Estero Development
Report
Volume 2, Number 10
Issued February 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
Estero Development Activities during
February 2003
March Opportunities for Citizen
Participation In Protecting Estero's Quality of Life
|
Date |
Time |
Event |
Location |
|
Tuesday,
March 4th |
6 p.m. |
Roadway
Landscape Advisory Committee Meeting |
County Community Development Building,
Conference Room 3A, 1500 Monroe Street,
Ft. Myers |
|
Wednesday, March 5th |
|
Hearing
Examiner Hearings on zoning of two Estero Projects -- Estero
Pointe CPD and Corkscrew Palms Commerce Center |
County Community Development Building,
2nd Floor Conference Room, 1500 Monroe Street,
Ft. Myers |
|
Wednesday, March 5th |
1:30 p.m. |
Estero
Community Planning Panel Meeting-- Signage Regulations |
Marsh
Landing Clubhouse |
|
Friday,
March 7th |
3 p.m. |
ECCO
Council of Community Leaders Meeting. |
Marsh
Landing Clubhouse |
|
Monday,
March 10th |
6 p.m. |
Estero
Community Planning Panel Meeting-- The Galleria and the
Riverwoods Tennis Courts projects will be reviewed. |
Marsh
Landing Clubhouse |
|
Monday,
March 10th |
2 p.m. |
Estero
Civic Association Meeting-- Lynda Riley, the County
Conservation 2020 Program. |
Sunnygrove Park Clubhouse |
|
Tuesday,
March 11th |
4:30 p.m. |
Estero
Design Review Committee |
The
Perry Room of The Vines Country Club |
|
Friday,
March 14th |
8 a.m. |
Land
Development Code Advisory Committee review of ECPP proposed
US 41 Overlay etc. |
County Community Development Building,
1st Floor, 1500 Monroe Street,
Ft. Myers |
|
Wednesday, March 19th |
|
Hearing
Examiner Hearing regarding zoning of the Corkscrew Palms II
project |
County Community Development Building,
2nd Floor, 1500 Monroe Street,
Ft. Myers |
|
Wednesday, March 26th |
|
Hearing
Examiner Hearing regarding zoning of the Marbella Estates
project |
County Community Development Building,
2nd Floor, 1500 Monroe Street,
Ft. Myers |
|
Wednesday, March 26th |
5:30 p.m. |
Estero
Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours -- Speaker FGCU
President Bill Merwin
|
Rookery
Pointe Clubhouse-- 20200 Three Oaks Parkway |
February ECCO
Council of Community Leaders Meeting
On February 13th the monthly meeting of ECCO's Council of Community
Leaders discussed the following issues:
Jim Ramsburg reported on his progress in preparing graphics for a
power point presentation on Estero. This material will be used to
inform the residents of our 35 residential communities about
Estero's past, present and future.
Ramsburg
distributed many pictures of Estero's boundaries; residential
developments; roadway landscaping; and a chart showing Estero's past
and prospective population growth. The Committee discussed the
topics that should be included in the 15 minute presentation that
would typically be followed by up to 45 minutes of questions and
answers. He indicated that the Committee has obtained commitments
for design of an Estero logo to be used throughout the presentation
and use of the equipment necessary for "power point" presentations.
Finally,
community leaders were asked to schedule a date and place for an
"Estero--Village with a Vision" meeting in their community during
March or April, before many of our seasonal residents return to the
north for the summer.
from Corkscrew Road to San Carlos Boulevard
With $1.7 million advance
by Lee County, FDOT has asked three engineering firms to prepare
proposals for the design of this segment, the last part of US 41
between Ft. Myers and Naples to be widened. Some of the consulting
firms have been seeking community input in order to sharpen their
proposal to the State.
ECCO is seeking
copies of the descriptive sections of the proposals so that the
communities and institutions along this route may effectively
interact with the selected consultant during the design phase of the
road. A committee consisting of leaders from all of these groups is
now being formed. Thus far the committee includes representatives of
Sunnygrove Park,
Breckenridge,
The Vines and the
Estero Fire Rescue District. Chief
Dennis Merrifield of the Fire Rescue district is preparing a list of
the issues that this committee will need to address with FDOT staff
and their design consultant. Other groups that would like to
participate in the committee should contact Don Eslick by email or
at 949-4050.
If this roadway
is to be constructed anytime soon, the Estero community must work
closely with FDOT, Lee County DOT and the Metropolitan Planning
Organization (MPO) to accelerate the $6 million cost of the right of
way that has been budgeted by the State for no sooner than October
2006, almost four years from now.
