Estero Council of Community Leaders
Minutes of the 50th Monthly Meeting
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Eslick at 1:00 p.m. at the Estero
Community Park. A quorum was present. MinutesSecretary Faie Saunders reported that minutes of prior meetings are available on the website, www.esterofl.org. A motion was made and seconded to approve the March minutes; the minutes were approved. Treasurer’s ReportChris Smith, Treasurer, reported an income for the month of $2,035.77, $1,400 were dues received. Expenses totaled $562 leaving a balance of $6,930.02. The Community Foundation has had an income for 2007 of $2,945.00 with expenses of $79 leaving a balance of $16,337.46. A motion was made and seconded to approve the Treasurer’s report; the report was approved. A $500 balance from an un-used legal fund was voted to be moved into the ECCL treasury. A motion was made and seconded to move these funds as stated. The Southwest Florida Expressway AuthorityKris Cella from Cella Molnar & Associates, a transportation planning firm, came to speak to the group about the possible toll lanes added to the future widening of I-75. The money is in place to widen I-75 from its current four lanes to six, but this will not be enough to handle the future traffic even upon completion. This would result in six lanes from Golden Gate Parkway in Naples to Colonial Blvd. in Fort Myers. Cris stated that there would always be four non-toll lanes even if the Expressway Authority decided to toll the two new lanes soon to be constructed. Using the funds raised from tolls on lanes 5 and 6, the road could be ten laned by 2015, long before the non-toll alternative, about 2030. A power point presentation was shown. No toll booths would be necessary; you would purchase prepaid Passes similar to phone cards now in use. These Passes would be electronically read as you drive under an overhead reader and miles and fees would be deducted from the Pass. The Expressway Authority and the Florida Turnpike Enterprise, both did studies on this project and recommend lanes 5 and 6 be tolled from their opening in order to provide initial funding for ten lanes between Immokalee Road and Alico Road at a cost of approximately $900 million in 2015. To implement this proposal approval of the Authority and both Lee and Collier county commissions is required. Lee is totally on board, Collier is wavering. The membership was encouraged to fill out a questionnaire included on their website, www.swfea.net. See the line “Express Toll Lanes Concept” to find the questionnaire. They will use this information and present it to the Authority and the Collier County Board of County Commissioners to let them know the public view. During a hurricane/emergency evacuation, all Toll Lanes will be free of charge. Cris will appear before your neighborhood association with this presentation, if requested. Autism SpeaksElly Memoli spoke about an organization called Autism Today. The Southwest Florida Walk for Autism will be Saturday, November 10, 2007 at Estero Community Park. Elly is a mother of an 8 year old with autism. Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that typically last throughout a person’s lifetime. These children are recognized as having repeated behaviors, poor communication skills and sociability problems. Thirteen years ago 1 in 10,000 children had autism. Now it is 1 in every 150. Boys are more likely to have autism. Elly was at the meeting to promote the Southwest Florida Walk for Autism. This year it will be held on November 10, 2007 at Estero Community Park. $500,000 has been raised over the last four years with the walk. They need teams and sponsors. Visit their website at www.autismwalk.org/swfl. Lee Memorial Health Planning for 2017
Sam Levy reported that the Visioning Program for Lee Memorial is well on its
way. The end result of this program will be the planning for Lee Memorial
for the next ten years. An interactive meeting was held at Estero High School
with Dr. Browder, school superintendent, leading the meeting. The purpose
was to find out what the public needs in health care and also to promote small
community focus groups that will meet with a facilitator to discuss their health
care needs. Sam encouraged the group to form focus groups to gather information
for Lee Memorial and complete these meetings by May 30. ECCL Organizational & Membership Issues
New communities were discussed and it was
recommended that each Community Board designate a member and alternate to
represent their community. A motion was made to accept the names of Gary Haupt,
Mike Hildebrand and Tom Ferguson’s as representatives of their communities. The
motion was moved, seconded and approved by all. Estero Fire Rescue ReportSusan Lindemuth reported on their recent open house. Groundbreaking will take place at 5 p.m. on May 8 for their new administration building. The 2006 annual report is finished and Lindemuth passed out copies. Estero Fire Rescue has received a Program award from the National Fire Protection Association; they are one of only three districts in the state receiving this award. Chief Tom Seigfried spoke about property tax programs in the Florida legislature that will impact funds that the Estero Fire Rescue has received in the past. Stations could be closed and employees laid off. Chief Seigfried encouraged our input with the legislators to discourage this tax cut. Policy Coordination with the City of Bonita SpringsJack Lienesch reported that the two groups met last Friday; this was the first meeting without a professional facilitator. Discussions took place about condominium insurance, mining issues, Sandy Lane in Bonita, hospital/medical facility, the DR/GR, work force housing and the expressway authority. Bonita has slowed down some development in the DR/GR although development pressure is strong and they can’t “shut down” forever. August 10 was set as the date for the next meeting. The information sharing was good. Mayor Arends e-mailed Mr. Eslick regarding a letter the City had sent to our legislative delegation about condominium insurance. Prior to discussions about this at the meetings, Bonita was not aware of the condo insurance problem. This can be pointed to as a good result of the meetings. The city council’s duty is to the City, but these meetings have created a sense of thinking “outside the box” about issues that will eventually impact the City. Agripartners Ditch Petition StatusJennifer Hecker, of The Conservancy reported that the petition hearing regarding the ditch will be in September. Lee County and The Conservancy are challenging the decision of the SFWMD to allow the Agripartners Ditch. Donations to The Conservancy with “Agripartners Litigation” marked in the memo area of your check will help with their challenge petition. Visit their website at www.conservancy.org DR/GR PlanningLee county is the 2nd largest rock mining county in Florida, the 1st being Miami Dade. On the website, www.corkscrewroad.org can be found a summary of all the lands being used for mining or petitioning to be approved for mining. In 2002 a total of 5,500 acres of land had been permitted in Lee County. In the last five years, that area has nearly doubled to 10,500 acres. The four pending applications would involve 3,000 additional acres. Other DR/GR landowners in Lee County would like to add 13,000 more acres bring the total up to 26,500 acres mined in the DRGR along Corkscrew and Alico Roads. The mining industry has been lobbying the Florida Legislature to take the County out of mine permit and regulation decision making. Click on the map at the website; you will find the information startling. Transportation Committee Report
I 75-Coconut Road subject came up again recently as the result of an article by
Charlie Whitehead of the Bonita Daily News stating that a preliminary ETDM
(Efficient Transportation Decision Making) report showed a “red flag” which
meant that the MPO and FDOT probably could not proceed with this interchange.
The News-Press wrote an article the next day that stated it would be changed to
an “orange flag”. As a result, the MPO will get back to discuss this at their
May meeting. At that time, they may decide to delay for another year the
Interchange Justification Report, which was a study funded by the mysterious $10
million. Arts EsteroMary Pautz is the new President of the Greater Estero Community Arts Council spoke about the Koreshans bringing arts to Estero. The council is now an official 501c3 corporation. There is an ongoing local artists’ exhibit at the corporate offices of Simon Development changing about every six weeks. Mary encouraged membership in the arts council and thanked the ECCL for getting them started. The meeting was adjourned at 3:20 p.m. Next meeting will be Friday, May 18, 2007 at 1:00 p.m. at the Estero Community Park.
Respectfully submitted,
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