Estero Development Report
Volume 4, Number 4
Edited by
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
This Report will soon be available on the Estero Chamber of Commerce Website www.esterochamber.org and the Estero Fire District site at www.esterofire.org.
September
Opportunities for Citizen Participation
In Protecting Estero's Quality of Life
|
Date |
Time |
Event |
Location |
|
Tuesday,
September 7th |
|
|
|
|
Wednesday,
September 8th |
2
p.m. |
County
Executive Regulatory Oversight Committee (EROC) -- Estero Code Changes |
County
Community Development Building, Conf. Room 2C, 1500 Monroe St., Ft Myers |
|
Wednesday,
September 8th |
5
p.m. |
Estero
Design Review Committee Review of The
Hampton Inn Estero; a T-Mobile Communications Tower & Wachovia Bank |
The
Perry Room of The Estero Country Club at The Vines |
|
Thursday,
September 9th |
11
a.m. |
Coconut
Point Ground-breaking Ceremony |
Coconut
Point Town Center Construction Site |
|
Friday,
September 10th |
8
a.m. |
County
Land Development Code Advisory Committee (LDCAC) -- Estero Code Changes |
County
Community Development Building, Conf. Room 2C, 1500 Monroe St., Ft Myers |
|
Monday,
September 13th |
6
p.m. |
Estero
Community Planning Panel consideration of Pelican Sound Golf Maintenance
Facility; Corkscrew Road Water Plant; the Miromar
Design Center Hotel/Office Complex and University Village Project. |
Marsh
Landing Clubhouse |
|
Tuesday,
September 14th |
6:00
p.m. |
Estero
Fire Rescue District Board |
Estero
United Methodist Church -- Founder's Hall |
|
Monday,
September 20th |
9:00
a.m. |
Board
of County Commissioners Consideration of the North Point DRI Zoning |
County
Commissioner's Chambers, 2nd Floor, 2120 Main Street, Ft. Myers |
|
Tuesday,
September 21st |
9:30
a.m. |
Board
of County Commissioners Consideration of the Sandy Lane Alignment Study |
County
Commissioner's Chambers, 2nd Floor, 2120 Main Street, Ft. Myers |
|
Wednesday,
September 22nd |
2
p.m. |
ECCO
Council of Community Leaders Meeting. |
Marsh
Landing Clubhouse |
|
Thursday,
September 23rd |
5:30
p.m. |
Estero
Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours |
Wachovia
Bank |
|
Page |
Subject |
|
1 |
Calendar |
|
2 |
Sandy Lane Alignment
Progress Report |
|
3 |
Estero
Parkway Wal-Mart Progress Report |
|
5 |
Coconut Road Wal-Mart Status
Report |
|
7 |
Estero Housing Growth
Continues Strong |
|
8 |
Estero Community Park
Progress Report |
|
8 |
Navona at The Colony in Pelican
Landing |
|
10 |
AT&T
Tower Site Redevelopment in the Colony of Pelican Landing |
|
11 |
Roadway Progress Report |
|
13 |
Roadway Landscaping Progress
Report |
Sandy Lane Alignment Progress Report
North Segment from Corkscrew Road to
On June 7th the County's Sandy Lane Alignment
Study consultant presented her recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners
(BOCC). The Board was generally supportive of the consultant's recommendations
but expressed their interest in the intersection problem between the two
sections of The Cascades.
As a result of the BOCC's interest Kris Cella, the
County's Alignment Study consultant, indicated that they would evaluate several
at-grade intersection concepts to address the Cascade residents' concerns. In
addition they held a special meeting for Cascade residents on this segment in
late July.
On Tuesday, August 3rd
the County and its Sandy Lane consultant met with about 200 residents of The Cascades to discuss the
community's concerns about Sandy Lane. Commissioner's John Albion and Ray Judah
also attended the meeting.
On August 11th the
ECCL's Committee on North Sandy Lane met for the
fourth time to discuss the issues raised by the residents of The Cascades. This
committee is composed of representatives of all the communities and
institutions located along this route. None of the committee members present expressed
support for the need for this segment of Sandy Lane at this time. On the
contrary most all of those were concerned about some aspect of the consultant's
recommendations for this road segment.
In addition to the safety,
security and noise issues raised by the Cascades persons attending the meeting,
other concerns raised were:
·
Environmental
concerns about the preserve area that the recommended road alignment would
traverse just south of The Cascades;
·
Historical
concerns about the McCullers Home and the Campbell/Trebell/Bigelow House that are believed by our local
historians to be in the path of the proposed alignment;
·
The need for the
extension inasmuch as the consultant is now recommending that the section north
of Estero Parkway be reevaluated only after the widening of US 41 and Three
Oaks Parkway are complete.
On August 23rd the
North Sandy Lane Committee reported to the full ECCL on its August 11th
meeting. After a thorough discussion of all the issues the ECCL voted
unanimously to support the following position before the BOCC when they meet to
adopt an alignment for Sandy Lane in mid-September:
The Estero Council of Community Leaders (ECCL) is opposed to the
extension of Sandy Lane NORTH from Corkscrew Road through the Cascades to
Estero Parkway. Any future County consideration of extending Sandy Lane in this
area should be postponed until:
·
US 41 has been widened to 6-lanes from San Carlos Park to
Corkscrew Road; and
·
Three Oaks Parkway has been widened.
These two
conditions are identical to the Consultant's recommendation for the segment
north of Estero Parkway which states: "After the widening of Three Oaks
Parkway and U.S. 41, the traffic conditions should be reevaluated to determine
when this segment may be needed".
The ECCL
position further states that any future County consideration of extending this
segment of Sandy Lane needs to:
·
Limit the road to no more than two-lanes;
·
Extend this segment only if the Estero Parkway to Alico Road segment is also extended;
·
Urge the County to request the MPO to eliminate the recently
added four lane designation;
·
Involve the Estero community and its Historical Society so
as to avoid or relocate historical homes to appropriate locations within the
community;
·
Address all environmental issues related to the nature
preserve south of the Cascades;
·
Address the safety, security and noise pollution issues of
the Cascades, a gated community.
The Board of
County Commissioners (BOCC) will adopt a Sandy Lane Alignment and Report at
their regular weekly Board meeting on September 21st or 28th.
The only opportunity for public input on issues on the agenda for the day is
during the public comment period at the beginning of the meeting. The ECCL will
work with The Cascades community to develop an effective communications program
prior to this vote.
South Segment from the Coconut Point Property to Old
41
On August 4th the
Bonita Springs City Council voted 6 to 1 in favor of the Production Circle
route for connecting Sandy Lane as a four lane road from the southern end of
the Coconut Point property to Old 41. At an earlier meeting in July the Council
had failed to affirm this route on a 3-3 vote. Our thanks go out to SWFTI, the
Southwest Florida private sector consortium that has been so effective in
improving the road network throughout our area. In addition the leadership of
Pelican Landing worked hard to gain the support of Wayne Edsall,
their City Councilman.
This segment and alignment
will now be included in the Final Report that Kris Cella
will present to the BOCC in September. South Estero residents and community
leaders should plan on attending that meeting to express their support for this
recommendation.
Estero Parkway Wal-Mart Progress Report --- Jerry Murphy, the County Zoning staff person assigned
to this project left the County for another position on July 12th.
Consequently, the Wal-Mart Committee and Wal-Mart's representatives met on
several occasions with his successor, Chip Block, to insure that the staff
report is consistent with our long-term negotiations.
When the staff report became
available the Committee some of the committee members reviewed it to ensure
that it was consistent with all the negotiations and to prepare for testimony
at the Public Hearing, originally scheduled for August 4th but
postponed twice until August 27th. Where there were inconsistencies discussions
were conducted with Wal-Mart and County staff and they were corrected in
subsequent drafts of the report. The final report correctly reflected all the
agreements between the Committee and Wal-Mart.
