RESPONSE IN OPPOSITION<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u2013 Oral argument on the petition for writ of certiorari is set for Sept. 3 at 1:30 p.m. before Shenko. The CCA, R.L.R. Investments and Royal Shell Vacations, 12 South Seas condominium associations and eight timeshare associations petitioned the court to invalidate the county\u2019s decision to rezone the resort to permit increased density and building heights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 20 petitioners are, in effect, appealing the county\u2019s decision that failed to provide petitioners with due process, that departed from the essential elements of law, and that was unsupported by competent substantial evidence,\u201d it reported.<\/p>\n
\u2013 The resort\u2019s lawsuit against the Captiva Community Panel has been referred to mediation, which will be scheduled by Sept. 22. South Seas is claiming that the panel failed to fully respond to its public records request seeking documents and emails relating to it, including emails between panel members and community members who testified at the county\u2019s rezoning proceedings before the Lee County Hearing Examiner and county commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the panel may not even be covered by the Public Records Act, the panel has produced more than 1,000 pages of documents in response to this request,\u201d the coalition reported. \u201cThe lawsuit should be resolved in the panel\u2019s favor before mediation.<\/p>\n
\u2013 The resort recorded with the Lee County Property Appraiser a new Land Condominium Declaration that subdivides about 11 acres of the mostly undeveloped Gulf-side portion of the Rauschenberg property \u2014 bought from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation \u2014 into 47 condominium units and lots. The property is zoned RS-1 for residential single family homes with a minimum lot size of 7,500 square feet \u2014 75 feet wide and 100 feet in depth.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt odds with the resort\u2019s efforts to plat 50-foot lots, the county previously issued a zoning verification letter stating that the 22 (total) acres of the Rauschenberg property are governed by the Captiva Code, which limits development to three units per acre for both residential dwelling and hotel units, and the Captiva portion of the Lee Plan, which does not permit a reduction of the minimum lot size on a parcel under the parcel\u2019s current zoning or under any other zoning that would result in a reduction of the minimum lot size,\u201d Protect Captiva reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny efforts of South Seas to expand the resort onto the Rauschenberg property to build condominiums or hotels in Captiva\u2019s Village would require Plan and Code amendments and a rezoning of the property,\u201d it added. \u201cAnd would generate the same community opposition and litigation that continues to block efforts to increase density on South Seas since Timbers, The Ronto Group and Wheelock Street Capital purchased the resort.\u201d<\/p>\n
In related news, the coalition reported that the resort announced Pyramid Global Hospitality will replace Timbers starting on June 18 to oversee all day-to-day operations, including guest services, food and beverage, recreational activities, hospitality sales, and marketing and facility management.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouth Seas stressed that ownership of the property remains the same \u2014 and that Timbers will remain as the manager of the ownership group, will continue to lead the overall resort development and that Greg Spencer will remain as president of South Seas,\u201d Protect Captiva said. \u201cIt remains to be seen who engineered this mid-course correction or what it means, if anything, for litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
To reach TIFFANY REPECKI \/ trepecki@breezenewspapers.com, please email <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A coalition seeking to maintain the longtime building height and density limitations on Captiva recently provided an update…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-257961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}