CCP ponders Land Development Code, golf cart ordinance
The Captiva Community Panel held their monthly meeting on Tuesday, where the ongoing drafting process of the Land Development Code and the recently approved golf cart ordinance were the two main topics of discussion.
Panel and Land Development Code committee member Mike Kelly began by motioning that the panel submit the draft – as is – to the county for further review and comments, but noted that there were four main sections within the draft that would require additional changes in the future.
The four individual sections, respectively, deal with language regarding mangrove protection, height limitations, estate zoning and the sign ordinance.
“My motion is to accept this draft [and] send it to the county for their review,” Kelly said. “The second part of the motion is to not change what we have here in those four areas until we’ve had a chance to convene a committee and address those four things to see if changes are in order in the fall, when everybody is back.”
While some members supported passing on the draft as is to the County, a majority of the panel opposed the idea as they felt it would be improper to submit an incomplete document, especially when more changes would be required later on.
“There’s more homework that we have to do,” said panel member Sandy Stilwell, to which most of the panel agreed.
Ultimately, the CCP voted down Kelly’s motion and decided to immediately begin assembling committees for each issue so that the four sections can be corrected and the draft can be subject to public meetings and submitted to the county later this year.
“We have just decided that we are not going to send an incomplete plan to the county. I think we have recognized that community discussion and community input will need to happen when there are more people around. But we can certainly begin working on the individual items,” said panel member Nathalie Pyle, who also volunteered to begin working on the sections right away.
Paul Garvey of the Captiva Civic Association also suggested that the panel look into hiring a professional planner for additional assistance in preparing the draft.
CCP administrator Ken Gooderham updated the panel about the status of the golf cart ordinance that was approved by the panel at the April meeting, saying that the county commissioners did discuss the ordinance at their management planning meeting on May 4.
“It was presented by the county attorney and they agreed to move forward with it as far as being 16 years of age [for driving privileges]. That was the only part that was discussed,” added Lt. Joe Poppalardo.
“I heard from Harry Campbell, the traffic engineer for Lee DOT, that they had done a traffic survey out here in late April and he [Campbell] would like to come out and have a public meeting to discuss that and this ordinance, so you have a sense of what they found and what they recommend,” said panel administrator Ken Gooderham, noting that residents who are concerned or have questions about the golf cart ordinance can ask the experts from the Lee County Department of Transportation at the meeting.
Depending on the availability of potential speakers, the informational meeting regarding golf carts is tentatively scheduled to take place during the panel’s next monthly meeting on June 9. They meet in the Wakefield Room at ‘Tween Waters Inn, located at 15951 Captiva Drive, beginning at 9 a.m.