The Greater Pine Island Civic Association’s monthly meeting featured a public information session on proposed zoning changes to a Matlacha property located on 4100 Pine Island Road, N.W.

Steve Soloway was in attendance as a representative of Castaway Cove Restaurant in Matlacha.

“We are working with TDM to rezone 4100 Pine Island Road, N.W. It’s the lot that is adjacent to the old kayak rental that got hit pretty hard by Hurricane Ian and Milton,” Soloway said.

The property, he explained, is zoned C1 and already approved for restaurant use, but lacks allowance for adequate parking. The county requires 14 parking spaces per thousand square feet of covered area.

“Currently the lot is zoned RM6 — that’s residential multi family,” Soloway said.

An environmental engineer had been hired, he said, in an effort to make sure the project will not disturb anything on the property deemed environmentally critical. Soloway then showed members a picture of the parking lot desired in the rezoning request. The parking lot, he said, is essential in order to obtain the certificate of occupancy in order to open the restaurant.

Soloway also explained that the restaurant owner was granted a long-term lease from the current property owner, who resides in Connecticut. Plans for the restaurant, he said, will be family friendly, mostly lunch and dinner.

“We’ve been talking about being open for breakfast and brunch, but it wouldn’t be a 7-day-a-week breakfast spot. It’ll be a casual dining restaurant,” Soloway said.

Soloway said they want to create an environment where people can bring their kids and get a value that won’t break the bank on a night out.

“A lot of people probably don’t know this — there’s 300 feet of beach right there. So we’re going to have tiki umbrellas going down the beach with some Adirondack chairs. Kids can play in the water, build sand castles — all the stuff that kids want to do,” Soloway said.

When members asked if there are plans to bring sand in as part of the project, Soloway said yes they will have to get a permit to gentrify the beach. Much of the sand on the site is sand that has gone into the channel, he said. The hope is to get a permit to pump the sand back out of the channel and back to the beach.

One concerned member asked why TDM should see their rezoning request granted, when many struggling restaurants on Pine island cannot obtain the parking that they need.

Islander Rhonda Dooley brought a concern regarding the traffic, saying Matlacha is already backed up, before the restaurant has even opened and said Matlacha/Pine Island have plenty of restaurants.

Soloway said restaurants such as Hooked, Olde Fish House and Bert’s, which were all lost during Hurricane Ian.

The vote for the rezoning request came back in favor of granting the request.

Development orders for the Bokeelia Harbor Resort, (Bokeelia Island Seaport Project) was brought to the attention of members by Board Treasurer Steve Eldridge.

Eldredge along with Board Vice President Nadine Slimak said whenever there is a state of emergency declared by Lee County, there is a development order extension granted. There have been recent extensions granted for emergencies, such as hurricanes and the global pandemic.

“This project, that was begun in 2004 when they got the development order, has now been extended to 2033,” Eldredge said, adding that there are development orders all over Pine Island which have also been extended.

Several properties currently under construction to varying degrees, such as Atlas Lakes, Margaritaville Bungalows, Pine Island Open Storage, Terra Blue Aquaculture Farms, Pine Island Fire Department Station 2 and Way Assembly of God, were also discussed, along with zoning applications such as Upper Captiva Carriage Club, Betsy Parkway MPD, the Blue Dog Restaurant CPD, Jug Creek Special Exception and Bokeelia Tower.

To watch this meeting in its entirety, visit the Greater Pine Island Civic Association Facebook page, for the Live Stream.

The next GPICA meeting will be on Dec. 2.

Lee County Commission Chairman Kevin Ruane, who represents Pine Island, will be the main speaker at that meeting.

To reach PAULETTE LeBLANC / pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com, please email