by SC Reporter Emilie Alfino

Sanibel City Council held a special meeting on April 17 to hear first readings of four pieces of proposed legislation. The purpose was to speed up the process for approval of these code changes. Normally, when a proposed change goes to City Council, they first have discussion. Then it goes to first reading at the next regular meeting one month later. After that, it goes to second reading and public hearing at the next regular meeting one additional month away. Hearing the first readings at the special meeting on April 17 will considerably shorten that time frame.

The second reading and public hearings on all these matters are scheduled for May 6, the next regular City Council meeting.

The proposed ordinances amending the code are:

• Placement of Fill

• Height Limitation Exception

• Conditional Uses

• Below-Market-Rate Housing Density Increase

First readings are not public hearings and no discussion or testimony is taken unless the ordinance changes permitted conditional or prohibited uses as required by State Statute.

Council Hears Draft Budget in Workshop

Following the special meeting was a Capital Improvement Projects Budget Workshop. Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer Steve Chaipel presented the draft budget, with directors of the city departments explaining their portions of the draft.

In prior years, the City Council has expressed a desire to have the draft capital improvement plan developed and discussed earlier in the overall budget process. As such, this budget workshop focused on the draft fiscal year 2026-2030 capital improvement plan.

The City adopts a one-year budget annually (Fiscal Year 2026). Additional years are provided as supplemental information and are subject to appropriation in future years.

The FY 2026 capital improvement plan requests total $84.2 million. As in the prior year, the most significant part of the capital plan request for fiscal year 2026 relates to recovery projects from Hurricane Ian. The draft request for FY 2026 is $30.4 million and is based on permanent work projects that are currently in development with FEMA and the State of Florida.

The plan can be viewed in its entirety here.

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