Volume 3, Number 7
Issued November 2003

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

December Opportunities for Citizen Participation In Protecting Estero's Quality of Life

Date	Time	Event	Location
Tuesday, December 2^nd	6:00 p.m.	Roadway Landscape Advisory Committee Meeting -- Us 41 Design Review	County Community Development Building, Conf. Room 3A, 1500 Monroe St., Ft Myers
Tuesday, December 2^nd	9:30 a.m.	BOCC Consideration of Conservation 2020 Extension	County Board Chamber. 2^nd Floor, 2120 Main Street, Ft Myers
Tuesday, December 2^nd	3 p.m.	Conservation 2020 Hearing on "Bamboo Island"	County Community Development Building, Conf. Room 4A, 1500 Monroe St., Ft Myers
Wednesday, December 3^rd	2 p.m.	Hearing Examiner Zoning Hearing on the Estero Community Park	County Community Development Building, 2^nd Floor Conf. Room, 1500 Monroe St., Ft Myers
Wednesday, December 3^rd	5:30 p.m.	Bonita City Council Hearing on the Sandy Lane Alignment Study	Bonita Springs Utilities Board Room, E Terry St. and I-75
Monday, December 8^th	1 p.m.	Department of Planning Workshop on Zoning and Master Concept Plans	County Community Development Conf. Room , 1500 Monroe St., Ft Myers
Monday, December 8^th	2 p.m.	Estero Civic Association-- Speaker State Rep. Carole Green	Breckenridge Community Clubhouse
Monday, December 8th	6 p.m.	Estero Community Planning Panel Meeting -- Sandy Lane Alignment Study Preliminary Recommendations	Marsh Landing Clubhouse
Tuesday, December 9th	6:00 p.m.	Estero Fire Rescue District Board Meeting	Estero United Methodist Church -- Founder's Hall
Tuesday, December 9th	5:30 p.m.	Lee County DOT Hearing on CR 951	South County Regional Library
Wednesday, December 10th	5 p.m.	Estero Design Review Committee review of Embassy Suites and Stilwell Solar	The Perry Room of The Vines Country Club
Friday, December 12th	2 p.m.	ECCO Council of Community Leaders Meeting	Marsh Landing Clubhouse
Tuesday, December 16^th	1:30 p.m.	Local Legislative Delegation 2004 Legislative Issues Hearing	County Board Chambers, Second Floor, 2120 Main Street., Ft Myers
Wednesday, December 17^th	9:30 a.m.	Hearing Examiner Hearing on the Williams--Three Oaks CPD project	County Community Development Building, 2^nd Floor Conf. Room, 1500 Monroe St., Ft Myers
Thursday, December 18^th	5:30 p.m.	Estero Chamber Business After Hours, Speaker Commissioner Bob Janes	Colonial Bank, southeast corner US 41 & Corkscrew

Index

Page	Subject
1	Calendar
2	Sandy Land Alignment Study
5	Other Critical Traffic Problems
6	Coconut Point Progress Report
8	Estero Design Review Committee Activities
10	Estero Community Park
11	Village with a Vision Meetings
11	BOCC Vote on Conservation 2020 Extension
12	Conservation 2020 Review of Bamboo Island Acquisition
12	Estero Civic Association
13	Two More Housing Projects Get Underway

Sandy Lane Alignment Study Public Hearings

The primary opportunity for citizens to influence the alignment of Sandy Lane is the following series of three public community meetings:

DATE	SPONSOR	PLACE
Monday, Dec. 8^th^{6 p.m.}	Estero Community Planning Panel	Marsh Landing Clubhouse
Wednesday, Jan. 14^th	San Carlos Park Civic Association	To Be Announced

At these meetings Cella & Associates, consultants for Lee DOT, will present the alternative routes, their costs, their traffic implications and all other considerations regarding this additional north-south roadway. After the presentation the public will be invited to comment, express their preferences and make suggestions.

