Some Bay Road residents not happy about possible repairs

Bonita Springs City Council heard about an estimated $150,000 plan Wednesday to repair pavement and drainage to the low-lying, often flooded road on Little Hickory Island.

About a dozen Bay Road area residents attended. They're worried the overhaul will mar the beauty of the area.

"Have you ever seen an area with drainage swales that's an improvement to the aesthetics? I haven't," said Dick Holst, a neighborhood resident since 1974. "It's just a low area. We live with it. We know it."

David Schmitt, an engineer with Q. Grady Minor & Associates, a Bonita planning firm, said the road needs extensive repairs and swales should be added to divert water from the roads. Existing ditches have been filled with silt, some perhaps intentionally, he said. Ten-year-old pavement also must be replaced.

The neighborhood's beautification efforts have seeped into the public space with plantings and, in one case, pavement lined with stones, which increases drainage problems in the area, he said.

"I hope we can minimize the damage. You appreciate what they do to make things beautiful, but it is a public right of way," said Schmitt, who hopes to host a December meeting with the neighborhood's residents.

The target time to start work is March and could last up to 75 days, he said. A filter fabric, which will help distribute weight over the road and minimize wear and tear, will be placed over the pavement.

But the proposed project isn't the ultimate fix. To get rid of most flooding, the road needs to be raised 6 to 8 inches. But the cost of doing that would range in the millions, City Manager Gary Price said.

"Keep in your thought process this is not a first-rate job. We're trying to make do but it will still, under the wrong circumstances, flood," he said.

Councilman Bob Wagner urged the engineer to meet with residents soon and questioned how long a road with weak underpinnings will last.

"There are several people in the audience today with a lot of concern. Basically, that road is built on what I call marsh muck. You really don't have a foundation under that."

Schmitt said the madeover road could last 15 years and will help the city meet 75 percent of its water quality treatment requirements under federal pollution control guidelines.

Councilman Ben Nelson said the city should look at doing nothing in the neighborhood, which drew loud applause from residents in the audience.

"I think we really need to consider keeping it simple here. ... Before we put hundreds and thousands of dollars into it, maybe it's a matter of simply recycling the paving. It sounds like what we're going to do as far as quality of life. It's still going to be the same road," he said.

Bay Road residents gathered outside the meeting, plotting their next step.

"I like the keep it a simple idea," Heike Ruelle, 39, who has lived in the area four years, said. "There is no reason to spend the money."