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Council approves Planned Unit Development at 2150 Edison Avenue after neighbor objections
Summary
The City of Fort Myers council approved Ordinance 4079, a PUD permitting office use at 2150 Edison Avenue. Planning staff and the applicant said the site will be limited to office uses; a nearby property owner objected citing mapping and precedent concerns before the council voted to approve the PUD.
Planning Manager Nicole Devon summarized the staff recommendation for a Planned Unit Development (PUD) to allow office use at 2150 Edison Avenue, explaining the site’s RM-16 zoning and the limits the PUD places on future uses. "There's no financial remuneration to either support or object to this item," Devon said as she read the financial disclosure and presented the staff report.
Applicant representative Tatiana Gust told the council that the owners bought the property intending to use it as an office, that the building lacks a kitchen or showers and is sized for staff rather than customer traffic, and that owners have cleaned the site and arranged for security. "My name is Tatiana Gust, and I'm representing the owner, Jonathan Gust," she said, explaining that use is meant to be limited to office operations with modest site landscaping.
A nearby property owner, Karen Pelletier, objected. Pelletier said she had earlier opposed the request at the planning-board meeting and argued the lot lies outside the Midtown designation on the future land-use map and is too small for a PUD. "I do not believe they are allowed to use a PUD to change the designation of this lot," she told council, saying the planning board vote had been split and the request could set a precedent that undermines zoning.
Council members discussed implementation and whether approval authorized staff to pursue recommended incentive items. Community Development Director Steve Allen told the council that adopting the plan allows staff to work on implementation of incentives in the document, though some actions — notably an enterprise-zone boundary change — would be at the state level and are outside the city's unilateral authority.
After discussion, a motion to adopt Ordinance 4079 (the PUD for 2150 Edison Avenue) was moved and seconded; council voted with no recorded opposition to approve the PUD as recommended by staff.
Why it matters: The PUD converts a small lot to a constrained office use while raising neighborhood concerns about precedent and map boundaries. Approval authorizes staff-level implementation of incentives in the affordable-housing/land-use plan but preserves that state-level policy changes remain outside city control.
The council closed the public hearing after the vote; staff told the applicant to pursue available community-development supports and to coordinate on any façade or landscape grants for the area.
