Islanders Fill Community House for Candidates' Forum
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THE ISLAND'S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD Islanders fill Community House for Candidates' Forum By Renny Severance but with the next four years. [email protected] He said he plans to work witli council members Jenny Burnharn to meet the needs and expectations of all Sanibei [email protected] citizens, adding "we are so lucky to have found this wonderful island," Amy Fleming Miltary service, said Laswell. taught him that [email protected] "we must depend upon each other if we are to suc- Laura Nickerson ceed in life." He matched his educational qualifi- [email protected] cations and work experience, especially in law, to the knowledge that city council members must It was a full house of" more than 350 at the have to perform their roles competently. Sanibel Community Association for the "Sanibelians deserve a good government," said Candidates" Forum on Tuesday night. There Laswell, praising City Manager Judie Zimomra were even people standing in the aisles to hear and the city employees who obtained grants and what the seven candidates for city council had funding for cleaning up the island while making to say about themselves, their campaigns and sure the routine activities of city government went their ideals. on as usual. The forum was sponsored by the Island "You want, need and deserve an equally com- Reporter, the Sanibel & Captiva Islands petent group of individuals on city council." said Chamber of Commerce and the Sanibe! Laswell. "All you need to get that is to trust me Community Association. The moderator for with one of your votes." the discussion was Douglas Landau, Ph.D., an Photo by Renny Severance He added with a smile. "Just one. Those of you associate professor of executive leadership and Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Steve Greenstein welcomes from Chicago, you know what to do." management at the Naples campus of" islanders to the forum, (l-r) Seated are candidates Bob Laswell, Eric International College. Pfeifer, Mick Denham, Carla Johnston, Douglas Landau (moderator), Larry Eric Pfeifer The candidates were each given three min- Thompson, Marty Harrity and Curt Stendahl (sitting in for Tom Rothman). Pfeifer offered his services to fellow islanders, utes to make their opening statements. The saying "Sanibel is the best place to live and work moderator then asked a series of three ques- The moderator also explained that he had established 1 know of." He encouraged islanders not to let tions and each question was answered by each candidate in the candidates' order of speaking based on the order of problems over taxes, tolls, and budgets separate them. a rotating order. their replies by U.S. mail. Rather, all should work together to restore the city's rela- Dr. Landau explained at the outset that he derived the tionship with Lee County. questions from those which the candidates had been asked Opening Statements He went on to talk about the sensitivity of Sanibe! as a to send to him earlier. The participanLs had each been barrier island and stated that he would always uphold tl'f asked to provide two questions: first, "what question Bob Laswell Lk, .ii ' : a.. : 'Jv L...--1 IV\ ".• "men. <" >•'• . would you like to be asked;" and second, "what question Laswell introduced himself as "the independent" can- ''Because our Land Development Code was \\iiUcii - would you like to be asked of all the candidates." didate, stating that his concern was not with the referenda. years ago, questions arise regarding property ownership rights, non-conforming structures and build-back. sh-.;ur: we experience a disa>ter," Pfeifer said. He added that ii., would find a balance which protects all property owner- Council delays EAR review Council sets BMRH target ship rights in confonnance with the Sanibel Plan. Pfeifer said he read the Peoples Choice Amendments By KEVIN DUFFY By KEVIN DUFFY as well as the Realtors" proposed build-back ordinance, [email protected] [email protected] "Both were written with good intentions," he said, "but both are flawed." Ongoing discussion of the Evaluation and Appraisal Sanibel City Council established a benchmark for the He continued that the planning department and all of Report of the Sanibel Plan was cut-short this week when a percentage of affordable housing on the island during dis- the people of Sanibel should be consulted before putting councilmember expressed concern that the board was doing cussion of the Evaluation and Appraisal Report of the the issue to a vote. more politicking than analysis. Sanibel Plan this week. Stressing the importance of settling the lawsuit with Councilman Steve Brown said he found the discussion Heeding the advice of Jan Hyatt, executive director of the county, Pfeifer also pointed out that Lee County needs relating to