The Sanibel Rebellion

The City of Sanibel started with a rebellion. OK--not an armed overthrow or anything like that. Nobody dumped boxes of tea in Tarpon Bay. But back in the early seventies Sanibel was still an unincorporated part of Lee County, and it appeared the island was headed for the kind of development that is seen all up and down the Gulf Coast. Hi-rise condos along the beaches, heavy traffic, sprawling resorts, fast-food franchises and so on.

But the residents of Sanibel wanted to preserve not only the character of the island, but also the ecology of the island. They didn't want hi-rises. They didn't want to be swamped with the projected 90,000 residents. Rather, they wanted to protect the wildlife and natural habitats that make this place so special. So they rebelled--in a manner of speaking, and mounted a campaign to become in independent municipality. As one of the founding mothers of Sanibel, Grace Whitehead, once said, "The county considered the citizens of Sanibel to be like the colonists who revolted against Mother England."

After much effort, it happened. In 1974, Sanibel became a legal entity. A city. A self-governed municipality capable of laying out its own rules and regulations for how land was or was not to be used. And it worked. Today, over 65% of Sanibel is undeveloped, protected land. Just this winter the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Fund raised over five million dollars to add another 28.3 acres to that total.

But none of this would have happened without a plan. A city plan. A well-thought out approach to how the properties of the island would be used, managed and protected. It is, sometimes, a rather contentious plan. Public meetings on Sanibel are just that, public. And a concerned and well-educated population isn't afraid to voice its opinions! But it is a plan that works. And Sanibel, this island of ecological wonders, remains just that!

So, with great gratitude to all those who dreamed of the plan, all those who continue to refine the plan, and all those who fight to maintain the character of the plan, Happy Anniversary! In its original form, the plan was first adopted July 19, 1976--two years after the "rebellion"!