Over 13,000 sign petition against Captiva building codes

Reporter: Amy Galo Writer: Rachel Murphy
Published: Updated:

Thirteen thousand people have signed a petition against a Lee County proposal that raises Captiva building codes. A new state bill may be the remedy to prevent building height requirements from increasing.

Lee County proposed bringing allowable building heights up to 35 feet above federal flood elevation standards. That number goes up to 75 feet for South Seas Resort.

Doug Babcock, CEO of Sanibel-Captiva Beach Resorts, said he doesn’t see the need for increased density.

“It’s a small island. It’s only a couple miles long, and here we are. It’s about 100 yards wide, so it can’t handle increase in additional density and intensity,” said Babcock. “In terms of our density, our beautiful island sanctuary that we have, we don’t want to see that change.”

People that WINK News spoke to said they fear what could happen, and now they’re placing their faith in a newly proposed state bill.

“It would protect the density and also the building heights of the island of Captiva to the current restrictions that we have in place,” Babcock said.

By creating the Captiva Island Conservation Area, everything can stay exactly as it’s always been.

The Lee County Legislative Delegation meets Thursday at FSW at 7 a.m. to discuss the proposed bill.

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