Estero Council of Community LeadersMinutes of the Regular Monthly MeetingMarch 18, 2005The meeting was called to order by Chairman Eslick in the River Club of Pelican Sound at 2:00 p.m. A quorum was present. New attendeesNew attendees were acknowledged and introduced. Minutes of the February 18, 2005 meeting, distributed before the meeting were approved. Treasurer’s ReportIn the absence of Treasurer Bob Perry, Arnie Rosenthal gave the report. Total contributions and dues to date total $2875.00. Expenses to date were $274.40, leaving a balance of $2598.60 as of March 18, 2005. A few checks were received at the meeting and will be reflected in the next month’s report. The treasurer’s report was approved. The $300 amount or $1 per household from each community for the Annexation Fund should be made out to the Thomas Hart Trust Account. Twenty-one communities have paid their 2005 dues of $100. MembershipBarbara Akins, Chair of the Membership Committee reported that Bob Perry will be resigning as the Member representative of the Vines and Chris Smith will be replacing him. Mr. Smith was accepted. Member and Alternate Members are still needed from Bella Terra, Cascades, Covered Wagon Trailer Park, Cranbrook Harbor, Estero Chamber of Commerce, Estero River Heights, Mariner’s Cove, Meadowbrook, Rapallo, The Lakes of Estero, the Reserve at Estero and Villagio. Williams & River Ranch Rd Landscaping ProjectBob Perry will soon be moving from the Estero community. He has been Chairing a Committee to landscape the perimeter of Estero High School in order to hide the chain link fence on both River Ranch and Williams roads. We will need a new chairperson for this position. Treasurer’s ReplacementChris Smith has volunteered to replace Bob Perry as Treasurer. No other nomination being made from the floor a motion was made and seconded to approve Chris Smith as ECCL’s new Treasurer. Sandy Lane Landscape PlanECCL is still seeking a grant from the County for landscaping Sandy Lane from Corkscrew Road to Pelican Colony Road where it will meet with US 41. The County Roadway Landscape Advisory Committee will meet in April and ECCL will make a presentation at that time. Annexation Review CommitteeThis committee has met twice since last month. The “Bonita won’t annex Estero” article in the Banner is in error. Bonita Springs is commissioning a $10,000 study, which is required by law to try to determine what impact or what municipal needs exist in the area that they are considering annexing. The city Council took two steps at their last meeting:
Protection of the two mile buffer is not a new position for the City. They have had this position for three years. Their assessment of what this two mile buffer means is at variance with most legal authorities. We have asked our attorney to research the legality of the two mile buffer and the history of its waiver so frequently by local legislative delegations involved in incorporation matters. This provision is in the incorporation law, not the annexation law. The two mile buffer is one of the criteria that legislative delegations take into account when communities seeking incorporation make presentations to their legislative delegation for incorporation. There are a lot of differing opinions among legislators whether this standard needs to be enforced. In general, it has not been enforced by most legislative delegations in the past. Bonita is trying to make more out of it than it is and that seems to be their posture, seemingly thus confusing the citizens of Estero. John Ruehl would like a list of every representative of each community. He suggested that we keep the incorporation of Estero option available. Annexation Survey- Jim RamsburgThe annexation survey went out today to 5,320 registered voters in two precincts that are in the annexation area under consideration by Bonita Springs. Tabulation of results received by late March will be announced at the special ECCL Village with a Vision presentation at the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort at 9 a.m., Saturday, April 2. Volunteers will be needed on March 29 to count the ballots…expect about 2000 ballots. Impact of Annexation of ECPP and EDRCThese Estero committees would likely become ineffective in areas annexed by Bonita Springs after the annexation is completed. The two mile halo would move to a location two miles north of the new Bonita Springs boundary after a successful annexation. Our counsel, at our request, has prepared for us a draft letter to go to our local legislative delegation to seek commitments from them that, after a reasonable period of time, the residents of Estero would have the ability to determine how they want to be governed without consideration of the two mile buffer. At that point in time, should Estero wish to consider incorporating, we would be able to develop an incorporation plan that would go down to the Bonita border and retain the integrity of the Estero community. The Annexation Review Committee will review and revise this draft at their
next meeting on Thursday. The research committee of the annexation committee has
been meeting with Tony Majul, the CFO of the county to assess the impact of any
annexation upon the County and Estero. On April 6 Bonita City Council will approve the areas of research that the city will study with their $10,000. The ECCL will monitor that meeting. In addition the Annexation Review Committee has the inter-local agreement that has been proposed by the City of Bonita Springs and discussed with the County. Therefore, there is a lot of work to be done on this issue and hopefully, the City will defer or delay this initiative, but at this point in time we have to work on the assumption that they will proceed at a slightly slower pace. The Annexation Review Committee will meet at 12:45 at Stoneybrook next Thursday. Need names and e-mail addresses for all Board Members from each community for the planned community-wide Annexation Workshop. Barbara Akins called our attention to a petition that is being circulated by the Estero Civic Association for those people in Estero who are not registered to vote in Florida or do not live in the area that Bonita has targeted for annexation. This will give those residents a chance to express their feelings about annexation. This petition is entitled “A Voice to the Voiceless”. The Civic Association has contributed $500 toward the annexation survey costs. TransportationThe Transportation Committee has met two times in the last month to identify all traffic issues within the community. The plan for the Estero Flyover was to connect Three Oaks Parkway to Ben Hill Griffin Boulevard. Recent newspaper accounts indicate that County staff want to extend the Flyover east of Ben Hill to the proposed CR 951 route and down to Corkscrew Road at that point. A draft of a letter to the county commissioners was read, as follows: “Some of the members of the ECCL read in the newspaper that apparently Lee D.O.T. has decided to extend the I-75 flyover eastward to the power lines then southward to Corkscrew Road. To our knowledge there has never been a hearing held regarding this matter for the residents of Estero. In our opinion nothing as important as this should be approved to go forward without a hearing by the County and its Commissioners. We strongly urge, in an effort to provide the proper and legal process, to establish a hearing date and forum so that the residents of Estero as well as Bonita Springs can be heard on this matter.” Chairman Eslick asked that the letter be passed on to the Transportation Committee to be included in their agenda at their Thursday meeting. Miramar Development has agreed to work with the ECCL and the surrounding enterprises including FGCU, the owners of Germaine Arena, Stock Development and provide traffic engineering services to help develop solutions for the traffic and road problems in and around the I-75/Corkscrew Intersection. We would like to have some solutions that we can jointly present to the county and state to resolve these problems. The Committee is in the process of building a coalition of private sector,
public sector and community support for solutions to our traffic problems. The
Committee’s program will be comprehensive for all of the Estero area. We will be
asking the University, developers, land-owners etc., to work on the traffic
issues with us. Nancy Keefer, the Executive Director of the Bonita Chamber, has
indicated a desire for that group to work with our Committee. As a result a
joint meeting of our Transportation Committee’s has been scheduled for April
15th. Emergency Health Care/Stabilization Task ForceAt a recent meeting sponsored by Lee Memorial Health Systems, Dennis Merrifield reemphasized with Jim Nathan, the CEO of Lee Memorial Health Systems, the need for more health care facilities in Estero. New Estero Post OfficeThe U.S. Post Office is ready to purchase 5 acres on Three Oaks from the school district. Estero Fire Rescue has redesigned and expanded their website. It contains three years of the Estero Development Report. Village with a Vision for 2004-05The Village with a Vision program will have its final presentation at the Coconut Point Hyatt on Saturday, April 2. There have been 13 presentations this year. Estero Community Park ProgramIt was suggested that the Committee meet with County staff to see what programs are planned for the park; determine if some of the programs might need to stay in San Carlos Park and what other programs the Estero community would like in the Park. Boomer PropertyIt was suggest that a letter of congratulations be sent to the State and to Lee County from the ECCL for their successful purchase and thus preservation of this most important property. EDRC REPORTGordon Lyons reported that the Estero Medical Center has greatly improved their design from the first presentation. The Enclave at Rapallo design is exceptional. Gordon was pleased to announce that Jim Wallace is joining the EDRC committee. ECCP Report“Estero 30” and “Estero by the River” were discussed. These are developments that will have to be watched in the future particularly because they are infringing on the Old Estero area and involve development along the Estero River. Points were made regarding protecting these historical and environment issues. The Shoppes at Estero Town Center is on the southeast corner of Corkscrew and Three Oaks. The land contains a big box parcel for a store of up to 165,000 square feet, rimmed by other stores. All the stores in the project must have compatible architecture and landscaping. The first part of the project is two multitenant retail buildings along Three Oaks Parkway. The Mediterranean architecture of these buildings will set the tone for the development. No tenants are committed yet. Forthcoming Meetings“Can Nature Survive our Growth” at
FGCU on April 1. The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m. The next meeting will be Friday, April 15 at the Pelican Sound River Club at 2:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, |
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