San Carlos Boulevard was the thoroughfare for potential redevelopment projects in 2016.
With two major projects in limbo and an anticipated boulevard traffic study to be released soon, it seems that redevelopment will continue to be a hot topic of conversation.
But Lee County Commissioner Larry Kiker believes the kind of conversation might change.
“What I’ve said all along, is there is a cumulative affect on everything going on and we have to find a way to measure that and make better decisions for the future,” he said.
It was one of the main planks in his campaign platform for reelection in November: figuring out how to look at development in an area as a whole, rather than going project by project.
“The best example is Corkscrew Road,” he said. “There are two or three really big developments there, and singularly they all qualify, but cumulatively – it’s a two lane road.”
Funding has been allocated to develop such a measurement for that area: Kiker directed staff in the fall to develop a study for Corkscrew Road in Estero to quantify the effect of the multiple developments that are “in the pipeline” at the county, going through the development review process.
With that blueprint in hand, Kiker said he thinks San Carlos Island will be a perfect place to test out the study.
But timing is the question: there are already developments in the works that will affect the small island, Fort Myers Beach, and the surrounding areas if approved.
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