Residents attend an Aug. 31 Lee County Local Planning Agency hearing on proposed changes to the Lee Plan. The agency voted 4-2 to recommend moving the overhaul forward to county commissioners.
Lee County government
A new association, Lee Communities Coalition, formed to oppose a major overhaul of the county’s development rules.
County commissioners initiated the proposed Lee Plan overhaul. It eliminates 17 community plans that provide development guidelines and protections in unincorporated Lee County.
The plans range from Lehigh Acres, Lee’s most populous unincorporated community, to Alva, one of its least populous, and from rural Buckingham to coastal North Captiva Island.
The Lee County Local Planning Agency, a commissioner-appointed advisory panel of development and real estate professionals, held the first official public hearing on the changes Aug. 31.
The LPA voted 4-2 to transmit the changes back to county commissioners with a recommendation that they be adopted into the Lee Plan. Two members, Dustin Gardner and Henry Zuba, voted against the plan.
With the LPA’s approval, the Board of County Commissioners is set to hold two more public hearings, at times to be determined, to consider adopting the final changes.
The vote came after several hours of pleas from civic leaders, community advocates and environmentalists to delay the vote or reject the overhaul to allow further study of how it could affect Lee County communities.
“It is unacceptable that long-established policies and development planning philosophies are proposed for wholesale deletion — especially without specific notice to or consultation with the communities themselves,” reads a letter from the Lee Communities Coalition to the LPA.
“Our major objection, however, is that we disagree that replacing community-specific protections with county-wide rules are necessary or equivalent.”
The coalition was created by area civic groups spearheaded by the Greater Pine Island Civic Association.
Lee County staff said commissioners advised them to begin working on the changes in April 2025.
“The intent is to make the plan clearer, simpler (and) easier to use without changing how much development is allowed,” said Brandon Dunn, Lee County planning manager.
But during the hearing, speakers said they had been caught off guard by the sweeping changes to Lee County’s comprehensive development guidelines.
Many members of the public were introduced to the proposed overhaul during a standing-room-only public information meeting county staff held at the North Fort Myers Park and Rec Center on Aug. 25 in advance of the LPA meeting.
One of the most controversial elements of the Lee Plan changes eliminates a rule requiring a developer to hold such public information meetings when proposing a change to a community plan.
Lee County staff said the commissioners’ proposed amendment will not change current density or intensity requirements, two key metrics that measure the impact of development.
Lee Communities Coalition is asking for more specific information on how the plan will affect Lee County’s infrastructure and environment.
Lee County staff at the Aug. 31 meeting said they would work on an “A-B” comparison of the changes in the plan to present to the public, as requested by LPA Chair Stan Stouder.
The changes are meant to update the Lee Plan to meet the county’s current growth needs or “to increase efficiency, reduce unnecessary regulations, maintain public health, safety and welfare, and meet state of Florida requirements.”
Some provisions in the 17 community plans have been relocated to other sections of the Lee Plan or the Land Development Code, staff said. That includes environmental, transportation and historic-preservation objectives.
In Lee Plan text provided in meeting documents, county staff has shown where text is deleted, added, relocated, consolidated and simplified, with staff notes on the changes appearing in red.
A Lee County map shows the 17 community planning areas that would be eliminated under a proposed overhaul of the Lee Plan. County staff says some provisions would be relocated or consolidated elsewhere in the county’s development rules.
Lee County government
The notes state that the 17 community plans are not required by state statute and were created between 1989 and 2011.
They include Bayshore, Boca Grande, Buckingham, Caloosahatchee Shores, Olga, Captiva, Greater Pine Island, Lehigh Acres, North Captiva, Northeast Lee County, Alva, North Olga, North Fort Myers, Page Park, San Carlos Island, Southeast Lee County and Tice.
The Lee Plan changes range from copy edits to broader structural changes in development guidelines.
For one example, language describing the Buckingham Community Plan is struck through for deletion. The paragraph notes the plan is intended to manage growth, provide housing and “protect unique historical and environmental resources.”
County staff notes in red that “future development patterns would not be significantly impacted” in the Buckingham area by the deletion. Instead of the community plan, it reads, Buckingham development would be guided by the county’s broader Rural Community Preserves land-use category.
Southeast Lee Community Plan
The Lee Plan overhaul follows related efforts being advanced by Lee planners, commissioners and staff to streamline development guidelines in southeast Lee County, one of the 17 unincorporated areas with a community plan.
The Local Planning Agency and Board of County Commissioners advanced changes to the Southeast Lee Community Plan at public meetings, most recently at a county commission hearing Aug. 19.
Commissioners need to hold at least one more public meeting, at a time to be determined, to finalize and adopt the changes.
County staff said the changes were spurred by development requests that are on hold because of restrictions in the area. The developments could benefit Lehigh Acres and surrounding areas with needed commercial growth, they said.
Community advocates made similar arguments at those meetings, including asking officials to delay the changes until their impacts on the environment and infrastructure are better understood.
Southeast Lee is made up in large part of the Density Reduction/Groundwater Resource area, which Lee officials restricted in 1989 to rein in urban sprawl and protect natural resources.
Land Development Code changes
In addition to the changes to the Lee Plan and Southeast Lee Community Plan, the LPA on Aug. 31 also advanced related companion changes to the Land Development Code, or LDC.
The Land Development Code changes go through a separate approval process. That includes planned reviews before two more Lee County advisory boards in September before the Board of County Commissioners considers approval at tentative meetings in November, according to county staff.