Estero Development Report

Volume 2, Number 10

Edited by ECCO--the Estero Concerned Citizens Organization

For further information, to provide information or to add names to our mailing list,

Email Don Eslick at doneslick@worldnet.att.net or call him at 949-4050

This report will soon be available on the Estero Chamber of Commerce Website www.esterochamber.org

Estero Development Activities during February 2003

March Opportunities for Citizen Participation

In Protecting Estero's Quality of Life

Date	Time	Event	Location
Tuesday, March 4^th	6 p.m.	Roadway Landscape Advisory Committee Meeting	County Community Development Building, Conference Room 3A, 1500 Monroe Street, Ft. Myers
Wednesday, March 5^th		Hearing Examiner Hearings on zoning of two Estero Projects -- Estero Pointe CPD and Corkscrew Palms Commerce Center I	County Community Development Building, 2^nd Floor Conference Room, 1500 Monroe Street, Ft. Myers
Wednesday, March 5^th	1:30 p.m.	Estero Community Planning Panel Meeting-- Signage Regulations	Marsh Landing Clubhouse
Friday, March 7^th	3 p.m.	ECCO Council of Community Leaders Meeting.	Marsh Landing Clubhouse
Monday, March 10^th	6 p.m.	Estero Community Planning Panel Meeting-- The Galeria and the Riverwoods Tennis Courts projects will be reviewed.	Marsh Landing Clubhouse
Monday, March 10^th	2 p.m.	Estero Civic Association Meeting-- Lynda Riley, the County Conservation 2020 Program.	Sunnygrove Park Clubhouse
Tuesday, March 11^th	4:30 p.m.	Estero Design Review Committee	The Perry Room of The Vines Country Club
Friday, March 14^th	8 a.m.	Land Development Code Advisory Committee review of ECPP proposed US 41 Overlay etc.	County Community Development Building, 1st Floor, 1500 Monroe Street, Ft. Myers
Wednesday, March 19^th		Hearing Examiner Hearing regarding zoning of the Corkscrew Palms II project	County Community Development Building, 2nd Floor, 1500 Monroe Street, Ft. Myers
Wednesday, March 26^th		Hearing Examiner Hearing regarding zoning of the Marbella Estates project	County Community Development Building, 2nd Floor, 1500 Monroe Street, Ft. Myers
Wednesday, March 26^th	5:30 p.m.	Estero Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours -- Speaker FGCU President Bill Merwin	Rookery Pointe Clubhouse-- 20200 Three Oaks Parkway

February ECCO Council of Community Leaders Meeting--- On February 13th the monthly meeting of ECCO's Council of Community Leaders discussed the following issues:

"Estero--Village with a Vision" Presentation Preparation --- Jim Ramsburg reported on his progress in preparing graphics for a power point presentation on Estero. This material will be used to inform the residents of our 35 residential communities about Estero's past, present and future.

Ramsburg distributed many pictures of Estero's boundaries; residential developments; roadway landscaping; and a chart showing Estero's past and prospective population growth. The Committee discussed the topics that should be included in the 15 minute presentation that would typically be followed by up to 45 minutes of questions and answers. He indicated that the Committee has obtained commitments for design of an Estero logo to be used throughout the presentation and use of the equipment necessary for "power point" presentations.

Finally, community leaders were asked to schedule a date and place for an "Estero--Village with a Vision" meeting in their community during March or April, before many of our seasonal residents return to the north for the summer.

US 41 Six Laning from Corkscrew Road to San Carlos Boulevard --- With $1.7 million advance by Lee County, FDOT has asked three engineering firms to prepare proposals for the design of this segment, the last part of US 41 between Ft. Myers and Naples to be widened. Some of the consulting firms have been seeking community input in order to sharpen their proposal to the State.

ECCO is seeking copies of the descriptive sections of the proposals so that the communities and institutions along this route may effectively interact with the selected consultant during the design phase of the road. A committee consisting of leaders from all of these groups is now being formed. Thus far the committee includes representatives of Sunnygrove Park, Breckenridge, The Vines and the Estero Fire Rescue District. Chief Dennis Merrifield of the Fire Rescue district is preparing a list of the issues that this committee will need to address with FDOT staff and their design consultant. Other groups that would like to participate in the committee should contact Don Eslick by email or at 949-4050.

If this roadway is to be constructed anytime soon, the Estero community must work closely with FDOT, Lee County DOT and the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to accelerate the $6 million cost of the right of way that has been budgeted by the State for no sooner than October 2006, almost four years from now.

