Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Justice in Climate Action Planning pp 233–253Cite as

Pre-platted Communities: A Southwest Florida Example

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 620 Accesses

Part of the book series: Strategies for Sustainability ((STSU))

Abstract

Several decades ago, interstate land sales companies generated large profits from the sale of potential home sites within large pre-platted subdivisions. All too often, developers of these subdivisions made poor site selection decisions and ignored many environmental constraints. It is not surprising that climate action planning and justice were not an issue of concern during the early stages of the development of pre-platted communities. In fact, seeking places with few, if any, regulatory control was an important site selection factor. Cape Coral, Florida, is a 60,000-acre subdivision that occupies a large, environmentally sensitive tract of land on the Caloosahatchee River across from Fort Myers. Rapid growth and development of this low-lying peninsula has put a large segment of the population at risk of flooding during intense thunderstorms and hurricanes. Local officials have worked to establish feasible protection measures for a population that was put in harm’s way by the ill-conceived development of an inappropriate location, but they have not yet established the climate action planning framework that is needed to resolve problems. As a result, a large segment of Cape Coral’s population remains unprotected from storm surge inundation and other insidious problems associated with climate change.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allan, L., Kuder, B., & Oakes, S. L. (1977). Promised lands. In Subdivisions in Florida’s wetlands (Vol. 2). Inform.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Society of Planning Officials, Conservation Foundation, Urban Land Institute, and Ragatz Associates, Inc. (1976). Subdividing rural America: Impacts of recreational lot and second home development. Council of Environmental Quality.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beever, J. (2019). Senior Planner, Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council, Fort Myers, Florida, personal interview, May 2019.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beever, J., Walker, T., & Kammerer, C. J. (2016). City of Cape Coral climate change vulnerability assessment (CCCCVA). Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beever, J., Walker, T., & Kammerer, C. J. (2017). City of Cape Coral climate change resiliency strategy (CCCCRS). Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bijker, W. E. (2007). American and Dutch coastal engineering: Differences in risk conception and differences in technological culture. Social Studies of Science, 37(1), 143–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowman, M., Buonaiuto, F., Colle, B., Flood, R., Hill, D., & Wilson, R. (2006). Hydrologic feasibility of storm surge barriers to protect the metropolitan New York–New Jersey region from coastal flooding. Paper presented at the New York Water Environment Association. 78th annual meeting, New York City, February 5–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cape Coral Department of Community Development. (2020). Comprehensive plan—Goals, objectives, and policies, future land use element. Planning Division.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cape Coral Division of Emergency Management. (2018). Emergency operations plan (EOP), base plan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daltry, W. (2019). Planning Team Coordinator, Department of Community Development, City of Cape Coral, Florida, personal communication, May 15, 2019.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daltry, W. (2020). Planning Team Coordinator, Department of Community Development, City of Cape Coral, Florida, personal communication, February 3, 2020 and July 13, 2020.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darden, J. T. (1995). Black residential segregation since the 1948 Shelley v. Kraemer decision. Journal of Black Studies, 25(6), 680–691.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deyle, R., Bailey, K., & Matheny, A. (2007). Adaptive response planning to sea level. Development Lab, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Florida State University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dodrill, D. E. (1993). Selling the dream. University of Alabama Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elliott, D. (2010). Problem subdivisions and what to do about them. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Working Paper. Product Code: WPEODE1 (pp. 1–5).

    Google Scholar 

  • Federal Interagency Committee for Wetland Delineation. (1989). Federal manual for identifying and delineating jurisdictional wetlands. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and USDA Soil Conservation Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrario, F., Beck, M., Storlazzi, C., Micheli, F., Shepard, C., & Airoldi, L. (2014). The effectiveness of coral reefs for coastal hazard risk reduction and adaptation. Nature Communications, 5, 3794.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Florida Building Code. (2017). 6th Edition. Retrieved November 12, 2020 from www.floridabuilding.org

