Estero Development Report

Volume 2, Number 12

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 and the Estero Fire District site at www.esterofire.org.

Estero Development Activities during April 2003

May Opportunities for Citizen Participation

In Protecting Estero's Quality of Life

Date	Time	Event	Location
Monday, May 5^th	9:30 a.m.	Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Hearing on Corkscrew Palms and Corkscrew Palms II Zoning	Commission Chambers, 2120 Main Street, 2^nd Floor
Tuesday, May 6^th	6 p.m.	Roadway Landscape Advisory Committee Meeting	County Community Development Building, Conference Room 3A, 1500 Monroe Street, Ft. Myers
Tuesday, May 6^th	9:30 a.m.	BOCC Review/Approval of Koreshan Blvd Landscaping Participation Contract	Commission Chambers, 2120 Main Street, 2^nd Floor
Friday, May 9th	2 p.m.	ECCO Council of Community Leaders Meeting.	Marsh Landing Clubhouse
Monday, May 12^th	6 p.m.	Estero Community Planning Panel Meeting	Marsh Landing Clubhouse
Tuesday, May 13th	6 p.m.	Estero Fire Commission Meeting	Estero United Methodist Church--Founders Hall
Wednesday, May 13th	5 p.m.	Estero Design Review Committee	The Perry Room of The Vines Country Club
Wednesday, May 14^th	9 a.m.	Hearing Examiner Hearings on Kersey Smoot Project --- Coconut Point Resort Time Share Units	County Community Development Building, 2^nd Floor Conference Room, 1500 Monroe Street, Ft. Myers
Wednesday, May 14^th	9 a.m.	Hearing Examiner Hearings on Estero Town Center CPD	County Community Development Building, 2^nd Floor Conference Room, 1500 Monroe Street, Ft. Myers
Thursday, May 29^th	11:30a.m.	Estero Chamber of Commerce Annual Luncheon	Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort

Community Planning Activities

The May Estero Community Planning Panel Meeting-- The meeting of the ECPP scheduled for May 12^th will consider a zoning application for the Tucker Property, a 10 acre orange grove site on the northwest corner of Three Oaks and Williams Road, from agriculture to Commercial Planned Development. Representatives of the Wal-Mart Corporation may also present a proposal for construction of a 208,000 Wal-Mart superstore on the northeast corner of US 41 and Koreshan Boulevard. This presentation has been discussed but the date had not been confirmed when this EDR went to press.

Estero Community Park Public Hearing-- the public hearing on Estero's 65 acre community park, originally scheduled for May 7^th, has been postponed until June 18^th. The County Parks and Recreation Department and its architects will once again discuss with the community the design of the 37,000 square foot community building but in much more detail than before as well as other elements that will be included in the park. The Department continues to work with the School Board regarding joint development of an adjacent 10 acre parcel.

Big Box Design Standards--- As reported last month the McHarris Planning and Design Company, a nationally recognized "big box" building design standards firm, has been developing a comprehensive set of "big box" standards for the Estero community. The ECPP has now received these standards and are beginning to discuss them in negotiations with developers seeking zoning with "big box" applications.

The proposed standards contain a number of concepts not frequently observed in most existing big box building sites. The following section briefly describes some of them:

A Liner building refers to an additional building located along a big box type structure to mask blank and unadorned walls. Liner buildings:

May be used to help mass up or mass down the big box;
May either be attached to the big box or be within 15 feet of the big box;
Shall be placed along blank and or windowless walls which face public right of ways of large format buildings;
Shall be utilized on a minimum of two sides for each “Big Box” over 50,000 square feet;
Shall cover a minimum of 60 percent of the building façade;
Shall be designed to be complimentary to the approved design standards for the project and shall include along its façade a minimum of 25 percent glazing and a maximum of 70 percent.

The purpose of Liner Buildings is to conceal any blank walls/facades of a big box structure while creating scale and architectural character.

