Written by Bill Smith
Duplex apartments may be back in vogue in Lehigh Acres.
Lee County commissioners have rezoned a section of Lehigh where only single-family homes were permitted to also allow construction of multi-family duplex and attached two-family homes on a 3.04-acre site.
Duplex homes have been controversial in some parts of Lehigh, such as near State Road 82, because dwellings have sometimes become overcrowded with unrelated people with front and side yards used as parking lots.
The property in the Meadowbrook Estates subdivision is in an L-shaped parcel of 10 lots at 7th Street, which runs west off Joel Boulevard, and Glenn Avenue.
Under county development rules, approval of the change by the commission will allow the developer to construct two housing units on nine lots in the subdivision with one house allowed on the 10th.
Lee County planning staff described the neighborhood as lying in an area “moderately developed with single-family homes.” The county staff noted that like most of Lehigh, lots in the area were built in a manner described as piecemeal — home by home, rather than “the efforts of any large cohesive residential development in Lehigh.”
Nine lots at Glenn Avenue and 7th Ave in Lehigh Acres have been approved for housing development that could include duplex dwellings.
Lehigh’s development history is one in which more than 90 square miles of raw land was divided into individual house lots to be sold by mail order with most buyers signing up for a single lot.
Allowing construction of duplex homes raised the eyebrows of Commissioner Frank Mann, who recalled the days when duplexes were a favored way to develop on the hodge-podge of individual lots that characterized Lehigh at the time.
“Twelve to 15 years ago, for a period of years, Lehigh Acres was inundated with applications for duplexes, and they were built and overbuilt and the community became a bit miffed,” Mann said. “Driveways were inadequate. There wasn’t parking. There were four, five or six vehicles parked on the front yard. It was unsightly, and the communities were upset about it.”
County Commissioner Frank Mann wanted assurances that a development including duplex homes in Lehigh Acres would not end up like the duplexes erected 15 years ago which became the site of multiple automobiles parked on lawns as renters jammed unrelated residents into the units.
Dirk Danley Jr., a planner for the county community development department, said county land-use rules now require driveways and garages for cars.
The zoning change was passed unanimously and drew only one resident in opposition.
“The proposal is for as much as 22 wells being drilled on a linear piece of property,” resident Frank DiLonardo said, warning that if the upper layer of the underlying aquifer is compromised by drilling for water, it could eventually lead to requiring utilities to be extended to the site.
Assistant County Glen Salyer said the property would never reach a critical stage for tapping underground water supplies because the county limits development in the area to two-and-one-half units per acre. Building more homes per acre would require public utility service.
The land is owned by Meadowpark Holdings LLC which uses an address in the Quattrone Engineering building on Veronica S. Shoemaker Boulevard as its business address.
The land package was assembled by Brownie Inc. as part of a land deal involving a total of 134 lots.
The wealthy always get what they want