SMIBEl PUBLIC island PO Week of April 26-May 2,2001 SANIBEL & CAPTIVA, FLORIDA VOLUME 28, NUMBER 17, 28 PAGES 75 CENTS PLANTING BEAUTY DELINQUENT Short-term ordinance TAX NOTICES sent to city council AT LEFT: Beginning next week, the By Pete Bishop the law clearer and easier to Helping to Island Reporter will pub- Staff writer enforce. celebrate lish the delinquent tax Recommended changes to the Earth Day, notices provided by the In front of another full house at current ordinance, which states Sanibel MacKenzie Hall Tuesday, the Beautification Lee County Tax that dwelling units outside the Committee Collector's Office. In Sanibel Planning Commission resort housing district cannot be leaders plant addition to publication in unanimously decided to recom- rented for less than four consecu- bushes and the Island Reporter, the mend that city council adopt flowers on Cape Coral Daily Breeze changes to the city's short-term t> See Ordinance one of the and the Lehigh Acres rental ordinance meant to make page 20 four corner Citizen, the notices will islands at the be available at numerous Causeway/ locations throughout Lee Lindgren/ County including all Ordinance tested at hearing Periwinkle offices of the Lee County intersection Tax Collector, special Saturday newspaper racks and all Properties in Paradise could face $14,000 fine morning. offices of the Breeze Corp. including Cape By Pete Bishop Territo will answer when he rules Staff writer on the City of Sanibel vs Properties Photo 1 Michael Coral, Lehigh Acres, Pistdla North Fort Myers, Fort in Paradise case. Myers Beach, Sanibel Is advertising offering rentals of Arguments by Sanibel City Island, Pine Island and less than a month proof of a viola- Gaspanlla Island. A full tion of the city's short term rental list of locations will laws? That's the question Lee , > See M appear in this newspaper County Hearing Examiner Sal page* 20 next week. Planning commission: Size matters By Pete Bishop she was "very disturbed by this ent-sized houses would be current land development code Eco-news Staff writer large house syndrome," Bogen allowed. Pfalzer's plan is based on regulations is needed "to ensure asked Sanibel Planning Director three island-wide zones that the stability of existing neighbor- Reports on the recent mana- In order to bring the issue to the Bruce Rogers to place discussion reflect existing development pat- tee hearing; CROW sea tur- hood characteristics." forefront before the Sanibel City of a resolution she had asked City terns as well as on ratios of lot size The resolution asks the city tle rehabilitation tanks to Council's May 7 goal-setting Attorney Doug Wyckoff to draw to living area and floor area. open soon; and Bill meeting, the planning commission up concerning the problem on the Pflazer was directed to report on council to direct planning staff to Hammond on the politics of on Tuesday quickly passed a reso- board's next agenda. the project May 8. immediately review the code water. regarding the "size and impact of —See pages 5-6 lution recommending council ini- "We need to get the city council Rogers said Tuesday, however, tiate a review of the city's land to pick up the baton," said Bogen, that work on the project has large homes on the island" and to development code pertaining to who noted that a councilmember stopped and the planning depart- prepare appropriate ordinances to the size of houses and consider or councilmembers will have to ment needs direction from the city help solve the problem. ordinances that might help slow sponsor the review in order to "get council before it can continue the After City Councilmember the trend toward progressively it moved forward." study. Judy Workman reminded the larger houses being built on the The commission discussed The resolution the planning New owners island. board the council has scheduled large houses during its Feb. 26 and commission passed Tuesday notes the May 7 budget and goal meet- Two new owners bring a Commission Chairperson March 13 meetings and asked that the trend toward building Mediterranean flair to the Phyllis Bogen introduced the Assistant Planning Director Ken large homes on the island is ing, the commission unanimously Gieenhouse Grill. topic, which was not on the Pflazer to continue to work on a "rapidly changing the character decided to pass the resolution board's agenda, toward the end of proposed preliminary zone map and landscape of existing neigh- Tuesday rather than discuss the —See page 7 Tuesday's meeting. Explaining indicating districts where differ- borhoods" and that a review of issue May 8. J. Peg on parrot's Peggy wants a cracker — J. Peg Webster looks out the Earth Day nets a ton of fun, a ton of trash window one morning, hatch- ing the latest search on the Web. By Anne Bellew one-dollar bills — "probably the Staff writer smallest