Coconut Point Town Center Development Progress--- Ron Dillon of Oakbrook Properties told the committee that discussions with county staff regarding the terms of a Development Agreement for Coconut Point were going well, but that one issue remained to be resolved. The Development Agreement will specify when the developers must pay the County $14.7 million in road impact fees and how those funds may be used. Thus he will present the Development Agreement to the Committee at its March meeting.

In addition, Dillon briefed the Committee about the acquisition of about 100 acres just north of Coconut Point by a trust composed of many of the Coconut Point property owners. This group plans to develop this property as a mixed use development using the same appearance standards being used in Coconut Point. Prior to development of this site it must go through the same Development of Regional Impact (DRI) review process that Coconut Point completed in October.

Estero Community Planning Panel--- On February 14^th the County Land Development Code Advisory Committee (LDCAC) reviewed and approved with two minor changes the ECPP's proposed sign regulations that would apply in all of Estero's overlay districts. These regulations must be reviewed by two more advisory committees before coming before the BOCC. Next month the LDCAC will review the US 41 Overlay District recommendation and the modifications to the existing Corkscrew Road Overlay.

On February 10^th the ECPP considered two zoning matters: The Estero Towncenter project and a T-mobile cell tower modification proposal.

Estero Towncenter CPD Presentation: Dan DeLisi, Vice President of Planning, Barraco & Associates, presented plans for Courtelis Company’s proposed Estero Towncenter on a 33-acre site at the southeast quadrant of Corkscrew Road and Three Oaks Parkway. The developer proposes a community commercial shopping center with a maximum of 265,000 square feet of retail including one tract that would have a maximum building size of 180,000 square feet.

There was considerable discussion about how many tenants that building should house and how it might be made to look attractive. DeLisi’s presentation and exhibit documents emphasized that the proposed development would meet or exceed the standards set forth in the Estero Community Plan and Corkscrew Overlay. He noted that the developer has a reputation for high retail development standards, citing their Collier County projects, Waterside Shops and Granada Shops.

The developer is proposing two deviations from the Land Development Code: 1) a deviation from LDC Section 10-285 to allow an additional right-in/right-out (only) entryway along Three Oaks Parkway, and 2) a deviation from LDC Sections 34-2192 and 34-1047 to reduce from 75-feet to 30-feet the parking lot, access streets and drives setbacks from Corkscrew Road to provide for the necessary required parking on-site and create a design flexibility to allow for drive-thru facilities. Forester inquired about the proposed development’s “village” atmosphere and the pedestrian access routes within the project. DeLisi replied that it is the developer’s intention to pursue the village concept. Noethlich invited DeLisi to return to a subsequent ECPP meeting after the Panel has had the opportunity to review the proposal.

T-Mobile Presentation: Ann Hector, representing T-Mobile cellular communications, presented the company’s proposal to add a cellular antenna bay at the 200-foot level of the existing 230-foot FDOT communications tower located in the southeast quadrant of I-75 and Corkscrew Road. Hector explained that the antenna is needed by the company to effectively serve its callualr phone customers between Fort Myers and Naples. Toth asked if T-Mobile would landscape the ground surrounding the antenna’s four-feet square by five-foot high connection cabinet at the base of the tower. Hector said that the company would comply, but that the ground is owned by FDOT, which would have to approve the landscaping. She added that should FDOT not approve, T-Mobile would contribute a like amount of landscaping to another area of Estero as directed by the Panel.

Estero Design Review Committee (EDRC) Meeting--- On February 11^th the EDRC reviewed the plans of two bank projects-- one for Bank of America and the other for Colonial Bank.

Bank of America--- The EDRC asked the developer to remedy the following problems with the development plan:

• the dumpster on the property would be visible from Corkscrew Road and needs a landscape barrier to hide it from view;
• the bike rack would be located too far from the bank entrance;
• the plan calls for eight more parking spaces than required by code; the EDRC asked that three of them be deleted to be replaced by landscaping;

The applicant agreed to these three requests.

The EDRC also had a major concern that the architectural appearance of the building from Corkscrew Road did not fully satisfy the appearance guidelines for the Corkscrew Overlay district, in which it is located. They suggested that this side of the building should architecturally compliment the front of the building. The applicant did not agree with this concern.

Colonial Bank--- The EDRC and the applicant discussed the following issues concerning the developer's plans for this bank project:

• The plan showed 45 parking spaces as compared with the Land Development Code requirement of 17 spaces. Thus the EDRC asked the developer to delete some spaces and have those areas become landscape areas or open space. Applicant agreed to suggestion;
• The applicant wanted to move the bank's sign further north to avoid conflict with the large existing Publix sign. The EDRC agreed to this request and in turn obtained developer agreement to increase the open space and landscape around the sign;
• The applicant agreed to connect the sidewalk toward the front entrance of the bank;
• The EDRC suggested and the developer agreed that the building use a contrasting color, rather than the color of the main Plaza building;
• The EDRC complimented the developer for the architectural appearance of the building from both Ben Hill Griffin and Corkscrew Road.

