Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lee County to transmit amendment allowing more office space at Gulf Coast Business Center
Summary
At a Jan. 22 zoning hearing the Lee County board voted to transmit a privately initiated comprehensive-plan text amendment (CPA 2024-0005) that would remove a 50% light-industrial floor-area requirement for about 74.32 acres at the Gulf Coast Business Center to allow additional office uses.
Joe Serresino, a planner with Lee County Development Services, introduced CPA 2024-0005 on Jan. 22, 2025, a privately initiated text amendment to the Lee County Comprehensive Plan affecting the Gulf Coast Business Center.
The proposed change would amend Lee Plan policy 1.3.4 to remove a requirement that a minimum of 50% of total floor area on roughly 74.32 acres between 3 Oaks and Interstate 75 be dedicated to light-industrial uses, allowing additional office and other nonretail commercial uses on the site. Serresino told the board the amendment would not allow residential or other prohibited uses and would not promote development within an airport noise zone, consistent with Lee Plan policy 1.6.1.
Staff told the board the amendment supports policies intended to attract competitive businesses and employment centers near Florida Gulf Coast University, that public services are available to serve the subject area, and that the change is consistent with the economic element of the Lee Plan. Both staff and the Local Planning Agency recommended transmittal of the amendment to reviewing agencies.
A board member moved to approve staff and LPA’s recommendation to transmit the amendment; another board member seconded. Chairman Cecil Penegraff recorded an objection during the call but the motion was recorded as carried.
Because the board voted to transmit the amendment rather than adopt it, the next step is review by state and regional agencies under the statutory transmittal process. No public speakers were recorded on this item during the hearing.