buildback density and the allowable height of Community Housing Resource, council voted 3-2 to set a Sanibel's beaches, property taxes and bed taxes, just as buildings on the island "repugnant'* because they are direct- target of 3 percent of Sanibel households rather than an Sanibel needs the county. He pointed to the recent 30 per- ly tied to referenda items that will appear on the March 1 allowable range of 2.2 to 3 percent during the public hear- cent increase in the millage rate and said that he had met election ballot. He therefore initially moved to continue the ing Tuesday. Councilman Jim Jennings and Vice Mayor with each of the county commissioners and. "they do matter to a special meeting. When the motion passed 3-2 Dick Walsh voted no. want to help." He added, "We don't have an adversaria! with councilmembers Dick Walsh and Judy Workman vot- Hyatt said that with 104 affordable housing units out of relationship — just an adversarial issue." ing no, council heeded the advice of City Attorney Ken 3.500 island-wide targeted now and 40 more in the plans for He concluded his opening statement with high praise Cuyler and scheduled the discussion for the next public the next 20 year.-,, the city will be in good shape with the for City Manager Judie Zimomra and the work she has hearing of Tuesday. March 1. The topic will be broached state in making housing available to all income brackets. done for the city. beginning at 10:30 a.m. "I think it's a reasonable goal." she said. "The need for Brown directed his criticism at Walsh, whose five affordable housing will not diminish." Carla Johnston amendments relating to density, heights of buildings, The state, she continued, had previously targeted 800 Johnston opened her remarks by recalling an important amounts of impermeable surface coverage, road improve- such units for Sanibel. lesson from when she was only 13 and lost her mother. ments and terms of planning commission members will Hyatt also said that Sanibel would be "clearly safer" Advancing her education through a contest sponsored by appear on the ballot. establishing a single goal rather than a range because the lat- the American Legion, she wrote a winning essay irons "I'm not going to take part in politicizing," he said before ter would attract scrutiny from the state. Walsh disagreed. personal experience describing how very different sorts of making the motion for a continuance. "Other candidates "Much better to have a range than setting a flat number," people with different backgrounds could come together to don't have the ability to campaign like this." he said. "Every day the available land shrinks." fulfill their dreams and improve their lives. After earning her college degree, her graduate studies See EAR See BMRH took her to other communities and ultimately to Boston, a page 3 page 3 marriage and two children. There she worked with various local government agencies involving zoning as well as transportation. At the Metropolitan Boston Transportation 1 Agency, she worked with others on a $300 million annual * 'JVC 3)^. ; budget. In the process, she discovered that "when people • LETTFRS page 6 Sanybel Before A ferry in the Mick Denham ad care, it makes a difference." She also developed consider- the Causeway future? able skills working with diverse elements of the communi- • OPINION' page 4 Last week our typeset- ting of Mr. Denham's ad See FORUM • DATELINt page 19 A presentation of Sanibel Sanibel City Council starts for the City Council race page 16 was incorrect. • POLICL BFAT page 21 life before the causeway up discussions. by Charles LeBuff. The second check • TV LISTINGS page 22 mark under his photo CORRECTION should have read "Vote In last week's edition we mis-identified the chair- • OBITUARY page 22 YES to keep low density". person of the Mardi Gras Parade at Periwinkle Park. • SPORTS page 24 — See page 15 - See page 3 We apologize for the Dr. Harvey Kiley was the chairperson. error. Also, the correct spelling of the owners of • CLASSIFIEDS page 27 Periwinkle Park are Dick and Jerry Muench. 2 • Week of February 17-23, 2005 • ISLAND REPORTER .•» *•" ;••. -' f . t I I I II I Bonita Springs Interiors Fort Myers Casual Living • Outdoor Fort Myers Interiors 3181 North Bay Village Road • Across from Bonita Bay • (239) 949-3001 14380 South Tamiami Trail • (239) 415-0800 13170 South Cleveland Avenue • (239) 936-8541 Showroom Hours • Mon thru Sat 10am-6pm • Sun Noon-5pm • Or by Special Appointment FREE Delivery to 28 Florida C™i"'**'"• • Low Price Guarantee • Financing Available • Professional Interior Design • www.RobhStucky.com months same as cash with your Robb & Stucky card. See store for complete details. ISLAND REPORTER u Week of February 17-23, 2005 .j 3 recommendation then Hyatt, and urged her fellow councilmembers to vole accordingly. A ferry in Sanibel's future? "Go with 3 percent and move on," she BMRH said.