Ron
Dillon of Oakbrook Properties told the committee that discussions
with county staff regarding the terms of a Development Agreement for
Coconut Point were going well, but that one issue remained to be
resolved. The Development Agreement will specify when the developers
must pay the County $14.7 million in road impact fees and how those
funds may be used. Thus he will present the Development Agreement to
the Committee at its March meeting.
In addition,
Dillon briefed the Committee about the acquisition of about 100
acres just north of Coconut Point by a trust composed of many of the
Coconut Point property owners. This group plans to develop this
property as a mixed use development using the same appearance
standards being used in Coconut Point. Prior to development of this
site it must go through the same Development of Regional Impact
(DRI) review process that Coconut Point completed in October.
Estero
Community
Planning Panel
On February 14th
the County Land Development Code Advisory Committee (LDCAC) reviewed
and approved with two minor changes the ECPP's proposed sign
regulations that would apply in all of Estero's overlay districts.
These regulations must be reviewed by two more advisory committees
before coming before the BOCC. Next month the LDCAC will review the
US 41 Overlay District recommendation and the modifications to the
existing Corkscrew Road Overlay.
On February 10th
the ECPP considered two zoning matters: The Estero Towncenter
project and a T-mobile cell tower modification proposal.
Dan DeLisi, Vice President of Planning, Barraco & Associates,
presented plans for Courtelis Company’s proposed
Estero Towncenter
on a 33-acre site at the southeast quadrant of Corkscrew Road and Three Oaks Parkway.
The developer proposes a community commercial shopping center with a
maximum of 265,000 square feet of retail including one tract that
would have a maximum building size of 180,000 square feet.
There was
considerable discussion about how many tenants that building should
house and how it might be made to look attractive. DeLisi’s
presentation and exhibit documents emphasized that the proposed
development would meet or exceed the standards set forth in the
Estero Community Plan and Corkscrew Overlay. He noted that the
developer has a reputation for high retail development standards,
citing their Collier County projects, Waterside Shops and Granada Shops.
The developer is
proposing two deviations from the Land Development Code: 1) a
deviation from LDC Section 10-285 to allow an additional
right-in/right-out (only) entryway along Three Oaks Parkway, and 2)
a deviation from LDC Sections 34-2192 and 34-1047 to reduce from
75-feet to 30-feet the parking lot, access streets and drives
setbacks from Corkscrew Road to provide for the necessary required
parking on-site and create a design flexibility to allow for
drive-thru facilities. Forester inquired about the proposed
development’s “village” atmosphere and the pedestrian access routes
within the project. DeLisi replied that it is the developer’s
intention to pursue the village concept. Noethlich invited DeLisi
to return to a subsequent ECPP meeting after the Panel has had the
opportunity to review the proposal.
Ann Hector,
representing T-Mobile cellular communications, presented the
company’s proposal to add a cellular antenna bay at the 200-foot
level of the existing 230-foot FDOT communications tower located in
the southeast quadrant of I-75 and Corkscrew Road.
Hector explained that the antenna is needed by the company to
effectively serve its cellular phone customers between Fort Myers
and Naples. Toth asked if T-Mobile would landscape the ground surrounding the
antenna’s four-feet square by five-foot high connection cabinet at
the base of the tower. Hector said that the company would comply,
but that the ground is owned by FDOT, which would have to approve
the landscaping. She added that should FDOT not approve, T-Mobile
would contribute a like amount of landscaping to another area of
Estero as directed by the Panel.
On February 11th
the EDRC reviewed the plans of two bank projects-- one for
Bank of
America and the other for
Colonial Bank.
The EDRC asked the
developer to remedy the following problems with the development
plan:
- the dumpster
on the property would be visible from Corkscrew Road and needs a landscape barrier to hide it from view;
- the bike
rack would be located too far from the bank entrance;
- the plan
calls for eight more parking spaces than required by code; the
EDRC asked that three of them be deleted to be replaced by
landscaping;
The applicant
agreed to these three requests.
The EDRC also had
a major concern that the architectural appearance of the building
from Corkscrew Road did not fully satisfy the appearance guidelines for the Corkscrew
Overlay district, in which it is located. They suggested that this
side of the building should architecturally compliment the front of
the building. The applicant did not agree with this concern.
