by SC Reporter Emilie Alfino
An application on behalf of property owners Tyler and Jennifer Diciola, 526 North Yachtsman Dr., to allow the installation of a boat lift 23 feet waterward of the mangrove root line, instead of 15 feet, within 33 percent of the width of the canal and maintaining a 25-foot-wide navigable channel.
A literal enforcement of the maximum waterward extension standard in the Sanibel Code would result in undue and unnecessary hardship due to the mangrove shoreline and variable canal width, the Planning Department determined.
Even so, the Planning Department recommended denying the variance request because it did not meet three of the seven Code requirements. Planning said the applicant needs to provide additional information explaining why the dock cannot be moved farther landward.
One requirement the applicant has not met, according to the Planning Department’s report, is that the variance granted is the minimum necessary to mitigate the hardship demonstrated.
Much discussion followed about whether and how to measure the water under the dock. Commissioners said they cannot really judge “minimum necessary” without the measurement of the water under the dock.
The application did not include a water-depth survey, and the Planning Commissioners did not receive one at their September 28, 2026, meeting. City Attorney John Agnew told the applicant they could provide that information with a marine survey or measure it themselves; it was their choice. Agnew told them the information must be “consistent, substantial evidence, something a reasonable person would accept.”
Planning Commissioners voted unanimously to continue the hearing to its September 22 meeting and, if the information still isn’t available, to reschedule.
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