Bonita zoning board wants details on development

A lack of control over height and the specifics of the development prompted the Bonita Springs Zoning Board to continue a rezoning application on Bonita Beach Road and ask the applicant to come back with a planned development application.

WestPoints Realty Group asked to rezone a 0.69 acre parcel – the existing site of the vacant Blue Marlin Cove restaurant - to a nine-unit condo development. Included in the application was a request for two density bonus units in return for a cash contribution to the affordable housing trust.

Lee County zoning staff denied the request because the property is located in a Coastal High Hazard area. High hazard areas are those at risk of flooding in the case of a tropical storm.

Several residents also came out and spoke against the project because of the four-story proposed height as well as what they thought would be a "negative" and "intrusive" impact on the surrounding neighborhood. Not everyone felt the same way though.

"We get more traffic when there is a slurpee special at the 7/11," said Dwayne Sulk, who owns a home across the canal from the property on Gary Road. "I would rather see a 55-foot residential building than a 45-foot commercial one."

Some of the board members favored the project but most had a problem with not having control over the actual development since the applicant chose a conventional zoning over a planned development.

"That was because of my ignorance. I thought the process was straight-forward enough and simple enough," said Shaun Mularkey, a planner with Coastal Engineering.

Board members rejected his argument.

"It wasn't ignorance," said Wesley Norris.

He had informed the applicant of the option of a planned development and the ability it gave county staff to hold informal discussions to come to a consensus, said Shawn Lamey, principal planner with Lee County.

Coming back through a planned development process could mean the project takes another 10 months to a year to come back before the board, said Chip Block, principal planner for the county.

"I would have liked to see a rezoned project since what we are proposing is a tremendous improvement over what is there right now, said Mitchell Norgart, president of WestPoints Realty Group and one of the owner/investor. "But we understand that the board needed a greater understanding of the project and if going through the PUD project will help them understand it more clearly we are willing to provide that in a PUD."