Leading Question

>>Bit by bit, but not nearly as much as some would like.

"I think we're just beginning to see some changes," says environmental crusader Bill Hammond. He equates the process to steering an aircraft carrier.

By resisting change, he says, the region is missing out on creating "true urban options" with residential, retail and recreational opportunities, and with workplaces that are accessible without having to jump into a car. An example of a step in the right direction, he notes: The Residences at Coconut Point in Estero, with more than 290 condominiums by Kosene & Kosene Residential, is planned to be next to the 1.2 million-square-foot retail development, plus office space.

Hammond, professor of environmental studies at Florida Gulf Coast University and co-chairman of Lee County's Smart Growth Committee, contends that lower density is not the answer to the region's growth issues. Low-density patterns "spread everybody out over Southwest Florida," he says. By forcing residents to drive to work, shop, go to restaurants and conduct other activities, the region is paying the price for density requirements that have "gone too far," he says. "You have to start creating urban centers."

Some projects with higher densities-between 30 and 50 units per acre-are needed.

Retail-heavy areas, such as the intersection of U.S. 41 and Daniels Parkway in Fort Myers, are prime spots for urban centers, maintains Hammond. The addition of mid- or high-rises near the intersection would create "nodes of density" where mass transit could be incorporated.

"You try to make everything within a 10-minute walk," he says.

From Lee's Smart Growth director Wayne Daltry's perspective, smart growth is happening parcel by parcel, particularly along such urban corridors targeted for redevelopment as U.S. 41, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Palm Beach Boulevard in Fort Myers.

"The biggest stumbling block is still going to be finding out the impediments to mixing uses," he says, and to increasing densities in areas where it has been kept low.

Obtaining financing from risk-averse banks and other lenders, following public codes and dealing with possible resistance from neighbors are a few of the obstacles that mixing uses is bound to encounter. Another factor is the political environment, as elected officials come and go. When you keep changing the players, you have to keep explaining the story, Daltry says. "We don't have consistency in the players."

Hammond contends that people seeking more affordable housing could also benefit from smart growth. For example, he says, when he arrived in Southwest Florida in the 1960s, mother-in-law cottages and garages behind homes in Fort Myers provided affordable housing to a lot of people. "Now," he says, "show me a gated subdivision in Southwest Florida that has that."

Developers are less likely to build such structures because each is counted as a regular building unit. Developers could instead be given incentives for creating such residences, Hammond points out.

-Lori Johnston