Estero Development Report

A recent court decision has ordered Lee County to schedule a public hearing to consider rezoning and mining permits for the proposed Resource Conservation Holdings Mine. The request is to rezone 1,365 acres on Corkscrew Road to mine lime rock to a depth of 110 feet with blasting. Because of the court order, the application must be reviewed under the old mining rules rather than the more stringent Chapter 12 rules adopted by the County last September.

The site is located on Corkscrew Road east of Flint Pen Strand and is immediately adjacent to the Southwest Florida International Airport Mitigation Park, the South Florida Water Management District Corkscrew mitigation bank, and an established rural residential cluster on Burgundy Farms Road. The recent County initiated DR/GR planning study identified the project site as environmentally sensitive and categorized it as a Priority 1 and Priority 2 Restoration area. The site is outside of the Primary and Secondary Preferred Mining Area as identified by the Dover Kohl and the DR/GR Steering Committee.

If this latest attempt to industrialize Corkscrew Road is approved, the decision would:

• establish a new development pattern and set a precedent for seven other rock mine applications pending on Corkscrew Road
• result in permanent adverse impacts to hydrology, surface water flow, and natural systems function of wetland and aquatic resources of regional importance
• adversely impact endangered and threatened species including the Florida Panther and Woodstork
• result in unacceptable impacts to community character and public safety by potentially adding as many as 2,000 dump truck trips per day to Corkscrew Road

Lee County staff recommended that this rezoning application be DENIED for the following reasons:

The first three days of the Public Hearing were conducted on May 27^th, 28^th and 29^th. Most of the Hearing was devoted to a presentation by consultants for the developer and cross examination of these witnesses by county staff and the attorney for the Estero community, Thomas Hart. In addition 28 residents of Estero and the East Corkscrew Rural Community testified in opposition to the mine.

In a parallel but separate action, the County has begun a legal challenge of the proposed mine’s consumptive water use permit on grounds that it would adversely affect the recent Corkscrew municipal well field expansion. This wellfield, along with the others in the DR/GR, supplies about 80% of the County’s water supply. Several wells installed as part of that expansion last year are immediately adjacent to the RCH Mine project site.

Ownership of the RCH Mine project includes Ascot Development which is also developing Midtown Estero, as well as Youngquist Brothers Excavating which operates an active rock mine on Alico Road.

On May 20^th Lee County released the "Proposed Lee Plan Amendments for Southeast Lee County…Planning for the Density Reduction/ Groundwater Resource Area (DR/GR)" and posted it on their website at http://www3.leegov.com/dcd/CommunityPlans/SELC_DRGR/CPA2008-06/Proposed-Lee-Plan-Amendments-for-Southeast-Lee-County_May2009.pdf . This 72 page document details Dover Kohl & Partners, the County DR/GR planning consultants, recommendations for updating the County Comprehensive Plan for the DR/GR. This extensive document, if approved by the BOCC and the Florida Department of Community Affairs (DCA), would provide the legal framework for concentrating mining in the Alico Road industrial corridor; where residential development should be clustered; where agriculture should be encouraged and where and how the natural resources and ecology of the DR/GR should be preserved.

On June 3^rd Dover Kohl will present the proposal to the Lee County Local Planning Agency (LPA). Later that month Lee County staff will complete their review of the consultant’s recommendations and present them to the Local Planning Agency on June 22^nd as part of the LPA’s final review of the DR/GR Comp Plan changes. Later in the summer the BOCC will review the consultant, staff and LPA recommendations and approve the Comp Plan changes.

Once the BOCC approves the Comp Plan changes they will be forwarded to the State Department of Community Affairs (DCA) for their review and comment. Final approval by the BOCC will occur only after the County and DCA have reached agreement on the provisions of the Comp Plan.

Also in June Dover Kohl and their subcontractors will provide the County and the public with the following reports:

As reported in January Dover Kohl, the County’s primary DR/GR planning consultant and their subcontractors have been working on several research studies and a sizeable group of Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) amendments. It is the Comp Plan amendments that will provide the first clear indication of the County’s overall intentions regarding the future of the DR/GR.

