Greenwell rezoning proposal advances to county commission; he joins board Tuesday

Note: This story has been corrected to reflect that no date has been set for the Board of County Commissioners to consider approval of the proposal.

The Lee County Local Planning Agency has endorsed an application from the family of County Commissioner-designate Mike Greenwell for zoning and land use changes on nearly 77 acres the family owns in the east county.

On a 3-2 vote Monday, the agency sent the Greenwell application to the Board of County Commissioners.

No date has been scheduled for the commissioners to consider the zoning changes.

Greenwell is not allowed to vote on his family's proposal. He is expected to be sworn in Tuesday, the board's first meeting since June.

The proposal calls for rezoning the agricultural parcel to a mixed-use planned development on State Road 31, a quarter-mile south of a four-way intersection with North River Road. It would allow up to 400,000 square feet of commercial space and 125 residential units.

Greenwell operates agri-tourism businesses, including a restaurant and produce stand, on part of the property.

Florida Department of Transportation plans to rebuild SR 31 as a four-lane divided highway from Lee to Charlotte County. One goal of the road widening is to provide access to Babcock Ranch as that 27-square-mile residential community continues its expansion.

The Greenwell family proposal was advanced to the planning agency for review less than a week before Greenwell became a candidate for county commissioner to replace the late Frank Mann during a two-day period set by Election Supervisor Tommy Doyle.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday announced his appointment of Greenwell to the Board of County Commissioners to serve until a replacement for Mann is elected.

DeSantis chose Greenwell, who was drafted out of North Fort Myers High School by the Boston Red Sox and spent a decade as the club's left fielder, from a field of two other Republican candidates who will be on the ballot for the Aug. 23 primary: former Commissioner John Albion and political newcomer Joseph Gambino.

The winner of the primary will face Democrat Matt Wood of Lehigh Acres and a write-in candidate, Angela Chenaille of Fort Myers, in the November election.

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Greenwell was not present at Monday's Local Planning Agency hearing. The family's consultant on the project, Brian Farrar of Bonita Springs-based BCF Management Group, said after the hearing that Greenwell indicated early last week, before his appointment to the county commission, that he did not plan to attend the planning agency meeting.

Planning agency members who voted to send Greenwell's application to the Board of County Commissioners were Alicia Olivo, Ray Blacksmith and Dustin Gardner. Stan Stouder and Henry Zuba opposed advancing the plan.

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Public comment on Greenwell parcel

Two members of the public spoke Monday on Greenwell's application. Alva resident Keith Dean supported the development and urged the board to allow commercial business along SR 31 so that simple conveniences could be reached without a long journey.

"We have to develop our properties in corridors. We have to have a doctor's office that I can go to, or a restaurant — without a diner," Dean said. "I want to have my doctor's office, my restaurant, before they are spread out all over town. This is the kind of development we need."

Dean compared the development of the east county to the suburban sprawl of Lehigh Acres where a lack of roadway corridors for growing traffic volume hurts its economy.

Without a network of traffic corridors, he said, Lehigh has struggled to lure more established commercial chain businesses, which use traffic counts to make location decisions.

Steve Brodkin, a frequent speaker at public hearings on zoning matters, opposed Greenwell's application. Brodkin told the planning agency that he spoke for Concerned Citizens of Bayshore Community and Women for a Better Lee.

Brodkin called the proposed development "too intense" for the area and said it would set a "bad example" for the future of northeast Lee County by allowing more development than anticipated under the Lee Plan for county development.

Forty acres and a house owned by an Alva land developer stand between the Greenwell property and North River Road.

Concerns of planning agency members included uncertainty over the final path of the reconstructed SR 31, which will determine how much of Greenwell's land will be taken to make room for it.

The county staff noted in its report that there has been a lot of growth in the area near SR 31, including Babcock Ranch, gas stations at SR 31 and North River Road, and some commercial growth on nearby SR 80.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: New Lee commissioner Mike Greenwell's plan for homes, businesses advances