Green Space Square means an outdoor public tract, fronted on a minimum of two sides by buildings. An interior street may be located between the square and the building frontage.

Green Space Squares:

· Shall have a minimum dimension of 30 feet and a maximum dimension of 65 feet;

· May be interconnected to form a larger square or series of squares;

· A minimum of 15% of the required green space shall be aggregated to gather into usable format called Green Space Squares. Retail is encouraged to develop around these squares when possible;

· Shall be integrated into the site plans as either a passive or active park like space;

· May be interconnected to form a series of usable spaces for the project.

The Purpose of Green Space Squares is to aggregate a portion of the required open space into a usable component of the retail center.

Parking Pods means a discrete parking lot with no more than two ingress / egress points, limited to a maximum of 70 parking spaces, and surrounded by a landscape buffer with a minimum depth of five feet.

Big Box Project parking lots:

Shall be develop into parking pods that do not exceed 70 parking spaces, have a minimum of two entry/ exit points and are buffered by a continuous double row hedge and canopy trees at 30 feet on center;
Shall provide a landscape island for every ten parking space per the county codes;
Shall be distributed around the big box building with peak and employee parking located at the rear of building;
Out parcel buildings shall have the majority of the parking located behind the building and away from the street;
Shall all be interconnected

The purpose of these requirements is to create attractive parking areas that can provide convenient and safe multi-modal movement of vehicular, public transportation, bicycles and pedestrian traffic.

Implementation of these standards will add to our existing provisions for reducing the massing effect of big buildings while breaking up the sea of asphalt that typically surrounds these facilities with green space squares, modular parking surrounded by landscaping and effective pedestrian walkways connecting the adjacent businesses.

Estero's Main Street Beginning to Take Shape

Lee County and the Estero Community Planning Panel have been working together to plan Estero and to manage its growth for nearly three years. Only now will the results of that effort begin to be reflected in the commercial corridors of the community.

The Community Plan became effective about one year ago and the first changes in uniquely Estero development standards (in the County Land Development Code) became law late last summer (in the County Land Development Code). The BOCC needs to adopt Land Development Code changes covering signage and another overlay district for US 41 before Estero can develop like people have told us they want the area to develop, but the framework for impacting all future commercial developments is now in operation. You should begin to see the difference as new commercial projects come out of the ground during the next year or so. In our opinion the place to look is Corkscrew Road. It contains some of the hottest commercial property in southwest Florida, if not the country.

Last year the BOCC created an overlay district on Corkscrew Road called the Main Street Overlay District. The purpose of the district is defined in the County Land Development Code as follows:

"This overlay district will transition from mostly vacant land to a fully developed mixed-use district over the next decade. The purpose of the overlay district is to encourage and direct development in the district toward the achievement and maintenance of a unified and pleasing aesthetic / visual quality in landscaping, architecture, lighting and signage. The design of buildings and the development of sites within the district must be regulated and approved in accordance with the provisions of this Subdivision. The district will be developed as Estero's Main Street, a corridor of architecturally appealing and attractively landscaped retail, office, residential and institutional developments that cater to the needs of the community. All uses established within the district are to be compatible with surrounding uses and interrelated with the other properties in the district through an integrated pedestrian walkway and greenway system. Where applicable, joint or centralized parking is encouraged to reduce hard landscaping surfaces within the district."

In addition to the requirements stated above the overlay has three major features:

1. All the buildings west of I-75 will be located up close to the road with most of the parking behind the buildings,

2. All of the properties are subject to an extensive set of appearance standards that must be enforced by the county with the help of the Estero Design Review Committee,

3. The design of each new building must be compatible with those around it.

Since these requirements have become law the owners of eight Main Street properties have begun the zoning process. The eight properties, organized by location, are:

North Side of Street --West to East

Project Name	Location	Acres
Galleria CPD	Northeast corner --Sandy Lane and Corkscrew	25
Park Circle CPD	1/2 mile east of Sandy Lane--just east of Galleria	1.47
Picaya Bay Surgery Center	330 feet west of Three Oaks Parkway--just west of Arby's	3.4
Plaza del Sol	Northeast corner of Three Oaks and Corkscrew	38

