Sanibel Island residents did not want the fate of their island to be in 

 the hands of county commissioners who at the time were prodevelopment. There 

 was strong opposition to the incorporation charter by county developers and 

 the Chamber of Commerce, and in 1974 each side of the conflict took their 

 cases to the State Legislature. The decision by the legislature, after months 

 of political maneuvering by each side, was to grant Sanibel Island a charter 

 for incorporation, but the conflict was far from over. 



After approval of the charter, county interests for further suburban 

 development filed two court suits in an attempt to block a referendum vote by 

 the island's residents that would ratify the charter. Both of these suits 

 were dismissed and on 5 November 1974 the City of Sanibel was incorporated. 

 On 16 December 1974 the first city council took office and governmental ties 

 with the county were severed. 



The mode of development of Sanibel Island is uncertain. Although the 

 newly established government has taken steps to protect the island's natural 

 resources, the legacy of urban development remains. Many of the people are 

 seasonal residents. In 1970, the population was only 1,000, yet there were 

 1,569 condominium units. Moreover, between the date of the referendum and the 

 date the new city cotranissi oners took office, Lee County Officials granted 74 

 building permits valued at $9,618,400 (Lotz 1975). 



CHARLOHE HARBOR 



Areas of Critical State Concern 



In April 1975, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida nomi- 

 nated several coastal regions of Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee Counties as 

 Areas of Critical State Concern. The Florida Environmental Land and Water 

 Management Act of 1972 (Ch. 380, Florida Statutes) established the term "Area 

 of Critical State Concern (ACSC)", as a protective designation for areas that 

 meet certain criteria outlined earlier in this report. The Florida legisla- 

 ture is the final designating body for an ACSC (Stroud 1979). To date, only 

 three areas have been so designated, but several others have been nominated. 



After an extensive study centered in the Charlotte Harbor area by the 

 former Division of State Planning, it was concluded that this area contained 

 resources and public investments of regional and statewide importance. Two 

 events led the Division of State Planning not to recommend this area as an 

 ACSC. First, the First District Court of Appeals ruled that the critical 

 areas section of Ch. 380 was an unconstitutional delegation of authority. 

 Also, the Division recommended a Resource Management and Planning Program 

 instead of an ACSC designation. Favorable experience from a program for the 

 Apalachicola River Basin, with a combined multi -agency management and planning 

 program, together with the uncertain legal future of critical areas, induced 

 the Divison of State Planning to recommend a similar program for the Charlotte 

 Harbor Area (Florida Department of Administration 1978b). 



The Charlotte Harbor Resource Management and Planning program has the 

 following objectives: 



244 