The EDRC and the
applicant discussed the following issues concerning the developer's
plans for this bank project:
- The plan
showed 45 parking spaces as compared with the Land Development
Code requirement of 17 spaces. Thus the EDRC asked the developer
to delete some spaces and have those areas become landscape
areas or open space. Applicant agreed to suggestion;
- The
applicant wanted to move the bank's sign further north to avoid
conflict with the large existing Publix sign. The EDRC agreed to
this request and in turn obtained developer agreement to
increase the open space and landscape around the sign;
- The
applicant agreed to connect the sidewalk toward the front
entrance of the bank;
- The EDRC
suggested and the developer agreed that the building use a
contrasting color, rather than the color of the main Plaza
building;
- The EDRC
complimented the developer for the architectural appearance of
the building from both Ben Hill Griffin and Corkscrew Road.
The EDRC found
the architecture of the building to fully conform to the Corkscrew
Overlay appearance guidelines. When the detailed landscape plan for
the project is available, the developer will review it with the
EDRC.
New Stations
On
February 3, 2003,
Estero Fire Rescue (EFR) placed into service the new
Stoneybrook
Station located east of I-75 on the south side of Corkscrew Road between the water plant and Pinewoods Elementary
School.
In just the few weeks it has been open, EFR has reduced response
times by about 80% to communities such as
Wildcat Run,
Grandezza,
and Stoneybrook. This station was built from plans used for the
other two stations built by the district in 2002 and cost $1.25
million. Only exterior features were changed to accommodate the
location. This station currently houses a 95 ft ladder truck with a
platform and a 1750 gallon a minute pumper. Staffing at this station
is four Estero Paramedic/Firefighters per day.
The design of the
Coconut Point Station is underway. This station will be located just
off of US 41 across from the entrance to
Fountain Lakes.
The interior will be the same as the other stations; however the
exterior will comply with the appearance standards prescribed by the
Coconut Point DRI. It is anticipated that the Estero Community
Planning Panel (ECPP) and the Estero Design Review Committee (EDRC)
will review the plans and design for the station during March. Construction is anticipated to begin in July of 2003 and will be
completed 8 months later.
Fire Insurance
Review
In February, at
the request of EFR, the Insurance Services Office (ISO) completed a
two day review of EFR and the fire protection resources available to
the Estero Community. Based on discussions with the ISO Field
Representative conducting the review, ISO was impressed with the
amount of improvement EFR has made in the last 2 years. When ISO
conducted its last review in January 2001 they determined that
although improvements had been made, the improvements failed to keep
pace with the growth of the community. As a result EFR was told that
if immediate improvements were not made ISO would assign a class
rating of 7/9, a retrogression from the class 6/9 rating now
assigned to the community.
In January 2001
EFR had already made plans for improvement and were getting those
improvements underway. However, ISO takes a snapshot of a community
and bases its rating on what exists at that moment in time. As an
example, ISO will not recognize a fire station that is half built or
a purchase contract for a fire truck.
The ISO rating is
used by insurance companies to determine its risk when issuing
homeowner and business insurance policies. The fire department
itself, (location of trucks, types of trucks, equipment, staffing,
training, maintenance and record keeping), accounts for 50% of the
score. Water supply (location of fire hydrants, volume and pressure)
accounts for 40%. The remaining 10% is based on communication; the
receipt and dispatching of a 911 call.
ISO assigns a
number from 10 (no fire protection) to 1 (the best fire protection).
The lower the ISO class number the lower your insurance rates. The
first number in the ISO Class rating represents the rating assigned
to those properties that are within 1000 feet of a fire hydrant and
five road miles of a fire station (Ex., 4/x). The second number
represents those properties that are not within 1000 feet of
a fire hydrant, but are within five road miles of a fire
station (Ex., x/9). A Class 10 would be assigned to those areas
beyond 5 road miles of a fire station.
Since ISO's last
review EFR has placed four fire trucks and three stations into
service and hired additional people to staff these facilities. One
of the most stunning improvement was doubling the number of fire
hydrants from 567 to over 1041! Estero Fire Chief Dennis Merrifield
is optimistic that as a result of this review ISO will assign at
least a Class 4/9 rating, matching the Class rating of neighboring
fire districts.
The EFR Board and
staff are committed to continue their efforts to improve their
service, therefore driving down the cost of insurance. The
construction of the Coconut Point Station, the development of a
training site, delivery of additional fire trucks and additional
staffing, will enable EFR to further improve ISO ratings. Based upon
current plans, EFR anticipates asking ISO to review the community
again in 2 years.
During January 109
new housing units were permitted for the Estero community, up form
83 last year and 77 in 2000, but less than the 146 that were
approved in January 2001. As we have reported recently, an
increasing share of the new housing in Estero are single family
homes.
During the month
Estero produced 18% of the total unincorporated Lee County permitted building value for residential units. During January
Estero's permitted building value for all kinds of property was 61%
greater than Bonita Springs.
