Estero Council of Community Leaders

Minutes of the Regular Monthly Meeting

September 15, 2005

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Eslick at the Clubhouse at Rapallo at 2:00 p.m.  A quorum was present.
 
Fifty people were in attendance representing fifteen residential communities and five community wide organizations.  Nine guests were present.
 
Guests were introduced.

Minutes

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

Treasurer’s Report

Chris Smith reported a balance in the treasury of $1,393.21.  An advance of $310 was given to the Estero Community Improvement Foundation.  Chris reported that the foundation reported $140 in ticket sales for the September 30th concert.  Their balance at this time is $375.  The treasurer’s report was approved as submitted.

Foundation Concert

Jim Ramsburg and Dan Dronkers announced the Spirit of the Gulf concert to be held on September 30 at Estero High School.  This concert is to benefit the landscaping project on Williams and River Ranch roads around the high school which the foundation is sponsoring.

Interfaith Caregivers

Sunny Molle gave some information about the Interfaith Caregivers who operate a Food Cupboard located in Estero.  They provide food for the needy in the area. 

Estero Community Park

Coleen Gierut, the manager of the Estero Community Park gave a presentation about the soon to be opened park and its facilities. 

Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (CREW)

John Murray, the Director of CREW, gave a presentation about the property managed by this entity in the eastern Estero DRGR area. For further information see their website at www.crewtrust.org.

DRGR and Mining Issues

Several representatives of the ECCL, environmental groups and residents of east Estero attended a BOCC meeting on August 15 to urge the board to prepare an authoritative study that would consolidate all of the existing DRGR studies that have identified areas that need to be preserved for all the different values, be it water supply, animal habitat, flood control, and preservation.   Phil Douglas reported that the BOCC unanimously supported this idea. 
 
Don Stillwell, County Manager, agreed that within thirty days he would come back to the Board with a proposal that would implement the desires of the Board and then over a period of about six months the study would be completed.  This would give a baseline to identify all of the areas to be preserved and what areas might be available for development.  
 
Neal Noethlich reported about his suggestions to Stillwell to encourage staff and the County Commissioners to select a few people from the environmental community, large property owners in the area and regular Estero citizens to sit in on the final selection process of the consultant who will do the study.  He also suggested that the county commissioners appoint a committee to participate and dialog with the consultant during his studies. 
 
Don Vilnius stated that he thought a land use planner could overview the many studies done on the DRGR.  He thought that there were already about 15-20 studies done in different subject areas that will eventually be consolidated.  He also desired input in the selection process of the consultant, rather than just Mr. Stillwell.
 
The ECCL’s and its allies desire is to have an overlay map that would show all these different sensitivities and provide a base level of information that would then allow one to move into the land use planning phase. Arnie Rosenthal understood that there would be several overlays. Efforts will be made to schedule a meeting with Stillwell to discuss all of the above.
 
Originally, the ECCL had a Floway committee to work on Halfway Creek and then it was expanded to include the Estero River floway.  Now, it will be expanded to become an Environmental Committee. Volunteers are asked to contact Mr. Eslick.
 
October 30 at 7 p.m. a meeting will be held at the South County Regional Library for the East Corkscrew community and all Estero residential communities to prepare for a Hearing Examiners Hearing on the Estero Group mine application on November 8.
 
Brian Bigelow was present at the meeting and thanked the community for their support in the last election. 

Policy Coordination with Bonita Springs

Don Vilnius reported about the planned workshop with the Bonita Springs City representatives and eight representatives from Estero scheduled for September 28th.  The agenda has been agreed upon by representatives of the two communities.  The agenda for this meeting will be on the website, www.esterofl.org, along with other pertinent meeting information including the credentials for the facilitator of the workshop.

County Mixed Use Comprehensive Plan Changes

The Estero Community Plan will be five years old in January and needs to be reviewed and updated.  Recently the ECPP, the EDRC and some residents met to discuss the County’s plan for updating the Comprehensive Plan for mixed use development.  A summary is on the website, www.esterofl.org. On October 28 the ECPP will sponsor another workshop focused upon updating the Estero Community Plan. The public is invited to attend. 
 
Noethlich has met with the East Corkscrew residents group; they want to have the support of the ECCL for the development of a community plan for their area.  Also related to planning, he mentioned that the developer of Tuscany Park which will be at the corner of Estero Parkway and Three Oaks Blvd. wants to make a presentation on that project although it in not in the Estero Community Planning Area.  Recently the ECPP received a presentation by the developer of Camargo North MPD, located at Pelican Sound Blvd and US 41, who had asked to come back to the panel and the advise that they are going to enforce a set of project appearance standards even though they are not required by their recent zoning approval. This just emphasizes the “worthwhile-ness” of the work the ECPP and EDRC have been doing the last several years.

Transportation Committee

There will be a final budget meeting of the BOCC on September 21.  Representatives of the ECCL will be present to reinforce their support for the $60 million that is needed in order to fund the roadway projects that are ready to be built but will be put off until later unless this funding is approved.  The number one project to be financed by these funds is the Estero Parkway Flyover. 

ECCL Membership Issues

A few resignations have been received; Sam Person from Belle Lago and Grant Carlson from the Cascades.  The ECCL encourages those boards to fill these positions as soon as possible. 
 
Stacey Smith, regional director for the office of Sen. Bill Nelson, was introduced and stated she would be the liaison between the senator’s office and the community. They are in support of a new Estero post office.  Since some natural disasters, including Katrina, the list of needed new post offices has grown to over 220.  Her office should know in about thirty days where Estero stands on this newly expanded list.  

Estero Fire Rescue Report.

Susan Lindenmuth of the District introduced herself and reported about the need for everyone to check their smoke detectors as they changed their clocks at the end of October.

Greater Estero Cultural Arts Council (GECAC) "Arts Estero"

All future “Arts Estero” board meetings will be open to the public and media.  They will be held monthly at the Estero Community Park starting in October on the 4th Wednesday of each month from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m.  The Council will soon be joining the website of ECCL, etc.  They have received a $5,000 donation from the Jim and Debbi Wallace Foundation.  Their mission is to promote the artistic endeavors of Estero and the surrounding areas.  They will also be known as Arts Estero.

Website Report

Kim Dailey has reported that 4,287 visitors logged on to www.esterofl.org during August.   Coconut Point has been one factor in the number of “hits”. People looking for this address also are directed to our website since it has so much information on Coconut Point. 
 
The meeting was adjourned.  The next meeting will be held on October 13 at 2 p.m. at the Estero Community Park.
 
Respectfully submitted,
Faie Saunders, Secretary