This week, and for a third time, the Fort Myers Beach Town Council and the Local Planning Agency made it crystal clear there will not be any changes to the town’s Comprehensive Plan. It will remain the main working document for all future development on the island. So, what does that mean?
Essentially what that means is the rules that are on the books now in the town’s Comprehensive Plan are the rules developers and residents need to follow if they want to build or rebuild. What also remains in place is a process for homeowners to ask for variances, deviations and special exceptions, and developers to ask for more than what they are allowed to build by right by going through a Commercial Planned Development (CPD) process.
During the joint meeting, to send a clear message to the community, the Town Council actually took a vote and unanimously agreed to keep Floor Area Ratio and density at the current levels as written in the Comprehensive Plan. The possibility that the town might increase density has been a major concern for residents living on Fort Myers Beach. They worry about more traffic, more people, and the stress that might put on the infrastructure. Especially when they see proposals several commercial developers have floated to the community.
Developers can still ask for more density and F.A.R. through the CPD process. That’s what the LPA and Town Council are expecting to see from the owners of Moss Marina, the Neptune, London Bay and other commercial developers.
Years ago TPI Hospitality went through a very-lengthy CPD process. And the Town Council at the time extracted as much public benefit as humanly possible from TPI before finally approving the project. In exchange for increased density and going from a F.A.R. of 1.4 to 1.55 (calculated with parking included below BFE), TPI provided a laundry list of public benefits to the town, including: a pedestrian bridge over Estero Boulevard with public restrooms, 3 beach accesses replacing one previously, the removal of 7 ingress/egress along Estero, a donation of land at the base of the Matanzas Pass Bridge that allows for the interchange redevelopment, the Waistina Way parking lot and a 25% discount on beverage, food, retail and beach club passes in perpetuity to Fort Myers Beach residents.
TPI’s Tom Torgerson told Beach Talk Radio News that he’s happy there was no change to the Comprehensive Plan. “It was gratifying to see the Council and LPA united in helping maintain a big reason why we all choose to live here. That is to be different from most other coastlines of Florida by maintaining our existing lower densities and intensities for development.”
Adam Valente from the Continental Hospitality Group (The Neptune Resort) told Beach Talk Radio News that while they are still digesting the details of the joint meeting, it’s his understanding that none of the discussions or direction given to staff materially affects their project. “We believe that the Commercial Planned Development process allows us to request the proposed resort as we’ve showcased through our renderings. We believe the Planned Development process is the best vehicle for us to present our resort, to present thoughtful design and benefits we provide and for the Town to evaluate our unique proposal. We believe this process will demonstrate that we are compatible with surrounding uses and that our resort will be an asset to Fort Myers Beach.”
We also reached out to the owners of Moss Marina and London Bay, to get their thoughts on the decisions the Town Council and LPA made this week. They did not respond by press time.
Another item that came up for discussion was whether the town should fiddle with how they calculate the number of rooms hotels should be allowed to have (density). It would take a mathematician to understand how the town calculates density for hotels. Even the town staff admits it’s complicated and as clear as mud; 4 or 6 units per acre, add in a multiplier plus an equivalency factor. But, to this point, that arcane calculation has worked for the town, according to LPA and Town Council members.
The question on the table was whether the town should change how hotel units were calculated. Should the number of hotel units be allowed by using the Floor Area Ratio of the structure or should the town stay with they way it allows them now, by density.
After hearing that Margaritaville would have been allowed 625 rooms if calculated by using only the FAR, rather than the 254 rooms it has now, that possible change to the Comprehensive Plan was put to bed quickly.
Also discussed at the joint meeting was whether the ground level of new build should be counted in the Floor Area Ratio calculation. Because all new construction has to follow current codes which likely includes building higher with a first floor that could only be used for parking or storage, there had been discussion about not counting that first floor in the calculation. Currently the bottom floor is included in the Floor Area Ratio calculation.
LPA member Scott Safford was in favor of making a change and not including the first floor when calculating the F.A.R.. Safford is the co-owner of The Sea Gypsy, a small boutique resort on Estero that was wiped out by the Hurricane Ian. “By not allowing this you are cutting out the little guy. By not making the change you are only going to have empty lots or big projects on the island.”
Not everyone buys into Safford’s conclusion.
Mayor Dan Allers came out hard against making the change and counting the first floor in the F.A.R. calculation. “Doing this through the Comprehensive Plan, you are giving this to everyone by right. This will increase the size of the box by right. I do not support this. I understand it (the CPD process) is costly but I do not support this globally through the Comp Plan.
Allers believes the big money recently invested in the beach (Red Coconut and The Outrigger) would not have been spent if those developers did not think they could make their projects work with the Comprehensive Plan (or CPD process) on the books as is.
Town Attorney Becky Vose said, “I urge you not to put the details in the Comp Plan. The Comp Plan is for the overarching policy. The details go into the Land Development Code.”
The two groups decided to try to find other avenues to help the smaller businesses on the island, perhaps through tweaks in the Land Development Code or by having them go through the Commercial Planned Development (CPD) process.
The bottom line is the Comprehensive Plan will remain intact. There may be tweaks made to the Land Development Code in the future to help smaller businesses rebuild. And, there is always the CPD process that any developer can go through. The can always ask for more. Asking doesn’t mean getting, but the process is there to make the pitch.
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