The Board of Lee County Commissioners agreed Tuesday to postpone any vote that could increase the density and height of buildings on Captiva Island’s South Seas Island Resort until September.
The additional time will allow for greater input from those that would be impacted: Sanibel and Captiva residents
“You have received probably 1000's of emails urging you to vote no. You have heard from virtually every civic organization on Captiva urging you to vote no. I wish you were voting no today, but I very much appreciate and support your resolution to give us more time,” said Jay Brown, president of the Captiva Community Panel.
The panel is an advisory group that was created by the Lee County Board of County Commissioners, to provide input on matters relating to the island.
The group has been very vocal in recent days saying it has been slighted because county staff did not seek out its thoughts on potential changes to the Lee County Land Use Code that if approved will pave the way for the South Seas resort to build higher and build more units than currently allowed on Captiva.
“The central reason why you have raised the [ire] of the community … is you are potentially prioritizing interests of a single developer over all the residents of Captiva and that will affect the residents of Sanibel," Brown said. “Secondly and most importantly, this is precedent-setting. If you make these changes for the benefit of the developer, why wouldn’t every other developer be entitled to make these same changes.”
The proposed changes would allow South Seas to build 45 feet to 75 feet above any the base flood elevation.
It would also no longer mandate that there be no more than 3 units per area. Units includes homes, condominiums and hotel rooms.
Codes currently allow for two stories about the base flood level. South Seas has told WGCU that it doesn’t intend to build 75 feet above flood level.
Dozens of Sanibel and Captiva residents packed the chamber, some wearing stickers that said quite simply, “Vote no.”
Many told the commissioners they were hoping the additional time – 77 days – would give county staff a chance to redo its proposed amendments. The likelihood of that is unclear.
"There is so much at stake for these two very vulnerable barrier islands if we don't do this right,” said Carrie Schuman, the coastal resilience manger of the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation. “We need to take the time to have proper stakeholder input, and to really pursue the correct resilience process that makes sense for both our islands."
South Seas Island Resort has been closed since Hurricane Ian washed ashore on nearby Cayo Costa Sept. 28.
Just a year earlier, the resort was purchased by an investment group. Greg Spencer, the chief executive officer of Timbers Company, one of the investors, overseas the group.
The destruction at the resort, he said, was wide-spread.
He said the postponement likely won’t allow for the construction of a new hotel to begin until the early part of 2026.
He said he has no intention of building a one-story hotel and has hopes of building a modern hotel that has three floors of rooms as well as elevated parking.
“We build things that fit in with the fabric of the community and that’s what we intend to do here.”
In spite of any delays for reconstruction, Spencer said he welcomes the opportunity to share his vision with residents of the barrier islands.
“ I’m willing to do my part. If it’s 12 meetings, 10 meetings, eight, whatever. I’ll make sure – you just got to get them scheduled – and have these conversations... . I’m prepared to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to bring this [resort] back,” Spencer said.
Spencer, whose group is based in Winter Park, said he has been coming to Sanibel and Captiva since he was nine-years-old. That’s 42 years of visiting the islands.
“The last thing I want to do is build something that doesn’t fit in with the community,” he said.
The public hearings on the matter are now scheduled for Sept. 5 and Sept. 6.
Muilt-media journalist Andrea Melendez contributed to this report. WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.