THESE ARE VERY IMPORTANT MEETINGS --- ALL RESIDENTS OF ESTERO, BONITA SPRINGS AND SAN CARLOS PARK SHOULD PLAN TO ATTEND AND PARTICIPATE IN THE DISCUSSION. THE IMPLICATIONS FOR INCREASED TRAFFIC CONJESTION ON US 41 ARE PROFOUND.

Cella & Associates will also make a presentation to the Bonita Springs City Council at their regular meeting this week. The Council will have an opportunity to react to the preliminary recommendations but will schedule one or more meetings for public input later. This is a good opportunity for Bonita residents and others to see what the County consultants have learned as they have studied this issue over the last six months.

DATE

SPONSOR

PLACE

Wednesday, Dec. 3^rd

^{5:30 p.m.}

Bonita Springs City Council

Bonita Springs Utilities Board Room, E. Terry St. & I-75

Where Is Sandy Lane?

At present Sandy Lane is two lane road between Corkscrew Road and Broadway, just east of the railroad tracks near US 41. When construction begins on the Coconut Point Town Center, probably next year, a four lane segment of Sandy Lane will be constructed between Corkscrew Road and the northern boundary of the City of Bonita Springs with a connection to US 41 terminating immediately east of Pelican Colony Boulevard, the northern entrance to the Pelican Landing community. Since 1996 the Long range road plan for the County has depicted Sandy Lane as a two lane road extending from the southern end of Oriole Street in San Carlos Park to a direct connection with Old 41 in Bonita Springs. The intention of the planners was to have a road that would permit residents of our communities to make local trips without having to use US 41.

The Impact of the Coconut Point Town Center Project

The developers of the Coconut Point Town Center, formerly the Simon Suncoast Center, always recognized that Sandy Lane needed to be a four lane road between Corkscrew Road and Old 41 if traffic from this mega-project is to be managed properly. They felt so strongly about the road being 4 lanes that they have agreed to pay about $6 million out of their own pockets…not reimbursed by impact fees or any other public source…for the additional two lanes from Corkscrew to the southern end of their property. The developers and the county have agreed on the alignment of this part of Sandy Lane. Construction of this segment is expected to begin late next year, with completion late in 2005.

The problem is that no provision has been made for extending Sandy Lane from the southern boundary of the Coconut Point property directly to Old 41. Consequently, southbound traffic to and from Coconut Point will have to use US 41 south of Sandy Lane's southern connection to US 41 at Pelican Colony Boulevard.

Residents of Estero and Bonita Springs will be asked to choose one of three alternative routes for Sandy Lane between Coconut Point's southern boundary to Old 41. Two of them will directly connect Sandy Lane from the southeast corner of the Coconut Point property (by the railroad tracks) to Old 41 while the third is the "no-build" option. The "no-build" option would permanently require that US 41 handle all Sandy Lane traffic south of Pelican Colony Boulevard. Several representatives of the City of Bonita Springs have expressed a preference for the "no-build" option.

Financing a Direct Connection to Old 41

No doubt some of The Bonita Springs opposition to the direct Old 41 connection is caused by concern about who will pay to cost of that connection -- the County, the City or both -- because the need for this connection is caused by booming commercial development in unincorporated Lee County, while the roadway extension is entirely in the City of Bonita Springs. In public meetings Commissioner Judah has indicated that the County needs to pay some of this expense. In addition, Commissioner Albion has indicated his unequivocal support for a direct connection to Old 41.

The last steps in the Alignment Study process require the City Council of City of Bonita Springs and the Board of County Commissioners to approve an alignment. Thus the Alignment Study and your participation in support of a direct connection could result in negotiations between the City and County on this issue. One possible source of revenue for the County to pay some of these costs is the "North Point" Development of Regional Interest (DRI) that is now under review by the Regional Planning Council. North Point is a large 100 acre mixed used development just north of Coconut Point that will be required to pay several millions dollars in road impact fees and will add substantial traffic to US 41 that could be alleviated by the direct connection of Sandy Lane to Old 41.

