Questions before a possible October surprise
Wednesday, the Lee County Board of Commissioners again revisited the issue of Boca Grande parking. When the much discussed “plan” will be presented is unclear, but the Board has meetings on Oct. 2 and Oct. 16. Will we get to see a plan a week before the meeting, something that will affect all the businesses, residences and visitors for this island for generations, with a brief review period? If that is the case, then the town will have to run down to Fort Myers to weigh in at last minute.
Regarding parking, what is in the proposed ordinance is unknown. The Beacon has released aspects of a much earlier plan, as it received them from a Freedom of Information request. That was months ago.
Questions:
What are the boundaries of downtown? Is the Pink Elephant downtown? According to one version we have seen, they are not downtown.
Does The Gasparilla Inn get special parking for its guests? And does that special parking apply to household guests?
What does a parking permit for residents look like? Do Charlotte County residents, who are equal under the Gasparilla Island Conservation District Act, get a pass? Or are they banned from parking near beaches to the south of the island, and will need to pay up downtown.
Does a rental that comes for a week get a place to park near the beach? Or must they drop-off?
What is the charge for parking? What is the charge per sticker?
What happens when everyone parks in the GICIA’s free parking? They do not have the towing resources to enforce such a thing.
Where might parking kiosks be located and who will use them? Currently downtown Fort Myers has lifted its usurious parking fees. Restaurants, businesses and offices all complained.
Does 5th Street parking get closed to the public?
Do churches, particularly Lighthouse United Methodist, have their right to park on Gilchrist rescinded after they have been approved for their construction and expansion decades ago?
Do we get LEE DOT parking signs all over downtown Boca Grande? Boca Grande can look just like what Charlotte County has done to Placida, where there are signs every few yards.
What does this parking plan look like during a minimum of two years of construction at the Boca Grande Health Clinic and the Community Center?
Construction truck fun!
At the meeting, our representative, Commissioner Kevin Ruane, spoke of the number of times he had been to the island. He was, however, unable to attend a summer meeting with island businesses, and has only met with a select few on the island at private events.
Zoning changes must have a public hearing. But just because there is a specific requirement for a hearing for a zoning variance, that does not mean that public hearings cannot be held for other issues. The county does this sort of thing for federal road projects all the time. Public meetings protectofficials, actually, as the ideas are vetted, and they can safely refer to the public notice.
There is one area that has obvious parking restrictions. It is Placida Road, near to the Causeway light. All along, Charlotte County has placed literally dozens of signs, every few feet, to stop the evil of people parking. What it does is create an environment where the main visual element is the signage.
That is where we are heading.
There is a national practice that we all decry. It is the process by which Congress drafts bills in secret, particularly spending bills, and then presents them at the last minute for a vote.
There is a cleansing effect to public discussion. You get better ideas, and the stupid ones, or the unenforceable ones, get weeded out. Lee County legal staff has issues with some of the proposals presented in the fall. But that is not the only backstop needed. We need:
• A hearing on parking issues in Boca Grande
• A hearing on parking issues in Boca Grande that is presented here.
If there is no hearing on the island, the result will be a fiat proclamation. Get used to the phrase, “Do you remember the time they tried that parking?”
Let us argue for this on the grounds of civility. There is a theory of places that are what we call “high trust.” That means that the people in a place act a certain way because they know each other, and trust others’ motives.
In a public process, we can all air our ideas, worries and grievances publicly, and address them, and still go out to dinner, or see each other at Hudson’s, and get along just fine.
Garland Pollard is editor of the Beacon. Email letters and comments to editor@bocabeacon.com.
