Estero Development Report

Volume 1, Number 2
Issued June 2001

Edited by ECCO--the Estero Concerned Citizens Organization
·For further information, to provide information or to add names to our mailing list, Email Don Eslick at doneslick@worldnet.att.net or call him at 949-4050

Estero Community Plan

During the month of June discussions between Lee County Planning staff and the Community Plan Steering Committee continued regarding provisions that county staff found objectionable.  This process resolved many, but not all, of the differences. On June 18^th Lee County Planning staff submitted their report to the Land Planning Agency, a panel that advises the Board of County Commissioners on planning policy matters, and provided copies to the Community Plan Steering Committee. The report detailed staff's objections to each of the unresolved issues. On June 22^nd the Steering Committee reviewed the staff report and planned their testimony concerning each of these issues for presentation at a meeting of the Land Planning Agency on June 25^.  At that meeting county planning staff presented the Community Plan and their objections to it as submitted by the community. Then our community planner and representatives of all major Estero organizations made presentations defending the most important contested provisions and suggesting other important improvements to the plan.  The LPA voted unanimously to support the plan but raised several questions that will require some research. They will be discussed at the July LPA meeting. Then the Plan will proceed to the Board of County Commissioners meeting in August.

Estero Planning Community Boundary

Lee County planning staff has recommended that a new planning area be created for Estero in the Lee County Plan. If approved by the Board of County Commissioners the new Estero Planning area would include all property north of the Village of Bonita Springs up to and including The Vines and properties to the east along the north side of Koreshan Boulevard from 41 to about Three Oaks Parkway and then proceeding further east along the northern boundary of the Estero Fire Rescue district (just north of Teco Arena) until it intersects with Corkscrew Road. 

Simon Suncoast Mall

The Regional Planning Council and Lee County are now analyzing the traffic studies and other information submitted to them by the Simon Corporation in support of the 1,800,000 square foot retail Mall with 300,000 square foot of office space, 1200 residential units and 600 hotel rooms also in the project. Simon has repeatedly indicated that they plan to begin construction on the Mall in 2003 and open the facility in 2004, only three years from now. It should be noted that  41 in front of the proposed Mall will be under construction for 6 laning from 2005 thru 2006 at the earliest under present plans.

In order to better understand the traffic impact of this project, ECCO met with Andy Getch, Lee County's traffic engineer. Although Mr. Getch's traffic analysis is not yet complete, we learned that his traffic analysis assumes the existing road structure and only those road improvements that will be completed within three years of the DRI application. Those improvements are: the extension of Three Oaks Parkway from Corkscrew Road to Coconut Road and the widening of Three Oaks Parkway from Alico Road to Corkscrew Road. In addition the developers will build a segment of Sandy Lane from Williams Road to the southern end of their property south of Coconut Road.

At present the County has no plans for studying the impact that widening 41 and I-75 in the area of the property after the Mall has been built will have upon traffic problems in Estero. In addition the study will not assess the impact that any of the following planned road improvements would have on traffic in Estero after they are completed: widening of 41 throughout Estero; widening I-75; extending Three Oaks Parkway south to Bonita Beach Road; extending Sandy Lane south to Old 41; extending Sandy Lane north to Corkscrew Road; extending Williams Road from River Ranch to Three Oaks Parkway; widening Corkscrew Road to 6 lanes; extending Koreshan Boulevard east from Three Oaks over I-75; improving the interchange at I-75 and Corkscrew Road; extending Coconut Road east over I-75 and extending  Highway 951 north from the Collier County line to Corkscrew Road and beyond. If some or all of these improvements were completed prior to the Mall opening for business, its traffic impact would be far less of a problem.

On the other hand the DRI process will estimate the amount of Road Impact Fees and DRI road improvement fees that the project is likely to produce for future road improvements in the area. The developer pays the larger of the road impact fees or the DRI allocation fees. Unfortunately Estero's road impact zone is so large that the impact fees produced by the project may not be spent on Estero's roadway needs. Lee county frequently negotiates with the developer an option that would commit the developer to contribute the money toward the construction of road improvements most needed to support the project.

Lee County's traffic analysis will be incorporated into their comprehensive report on the project, which will be transmitted to the Regional Planning Council for inclusion in their staff report. Mike Pavese of the Lee County zoning staff is responsible for coordinating the county's analysis of the project. The County Report must be complete and available to the public no later than August 9^th. Inasmuch as it is likely that the Mall will be approved--just as the other two competing malls have been approved--the critical part of each of these reports are the conditions that must be satisfied before the Mall can be constructed.

