A Letter to the Editor
The issue of a cap on Cape Haze Density is up before the County Commissioners again on December 13 at 2:00 p.m. In May the County held citizen roundtables which strongly supported a density cap for the Cape Haze peninsula but the County did not proceed. Now, finally, the County may be ready to move but the proposal is flawed.
The County proposal caps density for the peninsula at 15 units/acre. This is beyond anything in place now. Most areas do not exceed 10. More problematic is an exception for existing so-called Compact Growth Mixed Use (CGMU) areas which will be allowed to go to 65. There are currently two CGMUs which could be affected: the former Fishery property which is currently at 7 and the West County Town Center at the corner of Gasparilla Road and 776 which is currently 3.
West County Town Center is 1300 acres. At 65 units/acre this proposal would allow over 85,000 units, a good sized city.
After Ian the idea of concentrating density on this evacuation route is especially troubling. Getting to Port Charlotte over the Myakka bridge is already difficult. And although the representative for the developer argues that it needs flexibility there have to be better, safer and more responsible ways to provide that.
The County proposal is designated TCP 22-02 and is described as encouraging public marina use because anything remotely related to the waterfront is allowed to use CGMU land use. Don’t be fooled. No one needs 65 units/acre to encourage public marinas.
Percy Angelo
