Island coalition continues to fight county changes
The Captiva Community Panel recently provided an update on the legal efforts of the Captiva Civic Association’s Land Use Committee in response to the Land Development Code and Lee County Comprehensive Land Use Plan amendments approved last month by the Lee County Commission.
The committee’s members are made up of representatives from the panel, CCA, Presidents Council of Associations — which represents a coalition of 12 homeowner and condo associations at South Seas — Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation and “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge.
According to the committee, the county transmitted its proposed amendments — including changes to the Captiva chapter in the Lee Plan — to the various state agencies on Sept. 7 for their comments, as required by state Statute. The agencies will have until Oct. 6 to send any comments back to the county.
“While the state agencies cannot reject outright the county’s amendments, their comments can induce the county to remove or modify the amendments, and they could affect the results of future litigation,” it reported.
The law firm hired by the committee, which is representing the position of the “Protect Captiva” coalition, has submitted the community’s concerns to the agencies reviewing the amendments.
“(Which) would perversely allow an increase in hotel rooms and additional floors of buildable living space on a barrier island within the Coastal High Hazard Area just one year after that island was devastated by Hurricane Ian,” the committee reported.
It added that the memo advises the agencies that the county failed to accurately describe the amendments in its report to the state by failing to mention that the Plan changes were made to facilitate changes in the LDC to permit higher buildings and more hotel rooms than currently allowed.
The memo also advises the agencies that the amendments constitute an “up-planning” of development on Captiva, which is not supported by the data and analysis required by the Community Planning Act.
“The county failed to analyze the amendments’ effects on the island’s infrastructure, its roads, its hurricane evacuation routes, its water resources, its septic systems, its sewer project or its environmental resources,” the committee reported. “The county also failed to recognize that granting special benefits to a single property owner on South Seas constitutes inappropriate spot-planning and raises serious constitutional issues of equal protection.”
It continued that the memo to the agencies also makes clear that the changes have little to do with resiliency and will only make Captiva less resilient and less safe when facing future hurricanes.
“The memo concludes by asking the state agencies to agree that these amendments are a completely unacceptable response to the devastation wrought last year by Hurricane Ian — and to so advise the county,” the committee reported.
Once the county receives feedback from the agencies, it will decide how to proceed. The committee reported that if the county chooses to move forward and adopt the amendments without change, the community coalition will evaluate and continue to pursue the best legal options to “protect Captiva.”
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