The EDRC found the architecture of the building to fully conform to the Corkscrew Overlay appearance guidelines. When the detailed landscape plan for the project is available, the developer will review it with the EDRC.

Estero Fire Rescue District Progress Report--- New Stations--On February 3, 2003, Estero Fire Rescue (EFR) placed into service the new Stoneybrook Station located east of I-75 on the south side of Corkscrew Road between the water plant and Pinewoods Elementary School. In just the few weeks it has been open, EFR has reduced response times by about 80% to communities such as Wildcat Run, Grandezza, and Stoneybrook. This station was built from plans used for the other two stations built by the district in 2002 and cost $1.25 million. Only exterior features were changed to accommodate the location. This station currently houses a 95 ft ladder truck with a platform and a 1750 gallon a minute pumper. Staffing at this station is four Estero Paramedic/Firefighters per day.

The design of the Coconut Point Station is underway. This station will be located just off of US 41 across from the entrance to Fountain Lakes. The interior will be the same as the other stations; however the exterior will comply with the appearance standards prescribed by the Coconut Point DRI. It is anticipated that the Estero Community Planning Panel (ECPP) and the Estero Design Review Committee (EDRC) will review the plans and design for the station during March.  Construction is anticipated to begin in July of 2003 and will be completed 8 months later.

Fire Insurance Review-- In February, at the request of EFR, the Insurance Services Office (ISO) completed a two day review of EFR and the fire protection resources available to the Estero Community. Based on discussions with the ISO Field Representative conducting the review, ISO was impressed with the amount of improvement EFR has made in the last 2 years. When ISO conducted its last review in January 2001 they determined that although improvements had been made, the improvements failed to keep pace with the growth of the community. As a result EFR was told that if immediate improvements were not made ISO would assign a class rating of 7/9, a retrogression from the class 6/9 rating now assigned to the community.

In January 2001 EFR had already made plans for improvement and were getting those improvements underway. However, ISO takes a snapshot of a community and bases its rating on what exists at that moment in time. As an example, ISO will not recognize a fire station that is half built or a purchase contract for a fire truck.

The ISO rating is used by insurance companies to determine its risk when issuing homeowner and business insurance policies. The fire department itself, (location of trucks, types of trucks, equipment, staffing, training, maintenance and record keeping), accounts for 50% of the score. Water supply (location of fire hydrants, volume and pressure) accounts for 40%. The remaining 10% is based on communication; the receipt and dispatching of a 911 call.

ISO assigns a number from 10 (no fire protection) to 1 (the best fire protection). The lower the ISO class number the lower your insurance rates. The first number in the ISO Class rating represents the rating assigned to those properties that are within 1000 feet of a fire hydrant and five road miles of a fire station (Ex., 4/x). The second number represents those properties that are not within 1000 feet of a fire hydrant, but are within five road miles of a fire station (Ex., x/9). A Class 10 would be assigned to those areas beyond 5 road miles of a fire station.

Since ISO's last review EFR has placed four fire trucks and three stations into service and hired additional people to staff these facilities. One of the most stunning improvement was doubling the number of fire hydrants from 567 to over 1041!  Estero Fire Chief Dennis Merrifield is optimistic that as a result of this review ISO will assign at least a Class 4/9 rating, matching the Class rating of neighboring fire districts.

The EFR Board and staff are committed to continue their efforts to improve their service, therefore driving down the cost of insurance. The construction of the Coconut Point Station, the development of a training site, delivery of additional fire trucks and additional staffing, will enable EFR to further improve ISO ratings. Based upon current plans, EFR anticipates asking ISO to review the community again in 2 years.

January Estero Building Permit Comparison--- During January 109 new housing units were permitted for the Estero community, up form 83 last year and 77 in 2000, but less than the 146 that were approved in January 2001. As we have reported recently, an increasing share of the new housing in Estero are single family homes.

During the month Estero produced 18% of the total unincorporated Lee County permitted building value for residential units. During January Estero's permitted building value for all kinds of property was 61% greater than Bonita Springs. This increase was the result of Estero's housing growth during the month exceeding Bonita Springs by 137% while Estero's commercial building permit values during January was only 23% of Bonita's.

