Realtors call for government action

The REALTOR Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach, Inc has called for Lee County Commissioners to consider stimulus measures to address the current downturn in the local Lee County economy.

"The importance of economic diversification is essential to Lee County's continued growth," said Association President Ron Carpenter. "With the downturn in the local economy, we need to create new jobs and offer incentives for more affordable and attainable housing opportunities. This is essential to getting our local economy back on track."

The Board of Directors of the REALTOR® Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach, Inc. offers the following points for the Lee County Board of Commissioners to consider:

• Take whatever steps necessary to create incentives for job creation, economic diversity, and job retention by becoming more business friendly through streamlining regulatory systems and offering greater incentive packages for employers to enter the market.

• Offer incentives to create more affordable and attainable housing opportunities which will help absorb existing residential inventory.

• Allow Building Permits, Development Orders and Planned Development permits to have extended expiration dates as appropriate while the market recovers.

• Decrease the time for permit reviews to firmly establish date-certain schedules. Decrease requests for additional information to pertinent to substantive issues so that projects can complete the regulatory process in a measurable manner. Offer fast track incentives as necessary such as expediting appropriate projects including targeted industries (e.g., biomedical, communications and technology fields; research and development parks)

• Encourage the state to impose alternative revenue sources for infrastructure, excluding a Real Estate Transfer Tax and Sales Tax on Services, which would both be extremely detrimental to the real estate and construction industries.

• Continue to expedite public works and infrastructure projects already in the capital improvement plans.

By considering such initiatives, commissioners will be taking positive steps towards strengthening our local economy and creating jobs, Realtors said.