A dose of city life could be on its way to the countryside of Alva, an enclave of Lee County with about 6,500 residents that could almost double in population as a result.  

Some Alva residents fear their home’s charm and character would be endangered by the rapid pace of development.  

Lee County Commissioner Mike Greenwell is seeking to rezone the land he lives on to someday include a shopping center off State Road 31. The property is just north of Wilson Pigott Bridge, which was built in 1960. The bridge funnels traffic across the Caloosahatchee River onto a two-lane road the Florida Department of Transportation intends to widen into four to six lanes in future years to support the growth of nearby Babcock Ranch.  

Greenwell wants to turn the land he owns that his home sits on into 400,000 square feet of multi-use commercial real estate, clearing the way for big-box stores, plus up to 122 dwelling units, such as an apartment complex.  

Mike Greenwell

At 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, four Lee County commissioners will meet to vote on the rezoning of Greenwell’s land. Greenwell is recused from voting. Only the Alva residents who spoke against the zoning change at a hearing examiner’s meeting June 9 will be permitted to speak to the commissioners against the change at Wednesday’s meeting. No residents spoke in favor of the zoning change.  

Darius Cochran, who is a real estate agent and Alva resident, was one of about 15 residents who spoke against Greenwell’s proposal at the hearing. He will have 3 minutes Wednesday to persuade county commissioners to vote no.  

“That’s the size of a Home Depot, Walmart, Best Buy and five gas stations,” Cochran said of Greenwell’s plans. “The apartments are five stories and 60-plus feet tall. In Alva, we would call that a skyscraper.”  

Greenwell has owned his home on 76 acres since December 1996, after he retired from a 12-season professional baseball career as an outfielder with the Boston Red Sox. As a part of his plan, about 14 acres would be preserved.  

The Lee County Hearing Examiner recommended rezoning the property, despite it lying within rural and wetland future land-use categories and a coastal high hazard area.  

Hearing Examiner Donna Marie Collins expressed concerns during a hearing last year.  

“I look at this, and that looks like something I’d see at the intersection of Colonial [Boulevard] and Six Mile Cypress [Parkway in Fort Myers],” Collins said.  

Kendrick Gallander, speaking on behalf of Greenwell, countered: “Our uses that are proposed still provide for the agricultural support and agricultural nature. We are proposing maintaining the commercial stables or the arenas that would contribute to that rural character.”  

After declining comment on the rezoning hearings, Greenwell said he didn’t want to seem as if he were trying to influence the process.  

Greenwell’s process began when he filed an application December 2021, which was seven months before being appointed as commissioner in July 2022 by Gov. Ron DeSantis as the successor to the late Frank Mann. Greenwell then won election to the District 5 seat in November 2022.  

Mann was a frequent no vote to development projects, not just in Alva but across Lee County.  

Alva residents who live near Greenwell remain troubled by the rapid pace of development at hand.  

“We feel like the county is just railroading us and approving these things that don’t look anything like Alva,” said Amy Cochran, who lives off North River Road with husband Darius Cochran. “This development is taking place at a pace that is just unheard of. We’re not anti-development. We’re about smart development, but to allow this kind of density in a rural area is just ludicrous.”  

Just east of Greenwell’s property, off North River Road, Neal Communities seeks to rezone even more land. About 1,140 acres would become two developments. Cary Duke Povia Residential Planned Development would have 1,099 single-family homes, and Owl Creek would have an additional 380 dwelling units. 

At 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 20, a public information meeting about the Neal Communities developments will take place at the Cracker Shack Cafe, 18672 SR 31 in Alva. Although that property is owned by Greenwell, the commissioner said he had nothing to do with setting up the meeting there. Jeremy Frantz, a planner and architect, will preside at that meeting on behalf of Neal Communities, which is planning to build the combined 1,479 homes on agricultural land.  

Neal Communities’ plans to build just east of Greenwell’s property – after buildout – would boost Alva’s population by almost 50%, from the current 6,500 to almost 10,000 residents.  

Frantz explained why the public meeting for the Neal Communities development was being held at one of Greenwell’s properties.  

“We held a couple of community meetings at the Bayshore firehouse,” Frantz said, “but the Lee County codes require us to hold a meeting within the North Olga planning area boundaries. There are very few public areas that can hold our meetings. The Cracker Shack was basically our only option.  

“We heard a lot of concern about traffic, about the maintenance of the rural community feel and the people who might move into these units.”  

A decade ago, rezoning the land wouldn’t have matched the rural nature of the area, said Matt Simmons, a property appraiser with Maxwell, Hendry & Simmons. However, with Babcock Ranch, a planned community of up to 20,000 homes, less than 2 miles to the north, adding commercial real estate to SR 31 made sense, Simmons said.  

“This is hardly breaking news to anyone paying attention over the past few years, if you look at Babcock Ranch and the growth that’s taking place,” Simmons said. “SR 31 is definitely kind of emerging as a development corridor. There are uses right along there on both sides of 31 that are rural and agricultural in nature. There’s a balancing act of how to go about the process.  

“I love that area. North River Road, that’s some of the most beautiful land in all of Southwest Florida. I love that stretch. Most of North River Road, continuing east, is going to be more of a country atmosphere.”  

The makeup of SR 31 has changed, Simmons said, and it would further change when the state Department of Transportation widens the road.  

James Kennedy, an Alva resident and hydrological surveyor who lives near the Lee-Hendry county line, said he prefers none of this development happen.  

“It really goes against the interests of the people who already live there,” Kennedy said. “It’s not so much that we’re anti-growth and don’t ever want to build anything else.”  

What troubled Kennedy were the efforts to rezone properties that historically have been agricultural and rural in nature.  

“It seems that instead of determining whether these changes should happen,” Kennedy said, “the county has adopted how can we make this happen.”