The staff report of the Regional Planning Council is expected to become available to the public in early August--no later than August 9th. The Regional Planning Council is schedule to meet on August 16^th to consider these reports and hear public testimony on the proposed project.  Later a Lee County Hearing Examiner will hold a public hearing on the projects and finally the Board of County Commissioners will consider the project.

Appearance Standards

for Gas Stations, Car Washes, Convenience Stores and Fast Food Facilities

As a follow up on the Board of County Commissioner's decision to eliminate these facilities from the zoning plan for the Estero Golf Resort, ECCO has written Paul O'Connor, Lee County Director of Planning, requesting that "county planning staff study how current landscaping, signage, lighting, noise, appearance and location standards can be improved" for these kinds of facilities. We further suggested that staff might also extend these standards applicable to other applications like auto and boat dealerships. The letter notes that these facilities often detract from the appearance created by many attractive office and retail businesses located in our commercial corridors. Accompanying the letter were pictures of several of Estero's recently constructed gasoline stations that clearly demonstrate the need for such a review.

The College of Life (formerly Koreshan) Foundation "Riverplace" Zoning

Greg Stuart, the planner for this project, has greatly modified the plan for this 50 acre project on the northeast corner of 41 and Corkscrew Road in order to gain wider community acceptance. The revised plan concentrates the retail uses on the property north of the Estero River and on the southeast section of the property south of the river, thus permitting more open space to be retained in the southwestern part of the property and along 41 south of the river. In addition the revised plan contains many "Corkscrew Road Site Betterment Plan" provisions that prescribe the architecture and appearance of improvements throughout the site. ECCO plans to meet with Lee County Zoning and Planning staff to gain their assistance in interpreting this most complex plan.

Estero Development Information
on Lee County Website

To answer questions about how fast Estero is growing and will be growing the Lee County Community Development Department, Division of Development Services, is working with the Estero Fire Rescue district to report on commercial and residential building permits, occupancy permits, zoning applications, development review applications and commercial use certificates issued or initiated within the district each month. Additionally historical data is available from January 2000, when the County installed a new computer system for tracking development in Lee County.

The building permit reports, which are the most fully developed part of the system to date, summarize the number of permits, the number of residential units, the estimated value of the buildings and the size of each facility in square feet for each type of project district wide and for every square mile section of the fire district. This information will permit us to track and forecast where each type of development will be occurring throughout Estero. The system will provide valuable information for fire district strategic planning, fire station siting decisions, for estimating future property tax revenues and for better managing Estero's dynamic growth.

The zoning application and development review application reports will provide the citizens of Estero with much needed "early warnings" about future zoning decisions and possible "Bubble plan" projects that are about to get underway. This should improve ECCO's and other community organizations' ability to meet as early as possible with area developers to review their plans for development in Estero and to provide each developer with community input early in the planning process.

To view these reports on the internet go to the Lee County website at www.leegov.com and click on the Community Development Department, select "Reports", then "Estero" and finally the month, year and report you desire.

Year to Date Estero Building Permit Activity

During the first five months of 2001 Lee County issued building permits authorizing the construction of 1,035 new housing units in Estero. Forty percent, or 415, were for single family homes with the balance for duplexes and buildings with three to twelve units. None were for high-rises.

The total estimated value of the permitted housing units, excluding the land under them, is $156 million. An additional $17 million of commercial construction was permitted during this period as well. Lee County prevents these values from being underestimated by establishing minimum cost standards in order to insure that they are not underpaid on their building permit fees. The total "building only" value of $173 million for five months is substantial when compared to the preliminary 2000 assessed value increase of the Fire District of $410 million recently released by the Lee County Property Appraiser.

The central question raised by all this evidence of growth in Estero is where are the road and infrastructure improvements necessary to prevent our quality of life from deteriorating in a sea of traffic, less and less open space and endless water shortages. Lee County can afford to be generous in its funding of projects in Estero inasmuch as Estero is a major provider of increased property tax revenue for the County. Through the first five months of 2001 the building value of new housing units permitted in Estero equaled 31% of the total residential building value for all of unincorporated Lee County. While commercial development in Estero is just getting started, during this 5 month period Estero still produced 28% of all the permitted building value in unincorporated Lee County, both residential and commercial.         

New Estero 2000 Census Information

2000 census figures shows that Estero had 7,345 total housing units last year when the census was taken. Of that total 4,018 were owner occupied units, 590 were renter occupied units, 2,224 were classified as "occasional use units" and 513 were vacant housing units. The average household size for owner occupied units was 2.04 persons per household while the comparable average for renter occupied units was 1.78 persons per household. Thus only 62.7% of Estero's housing units were considered by the Census Bureau to be occupied "full time". Applying the household size factors to the housing unit composition figures indicates that Estero's permanent population represents about 67% of our total population with the other 33% being seasonal residents of Estero. Thus Estero's 2000 total population is estimated to be about 14,200 with 9,503 being permanent residents and about 4,700 being seasonal residents. 

History of New Buildings in Estero

The Lee County Property Appraiser has also been assisting the Estero Fire Rescue district to study and understand its property tax base so that it can budget and plan better during this period of rapid growth. The Property Appraiser's records of necessity indicate if each property is vacant or improved and the year in which each building in Estero was added to the tax roles. In the 1999 tax year--taxes collected in 2000--there were 11,564 parcels of property in Estero, including tax exempt parcels. Of that total 6,110 were improved and 5,454 were vacant or exempt. Incredibly 48% of all the improved parcels contained buildings that were no more than 5 years old and 18%, or 1,143, were added in 1999 alone. As the building permit data above indicates Estero's growth continues to accelerate. The residential areas of Estero are quickly becoming an urban area with almost all properties in the community being "new". Development of our commercial corridors cannot be far behind. With the area being as "hot" as it is, property owners and developers must be encouraged to set high standards for developing their property. This is the purpose of the Estero Community Plan.

Sorrento at the Colony

Estero's first high rise condominium started to become occupied in mid-June. This 21 story, 72 unit building will make a major contribution to the rapidly growing Estero property tax base beginning in 2002. The next two high rises planned for The Colony will be located in Bonita Springs. In all the community will contain 9 or 10 high rises and two mid rise buildings, the vast majority of them in Estero.

Hyatt Coconut Point Resort

Estero will be home to its first resort hotel in September when this facility located at the western end of Coconut Road opens for business. According to press reports reservations are now being accepted for September 20^th. In addition to the 450 room hotel the resort will contain 55,000 square feet of spa, meeting and convention space and a 27 hole golf course just north of the hotel. Estero's commercial property tax base, excluding multifamily housing,  will double next year when the Hyatt is added to the tax roles.   

Three Oaks Parkway Extension

from Corkscrew Road and Williams Road

On June 26^th the Lee County Board of Commissioners awarded the contract to construct this segment of Three Oaks to Better Roads, Inc. According to the contract this nearly one mile stretch of four-lane divided roadway is to be completed within seven months of the award, or February 2002. Upon completion the road will connect with another new segment of Three Oaks now being built by the Bonita Bay Group in The Brooks down to Coconut Road.

Colonial Lakes

between the Three Oaks Parkway Extension and River Ranch Road south of Horne Lane--zoning approval of this 29 acre, 100 housing unit project has been slowed by several issues. On June 14^th the Lee County Hearing Examiner heard testimony from Lee County staff, the public and the developer concerning: 1) egress to and from the property from Three Oaks Parkway through an existing transportation easement possessed by an adjacent property owner; 2) provisions for relocation gopher tortoises on the property; 3) the traffic impact of the project on River Ranch Road; and 4) blasting on the property. The Hearing Officers report should be available during July or August with Board of County Commissioners review to follow soon after.

Northeast of Broadway and 41---site clearance has recently begun on a nearly 6 acre site north of Broadway on the east side of 41. The property is owned by the Frank Helmerich Trust, and is agriculturally zoned.

Pending Estero Zoning Matters

As of month end the following zoning applications are being reviewed by county staff and will be scheduled for Public Hearing and/or County Commissioner approval when the application is sufficient and the staff has completed its report:

• The Simon Suncoast DRI application

• The College of Life "Riverplace" application

• The Colonial Lakes application

• The Indigo Isles application

Estero Commercial Projects Now Under Construction

Estero's commercial development is getting underway with the following projects now under construction:

• Wendy's at Corkscrew Village Shopping Center

• Site preparation, road and lake construction at the Estero Interstate Commerce Park (northwest corner I-75 and Corkscrew)

• Hyatt Coconut Point Resort and Golf Club

• Hotel, bank and office building at the Brooks Grande Plaza (southeast corner 41 and Coconut)

• Land clearance for office buildings at Breckenridge

• Albertson's grocery store (southwest of the Williams Road and 41 intersection)