County Commission vote on Pine Island Plan postponed until March 17
To the editor:
The Lee County Commissioners vote on a proposal to hire a law firm to rewrite the Pine Island Plan has been postponed until March 17 (St Patrick’s Day), at 9:30 a.m., in Commission Chambers, Old Courthouse.
The law firm said they would rewrite it to “allow something like one house per acre.” That would of course spell the end of the famous 910 rule, which has served Pine Island so well for some 27 years. That rule is largely responsible for creating and maintaining the coastal rural way of life we call “paradise.” The rule has been threatened many times before, but because of the hard work of thousands of Pine Islanders, helpful county staff and attorneys, the understanding of all five former county commissioners, and especially strong support from the Florida Department of Community Affairs, it has always survived. Maybe not this time.
What has changed is that Gov. Scott has eliminated the Florida Department of Community Affairs – they are not there to defend us anymore. And, of course, the majority of the county commissioners have changed – and some of them are extremely attentive to complaints from developers.
Bert Harris claims, amounting to $5 million by Pine Island large landowners, payable if Lee County fails to defend or loses the lawsuits. That amount is, of course, peanuts compared to the costs of creating infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.) to support much additional development on Pine Island. Buying and bulldozing historic Matlacha to widen Pine Island Road would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Building another bridge with approach roads to Pine Island would cost high hundreds of millions of dollars. (Neither is actually permit-able because of the horrendous mangrove and aquatic preserve destruction that would be involved).
Personally, I pleased that the vote has been postponed because that will allow me to attend. As many Pine Islanders as possible should also attend. Leave Pine Island about 8:30 a.m. and go to downtown Fort Myers and park in the salsa colored high-rise parking garage. Walk two blocks south and enter the front door of the beautiful Old Courthouse. The receptionist will direct you to the Commission Chambers. If you want to speak, fill out one of the cards at the table outside the door. Under “item” put the agenda number if available or write Pine Island Plan. If you don’t like public speaking – no problem because I plan to ask for friends of the Pine Island Plan to hold up their hands.
Please also email the commissioners. Tell to them to hire a firm to vigorously defend the Pine Island Plan, and at least wait until the ligation is over before suggesting rewrites to the Plan. Also tell them about the traffic through Matlacha, and why we can’t handle any more development on Pine Island. Tell them about our coastal rural way of life, and the need to protect our fragile environment. Tell them about our 30-year history of relying on our community plan to protect us, and all the hard work that made it so. Those of you that have been here for more than 20 years should tell them about Doctors Gene and Ellie Boyd, the founders of the Pine Island Plan as well as smart growth planning in Lee County.
Send your emails to dist1@leegov.com, dist2@leegov.com, dist3@leegov.com, dist4@leegov.com, and dist5@leegov.com and cc me a copy at coolcherokee@comcast.com.
Thank you, fellow Pine Islanders.
Phil Buchanan
St James City