Bay Harbour, the marina and residential project that could total up to 113 mixed residential units, including a 100-feet high apartment tower with 75 units as well as townhouses to go with a marina with approval for 286 dry slips and 29 wet slips on Main Street in San Carlos Island, received the go-ahead from Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Administration Commission Tuesday after an appeal of an administrative law judge decision from last year.
Almost a year and a half after an administrative law judge ruled against Lee County’s comprehensive plan amendment to allow the development in unincorporated Fort Myers Beach, DeSantis and the Florida cabinet unanimously overturned the decision at a hearing held in Tallahassee.
Calling the arguments by the county attorney’s office to be “reasonable,” DeSantis approved the reversal of the decision along with the rest of the cabinet. “We’re supposed to side with that,” he said. DeSantis said he supported having staff issuing a final order which will reverse the judge’s order and find the county’s comprehensive plan amendment which changed the county’s zoning to allow the project’s density to go forward. A final order is expected by the end of the year for the project in unincorporated Fort Myers Beach.
That will set in motion the state’s redirecting of the comprehensive plan amendment which will require mitigation by the developer due to the increased density the county allowed for the project. The developers were awarded increased density from the county code for the development, which will have to be mitigated due to the project site’s location in a high-hazard coastal area. The administrative law judge had ruled against the amendment, finding that the county is currently out of compliance with a state statute that mandates 16 hours of evacuation times in category 5 hurricanes. It is estimated that it would take 96 hours to evacuate Lee County in a Category 5 hurricane.
The decision by the cabinet was not strictly partisan. DeSantis was joined by Democratic candidate for Governor Nikki Fried, the Department of Agriculture Commissioner, in voting to overturn the administrative law judge decision. Also voting to reverse the order as Attorney General Ashley Moody and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis.
Assistant County Attorney Amanda Swindle represented Lee County at the hearing in Tallahassee Tuesday. Swindle made an economic argument, saying the economics of the area on Main Street in San Carlos Island had changed and stated that the county wanted to foster the marina, retail and residential project known as Bay Harbour.
Swindle said the mobile homes on the street were “not ideal” in a high-hazard coastal area, and argued that developers wouldn’t be able to get density deviations and comprehensive plan amendments elsewhere and would be “held hostage, unable to develop or redevelop their property until the counties can somehow magically make these evacuation times and I say magically because quite frankly that’s what it would take to get the county from 96 hour evacuation time to 16 hours.”
Swindle said 80% of the counties in high coastal areas can’t meet the state’s hurricane evacuation times for a category 5 storm.
The property was purchased in May for $18 million by Bay Harbour Marina Village LLC. The limited liability company has a Cape Coral address owned by Corona Property Holdings, LLC. According to their website, Corona Property Holdings LLC is a property ownership and management organization that owns more than 300 homes in Cape Coral and focuses on rentals. The director of Bay Harbour Marina Village LLC is listed under state records as Marco Brummund, who also runs Corona Property Holdings LLC with Kristina Brummund.
A limited liability connected through the old owners, known as Southern Comfort Storage, retained a percentage of the property according to the developer’s attorney Russell Schropp, of Henderson, Franklin Starnes, and Holt. The project had been originally shepherded by Chicago-based developer Jack Mayher and had the backing of Fort Myers Beach businessman Nick Ruland.
Schropp offered that the developers would mitigate the impact on the hurricane evacuation route by donating on-site shelter space or by paying a fee.
Fried and Moody expressed concern about the long evacuation times. Both said the developers would have to conduct an unspecified amount of mitigation though they both believed the administrative law judge misinterpreted state statute.
“You are going to have to mitigate,” Moody said to Swindle and Schropp.
Fried said “we have to do some serious work” to improve the evacuation times, which she said are “putting lives in danger.”
Joanne Semmer, a neighbor of the property, said a category 5 hurricane in the area could be catastrophic and could lead to deaths by allowing the residential aspect of the project to go forward as presented. “This is not an appropriate location for a 100-foot high condo the size of a football field,” Semmer said. “If you should agree with the developer, the consequences of your decisions will put existing and new residents in harm’s way.”
Semmer cited the findings of studies that found that the new project would add more than 3,000 vehicle trips per day near a road already heavily trafficked during the season. Semmer cited a traffic study that found more than 27,000 vehicles traverse San Carlos Boulevard each day. The project will be located near the Main Street intersection with San Carlos Boulevard, where the traffic speeds down the Matanzas Pass Bridge. A traffic light has been planned for the intersection.
Swindle estimated that 80% of coastal high-hazard area properties couldn’t be developed or redeveloped under the interpretation of the statute. Swindle argued that the judge shouldn’t be allowed to override the legislative action by the Lee County Board of County Commissioners.
“The petitioners did a good job,” DeSantis said. “That doesn’t seem to be the way the law has been interpreted in Florida.”
Semmer was disappointed with the ruling. “We thought we had a good chance to win,” she said. “I think they had been lobbied very heavily.”
Semmer said she only had one week to prepare a response after she and her attorney were notified that the governor’s cabinet would be taking up the appeal from the developers. She had to hire an attorney in Tallahassee to represent her at the hearing.
“I wish we had more time to prepare,” Semmer said.
Semmer said she is considering filing an appeal of the decision.
Editorial comment – It won’t help to say “we told you so”….. but, “we told you so”…..
Very Interesting!
Money sure is king here! Unbelievable how little regard they have for human life unless that life is nothing more than an embryo!
DeSantis always goes where the money leads doesn’t he?