Volume 7, Number 6
Edited by ECCL--the Estero Council of Community Leaders
For More Information about Estero go to
www.esterofl.org
This Report is available on the Estero Fire Rescue website at www.esterofire.org
and the Estero Community website at www.esterofl.org
October Opportunities for Citizen
Participation In Protecting Estero's
Quality of Life
|
Date
|
Time
|
Event
|
Location
|
|
Monday,
October 8th
|
6 p.m.
|
Estero
Community Planning Panel meeting. The agenda includes presentations
on the following developments: An amendment to the Albertson’s
Development near US 41 and Williams.
See the
full agenda at::
http://esterofl.org/ecpp/ecpp_meetings.htm
|
Estero
Community
Park,
located on the south side of
Corkscrew Road
midway between Sandy
Lane
and River Ranch
|
|
Tuesday,
October 9th
|
5 p.m.
|
Monthly
Meeting of the Estero Fire Rescue District
|
Estero
Community
Park,
located on the south side of
Corkscrew Road
midway between Sandy
Lane
and River Ranch
|
|
Wednesday, October 10th
|
5 p.m.
|
Estero
Design Review Committee review of the following projects:
See the
full agenda at http://esterofl.org/edrc/agenda.asp.
|
Estero
Community
Park,
located on the south side of
Corkscrew Road
midway between Sandy
Lane
and River Ranch
|
|
Friday,
October 19th
|
1:00 p.m.
|
Joint Lee
County MPO meeting with
Collier
County.
|
Bonita
Springs
City
Council Chambers on Bonita Beach Road
|
|
Friday,
October 19th
|
1 p.m.
|
Estero
Council of Community Leaders Monthly Meeting
. …Open
to the Public…for the full agenda see
http://esterofl.org/eccl/minutes/
|
Estero
Community
Park,
located on the south side of
Corkscrew Road
midway between Sandy
Lane
and River Ranch
|
|
Friday,
October 19th
|
1:30 p.m.
|
Southwest
Florida
Expressway Authority Meeting
|
Regional
Planning Commission building,
1926 Victoria Avenue in downtown Ft. Myers
|
|
Tuesday,
October 23rd
|
5:05 p.m.
|
First
Public Hearing on the DRGR Permit Moratorium Ordinance and the
Wellfield Protection Ordinance
|
Second
Floor Hearing Room,
1500 Monroe Street in downtown Ft. Myers
|
|
Thursday,
October 25th
|
9 a.m.
|
Hearing
Examiner’s review of the
Village
of Country Creek Storage Tank
and Pumping Station.
Public Testimony is Welcome.
|
Second
Floor Hearing Room,
1500 Monroe Street in downtown Ft. Myers
|
Index
During the first eight months of 2007 an estimated 46,400 persons visited
this site to learn about Estero. During the same period last year we had
only a little more than half as many visitors, about 27,600, thus 2007 has
seen an increase of nearly 70%.
The community groups sponsoring the site are:
Estero Community Planning Panel (ECPP)
Estero Civic Association (ECA)
Estero Design Review Committee (EDRC)
Estero Council of Community Leaders (ECCL)
Greater Estero Cultural Arts Council (Arts Estero)
www.esterofl.org
On September 12th the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and the Citizen
Advisory Committee (CAC) of the Lee County Metropolitan Planning
Organization (MPO) met to consider the deletion of the
Coconut I-75
Interchange from the Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) and the Long
Range Transportation Plan (2030 Plan). Both Committees voted to advise the
MPO to retain funding for the Interchange Justification Report (IJR) in the
TIP and to update the organization’s transportation model prior to using it
to determine if the Interchange should be deleted from the 2030 Plan. These
meetings were required to satisfy the public hearing requirements that were
not satisfied when the motion to remove the Interchange from these documents
was approved at the
September MPO meeting.
