The City of Punta Gorda’s recently adopted Land Development Regulations have been a long time in the making. In 2019, the City contracted with Dover, Kohl, and Partners Town Planners to initiate a citywide, community-driven public input and visioning process. Through a series of site visits, presentations, public charrettes, and hands-on design sessions, the citizens of Punta Gorda crafted an idea of what they want the future of their city to look like. They imagined commercial development of appropriate size and scope that would offset the City’s dependence on ad-valorem tax revenue yet respect the small-town charm and quaint fishing village appeal. They imagined preserving their quality of life by enhancing their connection to Charlotte Harbor and nature trails, as well as preserving the city’s built treasures of historic homes and early twentieth-century commercial buildings. An idea of a vibrant, walkable downtown was born along with residential areas of affordable and diverse housing types, allowing Punta Gorda’s retiree population to age in place while on fixed incomes.
This was the impetus of the revised Land Development Regulations (LDRs). The new Land Development Regulations (LDRs) include a form-based code in the Traditional Punta Gorda zoning district. This area covers all of downtown and expands into the surrounding neighborhoods and commercial areas. Form-based codes, as the name suggests, implement the physical size, shape, and character that development may take to closely correspond with the qualities and intent of desirable uses and building types formulated by the community.
The new Land Development Regulations (LDRs) will encourage infill development that resembles traditional, pre-World War II small towns and villages as opposed to the mass-produced suburban sprawl of box stores and snout houses; doing so in a way that is easily understood by readers of the code and not buried in complex, lengthy jargon that confounds even expert readers. This makes the form-based code compliant with the state of Florida’s explicit mandate to reduce suburban sprawl and less liable for litigation stemming from inconsistencies between and within local regulating documents. It has been successfully implemented in communities of various sizes all over Florida (for example, in Gainesville, Bradenton, and 5th Avenue South in Naples).
Punta Gorda’s future looks bright and beautiful.
The streamlined, detail-oriented regulating plan makes it easy to envision what shape future development will take.
I always like to thank the unsung heroes who work daily like Mitchell S. Austin Urban Design Manager in the Urban Design Department. Mitchell is always pleasant, professional, and patient with the public as he fields questions and responds promptly.
