Opportunities to Shape the City

Fort Myers Projects

2018 Downtown Plan and Gardners Park

Development Activity Map

The City of Fort Myers provides details on the planning, permitting, and under construction process.  You can click on active projects and discover additional opportunities to continue our economic growth. 

Planning for Growth

Implementing a plan to revitalize and drive economic growth requires a competitive assessment of where we are today. Opportunities to entice investors and provide coherence is why planning ahead is so important. Targeting resources in areas that historically have not received investment has lead to improvements in the neighborhoods. We continue to listen to the public. As a community, the thoughts, needs, motivations, attitudes, beliefs, and issues determine how we improve and shape the city.  There are pain points and obstacles that our goals for more equitable community outweigh and we will work with the public to remove barriers to positive development and improvements.

Historical Perspective

Our history is remembered in many ways. The Williams Academy Black History Museum is maintained by the Lee County Black History Society and is located in the City of Fort Myers. It gives a historical perspective and instills in all generations hope and pride in Black Culture. It is important that we recognize and address racial inequities as we look toward the future.  Our community is becoming more and more diverse and we need to find ways to improve our services by having public discussions on what we can do to be better.

Roberto Clemente Park celebrates the life of baseball player Roberto Clemente, who was the first Hispanic elected to the Hall of Fame. Besides his exemplary baseball career, he was known for his generous spirit and tragically died in a plane crash while delivering supplies to victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua.  Baseball is part of the fabric of Fort Myers. Whether you plan to play or watch, you can stay in Fort Myers and do both.  Spring training games surround Fort Myers, including Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins are just a few short minutes away.

Celebrate our Environmental Assets

Maintaining access to the river and providing safe and fun places for the community and visitors is how we celebrate our assets. We plan to showcase our neighborhoods and find more ways to enjoy them. Everyone is different in what they want. You may want a waterfront home, access to the luxury boating lifestyle, or just drop in a kayak in Billy's Creek.  Fort Myers has long been considered a desirable place to live and can accommodate many different lifestyles.  We will work with you to make it your place to work.  Fort Myers intentionally plans and adds value to any business in our community. Fort Myers is inspiring and affordable. It is why we have so many small businesses locally owned in the area. We understand the world of work is changing and how we develop in the future needs to change as well.  We look to our community to help us plan how best to serve our area businesses. 

Communities like ours care about open spaces along the riverfront and access to the water.  We want to see more opportunities for the people here and those that are attracted to our area.  Our newest park is coming soon.  https://www.cfmforumpark.com/

We have a large number of small business owners and a business friendly tax structure providing a competitive advantage to doing business here. 

Florida Target Industries

At the State level there are specific industries for growth in our region. Southwest Florida welcomes business diversification. We support the statewide target clusters/industries, as established by Enterprise Florida Inc. (EFI), the public-private partnership devoted to statewide economic development.  https://www.swfleda.com/target-industries/

Land Use Categories in the Planning District for Fort Myers

Planning District Future Land Use for Fort Myers