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.