Estero Council of Community LeadersMinutes of the Regular Monthly MeetingOctober 14, 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. Forty people were in attendance representing nineteen communities and three community wide organizations. MinutesThe minutes of the September meeting were read by Sam Levy and approved and accepted with no corrections. Treasurer’s reportIt was reported that an expense of $375.00 was paid to the Web Manager. $100 was received from The Cascades for 2005 membership dues. The balance on hand as of October 14 is $793.60. A motion was made to approve the report, it was seconded and approved. Transportation Committee ReportIn the County’s Road Project Status Report the target date is interpreted as “going out to bid” not the construction start date, i.e., I-75 6 laning starts late 2007 at the earliest. The County Board approved a revolving road fund for FY 2006 which augments the gas tax and impact fees. Each loan is to be repaid from the following year’s budgeted amount for the project being accelerated. The City of Bonita Springs also adopted its Capital Improvement Program for
the next five years. It contains the following plans: Funding is not presently in any plans for the widening of Corkscrew Road between Three Oaks Parkway and Ben Hill Griffin. The intersection at Williams Road and US 41 is now being designed by the engineers of Paradise Shoppes, after County conceptual approval of the changes in consultation with the surrounding communities. Dick Steele reported that a Road Construction Efficiency Review Task Force is being formed by him, as its Chairman, at the behest of Don Stillwell, our County Manager. The Task Force will eventually have 5 to 7 members. The goal is to try to shorten the process of road building by one year from the present 6 to 8 years. Steele indicated that the committee would like two FGCU graduate students
from the Public Affairs Department to help and feels it would be a good learning
experience for the students. Dick stated that many departments are involved in
building a road; for example, the FDOT, state and federal EPA, Army Corps of
Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife service, etc. Each entity can add to the time
element. State and MPO Transportation IssuesDon Rowe reported that he and ten representatives from Estero recently met with Ray Judah. At its September meeting the MPO voted to turn down the $10 million proposed for an interchange at Coconut Road and I-75 that was included in the Federal Transportation authorization legislation recently signed into law by the President. No one seems to know where the money came from and especially since the interchange has not been a high priority. It was pointed out that it would be more practical to increase the lanes on Corkscrew to six lanes between Ben Hill Griffin and Three Oaks Blvd. than to build a whole new intersection. That area at Coconut involves not only inconvenience to neighborhoods, but environmentally sensitive land on the east side of I-75 that may never be buildable. In November a meeting will be held by the FDOT to approve or deny the SIB loan request for widening US 41 from Corkscrew to San Carlos Park. Emergency Medical Services Committee ReportSam Levy reported that state law prohibits standalone emergency department “stabilization” facilities. This law will expire at the end of June 2006 and be further amended by the Florida legislature. Emergency 24 hour care is increasingly needed in Estero because of the long distance and time to reach our nearest hospitals. However, at this time, the lack of availability of doctors for staffing purposes is the biggest hurdle for obtaining this service for our area. These are some of the obstacles that need to be overcome in the next few years in order to even plan a facility. Lee Memorial is not authorized to build a full service hospital on their Estero property until 2009 at the earliest. The Emergency Medical Services Committee will create a database of statistics of patients who have had to be transported out of the community to emergency health care facilities. These numbers will help support our need for better emergency medical care in the area and give us needed information to take to the legislature. Estero Fire Rescue records state that 543 transport calls were made from the nursing center at Williams Rd. and US 41 to a hospital emergency room last year. Another nursing home is about to built in Estero, which will only add to these numbers. National Fire Prevention WeekMike Cato from Estero Fire Rescue gave a “heads up” about Fire Prevention Week and emphasized constant awareness of fire safety. He stressed safety in using candles. He handed out Fire Prevention Checklists for those who wished to take them and share them with others in the community. When we change our clocks back to Standard Time, it is a good