Lee County hearing reviews Betsy Parkway rezoning, debate centers on wetland mitigation and access condition

A Lee County zoning hearing on DCI 2025‑00003 examined a request to rezone about 23.96 acres on Pine Island to a mixed‑use planned development that would accommodate roughly 40,000 square feet of commercial space and 250,000 square feet of industrial uses. Hearing Examiner Donna Marie Collins presided and heard applicant experts and county staff before saying she would issue a written decision in about two weeks.

The applicant team, represented by Terry Cramer, introduced a master concept plan that divides the site into a commercial tract fronting Pine Island Road and an industrial tract along Betsy Parkway. Planner and expert witness Cindy Lyle Brizuela told the hearing the plan clusters open space along the eastern perimeter, proposes an indigenous wetland restoration area, and incorporates a 50‑foot aquatic preserve buffer in order to comply with Greater Pine Island community policies.

Brizuela said the applicant seeks rezoning to the mixed‑use planned development district to align with the site's Urban Community future land use designation and that architectural standards, landscaping and parking will be addressed at development order. She said letters confirm potable water availability from the Greater Pine Island Water Association and future sanitary service from Lee County Utilities.

Environmental witness Barrett Stedge Skull, testifying for Bear Paw’s Environmental, described the property as highly disturbed and dominated by exotic vegetation. He reported no protected species identified during site surveys and stated the application estimates about 0.46 acres of wetland impact, which the applicant intends to mitigate through on‑site restoration and plantings required at permitting.

Traffic witness Jason Utley said he ran trip‑generation analyses using the most intensive ITE land‑use assumptions the county requested for both a shopping‑plaza scenario and an intensive industrial park scenario. "You're not going to have any level of service exceedance for any of the analyzed segments," Utley told the hearing, and he described a proposed access strategy that would retain two existing Pine Island Road cuts (western access restricted to ingress, eastern access restricted to egress) and provide for future parcel interconnection.

Beth Workman, principal planner in Lee County's zoning section and lead staff on the case, told the examiner staff recommended approval with conditions. Workman and the staff report emphasized consistency with multiple Lee Plan policies (including coastal‑hazard and industrial criteria), noted that the site lies in the coastal high hazard area, and said additional permitting through the South Florida Water Management District and a formal jurisdictional wetland determination (JD) or Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) will be required at development order to finalize mitigation and any creation calculations.

Workman summarized staff conditions that address indigenous open‑space requirements (commercial tract 30% open space with half indigenous, industrial tract 20% open space with half indigenous), buffering standards adjacent to residential zoning (including a required 8‑foot wall for open storage adjacent to TFC‑2 where applicable), surface‑water treatment and five‑year monitoring at outfalls, and limits on certain uses to reduce potential pollutant loads to the aquatic preserve.

A focus of the hearing was Transportation Condition 9, which recognizes existing driveway cuts on Pine Island Road but contemplates future closure or modification if adjacent parcels develop. The applicant proposed language for a 9C condition that would, as written in the 48‑hour submittal, require that "in the event direct access to Pine Island Road is removed by Lee County DOT pursuant to 10‑285G, Lee County, owner of the properties to the east, will grant a cross access easement; should the property be sold, Lee County must grant cross access easement prior to closing."

John Podzerwinski, principal transportation planner for Lee County DOT, testified that while the county supports the spirit of interconnection, the proposed 9C wording was legally non‑supportable as a rezoning condition because the county cannot pre‑commit or impose a county‑owned easement in that manner; he reiterated that existing LDC provisions (including spacing requirements in LDC 10‑285 and interconnection standards in LDC 10‑295) would apply if and when adjacent parcels develop.

During questioning, the applicant and staff agreed that some of Condition 9's language duplicated existing LDC authority and that striking or revising portions could be appropriate; the applicant asked the hearing examiner to remove duplicative wording while retaining the access restrictions (ingress/egress signage) on the two existing Pine Island Road cuts.

No members of the public testified during the hearing. The examiner said she had completed a site visit and expected to release a written recommendation in roughly two weeks.

What remains to be resolved before development order are a formal jurisdictional wetland determination and permits (ERP) that may refine the 0.46‑acre impact estimate, final mitigation/creation plans to meet the 50‑ft aquatic preserve criteria, the surface‑water design and five‑year monitoring plan, and refined traffic analysis at development order reflecting the ultimately proposed uses and build‑out timing.