plan 3.2 Acres.” At the time, the CPD included the lot with the white house, and lots were measured to the center line of Estero.
Also, the Staff Report for the December 14, 1999, LPA meeting that approved the density transfer reads, “The bay-side CPD parcel is approximately 3.2 acres. Development of the CPD from north to south is with existing tennis courts, existing 5 unit building owned by Peter Lisich, a park with an interpretive walkway, a 78 space parking lot, the existing and proposed expansion to the administration restaurant building, a 35 space valet parking lot, and continuation of the interpretive walkway and park area. The plan shows elimination of the 47 bay-side units which include the proposed 42 unit, 6 story building and 5 beach cottages.”
They have no development rights on the Bayside (except at 309 Estero, which they just bought last year).