ESTERO COMMUNITY PLANNING PANEL

Minutes of Public Meeting #114 – April 19, 2010

Estero Community Park, Estero, Florida

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

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

Secretary’s Report: Brown distributed minutes of the March meeting. . Goodrich: Motion to accept minutes , Toth: Second.  Accepted unanimously. 

Treasurer’s Report:    Treasurer Bev MacNellis reported that the current balance of $763.36 is in the Community Planning Panel account on deposit at the BB&T Bank.   

Developer Presentation: Corkscrew Village Administrative Amendment - Tessa LaSage from Barraco and Associates representing the Regency Center reviewed a request to allow an additional usage for this property -- adding 3000 ft of medical offices for the Publix shopping center parcel. Although there are two existing medical offices that were permitted by the County it was discovered that the existing zoning does not include medical offices in the permitted uses. Therefore, to accommodate a waiting new medical tenant and legitimize the existing medical offices an Administrative Amendment is necessary. It was agreed that Lienesch will write a letter to the County expressing the Panel’s support.

Pool Construction in Sunny Grove Park: Kris Slosser, a Registered Land Surveyor, reported that the County had told him he would need to request a “Special Exception” since the present zoning is AG-2 (agriculture) for the mobile home park. The Panel had no concerns with pool construction and Lienesch told Slosser that the Minutes would reflect the Panel’s support of his request.

ECPP:

Broadway US41 intersection update – John Goodrich reported on a meeting he and Jack had with Rick Johnson and Harry Campbell of Lee DOT.  Johnson will donate land for the right turn as long as there is no cost to him. It was agreed that Campbell will broker a meeting between Johnson and FDOT to request them to include a SB left turn lane into the Johnson property as part of the US41 widening project.

Miramar Design Center sign at I75 exit – Goodrich also reported on the status of Miramar’s proposal to raise their billboard sign height an additional 10 to 15 feet so it would be visible over the sound wall recently constructed with the I-75 widening project. The panel had asked Miramar last year if they could try and improve the appearance of their sign as long as they had to rebuild it.  They presented their plans to the Design Review Committee last week and the consensus was the proposed changes were worse that the current sign.  Goodrich was concerned that the sign may be used for specific advertising. It was agreed that Goodrich will contact Mary Zettel at the County to determine exactly what Miramar is requesting on their tri-vision sign.  Erik Dickens noted that Miramar had pleaded that they had no funding for improving the sign’s appearance last year, but now they somehow have located funds to construct an animated sign.

Design of new Chase Bank in Corkscrew Village – Goodrich also reported the Design Review Committee’s difficulties with the proposed Chase Bank at the former Wing location. DeLisi said that Chapter 33 and 34 define “floor area” as the total area of each story of a building, or portion thereof, within the surrounding exterior walls of the building or structure.  Based on this definition, the square footage of the Chase Bank would not include the outside drive through or any porticos that are outside the lobby.  "Under Air" is not used, but this definition seems appropriate.  The Chase design has a flat roof...Lienesch said he would contact the temporary chairman of the Design Review Committee, Bill Prysi, and recommend that they indicate to the county that if the bank floor area as defined above is less than 5000 ft2 and they do not have a pitched roof, they are not in compliance with Chapter 33 of the LDC. 

Update on meeting with County Attorney, David Owen on application of the Sunshine Law to the Panel – Lienesch reported that he had received a March 25 letter from the County Attorney which stated:

“The short answer to this question is that there is no violation of the State’s Sunshine Law if two or more ECCL Planning Review Panel members meet with developers prior to formal presentation(s) to the Panel. As I read the relevant Comprehensive Plan provisions (Objective 19.5; with Policies 19.5.1 through 19.5.3, attached for your ready reference), no specific Estero Civic organization or citizens group has been designated by the Board of County Commissioners as part of the “zoning process” on behalf of the Board. This places any discussions by ECCL Panel members outside the scope of the Sunshine Law”.

Bonita Health Center – Lienesch reported that the suggestions to upgrade the appearance of the sign when they add their new logo has been rejected because the vendor said it would increase costs and BSHC has budget issues.  However, it was noted by DeLisi and Dickens that new copy on a sign constitutes a new sign and it should be subject to review.

Follow-up on signage meeting with Mary Zettel – It was agreed that Noethlich will review Zettel’s suggestions with a view to incorporating them in the Panel’s suggested revisions.

Developer’s Check List on Website. Dewhirst has reviewed the Website Check List from a developer’s perspective and found that some of the links don’t work. Dewhirst and Lienesch will meet with our Web Master to get the Check List updated.

David Graham Award – Maas and Dickens have been attempting to get a response out of the Hyatt without success. They will renew their efforts using Erik’s close acquaintance at Hyatt headquarters.

WalMart Status – A meeting is scheduled for Wednesday in Neale Montgomery’s office with WalMart representatives for an informal discussion of WalMart’s latest proposals before they make a formal presentation to the Panel.

Dickens resignation due to personal issues – Since he represents the ECCL they will need to make a new appointment.

Meeting adjourned at 7:45 PM.                 

 NEXT MEETING:

            6:00 PM, MONDAY, May 17, ESTERO COMMUNITY PARK