South Side of Street -- West to East

Project Name	Location	Acres
Corkscrew Palms II	275 feet east of Sandy Lane and just west of Corkscrew Palms Boulevard	11.5
Corkscrew Palms I	Immediately east of Corkscrew Palms II and Corkscrew Palms Boulevard	13.2
Corkscrew River Ranch	Southwest corner of River Ranch and Corkscrew Road	3
Estero Towncenter	Southeast corner of Three Oaks and Corkscrew Road	33

All of these developers have made one or more presentations at community meetings organized by the developer and the Estero Community Planning Panel (ECPP) and made changes in their zoning request in response to community suggestions. In some cases ECPP members have testified before the Hearing Examiner assigned to a project and before the BOCC when they approve the final zoning conditions for a project.

These meetings have benefited the residents of Estero by:

Allowing them to become familiar with development plans affecting their community long before they are approved by the county,
Educating developers about Estero's unique zoning requirements early in the process before they have spent a lot of money on project features contrary to our standards and/or opposed by the community,
Alerting the community about troublesome aspects of projects well before the Hearing Examiner public hearing where testimony is essential if one is to be able to testify before the BOCC.

The six projects located between Three Oaks Parkway and US 41 contain a majority of the front footage on Corkscrew in that area, while the two properties east of Three Oaks contain about 40 percent of the frontage in that area. Undoubtedly, these projects will set the standard for the development of Estero's Main Street west of I-75.

Although detailed plans and uses are not usually available when a property is zoned, several of the developers have agreed to zoning conditions that will make compliance with the overlay district design standards much easier to satisfy, thus enhancing the effectiveness of the Estero Design Review Committee.

All of the developers of large "Main Street" projects have shown us "pretty pictures" of buildings close to the road with attractive Mediterranean designs and other features consistent with the overlay's design guidelines. There are no guarantees that the projects will be a "pretty as the pictures" but the prospects look very promising. Many of these plans will take years to implement, but the sudden surge in Main Street zoning activity indicates that several projects are likely to begin construction this year and next.

The first project to begin construction is Corkscrew Palms I. This project will eventually contain ten one, two and three story office and retail buildings. Three attractive single story buildings are now under construction up close to Corkscrew Road. It looks like this project will enhance the eastern side of the principal Estero Community Park entrance. Construction of the park will get under way later this year.

Across Estero Palms Boulevard, the road leading to the park, will be Estero Palms II, a development by McGarvey Construction, the developer of the very attractive Riverside Commerce Park, just north of the Imperial River on the west side of US 41 in Bonita Springs. If this project is completed with the same quality it will complete a beautiful park entrance.

Estero's Growth Accelerates in First Quarter

For the third consecutive month housing units permitted in Estero were greater than last year. Consequently, Estero housing units permitted during the first quarter 2003 exceeded the first quarter of 2002 by 240 units, or 82%. Continuing the trend that started in February, multi-family units again exceeded single family homes by a ratio of 2 to 1.

New residential communities led the way in March in both housing categories: The Cascades led all communities with 13 single family permits while The Gardens of Estero led in multi-family units permitted with 48 units. The Gardens of Estero also obtained permits for 74 units in February, thus producing a tow-month total of 122 units. Breckenridge also added 40 permitted multi-family units to the March total.

During March the building value of housing units permitted in Estero represented 24% of the total for all of unincorporated Lee County. Including commercial units permitted Estero produced 22% of the total building value for unincorporated Lee County. During March Estero's permitted housing building value exceed that of Bonita Springs by almost 3 times (284%). On an overall basis the total building value of permits issued for Estero projects during March was 2.45 times the comparable Bonita Springs total.

