Florida 20th Circuit Court judge denies petition challenging South Seas rezoning
A judge in Florida’s 20th Circuit Court has denied a petition challenging Lee County’s zoning approval for South Seas Resort on Captiva, which allows the approval to stand.
In his decision signed Oct. 21, Judge James Shenko denied the petition, finding the board’s decision was based on competent substantial evidence, applied the correct law, and provided the public participants with the required due process.
The Lee Board of County Commissioners was “free to rezone SSIR’s property in a manner that honored Lee Plan policies benefitting the entirety of Lee County given the rapidly changing environment that required climate resiliency and economic benefits to the entire citizenry-while simultaneously respecting SSIR’s (South Seas’) property rights,” he wrote.
Shenko acknowledged the issue before the court was important to the community.
“Many of the petitioners and objectors prefer to keep Captiva Island the way it has always been,” he wrote. “Yet neither the Lee Plan policies, the code’s procedures, nor binding case law allow the undersigned (the judge) to block a rezoning application by nothing more than political plebiscite or an applause meter.”
Hurricane Ian hit Captiva Island on Sept. 28, 2022, and caused significant damage to many residents and business owners. The South Seas Resort was not spared. Like property owners throughout Lee County, the South Seas Resort sought development approvals to rebuild an improved, stronger, more resilient resort that was better prepared for future storms. To do so, the resort sought development approvals from Lee County.
In response to the County’s approvals, the Captiva Civic Association filed several lawsuits attempting to prohibit South Sea’s redevelopment plans. In each suit, the association made allegations of legal improprieties and inconsistencies with Lee County’s Comprehensive Plan and Development Codes. In each of those previous cases, the association’s legal challenges failed, including a May 26, 2026, decision by 20th Circuit Court Judge Kyle S. Cohen, upholding the Lee Board of County Commissioners’ approval of the resort’s zoning application.