Developers and planners support the Southeast Lee update but ask for higher industrial FAR and map fixes
Summary
Private planners, trade-port applicants and developers generally supported staff’s Southeast Lee update as a coordinated approach but urged tweaks — notably higher FAR options for industrial uses, clearer trade-port boundary fixes and inclusion of the Daniels Trade Port carve-out where appropriate.
Several developers and planning consultants told the LPA the county-initiated update is a useful consolidation of pending applications and that it provides an opportunity to address a long-standing shortage of commercial and industrial land near Lehigh Acres. Ben Smith (director of planning, Morris Depew Associates) and Brian Smith (Insight) said the Daniels Trade Port and Freeman parcels merit special handling and asked staff to revise the trade-port boundary so the site is usable for airport-adjacent commerce.
Multiple industry speakers raised questions about the proposed 0.25 FAR for preservation/innovation areas. Brian Smith and other presenters suggested typical industrial FARs locally range from about 0.35 to 0.40 and asked staff to consider higher FAR for industrial areas or a mechanism for separate commercial and industrial FARs. David Brown (hydrogeologist) and other technical witnesses told the LPA their analyses support removing certain parcels south of the Kiel Canal from DRGR constraints on hydrologic grounds.
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