Development Projects in Process

The Galleria CPD--- During March Chuck Basinait of the Henderson/Franklin law firm and developer representatives presented plans to the ECPP and the Estero community for The Galleria, formerly known as Kristin Woods, a 25-acre tract on the northeast corner of Sandy Lane and Corkscrew Road. Basinait noted that the Kristin Woods plan for the site proposed a 150-unit assisted living facility. This facility has been deleted in favor of 95,000 square-feet of retail space and 150,000 square-feet of office space.

Project development is planned to begin in 2004. Basinait said that the development is being designed to comply with the provisions of the new Corkscrew "Main Street" Overlay of the Lee County Land Development Code and presented artist renderings to demonstrate this compliance. The renderings depicted two attractive Mediterranean-style buildings up close to Corkscrew Road with most of the parking located behind the buildings. They would appear to nicely compliment the buildings now being constructed across the street as part of the Corkscrew Palms I project.

He provided a List of Proposed Uses for the development noting that most of the commercial uses were not contained in the existing Kristin Woods zoning. Greg Toth, an ECPP member, questioned the proposed warehousing or manufacturing uses. Basinait responded that the developer is willing to reconsider the List of Uses and will keep the Panel informed. Basinait has presented several other projects to the ECPP and worked cooperatively with the panel to accommodate most community concerns.

Longwood Villas--- On April 2^nd the public hearing for Longwood Villas project was concluded. This 28 acre property is located one mile north of the intersection of Three Oaks Parkway and Corkscrew Road. If approved the property would be rezoned from agriculture (AG‑2) to residential planned development (RPD) to permit a maximum of 166 residential dwelling units either as a single‑family/zero lot line development or as a multiple‑family/townhouse development. This property is immediately south of the Gardens of Estero multi-family housing project and immediately north of the property recently acquired by the Lee County District in order to construct two or three schools. It is immediately west of the Villages of Country Creek.

Access to all the housing units will be through one entrance on Three Oaks Boulevard. This development supports the Estero Community Plan policy of discouraging retail uses along Three Oaks Parkway by developing the property for residential uses. Also, the proposed development provides for a mix of dwelling unit types and will be developed at the maximum of 6 dwelling units per acre for the Urban Community land use category as is intended to provide higher densities in close proximity to Florida Gulf Coast University between Three Oaks Parkway and Interstate 75 (I-75).

Estero Palms--- On April 7^th the BOCC rezoned approximately 5 acres of land

from Agricultural to Single‑Family Residential on property located 660 feet west

of the Block Lane -- River Ranch Road intersection. Block Lane is 0.38 miles

south of the River Ranch Road -- Corkscrew Road Intersection. Estero Palms is

located between the church now under construction on the west side of River

Ranch Road and Estero High School and just west of 5 acres that was previously

zoned as part of the Estero Palms project. The entire Estero Palms project will

consist of 32 single family homes organized around two cul-de-sacs.

The property is accessed from Block Lane which the developer will be required to

improve to the property as a requirement of obtaining a development order.

Sewer will need to be extended to the property as the proposed residential

density is greater than allowed by septic system.

Park Circle Commercial Planned Development--- On April 30^th the developers

of this project presented their case for rezoning 1.47 acres located on the north

side of Corkscrew Road approximately ½ mile east of Sandy Lane from

Multiple‑Family to Commercial Planned Development. Lee County zoning staff

recommended that the following uses not be approved due to the close proximity

of a mobile home park just north of the site: Animals: Clinic or Kennel; ATM;

Consumption on Premises; Drive Through Facility; Pet Services; Pet Shop;

Restaurant: Groups 1,2 and 3; and Variety Store. The property will be entered

from Corkscrew Road by widening to 40 feet an existing road just east of the

property and paving it up to the entrance to the property. The Hearing Examiners

report will evaluate each of these objections and make recommendations to the

BOCC for their approval or rejection.