This increase was the result of Estero's housing growth during the
month exceeding Bonita Springs by 137% while Estero's commercial
building permit values during January was only 23% of Bonita's.
During 2002 The Brooks
continued to set the pace for housing development in Estero with
42.5% of all housing units permitted, similar to the 43% they
recorded in 2001.The areas of housing unit growth in the community
are now east of I-75 in Stoneybrook,
Grandezza and
Wildcat Run and
in the southwest corner of Estero.
Stoneybrook-Grandezza--Wildcat Run has increased from 17% of total
Estero housing units permitted in 2000 to 20% in 2001 and 25% last
year. Meanwhile the area south of Williams Road and west of US 41
have increased their share of Estero housing units permitted from
11% in 2000 to 12% in 2001 and 18% in 2002.
Once again, the
area that is losing share of permitted housing units is
Pelican
Sound--West Bay Club. In 2000 these two developments produced 34% of
Estero's permitted housing units; by 2001 that rate had fallen to
15% and last year to only 2%.
Pelican Sound is nearly sold out and
the parent company of the developers of West Bay experienced financial problems. As indicated elsewhere in this
report West Bay should improve their performance this year and for several years to
come.
On February 27th the Lee
County School Board approved spending $5.8 million for a 76 acre
school site on the east side of Three Oaks Parkway just north of
Corkscrew Road. This property is expected to be the site of one
large or two or three smaller schools. The Board moved quickly
because another purchaser was interested in purchasing the
agriculturally zoned property. The purchase price averaged about
$75,500 per acre.
Last month we incorrectly reported
that The West Bay Club, an upscale community located at the Western
end of Williams Road,
had been purchased by Merrill Lynch, when in fact the new owner is
Lehman Brothers. The change in ownership has permitted the project
to open for sales again in January, to initiate an eight week
advertising campaign, and to begin construction of the community's
country club later this year. Steve Cashion, project manager for
West Bay,
reports that sales traffic has been good and that about half the
single family home sites have been sold thus far. In addition, the
approved zoning for West Bay includes three condominium towers.
On February 25th the
BOCC approved a County initiated zoning resolution that, when
approved, will reclassify a 53 acre parcel from Residential (RPD) to
County Facility (CF-3) and to authorize the Division of Planning to
act as the County's agent in the rezoning. We anticipate that the
ECPP will soon be asked to sponsor a community meeting to consider
this zoning request prior to being considered by a Hearing Examiner
and finally, the BOCC.
On February 25th
the BOCC directed an ordinance creating
The Habitat CDD to a public
hearing at
5 p.m.
on
April 8,2003.
If approved the CDD would grant the Board of the Habitat CDD the
powers to finance, fund, plan, establish, acquire, construct, or
re-construct, enlarge, or extend, equip, operate and maintain
systems and facilities for the following basic infrastructure: water
management; water supplies; sewer and wastewater management; bridges
or culvert; district roads; streetlights; conservation areas; and
other projects within and outside the district boundaries for which
a Development Order may be issued. The ordinance also appoints the
initial members of the CDD Board. This is the first sign that the
new purchasers of this major residential project are planning to
proceed with the project as zoned.
On February 15th
and 16th the developers of
Lakes of Estero held their
grand opening for this 102 home community located on the northeast
corner of Williams Road and River Ranch Road just east of Estero
High School. Three models are now open each of them featuring "Olde
World Mediterranean" styles.
University
Overlay Roadway
Landscaping Funding Approved
On February 18th
the BOCC approved an additional $1 million for landscaping and
irrigation of this major roadway landscaping project. The project
extends from Alico Road south on Ben Hill Griffin Road to Corkscrew Road and west on Corkscrew to I-75, a distance of almost four miles. This
approval increases the total funding for this project to $2.5
million, or about $625,000 per mile. For comparison purposes, the
county's core landscaping program usually costs about $200,000 per
mile. The project manager is expected to begin using these
additional funds in April.
Lee County has agreed to sponsor a grant application for this road segment
under the Countywide Streetscape Landscape Grant on State Highways
program. The state is already committed to spending $704,000 for
"core landscaping" this segment, which is expected to be completed
in late 2004 or early 2005. A total of $400,000 will be available
for these grants during the 2004/05 fiscal year. Last year the
Corkscrew Road/
I-75 Intersection received a $150,000 grant through this program.
ECCO and other members of the Estero community will be working with
the County to develop the grant application that must be approved by
the BOCC for submittal to MPO approval in June.
In addition ECCO
plans to work with FDOT in order to obtain a grant under their
"Highway Beautiful" program. Applications for this program are due
in February 2004.
