Getting Smart About Growth Management in Southwest Florida

Whatever the recommendations, the Florida State legislature will work its magic and crank out legislation that delivers its own version of growth management reform. As this is written in mid-April 2001, the shape of that legislation is unclear. Several observers at an April ULI meeting felt that relatively little legislative activity would take place in this legislative session. That said, anyone with a stake in Southwest Florida should be monitoring the shape of that legislation very carefully. Visit the Growth Management web site: www.floridagrowth.org.

Coming Full Circle:

Lee County Smart Growth Task Force

Like it or not, everyone agrees that there will be more growth in Southwest Florida. To address current and future growth-related problems, a Smart Growth Task Force has been formed in Lee County. The task force is co-chaired by William Hammond, a noted area environmentalist, and Dennis Gilkey, CEO of The Bonita Bay Group. Along with Gilkey and Hammond, 30 other people serve on the task force.

Smart growth is defined by the task force as a continuation of growth, balanced economic development, environmental preservation, sound government fiscal policy and sustained improvement in quality of life. The task force also recognizes that growth will continue with such growth drivers in the area such as the new university and the desirable environment. The task force suggests that the future growth of Lee County should be vision oriented, not rules oriented. However, the big challenge, according to Gilkey, is whether or not the new growth and development will improve the overall quality of the community.

“Everyone seems to recognize the challenges growth presents to us as a community, but we must work in a collaborative, positive way to find out what should be done about it,” says Dennis Gilkey, co-chair of the task force. “We want to bring together everyone in the community, from environmental groups and home owners to developers and planning professionals, in a common effort to find options that everyone can live with.”

The task force includes five working groups, open to everyone in the community, which will work to define issues and solutions concerning five areas: land use, water supply, environment, transportation and community character. The Conflict Resolution Institute at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) will facilitate the process to promote collaboration, inclusiveness, and proactive results at each meeting.

In addition to working group meetings, the task force is currently conducting community meetings throughout the area. These meetings are at various locations throughout the county and are open to all citizens who wish to express interests and needs specific to their area.

For more information on Smart Growth or to find out how you can participate, you can visit www.smartgrowthlee.com.

Conclusion

It is symptomatic of our regional problems that a comparable group in Collier County does not mirror the Smart Growth Task Force in Lee County. Moreover, there is no regular, structured interaction between the key players in the two counties. Since we face regional problems, logic dictates that we need regional solutions. Anthony Treller, ULI director from Fort Lauderdale, was almost certainly right when he stated, “We seem to have to bring things to a crisis before we do anything.” The growth management crisis we face has become so obvious to so many public and private players that, with a bit of luck, we’ll find workable solutions across the region before we’ve killed that golden goose. But, we’ve only just begun.