Mini-Golf on Sanibel? The Island Decides Tuesday Morning, in a 9:05 A.M. Hearing on Election Day

Election Day on Sanibel starts with putters before polls. The City Council will hold the second reading and public hearing on Tuesday, November 3, at 9:05 a.m. on an ordinance adding a new section to the city's code that would make miniature golf courses a conditional use — a category the city has framed carefully: miniature golf, under the proposal, is an amenity, not an attraction. The council voted unanimously on October 6 to advance the legislation to this hearing, and the Planning Commission's version would permit mini-golf courses only in the city's General Commercial District.

The proposal has drawn the kind of mail Sanibel proposals draw. As of September 28, the city had received 13 emails opposing the miniature-golf concept and eight in support. Opponents wrote that a course would degrade the island's upscale, native, natural, quiet environment — one suggested that people who want to play mini-golf can go to Fort Myers Beach, where the atmosphere suits it. Supporters have pointed to a proposal for the former Island Cow property and to the case for a family amenity on an island that guards its character fiercely. Council member Holly Smith is among those whose remarks on the debate the island's Chronicle recorded as the ordinance moved forward.

Tuesday's hearing is where the argument becomes a vote. A conditional-use designation would not build a single putting green by itself — any actual course would still have to seek its own approvals in the General Commercial District — but it decides whether Sanibel's code leaves the door open at all. The hearing sits at the top of a full Election Day: island voters who want a say in the island's future can speak at 9:05 a.m. and vote until 7 p.m.