Estero Council of Community Leaders

Minutes of the Regular Monthly Meeting

Minutes of the 41st Monthly Meeting
May 12th, 2006

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Eslick at the Clubhouse at Rapallo at 2:00 p.m. A quorum was present.

Forty people were in attendance representing eighteen communities and five community wide organizations. There were six visitors and two members of the press.

Guests were introduced.

Minutes

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

Treasurer’s Report

Faie Saunders read the report for Chris Smith. Total income was $400.00. Total expenses were $5.47 leaving a balance of $2,233.38. The treasurer’s report was approved as submitted. About eight communities have still not paid their 2006 dues of $200. It would be appreciated if they would follow up on this.

Financial Development Committee

Dan Dronkers formally opened up the Estero Community Improvement Foundation with donations totaling $235.00. Dan wrote a check for $135 which is 1/10th of 1% of the total goal. Howard and Nancy Cohen will write a check for $1,500 when the committee raises the first $4,500. Dan also announced that a fund raiser will be held on September 30 at Estero High School featuring “the Sprit of the Gulf”, a women’s Florida State championship choir.

Estero Community Park

Barbara Manzo of the Lee County Parks and Recreation Department spoke about the soon to be opened community park. Presently the park is named Oak Hill Park. She updated the audience on what programs will be available and explained the many facilities coming to completion about late August.

Environmental History of the DRGR

Tom Reese, attorney for several environmental groups spoke about the DRGR. Roughly half of the Estero Fire District area, which is usually considered to be the boundaries of the Estero community, is in the DRGR. The interchange issue at Coconut Road and I-75 has highlighted the DRGR issue because the developers requesting the Interchange own large amounts of land in the Density Reduction Groundwater Resource (DRGR) area. Florida Wildlife Federation and the Collier County Audubon Society are two groups in Lee and Collier County that Tom represents locally. In the DRGR area, which is 120,000 acres, the residential density is limited to one unit per 10 acre. FGCU was the first big exception allowed into the DRGR.

Arts Development Committee Report

Frann Wagner reported a “wonderful” time was had by at least 350 people who attended the Arts in Estero event at the Coconut Point Hyatt Resort on April 8. Approximately 10 groups met after the event to assess the success of the event. Prof. Patricia Fay suggested that this was the beginning of an arts oriented community which needs to be nurtured. With the stage with an oval in front of it in the new park, we have the venue for a variety of musical and dramatic events. FGCU is building a performing arts theater in addition to their existing small theater. Also in the future is the Gulfshore Playhouse, a regional professional theater. Rapallo’s developer Jim Wallace has also proposed the development of an area for art galleries and performance venues on land adjacent to Rapallo in Coconut Point. The development and publicizing a comprehensive arts calendar is one step toward furthering the image of Estero as being a destination for artistic events and venues.

Coordination with the city of Bonita Springs

Jack Lienesch spoke about building a bridge to the Bonita Springs city council. The city ahs designated Councilman John Joyce as a liaison to the ECCL. Mr. Lienesch introduced Mr. Joyce to the ECCL members present. Mr. Joyce spoke about common interests such as water quality and transportation. He will attend the ECCL meetings as often as possible.

The Estero Republican Womens’ Federation is hosting an election forum on May 23 at 7:00 p.m. at Stoneybrook Community Center. Guest speakers are county Commissioner Tammy Hall and Andy Coy her opponent and former county commissioner.

Freestanding Emergency Department

In the absence of Sam Levy, Don Eslick reported that current law requires a free standing facility to offer all of the services that an emergency department in a hospital performs. At this time, there are not enough on-call doctors available to staff such a facility in Estero. Lee Memorial is lobbying for changes in the requirements for free standing emergency centers that are now in place in order to make this idea more feasible in Estero. However, at this time, the legislature took no action. Fire Chief Jeff Lindsay stated that there are obstacles and limitations placed on emergency relief vehicles, wherein they are required to take the patient to the most reasonable location for the type of illness or injury. Different rules and regulations may prevent them at times from transporting a patient to a free standing emergency facility. In addition, if a patient has to be moved from the emergency facility to a hospital, a doctor or nurse must ride with the patient, thus increasing the personnel. He stated that these reasons do not diminish the need for this type of a facility in Estero.

Transportation Committee

An Interchange Justification Report (IJR) has to be done in order to determine the need and placement of an interchange between Corkscrew and Bonita Beach Road. Along with this, an environmental report is supposed to be completed simultaneously as a result of the MPO motion of Mayor Johnson of Sanibel that approved the $10 million and the interchange study.

The Estero Parkway Flyover was originally priced at $15 million and is now estimated at $42.5 million. The county has pulled back on this project because there is now another $17.5 million overrun. The claim is increase pricing in steel and cement. The ECCL would like to support the taking of general fund revenues to advance this roadway and not wait any longer while the costs continue to escalate. A motion was made and seconded to send a letter to the county commissioners and the county manager and budget director. It was also suggested that representatives from the transportation committee meet with the manager and budget director.

Bonita Springs has resolved the financing of the Imperial Parkway segment between Bonita Beach Road and East Terry. This cost the city of Bonita Springs $6 million.

Wal-Mart has called to renew their interest in moving up the scheduling of US 41 north of Corkscrew to San Carlos. They still have pledged $1 million to pay for interest on the loan. However, the problem of acquiring the land for a retention pond near the intersection of Broadway and US 41 is still not solved.

On June 27 FDOT and the Florida Department of Planning is putting on a day long meeting.

Estero Fire Rescue

Jim Clarke reported about the fire department holding an open house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 13. This will also kick off the national EMS week. Estero Urgent Care and Lee county EMS will also participate. The Explorers program will hold a car wash on May 20 in front of the fire station on US 41. The Boot drive put on with the San Carlos Park Fire District raised $50,000 to $70,000.

ECCL organizational matters

Jim Lytell was designated as the ECCL member from Far East Estero. With a motion to accept Jim, it was seconded and he was welcomed to the organization. Ray Pothier volunteered to run the tape machine during the summer meetings in the absence of the Secretary. Estero Fire Rescue needs a member and an alternate since Jim Clarke is leaving the Department.

One hundred people attended the social event at Country Creek and the raffle raised about $500 which covered expenses. A profit of $6.53 was made.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:10. Next meeting will be Friday, June 16th at the Clubhouse at Rapallo.

Respectfully submitted,
Faie Saunders, Secretary