Don’t dump the plan
To the editor:
On Friday April 10, St .James City residents Rachi Farrow and Judy Weir were busy making deliveries of signs, bumper stickers and T-shirts to Pine Island stores and residents. Island residents have already begun to show their camaraderie in the wake of Lee County’s unpopular decision by its Board of Commissioners to change the environmentally friendly “Pine Island Plan.”
For almost 30 years the island has been protected from over development buy the plan, which sets limits on large scale commercial development to certain areas, such as the town’s center. It further limits all development based on traffic counts conducted on the island.
This has allowed for emergency services to respond within reasonable timeframes, and for children to be spared bus rides that could easily exceed the one-hour ride that they already must endure during season. The Pine Island Plan also protects the island from unbearable increases in traffic as in South Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel.
Eighteen breeding pairs of American bald eagle nests are documented on Pine Island and people from all over the globe look forward to viewing the returning pairs each year. The Pine Island Plan provides a protected habitat for those, and thousands of other species of plants and animals. Pine Island is frequently described as one of the “last frontiers” for breathtaking nature and sensitive eco systems that are cherished by its residents, written about in many books that have been authored on the island and captured in thousands of photos, videos and paintings of the island.
Residents just learned the grim announcement that behind closed-door meetings, the county has already drafted changes to the plan.
None of the island’s spokespersons, including Phil Buchanan, who co-authored the original Pine Island Plan, were consulted or even invited to these meetings.
The changes that are to be brought forth were triggered by a lawsuit against Lee County and a subsequent out-of-court settlement that was paid. Developers claimed potential losses due to restrictions placed upon them by the plan, although it is common knowledge that any developer would certainly have known about those restrictions prior to purchasing major tracts of land.
In polls taken on the island, 95 percent of its residents show support for leaving the Pine Island Plan intact.
To preserve the value of their homes and the serenity of the island, residents are gearing up to fight any changes that the county plans to bring forth.
Ndakhte Ndiaye
St. James City