Islanders back the Pine Island Plan
To the editor:
At our Town Hall Meeting on the above subject there were over 565 irate citizens of Pine Island. They voiced their concerns about the traffic on and off Pine Island They are very upset that you are planning to increase the traffic for the benefit for people who are not Pine Island residents.
Many people made the following points: We will not be able to safely evacuate before a hurricane. People will die because ambulances cannot transport people off the Island in a timely manner. Houses will burn down because fire trucks cannot get to a fire. School children cannot get to school on time. Some trips take an hour and a half. The Department of Transportation has neglected the maintenance and planning on Pine Island Road through Matlacha.
The Lee County Commissioners, attorneys and Department of Transportation have been politically deaf to the existing residents of Pine Island. Get your staff and consultants noses out of their law books and out of their office chairs and have them drive onto and around Pine Island at peak hours. Have them physically absorb the simple fact. We are an island, and there is only one bridge
The Pine Island Plan was designed to protect the property rights of existing Pine Island residents, and to allow for the subdivision of the remaining vacant land. It does not deny the sale and use of those properties. The density was limited on the basis of our one access. Incentives were put in the future land development regulations to encourage agriculture use and conservation preservation. When land is set aside for those uses, a developer would be allowed higher densities in the remaining residential portion of their property.
The Pine Island Plan maintains the quality and character of Pine Island. This protects and maintains the value of all Pine Island real estate. Large vacant single-family home lots will increase in actual sale prices. Higher densities that create traffic gridlock will destroy the coastal rural character of Pine Island and will degrade the sale prices of all Pine Island real estate.
The Lee County Commissioners have put the cart before the horse on this issue. On Pine Island, infrastructure has to be paid for and installed before allowing any density increase. The existing residents of Pine Island and Matlacha will fight for their property rights.
Roger Wood
Saint James City