Fort Myers Beach council advances Pink Shell CPD to second reading after contentious hearing

The Town Council of Fort Myers Beach voted 3–1, with one abstention, on Jan. 8 to advance the first reading of an ordinance to rezone roughly 6.02 acres of the Pink Shell properties into a unified commercial planned development and to allow a new 40-unit boutique hotel and related deviations. The vote sends the ordinance to a second reading and public hearing on Feb. 3, 2025.

The proposal prompted more than two hours of testimony and expert presentations at the quasi-judicial hearing. The applicant, represented by land-use attorney Amy Tubow and a team of planning and architecture experts, described changes made since the Local Planning Agency review to reduce building mass, remove a proposed public parking element on the gulf side, and revise setbacks and public-benefit commitments. Staff recommended conditional approval only if the council found the proposed public benefits adequate to justify deviations for height and equivalency factors.

Opponents and public commenters focused on whether historically recorded documents and a 2000 resolution and restrictive covenant removed development rights from certain Bayside parcels. Several residents and former local officials told…