Recent Evidence on the Need for the Direct Connection

In September the Transportation Impact Statement (TIS) for the North Point DRI became available. The study prepared for the developers of this major project estimates traffic on all Estero and Bonita Springs roads in 2008. Because of State rules applicable to these studies, the study assumes that Three Oaks Parkway between Coconut Road and Terry Street and Sandy Lane will not yet be in use. This is likely to be the situation from late 2005 until 2007 or 2008, at which time this segment of Three Oaks Parkway will become operational.

The North Point DRI traffic study estimates that the existing four lanes of US 41 are now carrying the following amount of traffic (measured by the number of average annual daily trips…AADT):

Bonita Beach Road to W. Terry Street 43,900

W. Terry Street to North Bay Drive 38,200

Old 41 to Coconut Road 43,100

In 2008 the North Point Traffic Study forecasts the following number of daily trips (AADTs) for the following US 41 road segments (by then 6 laned) excluding the traffic that would be generated by North Point if it is approved as requested:

Bonita Beach Road to W. Terry Street 50,775

W. Terry Street to north Old 41 57,320

Old 41 to Pelican Colony Boulevard 97,332

Pelican Colony Boulevard to Coconut Road 97,904

Coconut Road to Fountain Lakes Boulevard 58,228

The results of this study clearly indicate three things:

North-south traffic will soon be exploding as the commercial expansion of Estero commences,
A direct extension of Sandy Lane between the Bonita Springs boundary and Old 41 is a crucial link in our area road network, and
The substantial traffic relief provided by Old 41 south of the "bottleneck" and by Three Oaks Parkway north of this area.

The opening of Three Oaks between Coconut the E. Terry Street in late 2007 or 2008 will relieve the bottleneck for a while.

Between late 2005, when Coconut Point's first phase is schedule to open, until 2007 or 2008 when Three Oaks from Coconut to East Terry Street is opened, all southbound Three Oaks traffic must travel Coconut Road to US 41 in order to proceed south. Alternatively northbound US 41 traffic can find relief by exiting US 41 and traveling east on Coconut Road to Three Oaks Parkway and proceeding north.

The following table from the North Point TIS estimates the volume of traffic these roads will handle during this period:

	US 41	Three Oaks Parkway
Between Corkscrew & Williams	56,292	46,676
Between Williams & Coconut	57,086	32,987

		Coconut Road
Between Three Oaks & US 41		32,772

	US 41	Three Oaks Parkway
Between Coconut & Pelican Colony Road	97,904	0
Between Pelican Colony Road & Old 41	97,332	0

What the table shows is that the 32,772 vehicles using Three Oaks Parkway also travel Coconut Road between Three Oaks and US 41 where they merge with the 57,086 vehicles traveling on US 41 north of Coconut. This results in the 97,904 vehicles traveling US 41 south of Coconut Road.

Residents of The Brooks will be most dramatically affected during this period.

Only effective citizen participation can ensure that this important problem is addressed. We urge you to attend the Estero Community Planning Panel meetings on December 8^th and any Hearings scheduled by the Bonita Springs City Council.

Coconut Point
Progress Report

Coconut Point is not a just a mall. It is far more than a shopping center. The co-developers of Coconut Point are Simon Property Group and Oakbrook Properties, the firm that sold 2,500 acres to Bonita Bay Group for The Brooks.

Coconut Point consists of 483 acres extending along the east side of US 41 from the Bonita Springs northern boundary…just north of the Sanibel Steakhouse…to Williams Road. The Simon Property Group is purchasing about 175 acres from Oakbrook Properties that will contain Coconut Point's TownCenter, which, around a 16 acre lake will contain approximately 1,300,000 square feet of retail, 200 condominium units, hotels and offices. The TownCenter will feature lifestyle tenants, community center tenants, a state of the art Muvico theater and a range of restaurant offerings.

"Lifestyle Centers" first emerged on the shopping center scene about 15 years ago. They are open air…not enclosed…architecturally upscale projects located in affluent areas. They attract upscale retailers, both national and local, of apparel, home goods, and book and smaller department stores. They also attract table service restaurants, multiplex theaters and other entertainment features. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers the selection of the tenants in "lifestyle centers" is essential to their success. Design ambience is also a critical feature. As a result they often contain fountains and attractive landscaping that contribute to the creation of a village square, a marketplace or a main street atmosphere. This is what Simon hopes to achieve with its Coconut Point Town Center.