  • Fu, X., Gomaa, M., Deng, Y., & Peng, Z.-R. (2017). Adaptation planning for sea level rise: A study of US coastal cities. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 60(2), 249–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gotham, K. F. (2000). Separate and unequal: The Housing Act of 1968 and the Section 235 program. Sociological Forum, 15(1), 13–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hillier, A. (2005). Searching for red lines: Spatial analysis of lending patterns in Philadelphia, 1940–1960. Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, 72(1), 25–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holway, J., Elliott, D., & Trentadue, A. (2014). Arrested developments: Combating zombie subdivisions and other excess entitlements. Policy Focus Report, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hough, P., & Robertson, M. (2009). Mitigation under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act: Where it comes from, what it means. Wetlands Ecology and Management, 17(1), 15–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, J., & Valls, A. (2007). Housing discrimination as a basis for Black reparations. Public Affairs Quarterly, 21(3), 255–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kilmer, M. K., Stroud, H. B., & Gibson, J. (2019). Poor site selection decisions put subdivision families at risk. The Pennsylvania Geographer, 57(2), 52–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kimmelman, M. (2013). Going with the flow. Retrieved July 12, 2018 from https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/arts/design/flood-control-in-thenetherlands-now-allows-sea-water-in.html

  • Knight, H. (1990). Environmental Planner, Department of Community Development, Cape Coral, Florida, personal interview, July 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindley, S., O’Neill, J., Kandel, J., Lawson, N., Christian, R., & O’Neill, M. (2011). Climate change, justice and vulnerability (pp. 6–7). The Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milman, O. (2017, August 31). The US cities at risk of flooding—And how they deal with it. The Guardian. Retrieved July 18, 2018 from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/31/us-risk-flooding-harvey-boston-new-york-miami-beach

  • Mitsch, W. J., & Gosselink, J. G. (1986). Wetlands. Van Nostrand Reinhold.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, R. B. (1988). Assistant Regulatory Administrator, Northwest Florida Water Management District, Tallahassee, Florida, personal interview, July 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgenson, G. (1988). Suckering the City bumpkins. Forbes, 142, 39–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paulson, M. C. (1972). The great land hustle. Henry Regnery.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schnidman, F. (1984). Resolving antiquated subdivision problems. Florida Environmental and Urban Issues, 12, 20–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schnidman, F., & Baker, R. L. (1983). Planning for platted lands: Land use remedies for lot Sale subdivisions. Florida State Law University Law Review, 11(3), 508–594.

    Google Scholar 

  • South Florida Regional Planning Council. (2013). Adaptation action areas: Policy options for adaptation planning for rising sea levels (pp. 6–7). Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spearo, J. (2018). Fire Emergency Management Division Manager. City of Cape Coral, Cape Coral, Florida, personal interview, May and July 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spikowski, W. (2019). Spikowski Planning Associates, Fort Myers, Florida, personal interview, May 2019.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stroud, H. B. (1983). Environmental problems associated with recreational subdivisions. The Professional Geographer, 35, 303–313.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stroud, H. B. (1984). Florida’s challenge: Balance between subdivision and the environment. Florida Environmental and Urban Issues, 11, 14–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stroud, H. B. (1995). The promise of paradise: Recreational and retirement communities in the United States since 1950. Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stroud, H. B., & Spikowski, W. M. (1999). Planning in the wake of Florida land scams. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 19, 27–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor Engineering. (2019). City of Punta Gorda adaptation plan update (pp. 1–50). Taylor Engineering.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuff, R. (2018). Emergency Management Coordinator, City of Cape Coral, Cape Coral, Florida, personal interview, July 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Census Bureau. (2019). QuickFacts: Cape Coral, Florida.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2017). Climate change in coastal communities. Retrieved June 30, 2020 from https://www.epa.gov/cre/climate-change-coastal-communities

  • Volk, M. (2008). An analysis of strategies for adaptation to sea level rise in Florida. Master’s thesis, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 143 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wamsley, T., Cialone, M. A., Smith, J. M., Atkinson, J. H., & Rosati, J. D. (2010). The potential of wetlands in reducing storm surge. Ocean Engineering, 3(1), 59–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wells, O., Gray, W., & Monaghan, P. (2014). Adaptation approaches to sea-level rise in Florida. Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, University of Florida, IFAS Extension. Revised January 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhong, H., Overloop, P. J., Gelder, P. V., & Rijcken, T. (2012). Influence of a storm surge barrier’s operation on the flood frequency in the Rhine delta area. Water, 4(2), 474–493.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR, USA

    Hubert B. Stroud

Authors
  1. Hubert B. Stroud
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hubert B. Stroud .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Geography, Planning and Recreation, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

    Brian Petersen

  2. Council for European Studies, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Hélène B. Ducros

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Stroud, H.B. (2022). Pre-platted Communities: A Southwest Florida Example. In: Petersen, B., Ducros, H.B. (eds) Justice in Climate Action Planning. Strategies for Sustainability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73939-3_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation