Estero Council of Community Leaders

Minutes of the Regular Monthly Meeting

December 16, 2005

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Eslick in the River Club of Pelican Sound at 2:00 p.m. A quorum was present.

Forty nine people were in attendance representing twenty-one communities, six community wide organizations and eight guests.

Minutes

The minutes of the November meeting were approved and accepted with no corrections. The minutes are available to read online at www.esterofl.org.

Treasurer’s Report

Chris Smith reported a balance of $750.85 with one expense of $42.75 payable to the Florida Dept. of State.

The report was approved and accepted with no corrections.

Transportation Committee

Don Rowe reported on the I-75 Coconut Interchange Issue. He indicated that the $10 million that became available to study the intersection of I-75 and Coconut Road could be better used at this time. This project would divert funds from other higher priority projects. The extension of Coconut Road east would also have a strong effect on the wetlands and panther habitats east of I-75. The 2030 plan has a $4.5 billion shortfall in funding. Commissioner Judah, a strong supporter of our position, emphasized the care needed in allocating funds for future projects. The widening of East Terry Street, Old US 41 and Bonita Grande Drive will lessen the traffic on Bonita Beach Road. At the MPO meeting, the MPO restored the money for six-laning of Corkscrew Road between Three Oaks Parkway and Ben Hill Griffen Road. The four lane Estero Flyover is to start next year and will add to better traffic flow and reduce traffic on Corkscrew Road. In the next five years, it is possible that we may have twenty lanes in Estero and Bonita Springs instead of ten lanes going over I-75 today.

Neal Noethlich reported he had a conversation with the leaders of FDOT after the MPO 2030 meeting regarding the program to 10 lane I-75. He emphasized to them the need to accelerate that improvement and that ECCL cannot ease up in our attention to all the road issues.

As has been reported in the news, the SIB loan for the extension of US 41 from Corkscrew Road to San Carlos Park was turned down for this year. Dave Loveland, Lee County roadway planner, is analyzing all options for funding this roadway. He will present his findings to the BOCC in February. The ECCL has provided a list of all the developers who are interested in building on this stretch of road. Wal-Mart and another developer have pledged money toward the interest on a loan to fund the roadway.

The county road projects for the next few months are:

• In December bidding should begin for the Three Oaks Parkway extension from Terry Street to the Brooks;
• In February the next segment of Three Oaks from Bonita Beach Road to East Terry is supposed to be bid,
• In April the segment of Three Oaks from Corkscrew to Alico Road is to be bid.
These are projects we need to watch to be sure they stay on schedule. The time between the bidding process and the actual awarding of the contract is about three months. Then the company has to acquire materials and line up sub-contractors. Each project has a schedule of about 15 to 24 months to completion.

Conservancy of Southwest Florida

Alissa Bierma of The Conservancy spoke to the group. She said their mission was to focus on education and smart growth with an emphasis on the quality of life. Ms. Bierma noted our joint efforts regarding the I-75 Coconut Road Interchange and indicated their interest in continuing to develop our working relationship.

Organizational Matters

It has been the practice of the ECCL to encourage representation from every community in Estero. Bella Terra will have 1800 homes and is under development at this time and does not yet have a representative attending the ECCL meetings. Sunny Molle has accepted the responsibility for finding a temporary representative from Bella Terra. Estero High School will be represented soon, but does not care to pay the membership fee of $200.

Links to the joint community organization website www.esterofl.org from developers and realtors is encouraged to enlighten future residents. The members voted unanimously to exclude tax exempt civic organizations and public bodies from the annual dues of the ECCL.

Meeting location

Marsh Landing will host the ECCL meetings from January through June, 2006. The same time schedule will apply. After June, application has been made to meet at the new Estero Community Park. The application is pending.

2006 Budget

Chris Smith reported that the budget for 2006 is $6,300. Several communities have paid their 2006 dues of $200. Chris asked that a motion be made to move the balance of $750 from the 2005 budget on into the 2006 budget. It was moved, seconded and unanimously approved. The 2006 ECCL Budget was also moved, seconded and unanimously approved.

Election of Officers

The board will welcome any volunteers who would like to serve for 2006. No new or additional nominations were made from the floor. As of this time, then, the present officers will volunteer for another year and will be elected at the January meeting.

Committee Reorganization and Recruitment

The high school landscaping committee will be combined with the finance and development committee. An environmental, flooding and flow-ways committee has been formed from the Half-Way Creek committee. All of this information is available on the website in the committee section.

Transitional Advisory Committee

This committee has been created to help new developments make the transition to self- management. Paul Powers from Marsh Landing and Tom Bowles from Copperleaf are willing to serve. Nason Lightman and Neal Noethlich agreed to help. This should involve only a few meetings. The Cascades is ready and Grant Carlson has been informed they need to form a committee to meet with the Transition Committee if they want their help. The Rookery is also preparing for transition.

IRS Tax exempt effort

We are in the process of setting up a 501(c)3 to raise funds for Community Improvement Projects. The committee is trying to get the paperwork in by the end of the year to the IRS. Thanks to Dave Levinson, Sam Person and Jim Fraser.

Williams & River Ranch Rd Landscaping Report

The high school is happy with the landscape design. After January 1, the architect will complete his rendering and the tax exempt status should be resolved so that the project can get underway. Lowe’s has been contacted to see if they would contribute to this project. They have not yet responded.

Emergency Medical Care Committee

Bill Clemens, the new interim operations chief at the Estero Fire Rescue District, reported that members of the committee met with legislators about trying to get increased medical facilities here in Estero. The number of ambulance transferred patients to hospitals from Estero was discussed. The committee should meet and format some type of petition to the Florida Legislature and others involved in the legislative approval process in order to express the need that Estero has for an emergency care facility.

Arts Committee Report

Fran Wagner reported that her committee has about thirty people willing to do anything they can. A meeting was held with Kristen Coury who stated that they are preparing to hire an architect to design the Gulfshore Playhouse. She is willing to appear before any community meeting to give information about the progress of the playhouse.

The Southwest Florida Symphony in the Park Program has made quite a bit of progress. It is estimated it would cost about $50,000 per concert. The committee is presently planning to have three events in the 2006-2007 season. The Arts Development Committee and the County Parks and Recreation department have met with two possible sponsors of the series. Five or six sponsors are the target with each contributing about $25,000 per series. These sponsors would receive and distribute tickets commensurate with their contribution. On Saturday, April 8 the Coconut Point Hyatt has donated the Estero Ballroom for an “Arts in Estero” event. In the planning of the event, the committee is considering the foyer of the ballroom being used like a “trade show” with each arts organization having a booth with literature and information about their group. After the “Trade Show” the attendees would gather in the Ballroom for Presentations and Performances by each of the Arts groups.

This would include groups such as the SW Florida Symphony, the Parks Department, the Gulfshore Playhouse, FGCU music, graphic and performing arts departments, Estero Art League, Estero High School music and drama department. This event hopes to attract persons and businesses interested in fostering the arts to come and interface with the Estero’s Arts organizations.

Code Enforcement

Sam Levy reported that there were fewer illegal signs around the community in November than in previous months. As an example, in September and October, about 184 signs were collected by code enforcement personnel in Estero. A few other infractions were discussed, regarding banners and signs. Businesses do seem to get about a 15 day permit for grand opening banners and spotlights, etc. Temporary signage for new businesses was discussed. Neal Noethlich discussed new zoning rules that have been presented and accepted by the county, i.e., Chapter 33 of the LDC. This section also includes “big box” codes.

Website Development

Kim Dailey reported that there are individual pages (with a few exceptions) for every residential community in Estero on the ECCL, ECPP, EDRC and ECA website. Also included on the site is information on each development that has or is being zoned; each project that is seeking Development Order approval and major roadway projects in the Estero area. Each of these has been indexed throughout the site (www.esterofl.org) and back through five years of documentation. A universal map of Estero is being worked on and is linked to each of these pages. Code enforcement has a page. Each committee has a page which can be used for communication, information, simple learning purposes, recruitment of new members, etc. Graphics for each new development are being solicited.

Agendas and meeting hand-outs for the participating organizations have been published on the website this past month for the first time. It was suggested that the ECPP and EDRC put in their requirements that a developer come prepared to give them a jpeg rendering of their project so that it can be posted on the website.

News-Press Community Support Program

Karin Cherwick and Richard Curtis, from the News-Press, made presentations to the meeting. Curtis emphasized that the News-Press was a good means of communication. Activities and accomplishments in your area may be published, resulting in good advertising for your area. The newspaper is there for us to use and he hopes we will call him. Next the group heard a presentation about www.news-press.com and were told the that the paper instituted a new section devoted to Estero just two days ago. Angela Hill was introduced; she, along with Denise Scott will be reporting about Estero. Angela will report live, direct to the website all day long and encourages us to write to her with any local news we would like published.

Sandy Lane Name Change

When the ECCL was working on the alignment study of Sandy Lane, the suggestion was made that only the existing Sandy Lane from Broadway south to the Estero River should retain that name. Tom Schneider of Simon Development Group has filed paperwork with the county to name Sandy Lane the new road on the Sandy Lane alignment going south from Corkscrew to Pelican Colony Road “Via Coconut Point”. Estero has a brief but contentious history with the naming of roads after commercial projects. It was suggested that a name be chosen that is reflective of the community. It was agreed that the road should have only one name (whatever that choice might be) from San Carlos Park to Old 41. Changing names on the same street can become very confusing. The ECPP volunteered to sponsor a public meeting to discuss the naming of this road and then seek to have that name apply to the entire length of the road.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m. The next meeting will be January 13 at 2:00 p.m. at the Marsh Landing Clubhouse.

Respectfully submitted,
Faie Saunders, Secretary