Lee Plan deletes most mentions of Boca Grande
An update to The Lee Plan, which directs land use and development across the county, would eliminate the stand-alone community plans for Boca Grande and Gasparilla Island, along with other local community plans that contain specific policies governing development.
On Monday Aug. 31, and after a four-hour long hearing, the Lee County Local Planning Agency voted 4-2 to move forward with the eliminations, with only two members, Dustin Gardner and Henry Zuba, voting against it.
One of the speakers was Deborah Swisher-Hicks, a Pine Island civic leader. “This amendment eliminates the only comprehensive place specific policy framework for greater Pine Island without providing adequate substitutes,” Swisher-Hicks said. Her comments were echoed by speaker after speaker, who said the changes would be used to loosen county codes.
Other speakers included the president of the Greater Pine Island Water Association, who asked how the plans could be removed “without direct and meaningful notification to the communities” and cited the years of participation that created the plans. Another speaker wondered “where the steam came from” in the push to change.
Matt DePaolis of the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation spoke to the lack of advance warning. “We heard about it on a Friday,” DePaolis said. “There was a meeting on a Tuesday that gives you one business day to respond to this giant document that’s dropped on our lap. And that’s one business day with which to come up with substantive comments that will hopefully be incorporated into this long-term planning document.”
The GICIA had issued a statement on the plans on Friday, Aug. 28 (see page 12) and requested continuance.
The effort to update the plan dated from April 1, 2025, when the county board directed staff to update the Lee Plan and the county’s Land Development Code. The plan is an intricate document dating from 1979 in various versions. It has been regularly updated in decades of public meetings. For the revision, the public information meeting was held on August 25, 2026, and then was followed by the Aug. 31 meeting.
The draft document that was voted on this Monday had hundreds of changes and eliminations in red. As the new plan is drafted, the county’s explanation states that it would “increase efficiency, reduce unnecessary regulations, while maintaining the protection of public health, safety, and welfare and meeting State requirements.”
In one place, the document reads, “These policies are duplicative and already covered by the LDC and the Gasparilla Act, which establish setback, height, and lot coverage standards” and “Relocated requirement to implement the Gasparilla Island Conservation District Act (GICDA) and uphold the Boca Grande Historic District to Policy 1.6.3.”
The development code will keep Matlacha residential standards, consolidate and broaden Lehigh Acres home standards and retain regulations relating to the North Fort Myers corridor.
The county says that the proposed amendments do not change the future land use category designation or zoning classification on any property and do not increase allowable densities and intensities within Lee County.
There are 31 mentions of Gasparilla Island and 99 mentions of Boca Grande. Most of those would be eliminated. The Boca Grande section is in Goal 19, which is to “preserve and conserve the environment, recreation and open space areas, and historic resources within the Boca Grande Community Plan area.”
Long history of engagement with island on Lee Plan
The Lee Plan is more than an advisory or generalized document. It is a second layer of description of how the county deals with development. The plan is also a community-derived document, created with much Gasparilla Island resident input and supervised by a group called the Lee County Local Planning Agency. Its members are charged with not only conducting the county’s comprehensive planning, but monitoring it and preparing reports.
In 1998, Lee County had an effort to “facilitate and encourage public participation” in the upcoming Lee Plan for Boca Grande. They canceled a Historic Preservation Board meeting and used the time to have a formal public hearing on preservation elements in the plan in order to take the information back to the Lee Commission.
Numerous residents, including Lynne Seibert, have participated in drafting the local elements.
It has been regularly updated in a community process. The old Community Panel reviewed updates to the plan back in April of 2005, with a marathon meeting of comments. At that April 5 meeting, Dr. William Heisel, the vice chair of the panel, took comments back to the commission. The county sent Jim Mudd, a planner, to hear input. Also present at the meeting was a consultant from Morris-Depew.
The Lee Plan has legal effect, and is even mentioned in a Sept. 15, 1999 Congressional hearing on property rights and wetlands law. There are many regional plans in Lee County as well; a Sanibel Plan dates from July of 1976 and has been regularly updated.
Through the years the Lee Plan has been a sort of second barrier to changes in Boca Grande. Back in 2016, backers of a change in use for the former FPL property on Belcher had to put up public notice placards about the Lee Plan, with giant LU lettering (for land use), to indicate the possibility of the change to it.
It was updated in 2010, when Paul O’Connor, director of the Lee County Division of Planning told Beacon readers that the Evaluation and Appraisal Report “offers an ideal time for residents to speak up about their ideas and concerns regarding growth and development in unincorporated Lee County. The goal of this process is to improve the Lee Plan through additional research and policy changes to make sure that plan will produce the anticipated results and address relevant issues.”
Visit leegov.com/dcd for latest details, and a full view of the new plan.
GICIA statement on Lee Plan deletion of BG
BY MISTY N. NICHOLS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE GICIA
On Aug. 28, the GICIA submitted comments to Lee County regarding changes to the Lee Plan.
Chair and members of the Local Planning Agency:
The proposed amendments would eliminate long-standing community plans throughout Lee County and involve extensive changes to community-specific policies. Residents and organizations in the affected communities have simply not had adequate time to review these changes and understand what is being deleted, relocated, or replaced.
Staff has characterized many provisions as duplicative, but duplicative is not necessarily equivalent. A countywide policy may address the same general topic without providing the same community-specific direction or protections.
Given the scope and significance of these amendments, the GICIA respectfully asks the Local Planning Agency to continue this item to a later meeting so Boca Grande residents and other affected communities have a meaningful opportunity to review the proposed changes and provide informed comment before the amendments move forward.
Upcoming Meetings
There are a number of meetings ahead, some tentative:
Executive Regulatory Oversight Committee EROC – Review of LDC amendments: Sept. 9, 2026
Land Development Code Advisory Committee LDCAC – Review of LDC amendments: Sept. 11, 2026
Board of County Commissioners BOCC – Transmittal: Sept. 18, 2026, tentative
Board of County Commissioners – First public hearing for LDC amendments: Oct. 20, 2026, tentative
Board of County Commissioners – Second public hearing for LDC amendments: Nov. 3, 2026, at 5:05 p.m., tentative
Board of County Commissioners – Adoption: Nov. 4, 2026, tentative
