When Linda Stewart, a planner and project manager with David Douglas Associates Inc. of Fort Myers, came before the Lehigh Acres Community Planning Council (LACPP) asking for a rezoning of a piece of property in Lehigh at the southwest corner of the intersection of Lee Blvd. and Lee St., members of the 13-member board spent more than an hour and a half telling her the things they didn’t like that was shown in two aerial exhibit site plans.

While objecting to several features, the project will come back before the LACPP before going to the Hearing Examiner. The site plan shows either two buildings on the two combined to make an L-shaped building.

Some on the board wanted the buildings moved to the front of the property backing up to Lee Blvd. Stewart said the county told her the buildings should not be located in that fashion. However, the Lehigh Acres Plan calls for retail buildings to be backed up the street with parking in the rear section of the lot.

Stewart said the fire department had okayed the plan and while it was currently zoned residential, the request was to change the zoning to Commercial Planned Development (CPD). Stewart, representing an engineering and land planning firm, said the owners of the property were seeking to have it rezoned so a two-story retail building with offices on the second floor, and a convenience store might be developed on the 2.75-acre parcel.

“We don’t want a fast food restaurant in there,” said Tami Baker, a member of the LACPP. Another member said the buildings should be closer to Lee Blvd. Steward said the county would not allow the buildings to be backed up to Lee Blvd.

Others cited traffic problems with motorists who want to turn left on Lee Blvd. after leaving the commercial site.

Even though the request was for rezoning only, the LACPP decided to pass the request, but with restrictions.

Among those restrictions were no consumption on the premises, no convenience food and beverage store, no model unit and display center and no package goods store.

“I don’t know how to start this war (with the county), said Ed Weiner, the LACPP’s chairman. Someone on the board said the county will do what it wants to do with it anyway.

So the motion to rezone the 2.75-acre parcel was passed, but not with a happy board of directors on the LACPP.

“We want Lee County to understand what we want here,” said Tami Backer, a LACPP member.

Finally after much time had been spent by the LACPP telling Stewart what they didn’t want on the parcel, the board voted unanimously to move forward and agree to rezone the property.

Following the discussion about the rezoning issue, the board voted to accept Carol Cherigo of Lehigh Acres to become a member. She has attended several meetings in the past and said she loved Lehigh and wanted to be a part of seeing it change for the better.

She said she and her husband were former New York residents and are both retired managers of the U.S. Postal Service.

“I have seen the area and its hopes of becoming a growing and vibrant community gradually diminish. I decided that I would try to find ways to hopefully make a difference in the community.

“I knew that my husband and I were not the only transplants into Lehigh even though it sometimes felt that way. The culture shock of leaving a mega-metropolis like New York City and adjusting to the extreme tranquility of Lehigh Acres has been to me a person victory. I see possibilities and potential for Lehigh to be beautiful and thrive,” she said.

During the meeting comments were made by Chairman Edd Weiner concerning the building of two new dollar stores in Lehigh. The latest is on the corner of Joel Blvd. and David Ave.

“Just what we need in Lehigh are 10 dollar stores,” he said. Neither of the two under construction now were ever brought up before the LACPP. All the owners had to do was to advertise and meet with a group and take minutes and turn those in to county officials. Nobody recalled seeing any information or advertising for the two Family Dollar stores now under construction.

Finally the issue of how to remove a member on the LACPP board came up. The present bylaws state that any director may be removed from office upon a vote of not less than two-thirds of the directors in attendance at a meeting, provided notice of such proposed action has been furnished in writing to all members of the board at least 10 days prior to the meeting.

Grounds to be removed include malfeasance, misfeasance, nonfeasance, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties and the conviction of a felony.

Baker suggested adding misconduct. It was also discussed that if members are absence without excuses for a large period of time, they should be removed, to which Frank LaRosa, the first and only member of the board to have been voted to the board several years ago by the public, objected.

“I won’t accept that,” LaRosa said. That issue died but the board did vote to add misconduct as another reason to remove someone from the board. The vote was 7 for and 3 against.

Also during the meeting, Kevin Polie agreed to become the group’s secretary, replacing Jacqui Hill, who has been recording minutes of the meetings for some time.

The meetings are held in the Bravo Station’s Sheriff’s Annex on Homestead Rd. and are usually held the second Wednesday night each month beginning at 6:30 p.m. It has become the unofficial agency to which developers, planners and builders come to get approval to develop in Lehigh.

CAPTIONS for photos at right:

Seeking rezoning: Linda Stewart shows a site plan for a commercial location on Lee Blvd and Lee Street, which must be rezoned for a business development. MEL TOADVINE

Site Plan: This is an aerial site plan of the 2.75-acre parcel which needs to be rezoned by the county from residential to commercial. Members of the LACPP okayed the zoning, but objected to the development plans.

Carol Cherigo is a new member of the LACPP