On September 28th the MPO met to reconsider their August decision to delete
the Interchange from these two plans. At this meeting the MPO voted to
approve four motions:
- To rescind the motion
approved at the August 17th meeting,
- To delete funding for the
Interchange’s Project Development and Environmental (PD&E) Study and it’s
Preliminary Engineering phase,
- To delete funding for the
IJR for the Interchange, and
- To authorize the MPO staff
to update the traffic analysis model and to then use it to evaluate removal
of the Interchange and its related improvements from the 2030 plan.
The motion to delete the IJR from the TIP was the most contentious issue.
Efforts were made to use most or all of the IJR funding, about $1 million,
for a “corridor” study of the road network surrounding the Coconut Road
area. In the end a majority of the MPO decided that this would send the
wrong signal to the Congressional delegation that has agreed since the
August MPO meeting to work to obtain Congressional approval of legislation
that would restore the original language of the bill authorizing the funds
to be used for “widening and improving I-75 in Lee and Collier Counties”.
The motion to remove funding for the IJR passed on a vote of 6 to 5. The
four MPO members that were not present all have consistently supported use
of the $10 million for “widening and improving I-75”. For further
information on this meeting see the following website …
http://www.mpo-swfl.org/content/Agendas/MPO/2007/Sept/M00.Agenda.pdf and
the attachments accessed by clicking on the agenda item.
An additional source of controversy at the meeting came as a result of a
last minute letter from an attorney reportedly hired by the owner of the
land just east of the Interchange, Daniel Aronoff, who alleged that the
Letourneau Report was in error in concluding that the last minute change in
the Coconut Road I-75 Interchange language was unconstitutional and
unethical. The attorney, Jack Schenendorf, a former staffer for the House
Committee headed for many years by Congressman Young of Alaska, also
testified at the meeting indicating that the change was probably just the
result of the House Enrolling Clerk correcting an error in the legislation
and asserting that the Congress will never pass a bill correcting this
change.
Until the Congress acts to change the use of the funds they are still
available for use on the Coconut Road Interchange until 2009 should the MPO
vote to authorize such use. The Congressional Delegation now has over two
months to pass legislation changing the use of these funds before the MPO
meets again in December to consider this matter.
For further background on this issue see our August Report at
http://esterofl.org/eccl/EDR/estero_development_report_August_2007.htm#Coconut_I-75_Interchange
.
The FDOT Six-laning Project…
On September 26th FDOT announced that
six-lane construction of I-75 from Golden Gate Parkway to Colonial Boulevard
will begin on October 28th. The project will begin at the south end and
move north over the years. The 30 mile project will include improving the
Immokalee Road interchange, will cost an estimated $430 million and is
planned for completion in December 2010, about 3 and one-third years from
now. Design of the widening that will be constructed in the median between
the existing lanes was started in May 2007. For continuing information on
this project and its progress see the following website
http://www.i-75dbf.org/ .
The Expressway Authority Board approved Wilbur Smith Associates (WSA) as
their General Engineering Consultant (GEC) at the August 17, 2007 Board
meeting. Amy Davies of the Lee DOT staff will be joining WSA on October 8th
and will assume responsibility for directing this project.
At the September 21st meeting of the Expressway Authority Board Wilbur Smith
Associates receive approval of the final version of the Executive Summary of
its Traffic and Revenue Study. For further information on this important
study see pages 12 through 22 at the following website
http://www.swfea.net/SWFEA_Home/agendas/swfea_agenda_070921.pdf .
It is this report that demonstrates the need for 10 lanes on I-75 as early
as 2010, when the 6-laning project is completed, and forecasts an increase
in I-75 traffic from about 86,000 vehicles per day in 2005 to more than
225,000 vehicles per day in 2030. The segment with the heaviest traffic is
between the airport and Immokalee Road. As the following table shows ten
lanes on I-75 are forecast to take about 40,000 vehicles per day off the
adjacent north-south roadways between Corkscrew Road and Bonita Beach Road.