Since the property was zoned 14 months ago Oakbrook properties has been busy marketing the balance of the property, approximately 300 acres, to numerous developer prospects. Simon Property Group had originally contracted to purchase about 100 acres of developable property but increased the size of their purchase to about 175 acres. Zoning for these parcels would permit Simon to construct the following: 200 residential units; 1,450,000 square feet of retail; 90,000 square feet of office and 450 hotel rooms.

Oakbrook is in process of finalizing the sale of about 65 acres to a housing developer. This project is expected to begin project marketing and building model homes in mid-2004. Full scale construction of up to 550 multi-family units is expected in early 2005.

Several retail developers have expressed interest in the commercial parcel on the southeast corner of Williams Road and US 41, a site that is zoned for up to 250,000 square feet of retail and 30,000 square feet of office. The developer with the best design will probably be chosen by Oakbrook to develop this site.

The Estero Fire Rescue District has acquired a parcel in order to build its fourth fire station for the Estero community directly across from the entrance to the Fountain Lakes community. A bank has acquired the property next to the fire station in order to build another bank there.

Recent press reports indicate that the Lee Memorial Health System Board has approved the purchase of over 21 acres adjacent to the BonitaCommunity Health Center for long range expansion purposes. This contract has not yet been finalized.

Meanwhile, the Simon Property Group has announced that Dillard's Department Stores has signed a lease for an 180,000 square foot store to be located in the TownCenter. In addition Muvico, a Florida based developer of upscale megaplex theaters, will build a 93,000 square foot (Mediterranean theme) theater in the TownCenter. When the Town Center opens for business in the fall of 2006 it will contain about 100 stores, 70,000 square feet of office and 200 town homes, some over the main street and some, around a courtyard setting. The Town Center will be located immediately north of Coconut Road.

Just north of the Town Center Simon is leasing a "community" retail center that is expected to open for business in the fall of 2005. This center is expected to contain about 40 stores surrounded by a beautifully landscaped and buffered parking lot all situated around a 16 acre lake with restaurants and walking paths along its shore..

Looking ahead the schedule appears something like this:

    * Continue negotiations with the county regarding the Development
       Agreement;
    * Make first road impact fee payment of $6.1 million by December 31,
       2003;
    * Site preparation for the housing development near the north end of the
        property will begin in the spring of 2004;
    * Simon will start site preparation and lake development in the spring
        of 2004.

Estero Design Review Committee Activities

On November 12^th the EDRC reviewed four significant new Estero developments:

· A dental office building in the Coconut Square Commerce Park,

· A Tires Plus facility in the Estero Interstate Commercial Park,

· Rick Johnson Tire and Auto in the Grande Oak Shopping Center, and

· Galloway Coconut Point Ford in front of the Fountain Lakes community.

Coconut Square Dental OfficeBuilding

The developer's representatives presented renderings of an attractive Mediterranean building for the owner/dentist and three other offices. The EDRC made the following recommendations for improving the project:

· Add wall enclosures and landscaping around the dumpster,

· Questioned the use of Guavas in the parking lot because of their potential for causing conflicts between autos and pedestrians;

· Limit the number of signs on the buildings to the number of tenants;

Tires Plus

Six representatives of Tires Plus attended the meeting to present their proposal and to answer the EDRC's questions. The project is located on a highly visible site immediately west of I-75 on the north side of Corkscrew Road. The front of the building faces the interior road in the project, thus the rear of the building faces and is very close to Corkscrew Road. Each side of the building contains 8 garage doors which, if not properly buffered, would be an eyesore from the adjacent roadways.

In response to County staff suggestions Tires Plus had incorporated into their design a wall to obscure entrance doors on the rear of the building and added a vine covered lattice structure along the western side of the property.