The US 41 Concurrency Issue
State and County law provides
a standard and process for trying to keep the capacity of the roads up with the
surrounding development. In general it provides that if a road is failing (each
road is graded from A to F) no Development Order for a project can be approved
by a local government until the money for the construction of the needed
increase in road capacity is in the appropriate capital budget within the next
three years. In this case County staff took the unusual position that a more
stringent standard should be applied…construction of the store could not begin
until US 41 was under construction and the store could not open until the US 41
widening was completed.
During this period the
Committee continued discussions with Wal-Mart regarding their long-standing
offer to help finance the acceleration of the widening of US 41 between San
Carlos Park and Corkscrew Road. On August 23rd Wal-Mart sent a
letter to the ECCL and The Vines that includes the following commitment:
"Wal-Mart previously
committed to provide Lee County with up to a million dollars to make the
interest payment on a low interest loan acquired by the County. The County
would enter in an agreement with the State to provide the funds to accelerate
the construction. If it becomes clear that
Lee County is not the appropriate entity to facilitate the construction
of the road, then Wal-Mart will provide the funds to an appropriate not for
profit organization to accelerate the road."
That same day the ECCL
discussed the upcoming Hearing and voted to support the Wal-Mart rezoning under
the added condition that the County could not issue a Certificate of Occupancy
for the store (necessary for it to open for business) until the widening of the
adjacent segment of US 41 was underway.
Before Wal-Mart selected this
site ECCL had been working with Lee DOT and FDOT to accelerate the widening of
US 41 adjacent to this site. As a result in 2002 the County loaned the State
$2.3 million to accelerate the design of the road
Late last year… after
discussing alternative loan programs with the County and State … FDOT applied
for and obtained a State Infrastructure Bank loan for the $7 million to
accelerate the ROW-- permitting phase…that will now be complete by June 2006.
This is the earliest that construction of this segment can begin.
Long before Wal- Mart came on the scene we explored with the County and
State a low interest County loan where the ECCL would organize all of Estero's developers to pay the interest on the loan.
When Wal-Mart came on the
scene we discussed the idea with them, Lee DOT and FDOT. At that time Wal-Mart
indicated a willingness to pay the interest on a low interest county loan to
FDOT in order to accelerate construction of the widening by two years…the
estimated cost would be up to $1 million.
The condition proposed by
ECCL would permit Wal-Mart to open in two years, in mid-2006, if they work with
us, the County and FDOT to accelerate the availability of the $17 million now
budgeted by FDOT for construction of this road in 2008 to 2006. This would
permit the road to be available for use no later than 2008.
Without Wal-Mart the widening
of US 41 is not likely to be completed until 2010 or 2011.
The August 27th Hearing
The Concurrency issue was the
primary focus of the 7 hour Public Hearing before Chief Lee County Hearing
Examiner Diana Parker. Staff maintained its position that the zoning application
should be denied because of its traffic impact on US 41, an already failing
road segment. Wal-Mart argued that by law the Concurrency (traffic capacity)
issue is not to be decided at the time of zoning but rather at the time a
Development Order is sought by the developer (at the time the development is
more specifically defined and ready to start). Several ECCL Wal-Mart Committee
members supported the position approved above.
In addition the Estero
Chamber of Commerce, several residents of The Cascades and a few persons from
The Vines expressed their opposition to the store, primarily for traffic, crime
and safety reasons. Several representatives of the Estero Community Planning
Panel and the Estero Design Review Committee testified about Wal-Mart's
acceptance of their recommendations. Several ECCL members testified in support
of the project including all the appearance and landscaping changes, the
operational controls included in the agreement with The Vines and the prospect
of accelerating the widening of US 41 with Wal-Mart's financial help.
According to Matt Uhle, the attorney for The Vines, at the conclusion of the
meeting Hearing Examiner Parker explicitly indicated that traffic and
concurrency issues could not legally be decided at the time of zoning, but
rather when Wal-Mart seeks a Development Order.