Road Improvement Progress

US 41 Six Laning from Corkscrew Road to San Carlos Boulevard --- FDOT has selected Inwood Consulting Engineers to design this last segment of US 41 to be widened between Ft. Myers and Naples. As reviewed last month the road design for this segment is expected to be completed early in 2005. However the long range budget for the next phase -- the right-of-way acquisition phase--does not provide funding for this phase until July 2006, 18 months later. Funding for widening this road is not in the state's existing 5 year plan which ends in 2008. Thus under current plans this segment of US41 will not be completed before 2010, five years after all the other segments have been completed.

In order to accelerate this schedule ECCO, the Estero Chamber of Commerce, the Estero Fire Rescue District and many Estero residential communities wrote Dick Walsh, the Chairman of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and many MPO members asking them to amend their work program so that right of way acquisition can begin as soon as the alignment of the road has been finalized by the design. At the April 18^th MPO meeting Lee County Commissioners Albion and Judah took up our cause. As a result the MPO voted to ask Congressman Porter Goss to try to get a high priority project authorization for six-laning this roadway segment included in the act reauthorizing the Federal-Aid Highway Programs this year. We will soon have copies of the MPO letter to Congressman Goss that we can adapt for each of use by all Estero citizens and organizations.

In another favorable development, press reports indicate that Duncan Associates, the county's road impact fee consultants, have recommended a 40% increase in county road impact fees. In addition their draft report also recommends that, for the first time, the county should impose road impact fees to pay for work performed on state roads as well -- like US 41. If this proposal is adopted by the BOCC the total road impact fees would increase by 76 percent. It has been three years since these fees have been increased. Should these increases be adopted by the BOCC some of the additional funds could be allocated so as to accelerate the widening this segment of US 41.

Three Oaks Parkway--- During April progress on timely construction of the Three Oaks segment from Alico to Corkscrew Road is threatened by a dispute between Lee DOT and a San Carlos Park community group over the county's proposed alignment of the road and the noise and safety impacts that the alignment would have on the community. The community group has identified a preferred alignment and is now trying to determine if the owner would sell the property to the county and a prospective user at a reasonable price. ECCO will monitor the situation and assist the parties where possible in order to avoid the lengthy delays a law suit could cause.

During April ECCO had its first meeting with the Army Corp of Engineers (COE) Regulatory Division, the agency that manages the roadway permitting process for the Federal Government. The meeting with representatives of the Jacksonville District office offered ECCO an opportunity to directly express the high priority Estero places upon expeditious approval of roadway projects, like Three Oaks Parkway, that are needed for the increasing traffic caused by our dramatic growth and that expected in 2005 when the Coconut Point Town Center opens. Several procedural changes were suggested by the Corp leaders that ECCO will transmit to key Lee County DOT personnel. Improved communication with local Corp administrators is also expected to result from the meeting.

Since ECCO encouraged the county to fund a Corp reviewer position that would specialize in county public project applications, the local Corp office has filled two reviewer positions that had long been vacant. This office is currently seeking to fill one Biologist/Environmental Engineer position and one Environmental Protection Specialist. If you know of anyone who has the technical training for one of these positions and would like to relocate to southwest Florida please have them contact Harry "Skip" Bergman, the Team Leader of the Fort Myers Regulatory Office to see if they are still accepting applications. Bergman's phone number is: 239-334-1975, extension 30.

Roadway Median Landscaping Progress

"Intensified Core" Landscaping, Corkscrew and Other Roads--- Last year when the BOCC decided to expand the County's Roadway Landscaping program from $500,000 to $2.5 million the Roadway Landscaping Advisory Committee (RLAC) and county staff agreed that Corkscrew Road would be the first road to be "intensively" landscaped. They subsequently approved a landscape plan for the segment between Sandy Lane and I-75 that included about twice as many trees as the original "core" landscaping design.

However when the county tried to implement the design they found that many of the roadside tree locations could not be properly maintained with the trees specified in the design and some in the median could not be preserved when the road is eventually widened to six lanes.