Because the Collier County Board has expressed reservations about charging
tolls on lanes 5 and 6 that are now being constructed with public funds, WSA
has begun to evaluate some new, shorter development concepts for the
Expressway Authority. Each of the scenarios they presented to the Expressway
Authority on September 21st consisted of four general purpose lanes and six
express toll lanes from Immokalee Road to Alico Road, with tolling of lanes
5&6 in both counties. We are informed that the costs of this project include
badly needed improvements to the Corkscrew I-75 and Bonita Beach Road I-75
interchanges.
As discussed at the August meeting, and supported by the Lee County
Commission, Expressway Authority staff is continuing efforts to bring
Collier County into the partnership for achieving additional lanes on I-75.
The Authority Chairman and a WSA representative were scheduled to again meet
with the individual Collier Commissioners on September 20th, and the Collier
Commission is tentatively
scheduled to discuss the issue at their regular November 9th meeting.
By January 2008 the Expressway Authority plans to decide what segment will
be planned for 10 laning and what type of financing methodology will be
used. Details on the planning process can be found on pages 50-53 of the
September Authority agenda …
http://www.swfea.net/SWFEA_Home/agendas/swfea_agenda_070921.pdf .
For further background on the plans of the Expressway Authority see our
April 2007 Report at
http://esterofl.org/eccl/EDR/estero_development_report_april_2007.htm#Community_Briefings_on_Financing_Alternatives_for_10_Laning_I-75
.
On September 21st Jim Boesch of Vote Estero briefed the members of the
ECCL about the Vote Estero proposal for a “straw vote” on the incorporation
of Estero to be added to the January 29, 2008 Presidential Primary ballot.
ECCL’s consideration of this proposal was intended to determine what
position the organization would take regarding the proposal at the BOCC
meeting scheduled for the following Tuesday, September 25, 2007.
The discussion revealed that Vote Estero had not completed either a draft
Feasibility Study nor a City Charter that must be included in any
Incorporation bill that would be presented to the local Legislative
Delegation and eventually approved by the Florida Legislature. Since these
documents had not been drafted they had also not been presented to community
groups throughout Estero.
In addition Vote Estero’s planned municipal boundaries did not include the
communities on Estero’s northern boundary that are located within the Estero
Community Planning area, but are not within the Estero Fire Rescue District.
These communities are The Vines, Osprey Cove, Belle Lago and The Reserve of
Estero. Residents of these communities objected to being excluded from the
straw vote.
Concerns were also raised about the inclusion of the vast rural areas east
of I-75 within the “straw vote” area. This area does not contain the
population density that the Incorporation Statute requires and contains many
residents who have no interest in being part of a municipality. Finally
concerns were raised about the impact that the continuing opposition of the
City of Bonita Springs to incorporation of the area within two miles of its
northern border (the 2 mile buffer) would have on the fiscal capacity of the
proposed city. br>
After a long discussion a motion was made and approved with three dissenting
votes from Vote Estero members encouraging ECCL to oppose the Vote Estero
“straw vote” proposal at the BOCC meeting because the necessary groundwork
had not been completed in a timely manner.
On the following Monday the leaders of Vote Estero contacted the County
asking that the “straw vote” proposal not be considered by the BOCC on the
following day. The County honored the Vote Estero request.
For further background on Vote Estero, the two-mile buffer and the City of
Bonita Springs position on this matter see
http://www.esterofl.org/eccl/EDR/estero_development_report_August_2007.htm#Vote_Estero_Presentation_and_Discussion_of_the_Two-mile_Buffer
.
DR/GR - Density Reduction Groundwater Resource Area
Lee County, while growing rapidly, in 1989 set aside about 150 square
miles (over 90,000 acres) in the southeastern area of the county for low
density and groundwater resource protection. Half of Estero, its eastern
end, is located within the DR/GR. For a map of the DR/GR area see
http://esterofl.org/EsteroLife/environment.htm#DRGR .