Later in 2009 Dover Kohl and its subcontractors will be performing the following projects for Lee County:

• Lee Plan Future Land Use Map Changes
• Lee Plan Text Changes Report
• Lee Plan Amendment Data and Analysis Report
• Land Development Code Change Report

All of these projects were started during January except for the Land Development Code Changes which cannot be started until the BOCC has adopted the Comprehensive Plan changes for the DR/GR.

During the year Dover Kohl is committed by contract to participate in five public meetings to discuss their finding and respond to questions by the BOCC and the public.

Barring any delays in the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) obtaining delivery of the equipment from the manufacturer, a major hurricane, etc Lee County DOT is estimating completion and turn-on of this traffic signal around September 30, 2009. If all goes perfectly they might complete the installation much sooner, but it is too early to predict.　

FDOT is buying the major equipment, which includes the two concrete poles and the traffic signal controller, out of their current budget.　 The County’s unit price contractors will install the concrete poles and do the directional drilling under U.S. 41 and under Estero Parkway using the Estero Parkway project funding that has been allocated by the County.　　 County forces will install the signalization equipment and wiring which will save the County at least $10,000 over contracting the work out.

Lee County DOT received the final plans, for the signalization, from FDOT last week.　 The FDOT ran in to some issues a few weeks back with the State Comptroller asking to delay for 30 days, where possible, all equipment orders, apparently because of revenue short falls. 　FDOT Tallahassee’s upper management hand carried the purchase orders for approval of an exception because of the impact 30 days of delay could have and the strong commitment that FDOT has made to help complete this project.　 　L.K. Nandam, District Traffic Operations Engineer with FDOT District One, and the design staff at FDOT have made a significant contribution to this project moving forward.　　The partnership that the two departments formed on this project has not only made a difference on this project, but has led to them working to resolve other issues around Lee County.

On May 8^th the "90% complete" South Lee County Watershed Study Update was released to the public with comments expected from the public no later than May 14^th. Unfortunately the 90% Report contained some far different conclusions and recommendations than all the earlier versions. As a result many interested groups informed the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and Lee County of their serious concerns about the report and suggested many changes prior to it being finalized. Review the comments of The Conservancy and the Brooks Concerned Citizens at http://www.esterofl.org/Issues/flood-prevention.htm

The following excerpt from a Brooks Concerned Citizens notice summarizes some of our concerns:

1. The Brooks system cannot handle any additional water from under Interstate 75 without major modifications to the system　downstream from I-75.
2. The study identifies a number of areas and issues that could be improved to make for a better water flow system.
3. Nothing that can be done to the Brooks (Halfway Creek) water flow system will help or alleviate the past or recent flooding in Bonita Springs. 　　　　 This is because the water that flooded Bonita Springs comes from the East not from the North as many in Bonita had believed.
4. The addition of 1, 2, 3 or even 5 culverts under Interstate 75 into the Brooks water flow system will not help the flooding situation in Bonita Springs.

On April 22, 2009, the South Florida Water Management District ("SFWMD") hosted a public meeting to report on the progress of the update of the South Lee County Watershed Plan. This is the study to determine if five additional culverts need to be constructed under I-75 where Half Way Creek ("HWC") enters into the Brooks at Copperleaf.

At a prior meeting in March, the engineering study team indicated that Halfway Creek (HWC) could not accept additional water without flooding in communities along HWC. In this April 22 meeting, the engineering team outlined the corrective actions which would be required to direct more water into HWC. The report was silent, however, on how many, if any, additional culverts could or should be constructed under I-75. In questions after the formal presentation, the engineer in charge of the study said that up to two or three culverts could be constructed under I-75 (not five) to accept up to 630 cubic feet per second (cfs) during flood conditions, but they could be opened only after the recommended corrective actions were completed. The Director of SFWMD who is responsible for the issuance of permits in our area, confirmed that SFWMD would require that any culverts that were constructed would be "blocked" (with bricks or concrete plugs) until the corrective actions were completed.

An important point was made at the meeting. The model runs indicated that even if the corrective actions were completed and all five culverts were constructed, it would have virtually NO impact on reducing flood water levels in the Bonita Springs communities that have historically flooded (and flooded again during Tropical Storm Fay in August, 2008). Because of the substantial cost of implementing the recommended corrective actions, with no benefit to Bonita Springs flooding, legitimate concerns have been raised about the cost justification of constructing any culverts under I-75.

