Target Topics

Overview

Here is a brief summary of our target topics. Simply click on the heading for access to articles, videos, reports and other information. We welcome your ideas and invite you to share articles with us as we all work together for a better future in Lee County.

Neighborhood Options    

Many people prefer to live in quiet suburban neighborhoods. Others prefer walkable more urban communities. Still others enjoy living in a rural setting. Creating suburban development opportunities has made sense for the past 20 years. However, given the projected growth of our metropolitan area, the unrealistic costs for road construction required to accommodate more suburban growth, and the excess pressure on natural resources, it is wise to rethink development options for the next 20 years.

Are there ways to make possible rural, suburban and urban neighborhood options while also accommodating growth in cost-efficient, environmentally friendly ways?

Roads, Roads, Roads

Road building has provided mobility for our rapidly growing community, and we are fortunate to have competent agencies overseeing these programs. Some paradigm shifts are now needed to allow us to accommodate the next wave of growth. Multimodal transportation planning will increase both cost effectiveness and the numbers of persons who need to move about with ease and comfort. Better integration of land use and transportation planning will enable land uses that accommodate future growth while preserving our natural resources and keep our property values growing and our quality of life high.

Are there ways to increase multimodal transportation planning that would be helpful to your neighborhood, your travel patterns, or your business?

Transit and Walkability

Transportation shapes our cities—it has always been so. Transportation determines land use -- from the ability to walk or bike to the need for freeways to many other options that make a place either livable or headache producing. One type of development that is meeting enormous enthusiasm in metropolitan areas across the U.S.A. is walkable communities that minimize the need to use a car for every trip and provide healthy options such as walking, biking, and convenient transit for some trips.

Transit choices are numerous: express buses, trolleys, bus rapid transit, streetcars, light rail, and commuter rail to name only some. Transit stops must be planned so that each one is either a short walkable route to popular destinations, a transfer point, or has parking for cars. Where in Lee County could benefit from development of transit-oriented walkable communities where people can live, work, and find crucial services and entertainment without traveling great distances?

Comprehensive Planning

Lee County began to develop our first comprehensive plan, called The Lee Plan, over 25 years ago. This has been updated over the years—usually updated to accommodate interests and needs of those in one part or other of the county. In light of new realities, Lee County will benefit from shifting the overall paradigm on which the Lee Plan's land use and transportation goals and policies have been based.

Laws, Regs, Codes

Land development is controlled by a complex maze of regulations at the local, regional, state, and federal levels. While each partition in this maze has been erected in good faith, over the decades the result has often become a bureaucratic nightmare. Delay and wasted money is one unintended consequence; others are the absence of focus on what the community deems as a healthy development pattern and is willing to help rather than hinder.

Reconnecting Lee County's principal concern is laws, regulations and codes at the county or municipal level that would enable a shift from a 20^th century to a 21^st century land-use paradigm that would result in more liveable communities. Nonetheless, many regional and state regulations also deserve reexamination.

Our Future Population

Lee County has been one of the fastest growing places in the nation and, the current economy not withstanding, our growth will resume at some point. Current projections suggest that we will need to accommodate another half million people, or more, in the coming 20 years. This is one of the most compelling reasons to make this the place we want it to be rather than the place we are sorry it became.

For decades, Lee County's population had been getting younger. Suburban housing in Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres has been a perfect fit for young families, while mobile home and golf-course communities appealed to retirees. Lee County has an ample supply of these housing types but a serious shortage of neighborhoods for young adults and also for retirees, who according to market studies often prefer to live in denser communities with walkable destinations and amenities and access to transit. Now that Lee County's population is getter older again, today's laws and practices that provide obstacles to more diverse housing must be reformed.

Lee County Communities

Reconnecting Lee County implies a deep appreciation for the unique characteristics and the interests of people in each of Lee County's many communities. This mosaic makes Lee County an interesting place to live, work, and play --- a big reason why people choose to come here.

Some of our larger communities are listed below. Some are separate cities while others are governed by the Lee County Commission. Cities all have their own Comprehensive Plan and their own codes that govern land use and development. Reconnecting Lee County does not intend to focus on municipal policies; however, as we explore our target topics, we may suggest models from elsewhere that might be useful and suggest better ways for our diverse communities to work together to make a better Lee County.