Surrounding Communities

Punta Gorda is the only incorporated community in Charlotte County. The following list includes other communites within and around Charlotte County.

Boca Grande

Boca Grande is a small residential community on Gasparilla Island, southwest Florida. Gasparilla Island is a part of both Charlotte and Lee Counties, while the actual village of Boca Grande, which is home to many seasonal and year-round residents, is entirely in the Lee County portion of the island.

Its name - Spanish for "Big Mouth" - comes from the mouth of the waterway, called Boca Grande Pass, at the southern tip of the island. The pass was used as a busy shipping point for many years as the waters in the pass are naturally deep. Processed phosphate from the Bone Valley region would be loaded onto waiting cargo vessels via. the Seaboard Air Line Railway at the dock located on the southern tip of the island. Shipping business to the island declined when the Port of Tampa was later dredged and phosphate shipping operations moved north to locations along Tampa Bay. Evidence of the island's industrial past can still be seen.

Space is at a premium on Boca Grande, so many local residents use a golf cart as their main mode of transportation. On any given day in Boca Grande, you will see golf carts, as well as automobiles, making their way throughout downtown. A Lee County ordinance designates all but two streets as golf cart paths.

Boca Grande also provided the backdrop for Denzel Washington's movie, Out of Time, where the quiet village was re-named 'Banyan Key' in reference to the banyan trees that populate the island. Scenes for the 2006 film based on Carl Hiaasen's book Hoot were also filmed on the island.

Hurricane Charley hit Boca Grande heavily on August 13, 2004, causing some 20 billion US dollars' worth of damage to Southwest Florida. There were no deaths or injuries on the island, but many buildings were damaged and most of the banyan trees were heavily damaged.

Boca is very popular with affluent holiday makers, many of whom keep a second home on the island. There is a degree of animosity between year-round residents and those who come to spend the winter months on the island. The sleepy community regularly hosts members of Governor Jeb Bush and President George W. Bush's family, who routinely spend the week between Christmas and New Year's on the island.

Charlotte Harbor

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,647 people, 1,771 households, and 823 families residing in the Charlotte Harbor area. There were 2,277 housing units. The racial makeup was 93.67% White, 2.85% African American, 0.19% Native American, 1.29% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.26% from other races, and 0.71% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.21% of the population.

There were 1,771 households out of which 10.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.2% were married couples living together, 5.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 53.5% were non-families. 48.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 34.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.76 and the average family size was 2.41.

In the area the population was spread out with 9.4% under the age of 18, 4.1% from 18 to 24, 13.7% from 25 to 44, 16.6% from 45 to 64, and 56.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 70 years. For every 100 females there were 73.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 69.3 males. The median income for a household in the area was $29,468, and the median income for a family was $39,583. Males had a median income of $26,157 versus $19,097 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $22,211. About 4.5% of families and 10.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.6% of those under age 18 and 5.5% of those age 65 or over.

Englewood

Englewood is an unincorporated community of approx. 32,000 pop. that is split between northwestern Charlotte County and southwestern Sarasota County. Englewood has a private utility company, The Englewood Water District, the Englewood Fire District that serve the community and the Englewood Community Redevelopment Area (CRA).

The Englewood Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) is a special district the Sarasota County Board of County Commissioners created in 1999 on the Sarasota side of Englewood. The Sarasota and Charlotte County School Districts have an interlocal agreement allowing some Charlotte County residents to use the Englewood Elementary School and the Sarasota County students to use the Middle and High School located in Charlotte County.

The town contains multiple elementary schools, one junior high school and one high school - Lemon Bay High School. Popular entertainment includes resturants and a small shopping district. Englewood has a popular local music scene, mostly made up of punk rock, ska and heavy metal bands from the high school.

Harbour Heights

Harbour Heights is a peaceful community bordered by the Peace River. It is at Exit 167 off I-75, making it convenient for those desiring to go North to Sarasota, Tampa, Orlando, etc, or South to Ft. Myers, Naples, Miami, etc. Although basically a retirement community, the community welcomes families with children.

On the shore of the Peace River, Harbour Heights is equipped with a fishing pier, boat ramp, tennis courts, basketball hoops, shuffleboard courts, toddlers' playground, picnic tables, and barbecue grills. Hurricane Charley destroyed the quick stop deli, store and many of the structures in town.

Manasota Key

Manasota Key is a barrier island located off the southern Gulf Coast right across from the town of Englewood. Access to the island is by one of two bridges; one in Sarasota County and one in Charlotte County. Once on Manasota Key, visitors are enchanted with this island where there are no high rise buildings, no traffic lights and no crowds.

