This page provides information about a major update to the Fort Myers Comprehensive Plan -- amendments to the Transportation Element and Concurrency Management System Element to reflect recent and ongoing planning affecting transportation in Fort Myers.

BACKGROUND:  The previous Transportation Element had been adopted in 2007 as part of a complete overhaul of the entire Comprehensive Plan. Since 2007, the only amendment to the Transportation Element reflected the City’s support for expanding uses of the CSX/Seminole Gulf rail corridor to enhance freight service, add trails and paths, and allow public transit such as commuter rail, light rail, or bus rapid transit; that amendment took effect in June 2017.

The City of Fort Myers then authorized Spikowski Planning Associates to prepare updates to the remainder of the Transportation Element and to relevant provisions in the Concurrency Management System Element to incorporate findings and recommendations of numerous other planning studies and activities, including:

• Traffic calming and roundabout studies

• Bicycle, pedestrian, and sidewalk plans

• Downtown mobility plan and parking studies

• Redevelopment planning for the Dr. Martin Luther King corridor, East Fort Myers, Cleveland Avenue, and Midtown

• Metropolitan Planning Organization's 2040 Transportation Plan

• Complete Streets policies and guidelines

These updates also include changes required by amendments to state planning statutes in 2011 and 2013.

The relevant planning studies and statutory changes are described HERE, with specific references to changes to the Transportation Element. Objectives, policies, actions, standards, and maps that are being modified are listed; those that are completely new are underlined and those being deleted are struck through. Changes to the Concurrency Management System Element are also identified.

All source documents can be downloaded from the links below.

Fort Myers Ordinance No. 3850 was approved on November 18, 2019, to formally adopt these amendments. 

Codified elements of the Comprehensive Plan are available from the Fort Myers website.

01 - City-Wide Traffic Calming; prepared by McMahon Associates in 2003

02 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. & Veronica S. Shoemaker Boulevards Revitalization Plan; prepared by Dover, Kohl & Partners in 2006

03 - Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan; prepared by Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, Inc. in 2007

04 - Sidewalks in Fort Myers; prepared by Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, Inc. in 2007

05 - Downtown Parking Needs Capacity Study; prepared by Walker Parking Consultants in 2006--2008

06 - East Fort Myers Revitalization & Redevelopment Plan; prepared by Dover, Kohl & Partners in 2010

07 - Florida-Statutes-163.3180(1)-(5); through 2017

08 - Downtown Fort Myers Mobility Plan; prepared by David Plummer & Associates in 2013

09 - Lee County Rail Corridor Feasibility Study; prepared by David Plummer & Associates in 2013

10 - City of Fort Myers Parking Review; prepared by David Plummer & Associates in 2015

11 - Cleveland Avenue Redevelopment Plan; prepared by EDAW | AECOM in 2010—2014

12 - Downtown and Midtown Surplus Density Program; transportation recommendations prepared by Johnson Engineering in December2016

13 - Lee County MPO Roundabout Study; prepared by David Plummer & Associates in 2017

14 - Complete Street Policy in Resolution 2011-36 (Fort Myers, 2011)        

15 - Complete Streets Policy (Fort Myers, draft update 2017) ·      

16 - Complete Streets Guidelines (Fort Myers, draft 2016)

17 - Complete Streets Implementation Plan (FDOT, 2015)    

18 - Complete Streets Handbook (FDOT, draft 2017)

19 - Context Classification (FDOT, draft 2017)

20 - Best Complete Streets Policies of 2016 (Smart Growth America, 2017)

21 - Lee County MPO 2040 Transportation Plan; adopted in December 2015