Fort Myers Beach residents are fighting to stop a new development from coming to their island.
Seagate developers are working on plans to create one of the tallest buildings ever built on the beach.
Seagate could be the gateway for new development on the beach, but that is exactly what people living on the island are worried about.
“We don't want to be a mini Miami or even a Marco Island, where it's just a sea of concrete going all the way down,” resident Gili Acajale said.
Seagate is proposing two 17-story buildings, four bay homes, a restaurant, a park, and a pedestrian overpass. All to be built where the old Red Coconut RV park used to be.
“The current highest building on Fort Myers Beach is 184ft at Ocean Harbor, next to Publix,” resident Cassius Upton said. “That was created before we became a town. We have this incredible comp plan that tells us what we can and can't do, and they want to go above that.”
Residents are not just worried about the height of the buildings. They are also worried about density because traffic is already bad enough.
“You're just going to bring in more construction, more traffic, and it's going to get to a point where people don't want to come here anymore because they're going to spend their whole day going three miles,” Upton said.
These residents said they want the council to stand up to the developer so others do not follow suit.
“I think a lot of them are waiting to see how compliant the council is, and if the council is going to grant these big projects, then they're going to make their plans also larger projects, and then you start getting do we double the density in the entire island,” former councilman Bill Veach said.
For now, the council is set to iron out details with Seagate at the next public hearing in two weeks.