Planning panel ponders revamp of design process

The end result of a 5,067-square-foot Tires Plus did please members of Estero's Design Review Committee, who on Wednesday evaluated the plans for the store proposed along Estero's future main street.

Tires Plus representatives came to the meeting with plans for a taupe, red-trimmed store for the Estero Interstate Commerce Park at Interstate 75 and Corkscrew Road, but left with a building lacking the company's trademark red paint.

Yet when some building features were not modified to fit in more with the area's Mediterranean style, some members of Estero's Community Planning Panel said they saw the need to get to each developer before he or she presents plans to the public.

"The more time we wait, the more trouble we are going to be in," planning panel member Don Eslick said.

Eslick asked residents attending Friday's meeting of the Council of Community Leaders to focus attention on an Embassy Suites hotel, proposed behind the Tires Plus store in the Estero Interstate Commerce Park.

"It looks like something you would see in downtown New York," Eslick said.

Eslick and Planning Panel Chairman Neal Noethlich want to meet with the developers of Embassy Suites before the company begins designing the hotel.

Buildings along Corkscrew Road from U.S. 41 to I-75 are part of Estero's Corkscrew Overlay District, a set of Lee County guidelines that require compatible, Mediterranean architecture.

EDRC chair Wayne Robinson said the design review committee got as many Mediterranean features for the Tires Plus building as they could, considering the building's use.

"It is a garage," he said. "Based on the building itself, I don't think they could have changed the footprint of the building any."

Before coming before the EDRC, Tires Plus had plans to build a taupe-colored building with eight red garage doors, red trim and a metal roof.

After negotiating with the committee, they agreed to a taupe-colored building, white doors and trim and the option of outfitting the store's awnings with barrel tiles or cloth.

The roof remained flat with facades that extend above the roof to create parapets, Robinson said.

EDRC committee member Gordon Lyons asked for a back-lit store sign instead of the trademark yellow illuminated sign, but Tires Plus representatives did not concede.

Robinson said future developers who have questions about the style and architecture of certain areas of Estero can hold a preliminary meeting with the EDRC, as did representatives with Wal-Mart Corp.

Otherwise, developers should be seeking out the county code as they design.

"We're not there to stand there and design the building for them," he said.

Eslick and Noethlich said they were not criticizing the EDRC, but that Wednesday's meeting prompted them to think about the approach they should take with future developers.

"We came out of it better than when we came in, but it still doesn't come up to what I thought we would be getting," Noethlich said.

Developers must hold a public meeting, according to county code, but they are not required to hold the meeting via the EDRC or the Planning Panel.

Noethlich said that right now the role of community activists concerned about the appearance of the community is to let developers and county staff know exactly what residents want to see in Estero.

"The staff makes the decision," Noethlich said. "We just make recommendations."