The committee raised many questions about the proposal as indicated by the following:

· Rejected the red color used around doors, windows, and garage doors, applicant agreed to change to white

· Requested tile roof (rather than metal) on the mansard/awning roof on the front and side of the building

· The proposed building has no signage facing Corkscrew Road; there is a monument sign at the north end of the building

· Plant buffer palms in clusters (3-5-7) rather than individually and staggering the heights (10’ clear trunk (c.t.), 14’ c.t., 18’ c.t.)

· Parking lot islands should be filled with shrubs and groundcovers, not just four shrubs with mulch and/or sod

· Suggest taller growing material in rear of building using wax myrtle, walter’s viburnum, more trees and/or palms

· Informed developer that Indian Hawthorn and African Bush Daisy will not meet the 24” height required by the LDC at installation when planted at a 3 gallon container size and will most likely not reach the required 36” height after one year

· Suggest greater species diversity of shrubs and groundcover in the landscape plan

· Noted that the plan includes tree species which don’t grow in SW Florida; suggest shady lady black olive, live oak, mahogany, tabebuia (for flowering) as potential replacements

· Suggested larger canopy trees (i.e. 45 gallon, 13-14’ o.a.)

· Suggested outside seating (i.e., benches) for customers by business entrance

· Suggested more shrubs along the east side of property as site plan does not provide building perimeter landscape against building on that side of the building

· Possibly use canvas awnings rather than suggested tile (but not metal under ANY circumstance)

· Vine covered lattice may not grow well on the west side of building; committee suggests 5-6’ tall shrubs at installation for screening; these large shrubs should be allowed to reach natural mature height not trimmed to 5’ hedge

· Backlighting of signage was suggested by one panel member

· The EDRC did not reach a conclusion regarding the use of the flat roof and parapet façade and accepted the roof architecture as presented. However, it appears that this type of roof conflicts with LDC 34-1046 (a)(1) which states in part: "Buildings of less than 5,000 square feet of gross floor area must be designed with roofs having a minimum pitch of 30 degrees (4:12).

The developer's representatives claimed at the meeting that they were not subject to a contract provision giving the Estero Interstate Commerce Park developer appearance approval. Subsequent to the meeting the developer's architect confirmed that the developer does have this contractual right and that they had approached Tires Plus to meet concerning this requirement. Hopefully some of the remaining issues regarding this project can be resolved through this process or through county staff intervention.

Tires Plus had previously held its own community meeting…a meeting that was advertised as required by statute but was attended only by the Tires Plus representative. They consented to presenting to the EDRC only after the community had strongly reacted to their effort to avoid the EDRC. Their presentation clearly indicated that they had not carefully studied the Corkscrew Road overlay provisions of the Land Development Code and had not made no a serious attempt to satisfy those requirements, relying instead on county staff suggestions. As a result their proposal was by far the least desirable that the EDRC has thus far reviewed.

In spite of all of this Tires Plus sought EDRC approval to proceed with the project construction immediately and continue to pressure County staff for immediate approval so that they can begin to construct their controversial project.

Rick Johnson Tire & Automotive

This project is located on the eastern-most outlot of the GrandeOak Shopping Center… the best location for such use in the center. Like the Tires Plus building, this building has tree garage doors on each side.

The EDRC made numerous suggestions for improving the project, all of which were immediately accepted by the project's representatives and owner, who was present at the meeting. The committee's suggestions follow:

Reacted negatively to the proposed color scheme but the presenters were ready with another rendering that featured a more acceptable color scheme
Requested signage with back lighted lettering on building
Suggested Sabal palms in larger clusters (i.e., 5 or 7 vs. 3), as well as the use of staggered heights for the Sabal palms (10’ clear trunk (c.t.)., 14’ c.t. and 18’ c.t.)
Recommended larger oaks (45 Gallon Container, 13-14’ o.a.) in order to reduce conflicts with sight lines to signage
Committee questioned whether the percentage of planted area (shrubs/groundcovers) in building perimeter and interior landscape areas was sufficient to meet county code requirement; indicated a desire to see many more shrubs and more groundcover in those areas rather than sod
Suggested that the plan include greater species diversity in shrubs and groundcovers
Pointed out that pine trees used in irrigated areas tend to decline over time; suggested that another native tree be used; approved use of pine trees in any non-irrigated preserve area
Asked that the color scheme of garage doors be changed to be compatible with the building.

