Anger rose among residents at Wednesday’s Punta Gorda City Council meeting which presented the first reading on proposed changes to land development regulations. The proposal would allow higher density in certain parts of the city while restricting building heights by 20 feet in the downtown district.
Some 60 people attended the meeting, many of whom expressed their opinions with the majority of speakers urging Council to refrain from changing the current ordinance. They cited increasing traffic problems and an erosion of residents’ quality of life with increasing population due to higher density housing.
Mayor Lynne Matthews said Council has been working on a plan for five years to keep up with changing demographics and growth.
The proposed change would allow higher density of 60 units per acre versus the current 45 per acre, while restricting building heights to 80 feet. The current land-use regulations allow buildings to be built as high as 100 feet, council member Bill Dryburgh explained.
For years developers have backed away from developing the corner of U.S. 41, Retta Esplanade, Taylor Street, and West Marion Avenue, since the city’s current ordinance has density restrictions.
That corner, which was home to a strip mall, individual businesses and a restaurant until they were destroyed by Hurricane Charley in 2004, has remained vacant ever since.
Dryburgh after the meeting provided a bit of history on that parcel of land. The city hoped multiuse development would be built at the corner with unique shops, office space and apartments above.
At the meeting, he said he met with shop and restaurant owners in the area who are in favor of development on the vacant land, so its residents and workers will frequent their establishments.
“There has to be some tradeoffs. You have to have extra density or wind up with Springhill Suites,” council member Mark Kuharski said, referring to a hotel that adjoins the vacant lot, known as City Marketplace.
“We missed the opportunity once before,” he said, noting a developer with a proposal pulled out of the deal because he “couldn’t make pro forma work.”
“We need to do something with that property before I die,” he said.
Matthews said she would consider dropping the density to 50 units per acre, but Dryburgh said, “When you drop it to 50, you lose police, fire fighters, teachers.”
The city, similar to the rest of Charlotte County, has been struggling with finding housing for its first responders and educators, many of whom cannot afford to live in the area and commute from outside the city and county.
Development of the City Marketplace acreage would provide housing they could afford, provided the density remains at 60 units per acre. Dryburgh said that would allow builders to offer smaller units at affordable prices for workers, such as first responders and teachers.
Impassioned residents disagreed with making any changes.
Former Charlotte County Emergency Management coordinator Wayne Sallade posted on his Facebook page that changing densities and building heights downtown “is a potentially deadly decision.” He cited gridlock from an increased population and a safety issue during evacuations during hurricanes.
“If you think 80-foot-plus buildings and a lot more people jammed into downtown is a good idea, so be it! If you want to make an already bad situation worse, that’s okay. If this move … concerns you, I might suggest you call City Hall and let your feelings be known,” Sallade said in his Facebook post.
Several residents, however, approved of developing the downtown area to provide more affordable housing for workers and more shops and offices.
Frank Conti, vice president of the Historic Punta Gorda Civic Association, echoed Dryburgh and said, “You can build a 100-foot building now,” and added that the proposed land-use change would “make it more restrictive.”
Council approved the ordinance at its first reading. The second reading and public hearing is set for 5 p.m. Sept. 20 at the Gulf Theater of the Military Heritage Museum, 900 W. Marion Ave.
