Safety Council

Engage Estero Safety Council is made of volunteers serving as a voice for the citizens of greater Estero on safety and transportation priorities and issues. We advocate for related solutions to Village, County, and State Government organizations.

Latest news…
Traffic on Corkscrew Road – Traveling East Corkscrew Road. Is it Safer?

Traffic on Corkscrew Road – Traveling East Corkscrew Road. Is it Safer?

East Corkscrew Road had improvements in 2014/2015 to help with traffic, but it was not enough. Lee County Department of Transportation (LDOT) collaborated with the developer as the Wild Blue Estero, FL development was planned and approved. LDOT required the Wild Blue east entrance to line up with Bella Terra Blvd.

In 2018, with road impact fees, LDOT installed a traffic signal at Bella Terra Blvd and Corkscrew Road. In April 2021, East Corkscrew Road widening, Phase I (Ben Hill Griffin to the east border of Bella Terra) started. As the Rivercreek development was planned and approved, working with LDOT, their entrance was aligned with the west entrance of Wild Blue. In 2023, the Rivercreek developer, GL Homes, worked with LDOT to fund a traffic signal. There is still hope the Wild Blue community will pay their fair share, as the warrants are not there for LDOT to fund a traffic signal.

read more
The State of Development: GECR Quarter 3, 2023

The State of Development: GECR Quarter 3, 2023

September 2023 Greater Estero Community Report Our 3rd GECR provides an essential update on the various building developments that will likely be scheduled in greater Estero over the next few years, together with an update on what changes we can expect regarding our...

read more

Environment Council

Engage Estero Environment Council is a volunteer group focusing on improving water and air quality and mitigating and eliminating the effects of climate warming in greater Estero.

Latest news…

Health Council

Engage Estero Community Health Council comprises health* and safety-minded volunteers who think about community health comprehensively with a common desire to improve the overall health of the citizens of greater Estero.

Latest news…
Your Healthcare Actions for 2024

Your Healthcare Actions for 2024

Health: Your Healthcare Actions for 2024                  In the early part of the New Year, taking stock of your health and the actions you should consider to help minimize your reliance on physicians and other healthcare...

read more
What helps to enhance Longevity?

What helps to enhance Longevity?

What helps to enhance Longevity?During the recent Engage Estero Community Meeting on January 25th at the Estero Recreational Center, Jodi Walborn, Blue Zones, and Policy Lead discussed the thought-provoking but realistic insight into what we can do to increase our...

read more

Education Council

Engage Estero mobilizes volunteers in our schools, sponsors scholarships, and promotes the involvement of the community through announcements and public forums.

Latest news…

Updates on Issues of Impact

Engage Estero believes the best way to get a community involved is to make sure they are aware of the issues impacting their future, and know how to impact those decisions before they are made. We conduct and publish original research and articles aimed at getting residents Engaged.

What’s at Stake:
New mines within the DR/GR water and habitat protection area;
Reduced accountability for future mine proposals in Lee County and especially in the DR/GR of Southeast Lee County
What You Can Do:
Attend the Local Planning Agency Meeting and oppose the deletion of Map 14
When:
Monday, December 17 at 8:30 a.m.
Where:
Administration East Building (Room 118) 2201 Second St., Fort Myers, FL

Send a Message.

[emailpetition id=”9″]

What is the Issue?

The DR/GR (Density Reduction/Groundwater Resource area was set aside in East Lee County to prevent overbuilding and protect vital freshwater sources and wildlife habitat. Despite these protections, the County has allowed increasing development and mining within its borders.
Act Monday to protect your future clean water and quality of life. We need residents to show up and speak out against further development.

Background

What’s so Important about Lee Plan Map 14?
On Monday, December 17, 2018 the Local Planning Agency will hear proposed changes to Map 14 of the Lee County Comprehensive Plan (Lee Plan). Map 14 isn’t flashy, but it is important. It’s a map with the title “Generalized Map of Existing and Approved Limerock Mining Areas”. 