Galloway Coconut Point Ford

Galloway was not required to present to the EDRC because they received a development order for the property several years ago when they had originally attempted to locate a car dealership on the property. Al O'Donnell, a member of the EDRC indicated that his firm had been hired to install the landscaping on the project and therefore would not participate in the EDRC's review of the proposal.

The committee made no significant recommendation for change in the proposed architectural design or landscaping of the project.

Estero Community Park

Jeff Mudgett, the architect who designed the Estero Community Park for the County and the community, reviewed the status and plans for this 65 acre park at the November meeting of the Estero Council of Community Leaders. This facility will be a tremendous asset for the community. While it will have many active recreational facilities, most of its area will be devoted to passive recreation. This is possible because of an agreement between the County and the LeeCounty School District whereby the public and the students share the use of all the playfields owned by either entity, including all the sports facilities of EsteroHigh School.

The Community/Recreation Center will have meeting rooms of all sizes and serving many purposes. The Central Lawn and the large hill adjacent to it will seat over 2,000 people for concerts and other community events. The park has been design to be the hub of the Estero community, linked by sidewalks and bike paths to neighborhoods in all directions. Within a few years all major roads in Estero will have sidewalks and bike paths.

The highlights of Mudgett's presentation follow:

Workers are now on the site clearing the exotic trees and plants,
Zoning for the park will be presented to the Hearing Examiner on December 3^rd,
The Community RecreationCenter has been expanded to 40,000 square feet as a result of a private contribution that will pay for another volleyball court,
A third soccer field has been added to the park,
Construction of the park and the Community RecreationCenter will begin in April 2004 and be completed in August 2005.

The entire park will be built in one phase if the County can finance the total cost of the park through a bond issue supported by the Community Park Impact Fees generated by new housing construction in our area. Since 9/11/2001collections of community park impact fees has declined somewhat, causing some uncertainty about the County's ability to support a bond issue of this size. ECCO will be working with the County to find ways to build the park in one phase, saving about $400,000 and permitting the park to be completed two years earlier than if bonds are not used.

"Village with a Vision" Meetings

During "the Season" last year ECCO sponsored about 20 "Village with a Vision" meetings in Estero residential communities. About 1,200 residents learned about Estero's boundaries, history, growth, roadway landscaping, community plan and other growth management efforts.

The "Village with at Vision" program consists of a well designed power point presentation with loads of graphics followed by a discussion of all the issues associated with Estero's growth and its management. If you haven't attended a session, you should.

"Village with a Vision" meetings are now being scheduled from January through April 2004. If you would like to schedule a meeting in your community, please call Don Eslick at 949-4050 and I will pass it on to our coordinator.

BOCC Vote on
Conservation 2020 Extension

On Tuesday December 2^nd the BOCC will decide how to reauthorize the Conservation 2020 program. Since the program was created by referenda in 1966, thousands of acres of land have been purchased by the County with the tax dollars collected under the program. Last year the BOCC extended the program for one year while a county committee held hearings throughout the county. Virtually everyone who testified at the hearings applauded the program. The response was so overwhelming that the committee recommended to the BOCC that the program be extended without conducting another referendum.

Since Conservation 2020 only purchases land owned by willing sellers, conducting a referenda would create some unnecessary uncertainty about the future of the program and reduced its effectiveness during that period. Thus we urge the Commissioners to extend the program for another 5 years without referenda. If you agree, please email or call the Commissioners before the vote on Tuesday, December 2^nd.

Conservation 2020 Review of Bamboo Island Acquisition

"Bamboo Island" is a 7 acre parcel of land that is a peninsula bordered by the Estero River and Bramen Creek, off East Broadway, west of the Village of Country Creek and east of Sandy Lane. Bamboo Island was once the hub of one of the world's largest citrus industries serving barges that used the river to access Estero Bay and ports around the country.

