Sanibel City Council OKs connectivity ordinance

 Kudos to the City Council for approving an ordinance on June 17th which establishes inter-connectivity and intra-connectivity interpretive guidelines for the city's shared use path system.  Thanks to City Manager Judie Zimomra for leading the effort to develop the guidelines, and to the Sanibel Bicycle Club for their participation in this year-long effort. These guidelines can serve as a model for other Lee County communities.

 Over the past year, Sanibel City government has been working on an ordinance, which amends the existing Land Development Code (LDC) to improve connectivity between the path system and businesses throughout the island.  Click below to see the ordinance, guidelines and related documents:

1. Ord 14-001, 2. PowerPoint Presentation, 3. Current Proposed guidelines dated March 11, 2014, 4. Interconnectivity PowerPoint Presentation 061714

New connection between path system and Billy's bike rental at Bailey Center

The guidelines lay out seven primary goals (see Island Sun 6/20/14 article for more details about the 6/17 Council discussion):

to remain consistent with the goals, objectives and policies of the Sanibel Plan; to build upon the success of the shared use path system; to ensure pedestrian, bicyclist and motorist safety by providing unobstructed sight lines at points of ingress and egress;  to mitigate vehicular traffic volumes by continuing to promote walking and bicycling; to improve safety by eliminating conflict points between automobiles and pedestrians and bicyclists; to enhance pedestrian and bicyclist access to properties within the commercial district; to encourage opportunities for shared parking, thus reducing the need for large parking lots.

As a Sanibel resident, I'm proud to see Sanibel leading the way on improving connectivity and safety for cyclists and pedestrians.  There have been several pilot projects demonstrating this approach over the past year and residents and businesses both responded favorably.  We'll keep you posted on more examples as the policy is implemented on an island-wide basis.

Report by Darla Letourneau