Lee County planning agency backs a rewrite spanning 17 community plan areas, with density caps unchanged

Lee County's Local Planning Agency has recommended a countywide rewrite that reorganizes policies across 17 community plan areas in unincorporated Lee County.

The county's Future Land Use Element update page says the agency voted after considering the amendments on August 31. The recommendation asks county commissioners to transmit the proposed Lee Plan changes and adopt related changes to the Land Development Code.

This is not final approval. The 165-page CPA2026-00005 amendment says the Lee Plan portion still requires two public hearings before county commissioners and review by state agencies before adoption.

Which Lee County community plans are covered

The staff report lists 17 community plan areas: Boca Grande, Greater Pine Island, San Carlos Island, Buckingham, Lehigh Acres, Bayshore, Caloosahatchee Shores, Captiva, Alva, North Captiva, North Fort Myers, Olga, Page Park, Tice, Southeast Lee County, Northeast Lee County and North Olga.

The proposal removes, relocates or consolidates goals and policies across those areas. County staff says the additional community plan standards sometimes duplicate countywide rules or create conflicts with the underlying future land use categories.

The amendment does not erase every local rule. It moves requirements tied to Buckingham's Rural Community Preserves category, the Coastal Rural category on Greater Pine Island and New Community areas in North Olga into the land use policies that govern those categories.

It also moves the Lehigh Acres Commercial Overlay and North Fort Myers Commercial Corridor provisions to Goal 6, where the county proposes applying them more consistently across both areas.

What the rewrite changes without raising density

Lee County states that the proposal does not change any property's zoning classification or future land use designation. The staff report also says it does not increase allowable density or intensity anywhere in unincorporated Lee County.

That does not mean every policy stays as written. One example is Bayshore, where the amendment would remove a community policy that limits central water and sewer infrastructure. Staff says the rule is outdated, duplicates broader county standards and can conflict with water quality requirements for the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary basin.

In Buckingham, the proposal keeps the one dwelling unit per acre maximum and minimum lot size requirements for Rural Community Preserves, but relocates them into the policy for that future land use category. It also preserves the Buckingham Road commercial node language.

Money & World reported August 26 that more than 125 residents attended the county's public information meeting to ask what the rewrite would do to rural protections. At that point, the amendment text had not been available to this publication. The new record identifies which provisions the county proposes to move, revise or remove.

When the next reviews happen

The county lists two next steps for the related Land Development Code amendments. The Executive Regulatory Oversight Committee is scheduled to review them on September 9, followed by the Land Development Code Advisory Committee on September 11.

County commission hearing dates for the Lee Plan amendment were still listed as to be determined in the August 21 staff report.