Lee offers referendum to oversee canals

San Carlos Park residents on a campaign to clean up the community’s 19 miles of canals may take their plea to the polls in November.

As the San Carlos Park Civic Association lobbies to get more funding to improve the waterways, one proposal includes passing a referendum to bring the canals under Lee County supervision.

The change would mean higher taxes for residents, but also would bring in more money for the upkeep of the extensive canal system in San Carlos Park.

Libby Walker, director of public resources for Lee County, has recommended residents the referendum, which would be nonbinding and merely gauge interest in the proposal, Walker said. A final decision would be made by Lee County commissioners.

The ditches are now maintained by the East Mullock Drainage District, a special taxing unit that brings in $70,000 a year and operates with oversight from the state. While grants have been used in the past to repair canals in the wake of hurricanes, the drainage district cannot carry out long-term repairs when canals fill during heavy rains and flood streets.

Nora Egan Demers, a nine-year resident, was appointed by the civic association last year to look for ways to improve the canals. Demers has proposed bringing the canals under the San Carlos Park Special Improvement District, a municipal services taxing district that brings in $156,000 and pays for street lights and landscaping improvements in the community.

San Carlos Park residents who now pay 21 cents per $1,000 of their property’s assessed value to the improvement district would pay $1 per $1,000 of property value with the extra money used for canal repair and maintenance.

“That would probably be enough to get the system going. Right now the system is not working,” said Demers, who moved to San Carlos Park in 1997 to take a teaching position at Florida Gulf Coast University.

While the proposal has received strong support from members of the civic association, the group acknowledges it represents only a small portion of the nearly 9,000 residents who live and own property in San Carlos Park.

“The board doesn’t want to go and do something if they don’t feel there’s strong support from the community,” Walker said. “We’ve determined this is the best way to do this.”

Getting the issue up for consideration in 10 months could cost up to $20,000, Walker said. “It costs money to get anything on the ballot,” she said. “It’s not something the county’s going to pay.”

Walker said she has spoken with Allen Freeman, a volunteer board member of the East Mullock District, who has attended past civic association meetings to address concerns. Freeman has indicated he would be willing to use funds from the drainage district to get the referendum on the ballot, Walker said.

“He just feels like it would be better served if it were under the county,” Walker said.

The possibility of getting a referendum onto the November ballot will be further discussed tonight at the February civic association meeting, with Lee County Commissioner Tammy Hall scheduled to attend.

The plan could hit snags after members of the community’s special improvement district weigh in. The district oversees minor landscaping improvements and street lighting in San Carlos Park and some members have voiced reluctance to taking on canal maintenance.

“I don’t know if that’s going to happen or not because that’s a state responsibility,” said Phil Martin, chairman of the San Carlos Park Special Improvement District. “Drains are bigger than just a community, in my estimation. Drainage is all the water that flows into the Gulf.”

If the canals are brought under the county’s supervision, the improvement district would receive input from the Lee County natural resources department. Passing a referendum would merely be the first step to the overall improvement of the waterways, Demers said.

“We still have to find out what’s wrong with the stormwater drainage problems,” she said.

The San Carlos Park Civic Association meets at 7:30 p.m. at the Karl Drews Center at 18412 Lee Road. For more information about the civic association, go to www.sancarlospark.org.

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Staff writer Jamie Henline contributed to this report.