Land Development Code Update

City of Fort Myers - Community Development has issued request for proposal, solicitation RFP 26-107.

The City of Fort Myers, Florida (City) invites qualified multidisciplinary consulting firms or teams to submit proposals to comprehensively rewrite the City's Land Development Code (LDC). The resulting LDC must implement the City's recently updated Comprehensive Plan, reflect contemporary planning and development practices, comply with applicable law, improve predictability and ease of administration, and respond to the City's increasingly important need to facilitate context-sensitive redevelopment of existing developed sites. The City seeks more than a technical reorganization or limited amendment of its existing regulations. The selected consultant will lead a policy-informed, legally sound, and implementation-oriented rewrite that produces a clear and usable code tailored to Fort Myers. Redevelopment feasibility shall be a central organizing principle throughout the project.

Fort Myers is an established and growing city with a varied development pattern that includes a traditional downtown, historic neighborhoods, waterfront areas, commercial corridors, suburban development, older shopping centers, industrial and employment areas, multifamily communities, and vacant or underutilized parcels. A significant share of future growth and private investment is expected to occur through infill, adaptive reuse, rehabilitation, expansion, and redevelopment of properties that were developed under earlier standards. The City's current LDC contains provisions that have been amended over time and may not consistently address the physical and economic realities of previously developed sites. Requirements related to nonconformities, parking, landscaping, buffers, setbacks, access, stormwater, open space, site circulation, and other improvements may operate individually or cumulatively as barriers to reinvestment. The rewrite must identify these barriers, distinguish conditions that should be brought toward compliance from those that merit lawful continuation or alternative treatment, and provide objective and proportionate pathways for redevelopment.

Responses are due November 6, 2026 at 4:00 PM EST.

Questions must be submitted by October 23, 2026 at 2:00 PM EDT.

A non-mandatory pre-proposal conference is scheduled for October 16, 2026 at 3:00 PM EDT at Microsoft Teams meeting Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/229674542284144?p=3LIi95rVyM1bpwXDfK Meeting ID: 229 674 542 284 144 Passcode: A6o33y2o ________________________________________ Need help? | System reference Dial in by phone +1 239-205-3327,,992638693# United States, Cape Coral Find a local number Phone conference ID: 992 638 693#.

Commodity categories: Land Development and Planning - Architectural; Land Development and Sub-Division Services; Community Development Consulting; Land Development and Planning/Engineering; Economic Development, Domestic and Foreign; Program/Project Development and Management Services.

Contact: Steven Belden, Community Dev Director (sbelden@fortmyers.gov, (239) 321-7902).

1 document is attached to the notice: INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS CHART.

The full solicitation document, addenda and the question-and-answer thread are on the agency's OpenGov portal at https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/cityftmyers/projects/304835. Responses are submitted electronically there, and a free vendor account is required before you can upload one.