Pine Island Plan: myths and falsehoods
To the editor:
Big landowners are generally silent in public policy debates – they have lawyers that speak for them. However, their camp followers (which include certain Realtors, planners and contractors that cater to their interests, as well as the usual groupies that worship people of wealth) have been having a field day piling on to the Lee County criticisms of the Pine Island Plan. Here’s a few of their myths and falsehoods.
Pine Island is not unique.
Yes, it is. There are other islands with causeways off the coast of Florida, but not one that has preserved the coastal rural environment and way of life to the degree Pine Island has done with the Pine Island Plan. The other islands with causeways are generally fully developed with gates and million dollar mansions.
The Pine Island Plan was imposed on the island by a small group of fanatics.
Truth is, the Pine Island Plan was written, debated and rewritten time and time again, and adopted in stages over several decades in meetings attended by thousands of Pine Islanders. It was democracy in action. Even the meetings in Fort Myers were often attended by hundreds of Pine Islanders. Informal surveys and opinion polls at the time indicated the Plan was supported by some 90 to 95 percent of Pine Islanders. I think it still is.
The Pine Island Plan treats certain groups unfairly.
Nope, all landowners on Pine Island are treated exactly the same. When the 810/910 milestones were met, potential building density was reduced by the same proportional amount for every single acre in every single Pine Island future land use category (coastal rural, suburban, outlying suburban, and urban).
The numbers don’t work and no development orders have been issued.
The Pine Island Plan rewards developers that cluster houses and either preserve or continue to farm the remainder of the property. It’s win-win in that the land stays partially rural and the developer maximizes profit. Take a look at the Demere Key development order to see a project that made the numbers ring true.
The 810/910 rules do not pass Bert Harris Act scrutiny.
Yes they do. The 810/910 rules were enacted in 1988, well before the Bert Harris Act was passed in 1995. Naysayers say the later softening of the post 810/910 restrictions making them more palatable to developers forfeits the protection. That’s not correct – even the Bert Harris Act itself has a provision to the contrary. Other naysayers say the 810/910 rules were not “self-executing.” Yes, they were. They were “self-executing” and in fact “self-executed” when the milestones were met without the need for any further ordinances.
The Pine Island Plan exempts coastal rural properties from the 910 rule.
Again, incorrect. Table 33-1052 by its express terms applies to coastal rural properties once the 910 milestone has been met.
Damages to palm farmers are $20,000 per acre
That’s silly. Coastal rural raw land on Pine Island currently sells for about $15,000 per acre. Development rights generally run up to about 50 percent of fair market value (or $7,500, but, of course, Pine Island landowners only experienced a (Pine Island-wide-uniform) reduction in building density – not a loss of development rights. Most if not all palm farms have also been laser-leveled and developed with irrigation ditches, pumps, retention ponds, wind-fans, etc., that render them totally unsuitable for residential development – those properties have not suffered any losses from the reduction in residential building density. Ironically, those are the very properties whose owners are threatening Bert Harris actions.
The truth is that the Pine island Plan is a sensible and legal land planning solution to the unique Pine Island situation. Any losses suffered by any Pine Island landowner are the same losses suffered by all Pine Island landowners, which for some 27 years now have been considered the price we all have to pay to preserve our coastal rural paradise.
Lee County appears set to abandon Pine Island Plan restrictions on residential building density because of threats of Bert Harris actions – if that happens, the Pine Island Plan is dead, and so is any hope of preserving Pine Island.
Phil Buchanan
St James City