ESTERO COMMUNITY PLANNING PANEL

Minutes of Public Meeting #118– August 16, 2010

Estero Community Park, Estero, Florida

Panel Members Present: 

Jack Lienesch, Civic Association, Chairman; Erik Dickens, ECCL; Ned Dewhirst, Estero development community; Greg Toth, Founding Member; Bev MacNellis, Treasurer, ECCL; Jeff Maas, Estero Chamber of Commerce; Neal Noethlich, Emeritus Member and  Bill Brown, Recording Secretary, ECCL.  Absent: John Goodrich, ECCL; Dan DeLisi, Estero development community.

Public Notice:  

Brown reported that the meeting notice appeared in the News-Press, the Naples Daily News and the News-Press Calendars, and the Century-Link Estero Events Calendar and Esterofl.org websites.  The notice was posted at the South County Regional Library, Realty World of Estero, and the BB&T and the Fifth Third Banks.

Secretary’s Report:  

Brown distributed minutes of the July meeting. Dewhirst : Motion to accept minutes.   Dickins: Seconded.  Accepted unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report:

MacNellis reported a balance of $1,049.24 as of July 30, 2010. Report accepted.

PRESENTATIONS:

Policy 19.2.5 – Estero Prohibited Usages  -- Kathie Ebaugh, Neale Montgomery Matt Uhle, Matt Noble, Craig Wynn (World of Beer) and Mark Williamson (Simon Properties).  Lienesch said that Policy 19.2.5 prohibited free-standing bars in Estero and the review of this policy was undertaken because of the desire of the World of Beer to locate in the Coconut Point Mall.  Kathie Ebaugh said the County had reviewed the problem and concluded that it cannot be resolved by an administrative amendment; it would require a Comprehensive Plan amendment.  Matt Noble raised a question about other Estero developments and suggested the simple approach would be to amend the DRI. Toth said he agreed with Dewhirst’s previous observation that he didn’t really consider the World of Beer to be a stand -alone bar.  Greg added he doesn’t want to see the free standing bar issue opened to every development and suggested that any amendment should be limited to mixed-use DRI’s which include residential components.  Noethlich said the 2000 ECCO Workshop showed widespread community support for the present prohibition; therefore if we amend it we should certainly involve the community. Dickens reported he had surveyed his community and found it was strongly opposed to stand-alone bars, but that he was still neutral. Toth suggested that the amendment should be limited to Coconut Point.  Dewhirst said his impression from the last meeting was that the World of Beer was an acceptable use and specifics should be presented at the time of zoning. Montgomery presented proposed amendment language which she said she had given to the County.  This language would make an exception for the uses that are “located in a planned development that is part of a Development of Regional Impact or located in the General Interchange Future Land Use Category”.  Toth objected that the proposed language was too broad and should not include the interchange language.  Uhle suggested that the amendment could be limited to DRI’s of a certain size (i.e. 400,000 sq ft.) with a large commercial component and residential use that is at least 500 ft. from the proposed bar.  Craig Wynn, Director of Franchises for World of Beer, explained that World of Beer specialized in imported quality beer and some of their locations feature menus and food delivery from nearby restaurants. He said the site in Coconut Point is ideally located near the Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse and other restaurants.  

It was noted that to facilitate the timing of the World of Beer application, the county could add amendment language to the current comprehensive plan amendment transmittal correspondence that University Highlands has submitted to the state.  It is due back on August 27^th.  We could then amend it with the proposed language and return it to Tallahassee in time for this usage to be part of this and other Estero DRI’s.

Lienesch summarized the discussion and proposed that amendment language be drafted for the Panel’s consideration prior to its September 20 meeting by Uhle, Noble, Montgomery and Ebaugh.  All agreed.  He further stated that community representatives surrounding Coconut Point will be invited to attend the September ECPP meeting and give input to the discussion.

University Highlands Update and County Questions

Neale Montgomery and Al Moscato.  Lienesch explained that the Panel had been troubled by the way the Comprehensive Plan amendment was handled last Spring and was also surprised this month by an email from Chip Block questioning why the July Panel minutes had no reference to proposed on-site FGCU dormitories.  Montgomery admitted there had been no oral discussion of dormitories, Moscato said they were very concerned about their credibility and pointed out that dormitories had been listed in the List of Usages that was furnished to the Panel. He also said they are meeting with residents of Grandezza tomorrow night.  Montgomery said they are redesigning their Design Book to incorporate the Panel’s requests and would return to a public meeting when that was ready for a review.

ECPP:  

Lienesch asked Montgomery to report on last week’s hearing on Downtown Estero (DeLisi had attended representing himself). She explained that the county is requiring administrative amendments for every Development Order and there are difficulties resulting from it’s being the first Mixed Use hearing, but generally the hearing went very well.

Lienesch reported that the David Graham Award had been presented to Joe Murgalo, Jr. of the Coconut Point Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa.

He also said that he will be meeting with Don Eslick and Dan DeLisi and others to plan the Community planning workshop, currently scheduled for Saturday Nov. 13^th at the Hyatt Resort.  Kathie Ebaugh noted that we had missed this planning cycle and would have to be accommodated next year – no placeholder for Estero was allowed this Fall.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM.                 

 NEXT MEETING:

6:00 PM, MONDAY, September 20, ESTERO COMMUNITY PARK