donation ever made to the — See page 8 PCRP fund," Debbi Friedlund About 170 volunteers scoured laughingly commented. the islands for litter Saturday, Keep America Beautiful and Earth Day, during the annual the local Keep Lee County Great Island Pickup. Beautiful were important sponsois Sanibel-Captiva Conservation of this year's nationwide effort to • Environmental News page 5 Foundation staffer Richard Finkel pick up trash. and volunteers Sam Landry and Members of Sanibel • Business & Technology page 7 Tim Gardner ran the show on the Beautification Inc. weie out in two islands. By the end of the day, force on Earth Day landscaping the • Opinion . .page 9 about a ton of junk filled the 20-30 Periwinkle/Lindgren/Causeway cubic yard Dumpster in the corner Road intersection with the help of • Looking Back . page 10 of the SCCF parking lot. Southern Tradition Landscape Island Zontians were out bright Contracting. • Dateline .. page 13 and early in their signature'*ed T- Libby Evans, J.J. Schneider and shirts — so early they were done • TV listings . .page 19 by 8:45 a.m. Their "outstanding Michael Pistella > See Earth Day find" was Maggie Mullins' five Glenda and Rol Campbell work on the side of San-Cap 8 Classifieds . , page 24 Road Saturday morning during the Great Island Pick-up. page 2 2 • Week of April 26-May 2, 2001 • ISLAND REPORTER City biiefs full time to the remaining $35 million Planning Commission indicated it would Coy to speak worth of sewer improvements might probably not authorize five variances Private-use fireworks ensure that the project continues to DiCarlo needed to proceed with the pro- on island May 3 progress smoothly and economically, ject. ban in the works Lee County Commissioner Andy Coy according to Bernard Lubetkin, a commit- Noting that the large number of vari- At the city council's request, Sanibel will be the featured speaker at the tee member who prepared a report on the ances were submitted for a home that City Attorney Doug Wyckoff is working Sanibel-Captiva Republican Club's utility department. already lacks conforrnance with existing on a new city ordinance that will ban the monthly meeting next week. "I just felt that a project of this size cer- regulations, commissioners stated that private use of fire- The meeting will be held at the Sanibel tainly needs a full-time person," Lubetkin DiCarlo had not yet demonstrated that works on the island. Library, 770 Dunlop Road, 7 p.m. said, "freeing up John for operating the current regulations represent an undue While considering Thursday, May 3. entire department as well as the plant." hardship or that his current plans repre- whether to support a The committee also decided April 19 to sent the minimum amount of nonconfor- county ordinance Budget committee to recommend the council defer hiring more mance possible. banning fireworks planning department staff until the depart- DiCarlo and his representatives argued and open fires during recommend changes ment conducts a thorough resource allo- that building the needed addition will help drought conditions The Sanibel Five-year Budget cation study; the council not hire four the house blend in with his Sanibel during its April 17 Projection Review Committee indicated additional police officeis; and that the Harbours neighborhood and is a better meeting, city council April 20 it will recommend the city coun- council consider modest increases in per- option than demolishing the existing members were told cil consider hiring a full-time project sonnel at the city recreation center and structure and building a larger home from that fireworks are not manager to oversee all the remaining senior center. the ground up. currently specifically wastewater construction projects planned At DiCarlo's request, the commission regulated in the in the expansion of the Sanibel sewer sys- Second story addition agreed to continue a public hearing on the Sanibel code. In the past, the use of fire- tem. possible addition at its May 22 meeting. works on the island has been controlled In the meantime, DiCarlo, his architect through a noise ordinance, according to Although committee members to get second look Wyckoff. expressed confidence in the work of Daniel DiCarlo's plans to build a sec- and his builder have until May 15 to sub- Utilities Director John Hefty up to this ond-story addition to his home on Isabel mit new plans to the planning department. point, a professional who could devote Drive hit a snag when the Sanibel EARTH DAY From page 1 Suzanne Weinheimer, all Sanibel resi- was closed to motorized traffic from 1:30- dents, got, as Libby put it, "an object les- 3:30 p.m. The refuge/city/SCCF partner- son in what happens when people throw ship had booths and demonstrations set up cigarette butts out the window" along on the north side of the road — Lou Hinds, Causeway Road.