The Lee County Board of County Commissioners voted Wednesday to allow for a cluster of some 1,100 new homes in one of the last vestiges of rural Lee County.
The decision to rezone 788 acres of farmland to mixed-use development was met with great resistance from Olga and Alva residents, including people such as Kathy Sanderford.
For the past 35 years, Sanderford’s family has tended to close to six acres of rural land.
The proposed development by Neal Properties will back up to her property.
“I cannot overstate the devastation this proposal would bring not just to me but to every resident who calls this area home,” Sanderford told the Commissioners prior to their vote.
The nod to the new Neal Properties planned development was 4 to 0. Commissioner Kevin Ruane was absent. Neal Properties was founded by Pat Neal, a retired Florida legislator and senator, and Neal’s father in 1970. The company has built some 24,000 homes between Bradenton and Naples. It is based out of eastern Sarasota County.
Neal Properties plans to preserve about 60 percent of the land and cluster the 1,099 homes on lots that are at a minimum 35 feet to 40 feet wide. Many ranchettes in the North Alva and Olga area are on five acres of land.
“This zoning proposal does not belong in the last remaining rural corridor of Lee County. This is not responsible growth. It is reckless overdevelopment forced [on] our community by an out-of-town developer with deep political influence,” Sanderford said. “It is a complete disregard to the people who have homes here, work here and invested in this land for decades.”
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