Maps detail island parking spots, right-of-way landscaping
Almost 500 parking spaces lost to unpermitted gardening
At the parking community meeting on Tuesday, May 13, Lee County Commissioner David Mulicka presented several large maps prepared by county staff that broke down public street parking in Boca Grande. The maps, entitled Boca Grande Parking Review, show in detail every street and part of the Lee County portions of Gasparilla Island and parking spaces.
“I asked staff, ‘Could you please provide me a map of the existing conditions of Boca Grande right now,’ Mulicka said, ‘so that I can show somebody what the rules are.’ They broke down the county, the parking spaces that are private. They broke down the beach access. They listed all of this, 478 right-of-way spaces to unpermitted landscaping, 115 GICIA spots, which are great.”
According to the draft maps, there are currently 3,062 available parking spaces, with 2,228 on the county right-of-way, 115 owned by the GICIA and 240 state-owned spots. Small red dots show parking lost to unpermitted landscaping, and green triangles show permitted landscaping.
For instance, on Gilchrist Avenue from 5th Street West to 3rd Street West, the county shows 127 parking spaces available, with 88 of those on the median. The map is the first public accounting of so called “curb lawns,” which are planted out places in the public right-of-way. The county’s map shows that there are 15 right-of-way spaces lost to permitted landscaping, and 478 right-of-way spaces that have been lost to unpermitted landscaping. These curb lawns are placed in the roadway and often block parking in front of houses.
Images are seen at bottom. Below in bullets are direct links; they should be visible in a desktop.
- North Island
- Center Island, Downtown
- South Island
Below, south and north ends of the island were broken out by planners. Photos of referenced Lee County maps.
Right of way plants:
Last summer, when the parking discussion reemerged, the Beacon asked Lee County’s Betsy Clayton about the legality of “curb lawns”.
“To work within the Lee County right-of-way, you need to apply for a right-of-way permit and submit a plan for the work you would like to perform,” Clayton wrote last June 2024. “Lee County’s right-of-way staff reviews the plan for approval. If ‘curb lawns’ is referring to landscaping, we have allowed plantings that are frangible, which means they must be able to breakaway when/if a vehicle hits them. They also may not exceed a 4-inch caliber at maturity, which means the base of the tree/vegetation must be less than four inches wide.”
