Growth will affect area in different, negative ways

Growth will affect area in different, negative ways

Rezoning may be needed

By JIM FLEMING



The continued proliferation of large residential developments at the expense of land for public use is the single most important issue facing Lehigh Acres. This unplanned growth will have a profound affect on all of us and our quality of life, in permanent and negative ways.

Every time the county commissioners abrogate their responsibility and vote to rezone yet another large agricultural parcel in our community to a high-density residential development, we lose the opportunity to preserve precious public space and public resources — forever.

To paraphrase an old British saying, by creating more residential land in a poorly planned community of 126,000 residential building lots we are "carrying the coals to Newcastle."

The recent rezoning of Sunrise Lakes, a 36-acre project, in the middle of Amberwood, an established Lehigh Acres neighborhood, is a classic example of greed winning out over common sense. This project was approved despite several alarming facts that the county commissioners ignored (except for Ray Judah who wisely voted against the project).

1. The plan calls for 50-foot wide lots in a neighborhood where the existing lots are 100 feet wide.

2. These 120 new residential units will dump more vehicles onto dangerous and already overburdened Homestead Road, creating a traffic snarl of monumental proportions, especially when you consider that more than 4,000 new homes are planned for the Homestead Road corridor within the next two years.

3. Despite false assurances from Florida Government Utilities Association, there is no capacity at their antiquated water and sewer plant to accommodate this, or any other residential development, and there will not be enough capacity any time soon.

Speaking of Florida Government Utilities Association, their untimely and reactionary response to the enormous new demand on their system is to stick it to all the owners of unserviced lots and homes. The burden in certain target areas will exceed $13,000 per property by FGUA's own cost estimates.

Meanwhile, the day of reckoning for this reckless rush to rezone what little remains of our open space in Lehigh Acres is approaching us at warp speed. Residential overkill is compounding the most serious shortage of public, commercial and industrial property of any community in the state of Florida, and the negative consequences will affect generations to come.

As a water manager, I'm concerned about the strain that this unchecked growth is putting on our drainage system and our precious water resources. Lee County's Smart Growth guru, Wayne Daltry, calls water resources one of the sacred assets of our region. I'm concerned that, as runoff increases and ground reserves are depleted, we won't be blessed with enough water.

Our local roads and intersections are already failing, not only because there are too many homes being constructed for capacity, but because our residents have to drive farther for services that do not, and will never, exist if the current agricultural land grab is not curtailed in some meaningful way.

We only have two county parks in Lehigh Acres. And yet, despite millions of dollars in park impact fees that Lee County collects from the explosive growth in our community, that's all we'll ever have because there is no land available for park expansion.

There are no more available tracts of land in Lehigh Acres to build the new schools we need right now, let alone 10 years from now.

If you think the school district's recent attempt to grab the Golf Club in Cape Coral was outrageous, wait until they take their next hard look at Lehigh Acres. With the new Supreme Court ruling in favor of government confiscation of residential property, don't be surprised if the next school in your neighborhood is your neighborhood.

For years I've been demanding greater accountability from Lee County government, and a far stricter adherence to the county's own Comprehensive Plan.

What Lee County officials must do immediately is reevaluate all zoning applications that attempt to create more residential property in Lehigh Acres, especially if the property can be used more appropriately as commercial, industrial or public space.

Lee County government should also appoint and involve an advisory panel made up of representatives of the Community Council, the Chamber of Commerce, the Lehigh Acres Community Planning Corp., the local development industry and stakeholder groups such as the Citizens Against Increased Taxes. These representatives should act as a citizens' review panel on all rezoning requests until a Lehigh Acres master plan is developed and approved.

Anything less than a team effort to solve this problem will show that Lee County is hell bent on selling the farm, while allowing the special interests to continue to rezone it.

- Jim Fleming who is the Vice Chairman of the East County Water Control District