reminder to change the batteries in our smoke alarms. Even electrically wired smoke alarms have batteries for back up if power goes out. Estero Community Park and AmphitheaterShirley Furry of the Southwest Florida Symphony joined the recent tour of the park and was impressed, as were all. She felt that lighting and acoustics seem to be “good” in the amphitheater. The Southwest Florida Symphony is 45 years old. At this time, the symphony is not doing any outdoor concerts, but they are certainly interested in pursuing some concerts in the Estero Community Park Amphitheater. Culture, Arts and Entertainment in EsteroFrann Wagner has agreed to help form an ECCL committee on the arts in Estero. A workshop was proposed including Kristin Coury from the future Gulfshore Playhouse, Shirley Furry of the SW Florida Symphony, a representative from the Parks and Recreation Department speaking about their plans for Estero Arts. In addition a representative from Muvico Theater and representatives of FGCU’s music and performing arts departments would be sought out to participate. These people could make up a panel and be an attraction for arts oriented people in Estero thus expanding the ECCL Estero Arts Council. Website Development UpdateKim Daily reported on her progress on the website. 90% of the commercial planned development pages are indexed; much community information is still needed. She has been working on the development of maps for the site. Suggestions made to “fill out” the website were brought up. Real estate firms and agents with websites could add a link on their sites to www.esterofl.net so that their clients looking for homes could easily learn what they want to know about Estero. Developers could also add a link on their site. The local residential communities are urged to get information on their community to Kim. A website is not necessary; information, pictures, etc., can be incorporated to create a picture of what amenities each community offers. Williams & River Ranch Rd Landscaping ProjectWe still do not have plans or costs. ECCL Organization MattersThe ECCL wants to encourage every community that gets organized to appoint a member and an alternate to the ECCL. Since last month, Colonial Oaks Board has designated Keith Felton and Wendy Morris to represent them. Jack Meeker was chosen as the alternate from Copperleaf. Jack Lienesch was chosen as the alternate member of the ECPP. The ECCL has several standing committees working at this time. The desire is to have each ECCL member or alternate serve on at least one committee. A motion was made and seconded to incorporate this rule. Discussion followed. Some committees are of local interest and some have more community wide interest. Whether this should just be a rule or added to the By-laws was discussed. After discussion, a question was called to vote on the “rule”. The rule that each member should serve on a committee was unanimously approved. During November and December each member needs to ask his board to approve payment of the 2006 ECCL dues. Twenty-two communities paid 2005 dues for the ECCL’s operating budget. The past year the dues were $100. You may consider $1 per household. In addition each member should discuss with his or her Board: 1. The ECCL etc. web-site at www.esterofl.org It may be pointed out that in 2005 we also raised $300 for legal fees from each community for the Bonita Springs annexation fight in addition to the annual dues. Next year, the Finance committee should put dues and budget on their agenda earlier in the year. ECCL Foundation ReportThe ECCL 501 (c)3 tax exempt foundation is now registered and certified by the State of Florida. We have a tax attorney helping with the Tax Exempt certificate. The help of a CPA was also suggested. The ECCL insurance will cover the Foundation members also without any increase in annual rates. Code Enforcement Committee ReportSam Levy reported that he is continuing to get great cooperation from Rick Roberts, the head of Lee County’s Code Enforcement Department, and his staff. In September, Rick checked on all the signs that were around Estero, i.e., Grand Opening, real estate, health insurance, etc., and 183 signs were picked up by his staff. Sam encourages the membership to continue alerting him to infractions that he can pass on to Rick. Quick itemsA $99 fee was approved to cover the cost of a member to attend the Transportation Today Conference at FGCU on October 19. The new Post Office status report was emailed to all. It was suggested the next ECCL meeting be moved to November 11 (from November 18) at which time we can then prepare and discuss legislative issues for 2006 and our level of involvement in them. The meeting was adjourned. The next meeting with be NOVEMBER 11 at 2:00 p.m. at the Pelican Sound River Club. Respectfully submitted, |
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