A two-lane road runs the length of the island with pristine beaches on each side. The Sarasota County part of the island is completely residential, and the Charlotte County side is residential with a few businesses. The far south end of Manasota Key is a state park and wildlife sanctuary.

This pristine island is covered with lush, tropical foliage and has a large variety of things to do. Manasota Beach has 14 acres of white sand beach and sand dunes, and has special areas with picnic tables, fire pits, boardwalks and bathhouse facilities. Blind Pass Beach is ideal for swimming and fishing and also has a nature trail for hiking.

This area is known for its excellent game fishing and has a docking area for boats on the Intracoastal Waterway. Many golf courses and tennis courts dot the area, and snorkeling, diving and water skiing are just some of the other activities to enjoy. Manasota Key is approximately 2 ½ hours from Disney World and all the other theme parks of the Orlando area.

Port Charlotte

The Port Charlotte area was largely platted and developed by the now-defunct General Development Corporation, which also developed many other subdivisions and municipalities along Florida's west coast. Port Charlotte is not a chartered municipality, but the most-populated area in Charlotte County.

Port Charlotte was hard hit by Hurricane Charley on August 13, 2004. The hurricane, predicted to hit Tampa, took a last-minute hard right turn into Charlotte Harbor and caused severe damage in the city of Punta Gorda and in the Port Charlotte area. Many residents were caught by surprise because of many false alarms in recent years.

In the wake of Hurricane Charley, Port Charlotte faces the challenge of finding affordable housing for its service-industry workforce. With many homes and apartments destroyed or damaged beyond repair, many low-income residents who have lived in the area for years have been forced to seek housing elsewhere. As of 2005, property values have doubled and tripled in many areas in less than three years, especially in the wake of speculation following Hurricane Charley. However, in 2006, property values fell greatly in a statewide "market correction" now leaving Charlotte County and the Port Charlotte area one of the most affordable coastal areas in Florida.

Water wars in the area are common between municipalities and counties, all fighting for a dwindling supply from local water management districts, wellfields, and the Peace River. Port Charlotte has experienced a tremendous boom in land values between 2003 and 2005. About 800 acres of old platted lots in a portion of central Port Charlotte have been taken by the county via eminent domain and will be developed into a big mixed-use development.

Rotonda

Rotonda West is an unincorporated, deed-restricted community situated in west Charlotte County, FL. It was originally developed by the Cavanagh Communities Corporation, which sold the entire Rotonda complex in 1980 after several years of financial difficulties. It is an unusual subdivision, in that it is shaped like an incomplete wagon wheel.

A closed, fresh-water canal system surrounds the outside of the "wheel" and travels inside each of the pie-shaped wedges forming the subdivisions of the development. A protected wetland to the south prevents development of that area. Alligators, bald eagles, great blue herons, egrets, and many other birds and animals inhabit the area.

The oldest and most-developed subdivision, Oakland Hills, once sported Ed McMahon as a home owner. In the 1970s, a television show called "The Superstars" (like Battle of the Network Stars except with athletes) was filmed here. What is now the community center was a bowling alley. A local track was where the track and field events were held.

As conceptualized, each subdivision was supposed to have its own golf course. The theory was the developers could draw residents by offering "a course a day to play." But beleaguered GDC wasn't able to carry through with their promises, and many developers took turns building out the area. Although the area struggled for a while during the real estate bust period of the 1980's, in 2005 it is one of the hottest areas to build in, with development escalating in nearly all of the sections and several new golf courses.

Many of the homeowners are seasonal snowbirds from northern states and only live in the area part-time during the winter. While the area is at risk of flooding from storm surge, it is located towards the center of the Cape Haze peninsula and hasn't flooded in recent memory. During Hurricane Charley in 2004, it was located on the left front quadrant of the storm, and although the eyewall came within a couple of miles of the area, most homes escaped major damage. Several large trees were downed, and many shingle roofs were damaged by winds.

Quite a few pool cages and screened-in porches were blown down or damaged, but few houses sustained more than relatively minor damage. After Charley, most of the area had power back on in 13 hours, due in no small part to the fact that utilities such as power, phone, and cable are all run underground. Several overhead main feeder lines supply power to transformers in the area, but they were quickly repaired. In 2005 Hurricane Wilma travelled south of the development, and because of the underground utilities, the area never lost power, even though many surrounding areas did.

The Rotonda West Association is the committee in charge of managing and enforcing deed restrictions. In 2003 they came up against a firestorm of controversy when they attempted to push a new community center to a vote during the summer when many seasonal residents were up north. The new community center was overruled by property owners, and at the next election, several incumbents were voted out. Homeowners pay an annual association fee that is used for canal and vacant lot maintenance, among other things. In early 2006 the RWA held another special election to try to get the community center passed (again) and (again) it was defeated by a nearly 2/3 majority.

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