Since that is the County's only reason for seeking denial of the
application, her statement indicates that she will recommend that the BOCC
approve the zoning. She further agreed with the staff conditions that reflect
the 18 months of negotiation between Wal-Mart, the ECCL and the Vines. Parker's
final report and recommendation are expected in about three weeks.
Coconut Road Wal-Mart Status Report --- The Wal-Mart Corporation has a contract to purchase
the 46 acre parcel on the northwest corner of Coconut Road and US 41 with plans
to construct a 208,000 square foot super-center including a grocery store,
tire-lube operation, liquor store and a garden center. In addition the property
would contain three outlots and a gas station site.
On April 21st
Wal-Mart filed with the County a "Request for appeal of an administrative
interpretation to the Hearing Examiner" in an effort to overturn the
county's denial of Wal-Mart's Development Order. County staff has taken the
position that Wal-Mart must rezone the property if it wants to build a
superstore on this site.
The long awaited hearing of
Wal-Mart's appeal was held on July 1st and legal memos were accepted
by the Hearing Examiner until July 16th. Six Estero communities, the
citizens of four other residential communities and the Hyatt Coconut Point
Resort employed Matt Uhle, an experienced Lee County
land use attorney to represent the community's interest in this matter. In this
capacity Mr. Uhle testified at the hearing and filed
a legal memo in the case.
On August 9th the
Hearing Examiner denied Wal-Mart's appeal in an eleven page decision. The basis
of the decision is that "the (Wal-Mart's) plans as submitted are not
consistent with the approved Master Concept Plan…She concurs…with Staff's and
public's arguments that the primary issue herein is whether the proposed site
plan is consistent with the approved Master Concept Plan, and the provisions of
the approved zoning resolution and the requirements of the Land Development
Code."
"She finds that a visual
comparison of the proposed site plan and the approved Master Concept Plan
clearly demonstrates there are significant differences between the two plans.
For example, under the proposed site plan, the "new" Development Area
1 would total about 37.79 acres, an increase of almost six acres over the total
approved acreage (31.79) for the Development Area 1 in the 1998 Master Concept
Plan. In the 1998 Master Concept Plan, the interior commercial tract was
approved for 13.44 acres; however, under the proposed site plan, the additional
parking areas and loss of the ring roadway would increase that tract's size to
over 20 acres. The three remaining outparcels along
U.S. 41 would total about 3.01 acres, less that on-half the total outparcel size (6.54 acres) approved in the 1998 Master
Concept Plan. In addition, a large water management lake is depicted in the
"new" Development Area 2, and occupies almost one-half of the north
portion of that tract. Finally, the proposed site plan no longer has an
internal (spine) roadway providing access to all the development tracts and outparcels; instead internal traffic must traverse
numerous, narrow parking lot aisles to get around the site."
Mr. Uhle,
in his report on the Hearing Examiner's decision, stated that Wal-Mart now has
the following options:
He opined that Wal-Mart is
unlikely to choose Option 1 because their chances for success are small and it
will take about one year to complete. He indicated that Option 2 is possible but
the Hearing Examiner's opinion is not very favorable in this regard. That
leaves Options 3 and 4 as the real possibilities.
For several months Wal-Mart's
representatives had been seeking a meeting with the leaders of the Estero
Council of Community Leaders' Coconut Road Wal-Mart Committee. The stated
purpose of the meeting was to provide Steve Hutchinson, Wal-Mart's contract
realtor for this site, with an assessment of Estero community opinion about a
Wal-Mart at Coconut and US 41.
Due to Jim Fraser's
unavailability, on August 12th Barbara Akins, Don Eslick and Arnie Rosenthal met
with Mr. Hutchinson and Judson Pankey, the engineer
who has represented Wal-Mart on both the proposed Estero stores.
