Planning agency recommends text change to allow golf‑course amenity within Kingston MPD

The Lee County Local Planning Agency on Feb. 23 voted unanimously to recommend transmittal of CPA2025‑0012, a privately initiated text amendment to Goal 13 that would exempt the court‑ordered Kingston mixed‑use plan development from certain chapter‑13 private‑recreational plan development requirements so a golf course and ancillary uses can be treated as an MPD amenity.

Applicant Stacy Hewitt (RBI Planning & Landscape Architecture) said the amendment reconciles an inconsistency between chapter 13 and the Kingston settlement agreement (case no. 22CA002743) and does not change the MPD’s environmental or restoration obligations. She told the panel that all MPD conditions — including a required hydrological restoration plan, surface‑water monitoring, a lake‑management plan, reductions in aquifer withdrawal and nutrient loading, and the dedication of 3,287 acres of restored or preserved lands — remain in place.

Principal planner Kate Burgess and staff recommended transmittal and said the amendment applies only to Kingston and does not change allowed uses in the MPD. In response to a question about precedent, staff said the proposed text amendment explicitly references the Kingston settlement agreement and is not meant to change other MPDs’ requirements.

LPA members praised the application’s technical analysis and moved to recommend transmittal. The motion passed by voice vote.

The transmittal will send the amendment to the Board of County Commissioners for formal consideration and public hearings.

All quotes in this article are drawn from the Feb. 23 LPA hearing.