Changing Pattern of Residential Growth in Estero--- During 2002 The Brooks continued to set the pace for housing development in Estero with 42.5% of all housing units permitted, similar to the 43% they recorded in 2001.The areas of housing unit growth in the community are now east of I-75 in Stoneybrook, Grandezza and Wildcat Run and in the southwest corner of Estero.

Stoneybrook-Grandezza--Wildcat Run has increased from 17% of total Estero housing units permitted in 2000 to 20% in 2001 and 25% last year. Meanwhile the area south of Williams Road and west of US 41 have increased their share of Estero housing units permitted from 11% in 2000 to 12% in 2001 and 18% in 2002.

Once again, the area that is losing share of permitted housing units is Pelican Sound--West Bay Club. In 2000 these two developments produced 34% of Estero's permitted housing units; by 2001 that rate had fallen to 15% and last year to only 2%. Pelican Sound is nearly sold out and the parent company of the developers of West Bay experienced financial problems. As indicated elsewhere in this report West Bay should improve their performance this year and for several years to come.

Recent Development Project Changes

Lee School Board Buys Large Property for New Estero Schools--- On February 27th the Lee County School Board approved spending $5.8 million for a 76 acre school site on the east side of Three Oaks Parkway just north of Corkscrew Road. This property is expected to be the site of one large or two or three smaller schools. The Board moved quickly because another purchaser was interested in purchasing the agriculturally zoned property. The purchase price averaged about $75,500 per acre.

West Bay Club--- Last month we incorrectly reported that The West Bay Club, an upscale community located at the Western end of Williams Road, had been purchased by Merrill Lynch, when in fact the new owner is Lehman Brothers. The change in ownership has permitted the project to open for sales again in January, to initiate an eight week advertising campaign, and to begin construction of the community's country club later this year. Steve Cashion, project manager for West Bay, reports that sales traffic has been good and that about half the single family home sites have been sold thus far. In addition, the approved zoning for West Bay includes three condominium towers.

Estero Community Park--- On February 25^th the BOCC approved a County initiated zoning resolution that, when approved, will reclassify a 53 acre parcel from Residential (RPD) to County Facility (CF-3) and to authorize the Division of Planning to act as the County's agent in the rezoning. We anticipate that the ECPP will soon be asked to sponsor a community meeting to consider this zoning request prior to being considered by a Hearing Examiner and finally, the BOCC.

Developers of The Habitat Seek County Support for a Community Development District (CDD)-- On February 25^th the BOCC directed an ordinance creating The Habitat CDD to a public hearing at 5 p.m. on April 8,2003. If approved the CDD would grant the Board of the Habitat CDD the powers to finance, fund, plan, establish, acquire, construct, or re-construct, enlarge, or extend, equip, operate and maintain systems and facilities for the following basic infrastructure: water management; water supplies; sewer and wastewater management; bridges or culvert; district roads; streetlights; conservation areas; and other projects within and outside the district boundaries for which a Development Order may be issued. The ordinance also appoints the initial members of the CDD Board. This is the first sign that the new purchasers of this major residential project are planning to proceed with the project as zoned.

The Lakes of Estero Grand Opening--- On February 15^th and 16^th the developers of Lakes of Estero held their grand opening for this 102 home community located on the northeast corner of Williams Road and River Ranch Road just east of Estero High School. Three models are now open each of them featuring "Olde World Mediterranean" styles.

Estero Roadway Median Landscaping Update

University Overlay Roadway Landscaping Funding Approved--- On February 18^th the BOCC approved an additional $1 million for landscaping and irrigation of this major roadway landscaping project. The project extends from Alico Road south on Ben Hill Griffin Road to Corkscrew Road and west on Corkscrew to I-75, a distance of almost four miles. This approval increases the total funding for this project to $2.5 million, or about $625,000 per mile. For comparison purposes, the county's core landscaping program usually costs about $200,000 per mile. The project manager is expected to begin using these additional funds in April.

US 41 Between the North End of Old 41 and Corkscrew Road --- Lee County has agreed to sponsor a grant application for this road segment under the Countywide Streetscape Landscape Grant on State Highways program. The state is already committed to spending $704,000 for "core landscaping" this segment, which is expected to be completed in late 2004 or early 2005. A total of $400,000 will be available for these grants during the 2004/05 fiscal year. Last year the Corkscrew Road/ I-75 Intersection received a $150,000 grant through this program. ECCO and other members of the Estero community will be working with the County to develop the grant application that must be approved by the BOCC for submittal to MPO approval in June.

In addition ECCO plans to work with FDOT in order to obtain a grant under their "Highway Beautiful" program. Applications for this program are due in February 2004.