A summary of the April 22^nd recommended corrective actions are listed below:

• Clean out the overgrown vegetation in the HWC flowway West of Via Coconut Pointe Road to US1 and also to the West of US1. An alternative West of US 41 would be to dig a trench just to the South of Fountain Lakes, but this alternative could have environmental disadvantages for Estero Bay.
• Raise the wooden walkway on the West side of US 41 which goes over HWC next to the US 41 culverts.
• Connect the "water amenity" lake to the South of Rapallo to the main HWC channel to improve the flow between Via Coconut Pointe Rd. and Via Villagio Road which connects Rapallo to the mall.
• Increase the flow in the ditch which runs along the East side of 3 Oaks Parkway between the gates at Williams Rd and the Estero River South Branch ("ER SB"). This would involve substantial cost and time. It would require removing the "V notch weir" near the North end of the ditch, increasing the capacity of the gates at Williams Rd, and increasing the capacity of the ditch itself. At present the V notch weir permits the ditch to act as a settling reservoir for polluted storm water from 3 Oaks Parkway. However, the weir also prevents the ditch from acting as an escape for flood waters rising in HWC, which was its original design role. Therefore, if the V notch weir is removed to re-establish its flood control role, a new replacement settling reservoir will need to be constructed, probably in the median on 3 Oaks Parkway.
• Other recommended actions were to clean out overgrown vegetation in the south branch of the Estero River (ER SB) and increase the capacity of the Sanctuary Bridge in Corkscrew Woodlands and the Country Creek Lane bridge in The Villages of Country Creek by raising those bridges.
• Annual inspection and maintenance programs were recommended for all the areas where clean outs are required.
• A North South channel was recommended to be dredged on the East side of I-75 to permit better flow to HWC and the ER SB. Several large culverts under I-75 already exist north of HWC. These culverts are under utilized during flood conditions. This new channel would require a control structure to assure that dry season water in the Edison Farms wetlands would not be impacted.
• On the Estero River North Branch, it was recommended that the bridge at River Ford Road should be replaced.

Although there is capacity to send more flood water down Spring Creek (which is under utilized), this was deemed too expensive and could involve purchasing additional land or homes, so no action on this improvement was recommended in the report. Only limited benefit from increasing flow down Spring Creek was projected by the model, but it did provide more improvement than increased flow down HWC or the ER SB.

The possibility of building a large reservoir to the east of I-75, involving an elevated berm from Corkscrew to Bonita Beach Road, was rejected as too expensive and not practical due to the probable major "leakage" below the berm in the porous limestone in this area. However, If this project could be made to work, it is the only action which could dramatically reduce the flooding in the Bonita Beach Rd communities of Bonita Springs.

One other possibility to help the Bonita Springs flood areas was the possibility of directing flood water further to the South to drain to the Cocohatchie River. Even 200 cfs to 300 cfs in that direction would help. It would not eliminate the flooding but could reduce the duration of a flood by up to 63 hours, based upon model simulation runs. The southern "border condition" for the model was Bonita Beach Road, so the engineers determined that they would need more information and an expanded scope of investigation to determine if the residents along the route to the Cocohatchie could accept that additional water, or more, without themselves being flooded. This could be a follow up study.

During April only 13 single family homes with a building value of $3.7 million and two duplex units were permitted in Estero. This slowdown in construction of new homes should continue to help reduce the inventory of unsold new homes constructed in Estero during 2005 when 2,833 units were permitted.

Housing units permitted during the first four months of 2009 are slightly higher than 2008 but far lower than all other years during the 10 years that the County’s system has tracked Estero permits. Thus the number of housing units permitted in Estero has finally hit rock bottom. The County permitting information used in this report may be found at http://www.lee-county.com/dcd/Reports/EsteroReports.htm

The following table shows how 2009 compares with the prior nine years:

$1,200,000 for improvements to the Lee County Corkscrew Road Wellfield

$800,000 for a new bank in the Coconut Trace Center

$619,000 for Villages of Country Creek Water Storage System

$328,300 for Miromar Outlets expansion

$104,800 for Estero Park Commons

REMINDER: The building values understate the cost of each residence or commercial building because it excludes the value of the underlying land.