Pelican Landing Timeshare Ventures was to come in front of the hearing examiner for Lee County this morning at 9 AM in order to discuss its zoning.  This was done in order to change direction after part of Pelican's property spanning 204 acres was taken over by bald eagles; an endangered species.

Due to the inability of an expert witness to attend the hearing, representatives for Pelican Landing requested a reprieve which was granted.  The new date for the hearing has been set to Wednesday July 11, 2007 at nine o'clock in the morning.

Initially, this was not going to be a problem as Pelican had been in possession of a 12 year old zoning approval that authorized them to construct a timeshare resort that would span 14 different buildings that were three stories in height.  In total, 362 units would be constructed over these 14 buildings.  That plan fell to the wayside however as the bald eagles came to settle in a tree on the Pelican property in the fall of 2006.

The eagles moved from a preserve that is located nearby and in order to accommodate the eagles' presence, the developer is now seeking to finish the buildings in nearby adjacent property.  The new plan is to change the number of buildings to 10 (a reduction of four buildings total) but double the number of stories constructed in seven of the remaining buildings.  This would allow them to keep the number of 362 units constant.  Three of the three floor buildings have already been built, so the floor increase would only apply to the remaining buildings.

At the moment, it looks like the County is going to approve the request, but will attach conditions to the approval.  The first condition is that if Pelican wishes to develop within 500 meters of an active nest of eagles, they need to have a management plan in writing that accommodates the bald eagles.  Additionally, eagle nest locations must appear on development blueprints and plans, with a separation of four feet being built between the road and the habitat the eagles are in.

There are also additional restrictions that are being proposed in relation to the nesting and non-nesting season of the eagles, with the bottom line being that the County would be given the authority to halt work in certain areas.