Since the property became available many people have toured the island including historians, conservationists, archeologists and interested citizens of Estero. The reactions of the people who have visited Bamboo Island include appreciation for its educational, geological, horticultural and archeological value. It ahs potential for cave studies, identification of native plants, water studies, wildlife habitat studies, Florida Gulf Coast University environmental studies, as a botanical garden. It would be ideal for outdoor functions--Black Tie Affairs, Weddings, Retreats, etc. Some visitors have described it as a miniature Cypress Garden, a great location for an Estero Historical Society headquarters, a place where docent guides could provide trail walks giving the history of our community, and for recreational opportunities.

This property is not your usual Conservation 2020 project; they usually acquire vacant land that has not been previously developed. A Conservation 2020 evaluation team toured the property last week. Their concerns about the possible acquisition include:

removal of the exotics on the property,
access to property from Tanglewood Avenue, a privately owned road, and
who would manage the houses now on the property?

If the project is approved at the meeting on Tuesday, December 2^nd, the BOCC will vote on it on December 11^th.

Linda Riley, coordinator of Conservation 2020, has indicated that a public show of support is necessary if this property is to be purchased with Conservation 2020 funds. If you would like to see this project continue to be considered for Conservation 2020 funding you should call Linda at 479-8505 or email her at RILEYLT@leegov.com and/or attend the hearing at 3 p.m. Tuesday at the County Community Development Building, 1500 Monroe Street in Ft. Myers.

The Estero Civic Association

The following is a summary of the comments made by County Commissioner John Albion when he addressed the Estero Civic Association on November 10^th:

Ground breaking for the Estero Community Park has been scheduled for sometime in January 2004,
The Olympic swimming pool that will soon be opened at FGCU will be open to the public,
Lee County has now taken over sewerage treatment services for Estero north of Williams Road and has taken steps to greatly upgrade the system and provide better quality services,
Strongly supports the use of mining pits as water storage reservoirs in order to increase our water supply. The reservoirs would act like above ground aquifers, naturally cleaning the water,
Reported that a study of Federal transportation expenditures over the past 8 years indicates that Florida has been a DONOR Stateto the tune of $1.4 billion. He suggests that we all need to address this issue if we are to have the kind of transportation network that our growth demands,
Reported that the new mid-field terminal at Southwest FloridaRegional Airportis on schedule for completion in 2005,

Two More Housing
Projects Get Underway

In November two more Estero housing projects commenced site preparation in anticipation of construction early in 2004. They are:

Heatherstone at Rookery Point located just west of Three Oaks Parkwayon the south side of Koreshan Boulevard, and
Three Oaks Village located on the east side of Three Oaks Parkway on the northern boundary of Estero.

Heatherstone at Rookery Pointe

Keystone Custom Homes, the original developer of Rookery Pointe, recently sold the multi-family portion of the property to Engle Homes, a division of the 13^th largest home builder in the U. S. The property is zoned for 250 multi-family units.

Coastal Village

This project is the first off-campus FGCU student housing project west of I-75. Phase 1 will be completed in time for the opening of classes in the fall of 2004. It will consist of 100 four unit student apartments housing 400 students.

Phase 2 will open in time for the fall 2005 semester and will have a mix of two, three and four unit apartments, housing an additional 300 students. In addition to the apartments the project will include a technology center, a swimming pool, a fitness center, volleyball and basketball courts and a convenience store. Leases will include utilities and shuttle service to the University.

When Koreshan Boulevard is extended over I-75 in 2005 or 2006 students living in Three Oaks Village will be only 2.25 miles from the University. Until then the shortest route to the campus is via Three Oaks Parkway, Corkscrew Road and Ben Hill Griffin.

Estero Development Report

Index

Where Is Sandy Lane?

Financing a Direct Connection to Old 41

Recent Evidence on the Need for the Direct Connection

Three Oaks Parkway

US 41