No knee-jerk over reaction
To the editor,
Building codes are about community standards. On Sanibel, that has meant balancing human needs, construction standards consistant with the unique conditions on a barrier island, and safe guarding the environment that drew people here in the first place.
To those ends, our founders created the award winning Sanibel Plan. Which brings up the question: What has prompted the radical departure presented in the proposed resort housing ordinance?
I’ve been reliable told that the owners of the properties in question have not requested these changes. If that is the case, where did this notion to stand the Sanibel Plan on its ear come from? Why are we doing this?
While short term rental units are important part of the islands economy, I believe the market will take care of itself and doesn’t need the city’s good intentions. Property owners should decide how they wish to use their property under the rules of the existing Sanibel Plan. If the choose is something other than short term rental, that is their business decision. The demand will be met in the condos, which have increasingly become rentals.
Changes in the Sanibel Plan should be in keeping with the underlying intent as clearly stated in our founding documents, not knee-jerk over reactions to an unsubstantiated problem.
Please express your concern to City Council regarding maintaining our building standards.
Karen Storjohann
Sanibel