A letter to the county commission
To the editor:
I am writing you to provide my comments regarding tomorrow’s board discussion of the Bert Harris lawsuits against Lee County and the Pine Island Land Use Plan. I am unable to attend either meeting due to prior commitments.
I am a retired fish and wildlife biologist, environmental specialist, and environmental enforcement specialist. My last job was in Fort Myers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. My husband and I purchased our property and built our home in St. James City on Pine Island because of Little Pine Island Mitigation Bank (which cannot be developed) and because of the sensible Pine Island Land Use Plan. We like rural. We do not want to live in a crowded area.
Many developers purchase land zoned agriculture in hopes of getting it rezoned commercial or residential, thus making lots of money – it’s called speculation. Heck, many people would love to purchase land zoned ag at $5,000 an acre and then get it rezoned and sell it for $50,000 per acre. But that’s the point of spending hundreds/thousands of man-years and dollars to develop a land use plan – to manage the way land is developed and to allow purchasers to see what the future holds. I fail to see where the Bert Harris Act comes into this – speculators, disguised as palm tree farmers, should not be able to dissolve Pine island’s careful planning. This is “high season,” and I urge you all to travel through Matlacha’s heavy traffic. That is how it would be year-round, if you allowed the palm farms to become residential areas.
Please do not ignore Pine Island’s plan – the plan approved by Lee County Commissioners. That is why we and so many others moved here.
Carol (and Bryan) Crane
St. James City