The Estero Council of Community Leaders (ECCL) in 2005 committed itself to
seeking County approval of a research program that would provide the County
with the information that it needs to properly plan the area and protect the
natural resources within it. br>
Development pressures on the DR/GR have grown rapidly during the last decade
and they continue to mount. Some pending threats to the DRGR are:
- An attempt to construct an interchange
at Coconut Road and I-75 in order to open up the land to the east for
development,
- A plan to build a four-mile canal
along the east side of I-75 in order to drain all or a major part of 4,000
acres of mostly high quality wetlands,
- Five, and maybe more, pending
applications for new dirt and aggregate mines along Corkscrew Road east of
I-75, and
- A County comprehensive plan change
application that would authorize a 2,800 acre mixed use development south of
the intersection of Daniels Road and County Road 82, the northern boundary
of the DRGR.
Another matter that has some potential for improving the availability of
clean drinking water is a pending amendment to the County’s Wellfield
Protection Ordinance, a statute adopted by the County in 1989 but largely
unaltered since that time.
The following sections detail some of the recent activities associated with
these threats and actions.
On September 11th the BOCC approved an “Action Plan” for the DRGR
presented by County Planning and Smart Growth staff in response to the
request of the Board at their August 9th meeting. The “Action Plan” contains
fourteen steps ranging from voluntary private sector actions, enforcement
mechanisms, land planning components, scientific research steps, policy
alternative evaluations, steering committee appointments to moratoriums on
comprehensive plan amendments and rezoning applications. To review the
“Action Plan” see the following website:
http://www.lee-county.com/dcd/Downloads/Information/SELeeActionPlan2007911.pdf
.
Most of the debate by the BOC centered on the moratorium proposals. The
Board approved a motion to impose a moratorium on all new Comprehensive Plan
amendments exclusive of “The Fountains” amendment that has been in the
pipeline for nearly two years. In addition the Board unanimously approved a
motion to approve the entire 14 point Action Plan. Finally the Board asked
the staff to promptly analyze the alternative ways that they might address
the issues associated with a moratorium on pending and new rezoning
applications.
On September 18th the County Planning staff presented the BOCC with six
rezoning moratorium alternatives and urged approval of the following
alternative: “Do not accept new rezoning applications, including amendments,
but continue to process all applications already submitted”. The entire
staff report is found at the following location:
http://www.lee-county.com/dcd/Downloads/Information/SELeeDRGR_moratoriumBS.pdf.
After considerable debate the BOCC voted unanimously to approve the
following alternative for a period of one year: “Do not accept new rezoning
applications and do not process the ones that are already submitted but
insufficient”.
There are three pending mine applications in the County’s files that are
sufficient. They are:
- The Estero Group (now before the Hearing Examiner)
- Ft. Myers Harper Mine, and
- The Ginn proposal.
Six additional rezoning applications for mining are insufficient and
therefore will be delayed for one year. According to Tim Jones, County Land
Use attorney, such moratoriums could exceed one year for mining applications
that don’t seek authority to mine aggregate products, rock and sand.
In addition the BOCC voted to limit the Comprehensive Plan moratorium to one
year. The Board would consider extending it at that time, except as it
related to aggregate mining, should that be necessary.
For more background on this process see the following website…
http://esterofl.org/eccl/EDR/estero_development_report_August_2007.htm#Density_Reduction/Groundwater_Resource_(DRGR)_Planning_Update
.
On September 4th and again on September 27th the Estero Group Mine
Hearing continued, making this Hearing the longest in Lee County history.
After failing to discredit the testimony of
Dr. Sydney T.
Bacchus, PhD, a
Hydroecologist with Applied Environmental Services, LLC, who provided
testimony on behalf of Corkscrew Road residents, the Hearing on the 4th
focused upon cross examination of Dr. Bacchus by attorneys for the
applicant and others supporting the applicant. The County attorney did not
intend to cross examine Dr. Bacchus inasmuch as county staff did not think
it was necessary.
