Read the Comprehensive Plan

The tension between new development and maintaining Marco Island’s quality of life has surfaced again, most recently with proposed high-density, mixed-use development of Old Marco’s 16-acre mobile home plot near Snook’s. Facebook and Nextdoor host active debates about the proposal, which will reach the Planning Board in the coming weeks. Missing from discussions, though, is a critically important guideline: Marco Island’s Comprehensive Plan.

The Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2021, sets forth the community’s goals – defined through intensive community input and adopted by our local government, to guide development and policy for the island. The goals include: (1) Livable Small Town Community; (2) Community Character; (3) Future Land Use Map; (4) Growth Management and Redevelopment; (5) General Development Standards; (6) Coastal Development Standards; (7) and Public Participation. The language in each section reflects community standards. For example, General Development Standards provides that “Future development and redevelopment is timed with the availability of infrastructure, protects and, where possible enhances natural resources, and results in an aesthetically pleasing built environment.” Goal 4, Growth Management, also speaks about new development with the provision for infrastructure “while protecting the city’s small town charm, established residential neighborhoods, natural resources and property values.” (Emphasis added)

To my reading, Marco Island’s Comprehensive plan seeks to protect what we have, not dramatically add to density or provide development bonanzas. I urge members of our Planning Board and the public to read the Comprehensive Plan and rely upon it for guidance.