Commission to Vote on Lee PlanGrowth guide to focus on mixed-use development By Ryan Hiraki More Lee County homes might be built atop office and commercial space under a growth plan proposed Thursday. The Lee Plan, as it's called, promotes walking to work and various activities to keep traffic off roads. The state requires counties to update their growth plans every five to seven years. Commissioners are expected to vote on amendments to the Lee Plan on Wednesday. Two dozen areas are identified in the proposal where building homes atop office and commercial space could occur. All of them are in urban or fast-growing areas — Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres, central Fort Myers, south Fort Myers, south Lee County and parts of Palm Beach Boulevard east of Interstate 75. This mix of homes, offices, commercial and cultural spaces, known as mixed-use development, could help the county accommodate an eventual population of 1.02 million people, according to Lee and University of Florida estimates. Mixed use "is for the single people or the couple with the start-up home or the retired guy," said Wayne Daltry, the county's Smart Growth director. As an example, Daltry talked about downtown Fort Myers, where people live in apartments and condos above offices, restaurants and other small businesses. "That was done in, what, 1910? Before the car and the septic tank and the well liberated everybody" and allowed them to live farther away from central urban areas, he said. Most developments already built in the county that are considered mixed-use consist of residential communities with businesses next to them. That already has started to change. Cape Coral, Fort Myers and Bonita Springs are trying to revitalize downtown areas with developments that include homes atop businesses. In Estero, residents have turned out to support a project at Corkscrew Road and U.S. 41 called Estero on the River. It would include 530 homes, 300,000 square feet of commercial space, a theater and green space. Ten percent of the homes will be for moderate-income housing, or households that earn 81 to 120 percent of the county's median income the year the homes are built. Betsy D'Jamoos, president of the D'Jamoos Group, the project developer, said her company sees it as an opportunity to bring a true mixed-use project to Southwest Florida. "We wanted a community where people did not have to get into their car," she said. "It's important to have sidewalks on both sides of the street, to have green space where people can commune." Other potential locations for similar communities are on busy corridors such as Daniels Parkway in south Fort Myers, Pine Island Road in Cape Coral and Joel Boulevard in Lehigh. Daltry said a developer could make more money by building commercial and residential components and, at the same time, preparing people to deal with issues such as rising fuel costs. "You'd rather invest your money in your lifestyle than be a slave to your possessions," he said. |