Your Voice Matters!

Decisions made by the Lee County Commission about how our community grows will impact all of our lives — from the character of the neighborhoods we live in and the roads we drive, to the quality of our drinking water and the health of our natural resources. Our quality of life is at risk.

As taxpayers and people who live here, we should have a meaningful voice in these decisions.

Public participation played an integral role in shaping and guiding the Lee Plan and the Community Plans that govern growth in our individual communities. Today, with these Community Plans at risk of complete elimination, your involvement matters more than ever.

We know public input works: the Lee Commission has already postponed its initial public hearing on Lee Plan and LDC changes to Oct. 7. Only by continuing this public pressure will we ensure that Lee County residents have a say in what our communities look like tomorrow and every year after.

You don’t need to be a planner, attorney or land-use expert to participate. You know your community. You know what you value about it and what you want to protect for the future.

This is your community. Make your voice part of its future.

Having trouble getting started or knowing what to say? We’ve developed some helpful talking points to get you going. Please remember that personal statements are the most meaningful. Use the points here that most resonate with your experience and your feelings about your own community to tell the Lee County Commission in your own words why these changes matter to you!

Keep Local Communities Involved in Local Planning

  • The State of Florida requires public input into the community planning process. What Lee County is doing now, doesn’t follow those rules.

  • Lee County is made up of very different communities. A one-size-fits-all approach does not work everywhere.
  • Residents spent years working with the County to create Community Plans that reflect the needs and character of their communities.
  • Those local voices should continue to have a meaningful role when development decisions affect their communities.
  • Existing requirements for community meetings and public involvement should not be eliminated unless they are replaced with equal or better opportunities for residents to participate.

Protect the Character of Our Communities

  • Pine Island, Alva, Captiva, Buckingham, Lehigh Acres, North Fort Myers and Lee County’s other communities are not interchangeable.
  • Community Plans recognize differences in rural character, coastal resources, agriculture, transportation, development patterns and other local conditions.
  • Countywide development rules may be appropriate for some issues, but they should not automatically replace protections created to address unique local conditions.
  • Updating the Lee Plan should not mean erasing the policies that recognize what makes individual communities special.

Don’t Weaken Protection in the Name of Simplifying Rules

  • We support making the Lee Plan and Land Development Code clearer and easier to use.
  • But simplifying the documents should not result in losing important protections.
  • Some existing protections are being preserved or moved, while others are being changed or eliminated.
  • Before removing a community protection, the County should explain what will replace it and whether the replacement provides the same level of protection.

Keep Important Protections in the Comprehensive Plan Where they Belong

  • Moving a rule to another part of the Land Development Code might sound like a simple housekeeping change, but where a protection is located matters.

  • The Comprehensive Plan provides the policy foundation that the County’s development regulations must follow.

  • If an important community protection is removed from the Comprehensive Plan and exists only in the Land Development Code, it may be easier for a future County Commission to change that regulation.

  • Long-term community protections should not become more vulnerable simply because the County is reorganizing its planning documents.

Protect Our Natural Resources and Quality of Life

  • Land-use decisions affect more than buildings. They affect water quality, wetlands, wildlife habitat, traffic, hurricane evacuation, agriculture and the overall quality of life in Lee County.
  • Development standards should reflect the environmental and infrastructure limitations of individual communities.

  • Growth should be planned around what an area can reasonably support — not simply around what can be built there.

Show Us What EXACTLY is Changing

  • These amendments involve hundreds of changes spread across the Lee Plan and Land Development Code.
  • Residents should not have to be professional planners or attorneys to determine whether an existing community protection is disappearing.

  • Lee County should provide a clear community-by-community comparisons for each community planning area showing what is being kept, moved, changed or eliminated.

  • For anything being eliminated or weakened, the County should explain why and what effect that change could have.

Take the Time to Get it Right

  • In 2028, Lee County is scheduled to undergo a state-required review of the Lee Plan. Why not begin that process now, instead of pushing hundreds of changes through now — before the formal review process. What’s the rush?

  • These planning documents will influence development decisions for years to come.
  • If residents, community organizations or decision-makers do not fully understand the consequences of a proposed change, the County should take additional time to review it.
  • Modernizing the Lee Plan and LDC can be done without sacrificing meaningful public participation or community-specific protections.

A Simple Statement

If you’re looking for a simple statement you can use to oppose these changes, feel free to adapt this text in your own words.

  • I support updating and simplifying Lee County’s planning rules, but modernization should not mean eliminating community protections or reducing the public’s voice. Before these amendments are approved, please show residents clearly what protections are being kept, moved, changed or eliminated in each community. Where an important protection or public-participation requirement exists today, preserve it or replace it with something equally strong or stronger.