The trees that have been planted on Corkscrew are larger than would have been planted in the traditional "core" program and they are planted on 35 foot centers rather than 50 foot centers as had been the county's practice under the "core" program.

When these problems were brought to the attention of the RLAC in March the Committee asked staff to work with the Estero community to explore what additional landscaping should be installed on this segment of Corkscrew. Several suggestions came out of these discussions:

· filling in the gaps in the median,

· adding some smaller trees along and between the larger trees in order to provide greater depth and naturalness, and

· adding some trees in the right-of-way along the north side of the road where utilities do not interfere with planting and maintaining trees.

When these suggestions were presented to the RLAC at their April meeting, an RLAC sub-committee was appointed to meet with county staff to develop a practical definition of "Intensified Core Landscaping" that the Committee could adopt and that could be installed on Corkscrew Road. It is expected that the concepts incorporated into the Corkscrew Road landscaping plan will be applied on other county roads. Including Three Oaks Parkway -- from Williams to Corkscrew -- and Koreshan Boulevard --between US 41 and Three Oaks--two projects that are scheduled to begin later this year.

The subcommittee met on April 16^th and discussed with staff ways that trees and sod can be used to satisfy theseobjectives. The subcommittee decided to walk the Corkscrew Road segment with the landscape designer in order to examine all the proposed tree locations to identify the feasible locations and the appropriate tree for each location. The subcommittee subsequently met with the landscape designer to update the design for the changes proposed by the sub-committee. Many thanks to the sub-committee members for their hard work on this important project-- John Cauthen of Keep Lee County Beautiful, Bill Prysi of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Al O'Donnell of O'Donnell Landscapes and the Estero Chamber of Commerce, Pat Moore, Sheryle Dell and Paul Wingard of Lee County DOT staff.

This design will be presented to the RLAC when it meets on Tuesday, May 6^th. If you would like to attend this important meeting see the schedule on the first page of this report.

US 41 Landscaping Design Progresses Along With It's Widening--- at the April meeting of the RLAC Wilson Miller Engineering presented their conceptual design for landscaping the first segment of US 41 ever to be landscaped in Lee County--the segment from north Old 41 in Bonita Springs to Corkscrew Road. The Committee suggested that the designer modify its detailed design for this road in order to reduce the "row of trees" effect of the design.

The median landscaping plan for this segment will be limited by the new "clear zones" requirements imposed on State, but not County, roads because some studies have indicated that Florida highways have a high incidence of drivers killed by crashing into trees in roadway medians. In addition there are some billboards located along the northern end of the road that are subject to other clear zone requirements. Judging by the emerging shape of the medians this road segment will require a more creative landscaping plan than some of Estero's other major roads.

Wilson Miller will present their revised landscape plan for this segment at the May 6^th RLAC meeting.

Koreshan Boulevard Median Landscaping Progresses--- On May 6^th roadway landscaping on Koreshan Boulevard will pass two big hurdles. They are:

The BOCC will (hopefully) approve the contract between the County and seven major landowners of Koreahan Boulevard property between US 41 and Three Oaks Parkway. This contact commits the landowners to pay for the maintenance of the median landscaping during its first year after installation, at accost of between $30,000 and $60,000. This commitment qualified this segment of Koreshan to be landscaped this year. Please contact the Board of County Commissioners to express your support for this project, ask them to support it as well and thank them for their past support of this important program.

*Name*	*Email Address*	*Phone Number*
Hon. John Albion	Dist5@leegov.com	335-2225
Hon. Andy Coy	Dist4@leegov.com	335-2226
Hon. Bob Janes	Dist1@leegov.com	335-2224
Hon. Ray Judah	Dist3@leegov.com	335-2223
Hon. Doug St. Cerny	Dist2@leegov.com	335-2227

Later that day the RLAC will have their first look at the landscape design of this road segment and will make suggestions for improving it. These suggestions will, no doubt, be influenced by the action of the RLAC regarding Corkscrew Road and its "intensified core" design.