From the outset of the
meeting it was clear that Wal-Mart had requested the meeting in order to report
back to the decision-makers at Corporate Headquarters about how to proceed
regarding the Coconut Road site. We made clear to them that opposition to a
Wal-Mart on this site is very strong throughout the surrounding community. In
addition we stated that if they decide to proceed with the site they must first
hold public meetings in all of the adjacent communities during "the
Season" to see if they can overcome this opposition. We specifically
indicated all four communities in The Brooks, Pelican Landing, Coconut Shores,
Meadowbrook, Eldorado Acres and Marsh Landing. In addition we indicated that unless a
substantial majority of the residents in these communities subsequently support
the store as presented, we as a community organization would oppose their
efforts using all of our resources and organizational abilities.
Wal-Mart asked hypothetically
that if they decide to pursue a store on this site would the leaders of the
surrounding communities, our Wal-Mart Committee, be willing to meet with them
so that they might get more feedback as to what kind of store might satisfy the
residents of the surrounding communities. We indicated that such a meeting
might be scheduled, at the discretion of the Committee, only after they
committed to hold meetings during the "season" in each large
community and other meetings for combinations of smaller communities.
Hutchinson's comments and
questions made it clear that the two options that he had under consideration
for his recommendation to Wal-Mart are:
·
To develop a
rezoning proposal for the site that would overcome as much opposition as
possible,
·
Not to proceed
with a store at this site.
We asked Mr. Hutchinson to
notify us when Wal-Mart decides how it plans to proceed, and have heard nothing
to date.
On August 23rd the
Coconut Road Wal-Mart Committee met with Matt Uhle to
discuss the Hearing Examiner's decision, the meeting with Wal-Mart's
representatives and other legal issue research relevant to this site.
Estero Housing Growth Continues Strong -- During the first seven months this year 1,049 housing
units with a building value of $226 million were permitted in Estero. The
following table shows how this performance compares with the prior four years:
|
Year |
Total Annual Housing Units |
Number of Housing Units |
Building Value of Units |
Average Building Value Per Unit |
Percentage of Single Family Units |
|
2000 |
2,088 |
1,122 |
$154,418,948 |
$137,600 |
41.2 |
|
2001 |
2,104 |
1,399 |
$213,744,261 |
$152,800 |
45.0 |
|
2002 |
1,500 |
905 |
$153,144,478 |
$169,200 |
56.7 |
|
2003 |
1,425 |
1,033 |
$155,939,745 |
$151,000 |
37.5 |
|
2004 |
|
1,049 |
$225,941,691 |
$215,400 |
64.5 |
Thus 2004 ranks third of the five
years in the number of housing units permitted but highest in the total
building value of those units. The housing unit data in 2003 is inflated by the
large number of permitted units (240) in Villagio
during February, 2003. The large increase since last month's report is the
result of another residential tower being permitted in the Estero portion of
The Colony. It is a 100 unit, $30 million building value tower called Navona that is just getting underway and is expected to be
completed early in 2006.
The building value of housing
units permitted in Estero this year is up dramatically from all prior periods,
largely because the single family share of the market has increased so much.
The residential building value understates the purchase price of each residence
because it excludes the value of the underlying land.
Estero Community Park -- With substantial input from Estero residents, Lee
County has completed the design of the 65 acre Estero Community Park, has
cleared the site of exotic vegetation and in June presented the detailed design
of the first phase of the project to the EDRC. The main entrance to the Park
will be on the south side of Corkscrew Road midway between Sandy Lane and River
Ranch Road.
The centerpiece of the Park
is a 41,000 square foot Community/Recreation Center, by far the largest ever
constructed by Lee County Parks and Recreation. The back of the
Community/Recreation building is an amphitheater fronting on the "central
lawn", a large oval capable of seating 2,000 residents for concerts and
other events.
On July 27th the
Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) approved a $10.8 million construction
contract with J. L. Wallace Inc. for Phase 1 of the Park. In addition the BOCC
approved a loan of $6.7 million from the County's General Fund to help finance
Phase 1. The other source of funding for Phase 1 comes from Park Impact Fees
paid by purchasers of new homes in Estero and the other areas in our Impact Fee
District.
