WEEK OF AUGUST 9, 2023 FLIER INSIDE
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VOLUME 47, NUMBER 14
Lee County building height and resiliency plan discussed at GPICA’s August meeting By PAULETTE LeBLANC
pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com
The main topic of the Greater Pine Island Civic Association meeting Aug. 1 was a discussion with Lee County Commissioner Kevin Ruane on building heights, as well as a presentation from Lee County Zoning Section Manager of Community Development Anthony Rodriguez. Deb Swisher-Hicks opened the monthly meeting of the Greater Pine Island Civic Association on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, by reading from the Greater Pine Island Community Plan, written in 2001. In June, Rodriguez said his staff was directed by the Lee County Board of County Commissioners to make an
“Depending upon where you are in Lee County, how our staff measures building height can differ. Captiva has one specific set of regulations, Pine Island has another, San Carlos Island has another and then the rest of unincorporated Lee County has other regulations.” — Lee County Zoning Section Manager of Community Development Anthony Rodriguez effort to reach out to the public with a package of land development code amendments, specific to Pine Island. “This is part of a series of meetings, that we are cur-
rently conducting, over the summer, and the intent is to bring these amendments back to the Board of County Commissioners for consideration for adoption on Sept. 5th,” Rodriguez said. Currently, no building or structure may be erected or altered so that the peak of the roof exceeds 38 feet above the average grade of the lot in question, or 45 feet above mean sea level, with the lower of the two governing, he explained. There are additional provisions related to the exemption of minimum required flood elevation in exchange for the average grade of the lot in question, and also provisions for preventing exceedances height in See GPICA, page 20
Donalds responds to state’s changes in Black history instruction standards By NATHAN MAYBERG
nmayberg@breezenewspapers.com
Disabled island veteran Breaux needs a few helping hands By PAULETTE LeBLANC
pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com
Islander Eugene Breaux, a Vietnam Navy veteran and president and founder of the Greater Pine Island Fishing Warriors (an organization dedicated to wounded and disabled veterans), finds himself in need of help. Since Hurricane Ian destroyed his manufactured home on Pine Island, he has been trying to find help any place he can. “After the hurricane, I stayed with a friend for two weeks and when I got to the island, I went to my house and it was a total disaster. Everything looked like it had been in a washing machine,” Breaux said. The VA had given him an emergency supply kit,
containing items such as a small nylon tent, sleeping bag, food and toiletries. He’d kept this survival kit on hand for any homeless veterans who came his way in need, however, Breaux ended up needing it himself. “I pulled out that kit and I set up that little survival tent and the sleeping bag and that’s what I was living in for about two weeks. The wind and storms came and ripped the tent up and it was destroyed,” Breaux said. See HELPING HANDS, page 21 Above is some of the mess islander Eugene Breaux found outside his home after Ian.
Florida Congressman Byron Donalds, R-19, weighed in on the state’s controversial new Black history teaching standards, giving them an overall thumbs up with one caveat. He called them “good, robust and accurate. That being said, the attempt to feature the personal benefits of slavery is wrong and needs to be adjusted.” In a post on Twitter X, the Naples Republican who is the GOP’s lone Black congressman representing Florida, also said that the attempts to feature the personal benefits of slavery “obviously wasn’t the goal and I have faith that FLDOE (Florida Department Rep. Byron of Education) will correct this.” Donalds Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz responded to Donalds the same day on Twitter by saying, “The federal government won’t dictate Florida’s education standards. This new curriculum is based on truth. We will not back down from teaching our nation’s true history at the behest of a woke White House, nor at the behest of a supposedly conservative congressman.” Donalds’ district covers Fort Myers Beach and most of Lee County. Last week, the Florida Board of Education approved a revision of the state’s Black history curriculum for Social Studies classes which was meant to satisfy the requirements of the Stop W.O.K.E. Act approved by the Florida state legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year. The new standards include instruction that enslaved people benefited from skills that they learned. The issue
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY EUGENE BREAUX
See DONALDS, page 18
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Island Mahjongg.............12
Local Tides......................20