The Hearing on the 27th continued for about 4 hours whereupon it was
announced that the Applicant and County staff have been working on some new
and/or revised conditions which were distributed by the applicant’s attorney
but which were still very much uncertain as to language and each sides
position, so the Hearing Examiner closed the Hearing and scheduled it to
resume on October 9th. During the interim the Applicant and County
staff will continue their discussions about the proposed new conditions. All
the parties are to receive copies of the revised conditions a couple days
before the Oct 9th Hearing.
For a map showing Lee County’s existing and permitted mines and those that
are at some point in the planning process see
http://www.corkscrewroad.org/images/mine-apps-map107.jpg .
Over the years the east Corkscrew residents have raised and spent about
$140,000 resisting the industrialization of Corkscrew Road. Since all Estero
residents will benefit from their efforts, it is only fair that they be
assisted in this financial burden by all who benefit. If you care to help
please send a check to:
Thomas Hart Trust Fund
P.O. Box 2449
Ft. Myers, FL 33902
Please mark checks on the bottom left line “Estero Group IPD”
For more background on this case see the July edition of the Report at
http://esterofl.org/eccl/EDR/estero_development_report_July_2007.htm#Estero_Group_Mining_Hearing_
.
Attracting a Hospital/Freestanding
Emergency Department to South Lee County
On September 27th Bonita Springs City Councilman John Joyce, Sam Levy
and Don Eslick of ECCL and County Commissioner Ray Judah met with Dr. C. B.
Rebsamen, Lee Memorial’s Chief Medical Officer for Strategic Services, Kevin
Newingham, the Hospital’s Strategic Planning officer, Mike Riley,
Administrator for the Bonita Community Health Center, and Jack Eikenberg, a
member of the hospital’s finance committee and a resident of Bonita Bay to
receive an update on the System’s Long-range facility planning effort.
The meeting was requested by Lee Memorial as a follow-up on an earlier
meeting (January 25, 2007) between these same parties. For further
information about that meeting see the following website:
http://esterofl.org/eccl/EDR/estero_development_report_january_2007.htm#Estero/City_of_Bonita_Springs_Coordination
.
Lee Memorial has employed a consultant to assist them in preparing a South
Lee County facility analysis. That document will be reviewed by
representatives of the County’s physicians and used by a Task Force the
System will soon be creating to finalize the System’s long term facility
plan. This proposal will then be presented to the Hospital Board for its
amendment and approval, probably in the spring of 2008.
During this period Lee Memorial will be updating its Physician Supply and
Demand Study as well. The supply of Physicians is one of Lee County’s major
health care problems.
The South Lee facility plan will consider the need for and feasibility of
both a Freestanding Emergency Department and a full 100 bed Hospital.
Information on Local Health Care Services…
During April and May Lee Memorial sponsored 15 focus groups set up by the
ECCL in order to help them determine the health care needs of the area. One
of the key findings of this effort was the need for South Lee County
residents, especially our “snowbirds”, to know more about the health care
services available in the community, especially emergency health care needs.
As a result the ECCL initiated development of a section on the
organization’s website that would provide comprehensive, comparative
information on these facilities for the area’s residents. To view this
information see:
http://www.esterofl.org/EsteroLife/healthcare/index.htm .
Recently ECCL discussed the possibility of expanding this database to
include comparable service providers in the City of Bonita Springs in
cooperation with the Bonita Springs Chamber of Commerce.
August building permits of all types continued but at a slower pace than
in the last couple of years.
The value of
commercial buildings permitted in Estero during August totaled only $3.7
million. Nonetheless during the first eight months of 2007 Estero’s total
commercial permits are valued at $142.1 million. Estero’s commercial permits
during all of 2006 totaled $184.7 million. (All figures are exclusive of the
underlying land). With four months to go it looks like 2007 will set another
record for the value of commercial development permits in Estero.