Due to Hurricane Charley the
Groundbreaking Ceremony originally scheduled for August 23rd has
been postponed until Monday, October 11th. The groundbreaking delay
is not expected to delay construction of the park. Phase 1 of the Park is
expected to be completed by December 2005.
Navona at The Colony in Pelican
Landing -– Navona
is a 100 unit residential tower located immediately inside the Coconut Road
gate to The Colony, which is a gated community within Pelican Landing. The plan
for the building includes a 200 car two story, uncovered parking deck
immediately south of the building.
Andy Hjortaas of WCI
Communities and Neale Montgomery, project attorney
for WCI, reported that WCI had improperly indicated on its DO application that
the 21 story tower is located in Bonita Springs rather than its true location,
Estero. When the County learned about this error they suspended the DO until a
statutorily required public meeting was held in Estero. In an effort to
speedily fulfill that obligation WCI made a presentation on the project to the
ECPP on June 14th. The ECPP has never before had a DO matter before
it, which is the province of the Estero Design Review Committee (EDRC).
During the DO suspension period WCI agreed to make
another presentation to the EDRC. On August 11th WCI made its presentation
to the EDRC, several Colony residents testified about their concerns with the
project and the EDRC discussed the issues with the developer and the residents
for almost two hours. A summary of the EDRC's
comments and suggestions follows:
Under
normal circumstances this advice would be transmitted to the County for their
consideration prior to issuing the DO for the project. However, that is not
possible in this case because the DO had already been issued prior to the EDRC
community meeting. The DO was issue prematurely because WCI's
DO application had incorrectly indicated that the building would be located in
Bonita Springs, not its correct location in Estero. The County has not
indicated how it will respond, if at all, to the EDRC's
advise regarding Navona.
AT&T Tower Site Redevelopment in the Colony of
Pelican Landing --- On August 9th
the ECPP heard a presentation by the developers of a landlocked communications
tower parcel in the middle of The Colony/Pelican Landing community. The
AT&T Wireless proposal would relocate the existing 250 foot communications
tower from the middle of the parcel to the northwest corner and replace it with
a 149 foot stealth tower and rezone the parcel on the east side of Spring Creek
Road south of Coconut Road from AG-2 to Residential Planned Development for 15
single family lots with access to Pelican Colony Boulevard, the main
road through the gated Pelican Landing community.
There was general support for
the stealth tower proposal, but strong opposition to granting access to Pelican
Colony Boulevard. Panel members pointed
out that Pelican Colony Boulevard is a private, gated road inside Pelican
Landing. This raises concerns regarding the project residents' financial
obligations for the infrastructure, security and amenities that have been and
are now being paid by Pelican Landings residents.
The developer's
representatives indicated that they would like to work with Pelican Landings to
see how these costs could be handled. They further indicated that they have a
written communication from the County Attorney’s Office affirming the right of
this project, because of its membership in the Bayside CDD to access Pelican
Colony Boulevard.
Another panelist asked why, if
the residential area was part of the Pelican Landing DRI, it was still zoned
agricultural. The developer's representative replied that the property is
included in the Pelican Landings DRI development order but it was not included
in the Pelican Landings zoning.
The panel also questioned the
buffering provisions of the project if it were to be a free standing community
as the developer's representative had indicated. The panel encouraged the
developer to address project buffering at the rezoning stage and that the water
management issues needed to be addressed then as well. In addition it was
suggested that vegetation and open space should be shown on the Master Concept
Plan.
Stefan Johansson, division president of WCI’s
West Central Tower Division, said WCI does not object to the development, but
they are opposed to it having access to Pelican Colony Boulevard. He contended
that access should be confined to Spring Creek Road.
The Community Development District (CDD), to which AT&T
has been paying, does not own Pelican Colony Boulevard, they only maintain the
landscaping on it. Pelican Colony Boulevard is owned by The Colony Foundation
whose Board is currently dominated by WCI.
The residents who spoke were generally supportive of the
stealth tower, but were unanimously opposed to allowing access to Pelican
Colony Boulevard. Warren Miner,
President of the 3,000 household Pelican Landing Community Association agreed
that the tower changes are positive, but the issue is access. The Pelican
Landing Community Association owns the roads in Pelican Landing, which have
been deeded to them by WCI. However the roads located in The Colony are still
under the control of WCI and will eventually be turned over to The Colony
Foundation, The Colony homeowners association.
The residents of The Colony understand that the roads are
private and are part of the amenities for which they have paid and continue to
pay for maintenance. Membership in The Colony Foundation association and
payment for prior capital costs would be required for the new development to
use the road. Another resident of
Pelican Landings indicated that she loved the tower proposal, but is strongly
opposed to access to Pelican Landing because of its detrimental impact on the
community's security and privacy.
Roadway Progress Report
US 41 From Corkscrew Road to San Carlos Park --
On May 3rd FDOT and Inwood Consulting Engineering met with the ECCL North US 41
Committee to discuss their preliminary plans for widening US 41 between
Corkscrew Road and San Carlos Park. See the May 2004 EDR for a complete summary
of this meeting.
The Department now reports
that the 60% design phase is almost complete. This benchmark will permit the
two year right-of way and permitting phase to begin. If the full two years is
required to complete this phase, construction of the six-laning
could begin in August 2006.
FDOT should be scheduling
another Public Information Workshop in the community soon.
Three Oaks Parkway Progress Report-- On March 12th Don DeBerry
and Nicole Maxey of Lee DOT briefed the Estero Council of Community Leaders
about the status and plans for completion of the two remaining segments of
Three Oaks Parkway in Estero. Since then Dave Loveland of Lee DOT has provided
us with two updates on the progress of these road segments.
The design of the segment
between Corkscrew Road and Alico Road reached
the 60% completion point earlier this year. Permit applications have been filed
with the South Florida Water Management District and with the Corps of
Engineers. The County has begun to acquire right-of-way from voluntary sellers.
The estimated cost of the needed right-of way has increased by $1.2 million,
raising the total cost of this project to $18.4 million. Construction funding
is still available in the County's 2004-05 fiscal year that begins on October 1st.
Four laning of this segment within a 6 lane right-of
-way can begin as soon as the right-of-way and permits are obtained, sometime
late this year or in 2005. The roadway landscape money for this segment is budgeted
for the 2005-06 fiscal year.
The 60% design of the Coconut
Road to E. Terry Street segment was completed during the summer and 51 of
the 52 parcels that are needed for right-of-way have now been purchased. The
permits have been filed with the South Florida Water Management District and
the Corps of Engineers. Funding for construction of this road segment has been
moved up to the present fiscal year, so that construction can begin as soon as
the right-of-way and permits are obtained. Construction of this 4 lane road
within a 6 lane right-of-way is expected to take from 15 to 18 months, thus
this road segment should be available for use sometime in late 2006 or early
2007. The cost of the project has increased by about $3.7 million during the
last year. Landscape funding is budgeted for the county's 2006-07 fiscal year,
which starts in October 2006.
Sandy Lane Extension from Corkscrew Road to Pelican
Colony Boulevard --- During the
summer the County approved the Development Agreement with the developers of
Coconut Point authorizing them to build this 3 mile segment of Sandy Lane as a
four land collector road. The developers hired two engineering firms to
expeditiously design the road. The developer made a community presentation
before the ECPP when the design reached the 30% phase early this summer. The
design is now 60% complete. The permitting was implemented by the developers
when they filed for approvals for the private parts of the project and the
right-of-way was largely owned by the developers and that which was not was
negotiated several years ago.
Thus construction of this
segment is expected to begin within the next few months and be completed in
about one year.
Estero Parkway Extension (I-75 Flyover) --- This expensive, $19.4 million, 9 tenths of a mile
project is primarily funded by fund derived from the Miromar
Lakes and Gulf Coast Town Center DRI projects. The timing of these payments has
caused the County to delay the construction of this road by one year, until the
2005-06 fiscal year starting in October 2005.
The project extends from
Three Oaks Parkway to Ben Hill Griffin Parkway. Currently the project has been
designed to the 30% level and right-of-way acquisition has started. The design is on hold pending resolution of a
dispute with FDOT over the design of the bridge over I-75. The County has
submitted its permits to the South Florida Water Management District and the
Corps of Engineers.
County Road (CR) 951 Extension --- CR 951 is in the second year of a three year study.
Several community meetings have been held regarding the alignment of this east
of I-75 north-south corridor and another is scheduled for this fall. The County
is recommending that money be added to the Lee Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)
this year to begin the design for the segment between Immokalee Road and
Corkscrew Road and to start voluntary right-of-way acquisition if an alignment
is approved.
When completed this road
would provide another continuous 4 lane north-south corridor east of I-75 from
south Collier County to north of the airport using Ben Hill Griffin and Treeline Road as segments.
Corkscrew Road East of I-75 --- Corkscrew Road will eventually be widened to four
lanes from Ben Hill Griffin to the entrance of Bella Terra, formerly The
Habitat. At present the design is at the 60% stage. In addition the County has
submitted permit applications with the Water Management District and the Corps
of Engineers. They are now in the process of acquiring property from the
members of the Corkscrew Road Service Area. Some properties outside this
special district will also be needed in order to widen the road. Construction
will depend upon permitting and funding from the participating communities and
organizations.
I-75 from Bonita Beach Road to Daniel Parkway --- Six-laning of I-75 is now in
the design phase. The right-of-way and permitting phase funding is budgeted for
the 2005-06 state fiscal year, beginning on July 1, 2005. Funding for the
construction phase is budgeted for state fiscal year 2007-08, starting on July
1, 2007.
Roadway Landscaping Progress Report
Sandy Lane ---
Finally, the County has indicated that
the four lane segment of Sandy Lane between Corkscrew Road and Pelican Colony
Boulevard is not entitled to median roadway landscape funding like all other
new major collector and arterial roadways because it not being constructed by
the county. The budgeting system that the County has adopted for roadway
landscaping on new and expanded roads does not automatically provide funding
for new public roads that are constructed for the county by private entities,
in this case Oakbrook Properties and the Simon Property Group.
The County does have some
other funding programs that may fill part of the Sandy Lane Landscaping funding
gap. In July the representatives of the ECCL met with County DOT staff to
discuss these funding options. Subsequently, on July 6th the ECCL
representatives met with the County's Roadway Landscape Advisory Committee
(RLAC) and asked the committee to establish a sub-committee to review a grant
application for the funds necessary to design the landscaping for this 3 mile
segment of Sandy Lane. The RLAC agreed to establish such a committee.
The plan presented to the
RLAC suggested that three grant applications might be forthcoming from the
community and the developers regarding landscaping this segment -- the first
for the design; the second for installation of the landscaping along the road
and the third for landscaping the two round-abouts
planned for the segment.
In August the RLAC
representatives met with Oakbrook Properties and Al O'Donnell, an Estero member
of the RLAC to discuss the landscape design grant application. At this meeting
it was decided that the Developers should pay for the design phase so that the
project could be developed and installed late in 2005 when the road is expected
to be completed. The Developers' design expenditures would be credited toward
their local matching funds required for the installation phase. The County has
agreed to discuss this proposal at the September meeting of the RLAC.
Hurricane Charley and Corkscrew Road and Three Oaks
Parkway --- Numerous recently planted trees were toppled by
Hurricane Charley along these two roadways... Corkscrew Road between US 41 and
Corkscrew Woodlands Boulevard and Three Oaks Parkway from Williams Road to
Corkscrew Road. Lee County DOT quickly established priorities for tending to
the damage caused by Hurricane Charley to the median landscaping on County Roads.
They determined that the probabilities of survival would be greatest for the
most recently planted trees. These two segments are the most recently
landscaped roads in the County road system. Thus the County raised and secured
all the fallen trees on these two roadways about one week.