Dear Fellow Cape Hazer
I want to update you on happenings with the County Comp Plan and ask for your help in taking this issue over the finish line.
Earlier this year the County Staff in the “Growth Management Department” proposed some seemingly mild or innocuous changes to the Comp Plan that governs development in the county. Once we dug down into these proposals we discovered these so-called “mild changes” would allow 65 units per acre for so called “Working Waterfront- Compact Growth Mixed Use (CGMU) Properties” in West Charlotte County. In short imagine high density high rise buildings along the waterfront in our area. Better yet imagine “The Sun Seeker Resort” along Placida Road. Not a pretty picture.
The “Friends of Cape Haze” (FoCH) took the issue to the Board of County Commissioners on March 24th and the BCC agreed by a vote of 5-0 to exempt the Cape Haze peninsula from these provisions. However, very surprisingly, the staff declined to add this provision to the Comp Plan. We met with staff and the Commissioners and attended two workshops designed by the Commissioners to get everyone’s point of view.
Finally, after these exhaustive and exhausting meetings the staff agreed that a compromise would be best. This compromise would limit density on the Cape Haze peninsula to 15 units per acre. This compromise is subject to approval first by the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) and then by the Board of County Commissioners (BCC). These approval meetings will be held in June and July.
Always optimistic, I am hopeful that this approval we seek will end the threat of destructive development on the Cape Haze peninsula and help maintain the quality of life and the property values here. All political decisions are a numbers game so we need to make sure that the voices of as many of the people are heard so I am asking you to send a short e-mail similar to the one below to both the staff and the County Commissioners to enlist their support:
Thank you for your support
Bill Dahms, Pres. CHPOA
PROPOSED EMAIL
TO:
bill.truex@CharlotteCountyFL.gov
joseph.tiseo@CharlotteCountyFL.gov
Chris.Constance@CharlotteCountyFL.gov
Ken.Doherty@CharlotteCountyFL.gov
StephenR.Deutsch@CharlotteCountyFL.gov
To: “BCC@charlottecountyfl.gov“,”shaun.cullinan@charlottecountyfl.gov“
RE: Working waterfront – CGMU Changes
Dear Commissioners and Mr. Cullinan:
We live in Cape Haze and have been deeply concerned about the proposed CGMU changes that could allow up to 65 units per acre in West County. We support the decision by the BCC to limit such development on the Cape Haze peninsula. We also support the compromise decision arrived at during the workshops, that were recently conducted, to limit such development on the Cape Haze peninsula to a maximum of 15 units per acre and ask that you approve this limitation. We also ask that Mr. Cullinan forward this email request to the Planning and Zoning Board.
We thank you for your service and support.
Sincerely, /s/