The major projects that contributed to the eight month total are:
$43.9 million in the
Coconut Point Town Center;
$24.2 million for the
WCI Headquarters
building on west Coconut Road
$6.8 million for the
Argonaut
Chevrolet Dealership at I-75 and Corkscrew
$3.1 million of the
Estero Ridge Shopping Center at US 41 and Estero Parkway
$2.9 million for the renovation of the
Villages of Country Creek Clubhouse
$1.8 million for the
Animal
Hospital of Estero on Corkscrew Road
$3.8 million for Broadway Shoppes on US 41 near Broadway
$2.3 million for
Corkscrew Palms on the south side of Corkscrew
$2.2 million for commercial buildings at
Coconut Trace on
US 41
$4.8 million for the renovation of the
Country Creek Clubhouse
$2.9 million for Empire Builders office complex at the
Galleria
on Corkscrew
$4 million for the
Estero Fire
Rescue Headquarters on Three Oaks Parkway
$8.8 million for retail stores at
Estero
Interstate Commerce Park
$7.5 million for
Miromar Outlets
expansion
$3.02 million for
Paradise Shoppes projects on US 41
$1.3 million for the Copperleaf Golf Club improvements
$1.08 million for the
Park Circle development on the north side of Corkscrew
$840,000 for the
Estero
Medical Center on the north side of Corkscrew
$640,000 at the
International Design Center
$850,000 for the Lee County Utilities facility on east Corkscrew Road
$760,000 for a retail building in the
Paradise Shoppes
$512,000 for
Estero Park Commons projects
The permits issued thus far in 2007 are widely distributed throughout Estero
unlike 2006 when most of the commercial construction activity was at Coconut
Point.
REMINDER: The building values understate the cost of each residence or
commercial building because it excludes the value of the underlying land.
During August only 21 housing units with a value of $3.75 million were
permitted in Estero. Year to date 405 housing units with a value, exclusive
of land, of $112.1 million have been issued.
Housing units permitted during the first eight months of the year were
by far the lowest in the 8 years that the County’s system has tracked
Estero’s permits. This result reflects the declining trend that began in
early 2006. The County permitting information used in this report may be
found at
http://www.lee-county.com/dcd/Reports/EsteroReports.htm.
The following table shows how the first eight months of 2007 compares with
the same period during the prior seven years:
|
Year
|
Annual Total Housing Units
|
Building Value of Units
|
Average
Building
Value Per Unit
|
Percentage of Single Family
Units
|
|
2000
|
1,122
|
$154,418,948
|
$137,628
|
40%
|
|
2001
|
1,620
|
247,128,734
|
152,549
|
45
|
|
2002
|
995
|
170,674,374
|
171,532
|
58
|
|
2003
|
1,130
|
173,165,820
|
153,244
|
41
|
|
2004
|
1,155
|
252,025,813
|
218,204
|
64
|
|
2005
|
1,924
|
402,498,096
|
209,199
|
52
|
|
2006
|
1,086
|
270,683,985
|
249,249
|
31
|
|
2007
|
405
|
112,048,147
|
276,662
|
36
|
Not only are the 2007
total housing units below all prior years, it is 59% less than the total
during the first eight months of 2002, the season immediately following the
tragedy of 9/11/2001 and the second lowest year.
In spite of the decline in the number of housing units permitted, the
average building value, excluding the land beneath it, continues to
increase, up 11% from the prior high set last year and more than double (up
101%) the average in 2000, in spite of the slight decline in the share of
more expensive single family homes.
Commercial construction
in Estero continues at a hectic pace. At present there are seventeen (17)
projects where the buildings are underway. In addition there are many other
developments that are proceeding with site preparation, underground
utilities and internal roads. The following table summarizes the building
projects in process:
