When architect Rick Thurkow bought Boca
Grande’s infamous “Hotel Hell” in 1986, he never
dreamed he would be entering his own permitting
purgatory.
Before he fi nished his $150,000 renovation of the
70-year-old structure, Thurkow would spend two
years “haggling with building and zoning offi cials” to
get the approvals he needed.
“Rick gave us some real horror stories with
respect to problems he had trying to get building
permits and bring an old building up to code,” Bill
Spikowski, Lee County principal planner, told Boca
Beacon reporter David Futch in November, 1988.
It turns out that Thurkow’s frustrations were not
in vain. His building nightmares were fodder for
Spikowski and others who were pushing for a new
historic preservation ordinance in Lee County.
The end game was a positive impact on historic
renovation efforts in unincorporated areas like Boca
Grande – providing relief from fl oodplain regulations,
building and zoning codes and other burdensome
regulations.
The more construction and development, the
more tax money would fl ow into County coffers,
they reasoned.
Others supported the ordinance as a way to
help protect the area’s unique small-town character,
including its older homes and commercial structures.
The job of selling the Lee County historic
preservation ordinance to the public fell to Ivan
Rodriquez. He presented the fi rst draft in September,
1988 to the county’s existing Historic Preservation
Commission and about 20 concerned citizens at the
Fort Myers/Lee County Public Library.
Rodriquez, a consultant for Lee County, was
director of Dade County’s Division of Historic
Preservation and author of a similar ordinance there.
At the meeting he explained major parts of the
50-page draft.
At least one attendee suggested that the
ordinance would be a “procedural nightmare.”
But Creighton Sherman, executive director of the
Gasparilla Island Conservation and Improvement
Association (GICIA), thought Rodriquez’s plan was a
good starting point.
Making the entirety of Gasparilla Island a historic
district was part of the GICIA’s fi rst iteration of The
Gasparilla Island Act. Passed in1979 by the Florida
legislature to restrict development, density and zoning
changes, the Act was thrown out by the courts
shortly after it was signed into law by the governor.
When the GICIA redrafted the proposal for
the 1980 legislative session, it excluded the historic
district provision, along with a controversial citizen
review panel, on the advice of its attorneys.
But the GICIA never gave up hope of obtaining a
historic designation and a local panel of Boca Grande
residents who would have some say about the
district’s future.
The Lee County Commissioners adopted the
county-wide ordinance in December of 1988, and by
the end of 1989 had established two historic preservation
boards. As part of the Lee County board, the
Boca Grande entity was responsible for the aesthetic,
archeological, cultural, historical and architectural
heritage of its community, as defi ned in the Lee
County Plan. Both boards met in Fort Myers.
By June of 1990, Boca Grande offi cially had its own
historic district. Planners from Lee County
established boundaries and guidelines for managing
the district. However, no one bothered to put up
signs, leaving the precise area a mystery to most
visitors and many residents to this day.
The Boca Grande Historic District encompasses
residential and commercial uses and includes the
downtown area, running from 1st Street to
approximately 20th Street. Waterways Avenue on
the east of the island is not included, nor are the
“Dam” streets, parts of Lee and the east side of Palm
Avenue, south of where it is joined by Waterways.
There are approximately 134 contributing properties
in Boca Grande. Most are at least 50 years old,
although age is not the only factor used to declare a
property historic. They contribute to the character of
the district or may be the location of historical events
or people that defi ne the Boca Grande history.
The district includes numerous noncontributing
properties – those built too recently to be
considered historic or which have been altered to
the point that they are no longer part of the old
Boca Grande style.
Boca Grande’s Historic District:
Rising from the ashes of Hotel Hell