The following letter has been sent to the County Commissioners and
To the Editor:
Morris-Depew’s letter to Mr. Eckenrode dated April 24, 2009, may be the last in a series of discussions with Lee County Utilities to gain final approval of the sewer line installation to support Highpoint Tower marina plans on Bocilla Island and provide the county with free sewer lines north of Pine Island Center.
As I understand it, residents of Main Street will be required to hook up to the gravity line while residents along Stringfellow will not have a mandatory hook-up to the force main. I also understand that mandatory hook-ups along Stringfellow are most likely unenforceable because single homes will not generate enough pressure to safely enter a force main system. Some other entry system will have to be put in place, but at whose expense – the county or the residents?
This causes some confusion because the intent of the sewer mandate is to rid the county (and state) of septic systems believed to be major contributors to water pollution and that they did not contribute to the ability to use reclaimed water. If the residents along Stringfellow do not have to hook up, how does this 7-mile section of sewer line contribute to the aforementioned goals? Why is it imperative that it occurs now? (Wait, don’t answer that, I know “because it’s free.”)
While I can certainly understand the thought process used by the county to join in with Highpoint Tower, I also understand that nothing is free. Somewhere at some time someone will have to pay.
Unfortunately those who will pay immediately are the people living on Bocilla Island, that small, narrow stretch of land cut off from Pine Island by Jug Creek, starting as soon as the marina begins development.
Installation of the gravity line will greatly impact travel along Main Street, the only access road to the Bocilla residents west of Stringfellow, and will continue to impact travel as mandatory hook-ups are scheduled during a two-year hook-up process.
Local residents will have to live through the construction phase of both the marina and the upland development, and someone (hopefully the developer, but maybe the county), will have to pay for damages to Main Street occurring from heavy equipment and truck traffic.
Fifty or more years of old Florida living in peace and calm will be drastically affected in this quiet, established neighborhood of mobile home parks, condo developments and single-family cottages and homes, all to satisfy the desires of a single person who doesn’t even live in the area let alone in the county (I know that probably has no bearing in a county-level discussion).
Once the marina is built the local residents will have to endure increased pedestrian and vehicle traffic associated with the new marina and land development. Marina management cannot control boaters from leaving the site and venturing off into the adjacent highly residential neighborhood and opens the probabilities of:
n Intrusion onto private property (the private, open lawn areas between Main Street and Charlotte Harbor);
n Intrusion into the various private communities (simply posting signs in the marina area is not an answer to a. or b.);
n Safety issues increase as more people and vehicles compete for space on the same narrow roadway that currently does not enjoy speed or traffic enforcement;
n Increased spread of litter that usually accompanies pedestrian traffic composed primarily of people who don’t live in the area (already occurs in-season on a small scale);
n Incidents related to alcohol consumption (alcohol will be served at the proposed restaurant, and is a normal activity associated with boating);
n Increased probability of traffic congestion in-season and weekends due to vehicles trailering large boats (check on the Barrancas Avenue problems as an example. Also look at the comments from residents living on the canal with the county boat launch.)
nLlight pollution from marina security in a neighborhood where darkness and stargazing is a part of life.
Who else loses?
1. Charlotte Harbor and all of its many varieties of sea life as sea beds are destroyed, fishing patterns disturbed and other currently unpredictable damages occur because of the physical aspects of the marina and normal marina related pollution from boats (not even considering a major “spill”), no matter how much a developer may plan to prevent such occurrences. Undeterminable damage to the DEP/Charlotte Aquatic Preserve caused by normal marina operations, and intensified during major storms or hurricanes.
2. The state of Florida, Lee County and its visitors lose another piece of beautiful old Florida scarred by a man-made marina that serves the purposes of a single individual (oops, said it again).
3. Owners of seawalls, beaches and piers east and west of the proposed marina by undeterminable damage caused by the marina occurring during the normal sequence of high and low tides, with high winds with long open water fetch that are experienced year-round in this area. (Please note that none of the currently existing private piers dock boats because of the unpredictable ferocity of the water and winds. Also note that there is evidence that a similar development in Fort Pierce was destroyed by 2004 hurricanes.)
4. Owners of private adjacent piers who will experience changes to the fishing patterns they have enjoyed for many years.
5. Other areas of Charlotte Harbor, or elsewhere, will lose, as developers are encouraged to build marinas based on the approval of this one.
6. Everyone who has ever watched a Boca Grande sunset from Bocilla.
I certainly hope that the decision to join hands with Highpoint Tower simply to gain a step up in meeting mandatory sewer requirements has included a look at the big picture, and considered all of the potential ramifications before adding one more brick to Highpoint Tower’s path to build a strongly opposed marina. I also hope the county reviews any agreements with a fine tooth comb to prevent another addition to the list of those who lost.
Ron Lueth
Bokeelia