New members, advisors and allies join The Lee Communities Coalition
The Lee Communities Coalition (TLCC), an alliance of civic and community organizations that united in August 2026 to oppose sweeping changes to Lee County’s Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code proposed with no public input, is continuing to grow as new organizations join the opposition to changes.
On Wednesday, Sept. 30, TLCC announced that the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) has joined as a full member and that 1000 Friends of Florida and Calusa Waterkeeper have joined as organizational advisors. The League of Women Voters of Lee County has also joined as a communications ally to help share news and information about the Coalition’s activities.
“We’re so pleased to have SCCF, 1000 Friends of Florida, Calusa Waterkeeper and the League of Women Voters of Lee County supporting The Lee Communities Coalition,” said TLCC Coordinator Nadine Slimak. “We’re grateful they’re willing to share their expertise in public policy and on growth and development issues and grateful they understand how big the stakes are in this discussion and want to help.
“Our Coalition is growing day-by-day, showing just how much this topic means to our communities, and that public interest cuts across geographic, social and neighborhood lines. We’re not just a few folks talking on Facebook. We’re long-standing members of our communities. Our voices should be heard and we should be involved in deciding what our communities look like today, tomorrow and decades from now.”
In August 2026, Lee County proposed sweeping changes to the Lee County Comprehensive Plan and the Land Development Code without public input and disregarding unique community characteristics. The proposed revisions to the plan included the wholesale elimination of Community Plans that guide growth in unincorporated Lee County communities, turning the county’s back on planning and development philosophies that residents had championed and that had been in place since the 1980s.
The proposed changes reorganized, relocated and eliminated numerous provisions, including many that were created specifically to recognize the unique characteristic of individual Lee County communities. The revisions also removed a key avenue for public input to development plans in their communities.
The first and only public information meeting that Lee County held about the changes was attended by more than 100 residents and, during a subsequent hearing held by the Local Planning Agency just a few days later, dozens of residents spoke against these changes.
Civic and community groups from Alva to Captiva formed The Lee Communities Coalition to work together in a united voice to oppose these sweeping changes and urge Lee County to put them on hold until the state-mandated comprehensive review takes place in 2028 with full public input and discourse.