by SC Reporter Emilie Alfino
On May 21, the Sanibel City Council heard an appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval to revise an approved preliminary plat to amend the allocated impermeable coverage for lots in a residential housing development known as the Coastal Creek subdivision.
The Planning Commission approved this Resolution in 2023 with 24 strict conditions attached, and again in March 2026 with the same conditions attached.
The appellant is asking City Council not to allow full-lot coverage of 5,000 square feet on so-called sensitive lots, ignoring the “strict scrutiny required by the Sanibel Plan and the Land Development Code.”
The appellant Gayle Dendinger resides upon or owns property within Sanibel on Heron’s Lake, which is owned jointly by the City of Sanibel and nine homeowners living on Osprey Court in Heron’s Landing. Dendinger appeared at the hearings and invoked previous hearing testimony given in opposition to the subdivision development.
The site is adjacent to Heron’s Lake, one of Sanibel’s top five polluted lakes. It was proposed to build six homes with pools on top of land that contained a decommissioned private wastewater plant. The City of Sanibel decommissioned the private Sanibel Bayous plant in 2008 after sewage leaching from the plant forced the closure of Bowman’s Beach in 2007.
Heron’s Lake is the subject of a “Lake Agreement” to which the city and the lake homeowners (including the appellant in this case) are committed signatories. The lake agreement’s purpose to achieve ongoing nutrient reduction is handicapped by the Coastal Creek Project, the appellant claims, despite overtures for collaboration, and hampered by the continued migration of nutrients and contaminants from the Coastal Creek property into the ecologically degraded and vulnerable lake.
Further, the appellant claims this site also continues to leach nutrients (i.e., phosphorus and nitrogen) and other suspected contaminants through the groundwater from the subject site into Heron’s Landing Lake. The failing lake health and resulting harmful algae blooms are responsible for an array of nuisances, including odors and toxins that, along with PFAS, have real adverse impacts on human and environmental health. PFAS – which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are a group of thousands of man-made “forever chemicals” used since the 1940s for their water, grease, and stain-resistant properties. They do not break down easily in the environment or human body, leading to widespread contamination. Exposure is linked to health issues like cancer and immune system effects.
“By granting maximum impervious coverage on a site known to harbor persistent chemical contaminants, the City is not simply adjusting numbers; it is actively diminishing the island’s natural capacity to mitigate flood risk and contain legacy pollution,” appellant’s brief stated via her representative Attorney Ralf Brookes. “The evidence of PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ and nutrient leaching into Heron’s Landing Lake proves that the subject property remains a functional public nuisance that has yet to be properly remediated.
“To allow full-lot coverage of 5,000 square feet on these sensitive lots ignores the strict scrutiny required by the Sanibel Plan and the Land Development Code. Such a departure from established density and design standards creates an irreversible ‘parking lot aesthetic’ that is incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood and ecologically dangerous to the shared waters of the Heron’s Landing community,” appellant’s brief continued.
The appellant requested that the City Council deny the requested revision of the preliminary plat, mandate comprehensive environmental delineation and remediation of the legacy PFAS contaminants prior to any further development activity on the Coastal Creek site, and consider purchasing and restoring the site to natural conditions.
City Staff found that:
· The revision to the table maintains compliance with the maximum developed area and coverage with impermeable surfaces per ecological zone.
· No changes are proposed to the approved subdivision layout, lot configuration, tract boundaries, tract sizes, or overall site design; the revision is limited solely to correcting the tabulated development and impermeable area allocations.
· Staff finds the proposed revision is within the limitations established by the land development code and has no objection to the revised table.
· All 24 conditions of the preliminary plat approval found in the Planning Commission Resolution and upheld by City Council remain in full force and effect.
In an appeal, as advised by City Attorney John Agnew, Council cannot consider new facts, arguments, or evidence; it may only determine whether the Planning Commission properly administered the Code. Council’s options are to uphold the Commission’s resolution, remand it back to the Planning Commission to be reconsidered, or to deny the appeal.
Planning Director Paula McMichael noted that the Planning Commission unanimously approved the applications.
“No law is being broken,” said Council member Holly Smith.
Council voted 4-1 (Council member Laura DeBruce opposed) to uphold the Planning Commission’s decision.
“The plat is approved,” said Agnew. “They have the right to build.”
A second vote was taken and passed unanimously to begin evaluating whether there is an unknown hazard at the lake. Smith said the Federal Government is looking at that, to which DeBruce replied, “We’re Sanibel Island. We don’t wait for the Federal Government on environmental issues. We are the leaders.”
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