By: Kimberly Molloy, Freelance Writer and Photographer
“If you build it, they will come”, Kathie Ebaugh and Tony Palermo say. Kathie is a Lee Co community planner, APA FL VP Conference Services, and land use policy & public input specialist who held a public meeting at the Lehigh Acres public library this morning, on the future plans and visions of Lehigh Acres.
There were many topics discussed at the meeting. Some residents were concerned with the amount of dollar stores being built, privately owned areas not being taken care of (land and buildings), roads needing a re-pave or any pave at that, and the discussion lead more into Lehigh Acres being basically an all residential area and how our town needs more industrial zones to keep people, jobs, shopping, and tourist income within it. “People drive into Fort Myers for everything” says one resident, “all of the gas it takes to drive out of town and spend all of our money helping Fort Myers’ economy while we shop and have things to do outside of Lehigh”
Kathie and Tony’s 25 year plan/goal spoke of “building smart for the future” using hurricanes and emergency situations as examples of reasons for planning ahead on road extensions and to “ensure that continued development and redevelopment within the Lehigh Acres community converts this largely single use, antiquated pre-platted area into a vibrant residential and commercial community consisting of: safe and secure single family and multifamily neighborhoods; vibrant commercial and employment centers; pedestrian friendly mixed-use activity centers, and neighborhood nodes; with adequate green space and recreational oppertunities.”
Some key deletions are the tier policies & map, and also site location standards.
Key additions/changes are mixed use practices (transportation, land use, parks, and CIP) and also urban practices (densities and incentives). Click here to see the Kathie and Tony’s powerpoint.
While Lehigh’s changes are still in the community plan and vision stage, future direction and planning with support from citizens is encouraged and soon will lead us into the code enforcement and land development code stage and we will be on our way! There will be another meeting August 10th 9:30-11:30 at the East Lee County Library, the topic is Draft 1: Design and planning study.