GPICA holds public hearing on preserve project
The Greater Pine Island Civic Association held a public hearing on an application for a project called Pine Island Preserve and Matlacha Pass.
During its monthly Zoom meeting Monday, May 3, the GPICA discussed the rezoning and special exception application request for the project that calls for a boardwalk, kayak launch and small parking lot in St. James City.
TDM Consulting Senior planner, Veronica Martin and Tom Odom of Mitigation Resources, spoke on the behalf of the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast.
“We know this project is controversial,” said GPICA president Helen Fox. “We know you’ll have a lot of questions, so I want to make sure we all listen carefully and respectfully to the presenters without interruption, and that the questions we ask at the end of their talk are informational rather than confrontational.”
Odom began by explaining that they (the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast) had built Galt Preserve and this project would be very similar in nature. There’s no electricity or water, he said, adding that it’s passive recreation.
Many of the same aspects of Galt Preserve would be present in this project, he said.
“It’s designed to treat the stormwater from the run-off from the parking lot and the roads, that come in and out from the site, so all that water is treated. It basically gets treated as it goes into the ground by state standards,” said Odom. “There’s a state and a federal permit that mitigate for any impacts on the site. I believe that’s already been taken care of.”
Fox inquired as to how they plan to build a boardwalk without cutting away mangrove, which is illegal on Pine Island.
Odom said the mangrove would have to be trimmed or cut back with approval for that having already been obtained.
Having gathered questions from the community, Fox asked why 48 parking spaces would be needed for a kayak launch few are expected to negotiate, and whether they considered impervious drive to minimize retention of stormwater needed. Odom said this project would allow people to access the site from Stringfellow Road.
“The people that go to the kayak launch are going to be a lot fewer than the people that want to come and visit the pavilion and walk some of the trails,” said Odom. “It’s essentially the same computation for storm water — semi impervious versus asphalt … it’s essentially the same thing. What we did do was add a vegetative planting area in the middle of the parking lot to gather some of that stormwater and keep it there itself.”
Another question posed by the community was why the project required two entrances.
Odom corrected that misunderstanding, saying there is only one entrance and a one-way exit road, giving the ability to allow traffic to flow with a temporary gate.
Another question raised was what might happen if an eagle builds a nest along the boardwalk.
It was pointed out that currently the path in the Galt Preserve is closed from October to May for nesting.
Odom’s answer to the question was that eagles are not likely to choose the foliage offered on this new site.
When asked for the site’s history, Odom said to the best of his knowledge the site was earmarked for development before being acquired by the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast, although he said he didn’t know whether it had been purchased or given to the organization.
Martin confirmed that the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast is a non-profit organization that currently owns the property in question.
It was determined that the hearing would have to be continued and rescheduled with representatives from the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast in order to satisfactorily answer community questions before the proposal for a special exception could be voted on by the community.
The GPICA welcomed new board member Deborah Swisher-Hicks. Hicks is replacing former board member Roger Wood, who recently resigned.
The group also heard a presentation by Dr. Randy Wells, vice president of Marine Mammal Conservation at the Chicago Zoological Society and director of the Sarasota Dolphin research program.
The meeting in its entirety can be found at on the GPICA website at Gpica.org