Yet this one map for the past 6 years has identified the locations where limerock mining in the Eastern Lee County Density Reduction/Groundwater Resource area (DR/GR) is allowed. This map was created by balancing the need for mining and compatibility with natural resource protection and residential neighborhoods. Now, Lee County staff proposes deletion of this map, along with regulations that govern and direct new mining operations that protect quality of life.  

Map 14 does not exist in a vacuum. It is an integral component of a series of maps and policies contained in the Lee Plan that govern the DR/GR. The intent of the DR/GR was to protect water resources and limit the overall development density in the County as the DR/GR provides approximately 70% of Lee County’s potable water supply and habitat for many threatened and endangered species including the Florida panther. 

The permitted uses and uses allowed with a rezoned area, ranged from agriculture to low density residential to limerock mining. No surprise, residents both within and outside the DR/GR began to express concern about the compatibility of limerock mining in the water resource area and adjacent to residential development.  In 2007, amid a startling number of applications to allow for future mining, Lee County proactively began an assessment of the various uses in the DR/GR. 

This happened through a public engagement process that utilized experts in planning, ecology, transportation, mining and more. The expert consultants assisted a citizens’ stakeholder committee as the committee and the community created a plan to direct these disparate land uses to the most appropriate locations. While nobody got 100% of what they wanted – after all, no one does in a compromise – the result was a good plan that the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and others, including the ECCL, supported.  

A highlight of the DR/GR plan was to identify areas that were most compatible for future limerock mining. These areas focused on the Alico Road corridor where mining has historically occurred and these areas are contained in Map 14. This overlay was adopted by the County in 2010, challenged by mining interests, and upheld by an Administrative Law Judge in 2012. 

Fast forward 6 years. Land has been removed from the DR/GR and allowed to intensify. Landowners have created specific sub-overlays for their property to allow for intensification. Lee County implemented another sub-overlay along Corkscrew Road, which allows for increased residential density in exchange for significant, quantifiable and measurable ecological benefits above and beyond what current permitting standards already require. A good concept, but the past several projects to be approved under this overlay have fallen short of meeting this standard, and have even succeeded in expanding the overlay.

In addition, we’re now seeing commercial developments proposed along Corkscrew Road in the DR/GR – a use that was never intended.  

What has been the remaining success of the DR/GR plan? 
To date, it has been Map 14. This provides Lee County with the ability to direct limerock mining to appropriate, already designated locations, and provides assurances to the community that a mine will not be proposed in their back yard. Map 14 and the other components of the 2010 DR/GR plan were years in the making through a very public, transparent process. 

Yet now Lee County is proposing, with a little over 7 days’ notice, and no public meetings or workshops, to delete this map and its corresponding policies.  These issues are being presented and discussed at the Lee County Local Planning Agency meeting on December 17, 2018. There will also be two presentations to the Lee County Board of Commissioners in early 2019 where they will vote on whether to transmit and adopt these changes.

The ECCL backs a plan by The Conservancy of Southwest Florida to ask Lee County to maintain the balance between lime rock extraction and other land uses including residential, commercial and conservation. We will also strongly express to Lee County that Map 14 and its supporting policies need to remain as part of the Lee Plan.

What do I say?

We urge you to voice your concerns at the LPA meeting on Monday morning at 8:30 AM at 2201 Second St., downtown Ft Myers. There is a parking lot at that building. 

Tell the LPA board members of your concern that the present Lee Plan requirements that are proposed to be deleted should remain. They were instituted for good reason during a long and intense planning effort by many citizens, experts, and scientists. They were included in the Lee Plan to ensure that only the amount of mining that is actually needed is authorized in an orderly fashion and allowed within already specified areas around Alico Road, keeping in mind that mining adversely affects our water supply, wildlife, traffic, noise, dust, and overall quality of life. 

Ask the board members why this amendment was put out to the public with so little notice during a holiday period? Urge the board members to turn down this plan amendment or, at least, to hold hearings and workshops to explain to the public and other leaders and organizations why County Staff see the need for this amendment. The public needs the opportunity to review this amendment, evaluate it fully, and appropriately express its desires to County leaders.