A New Perspective: Bad, better or best?

Collier County is undergoing a huge study to plan for the future growth of eastern Collier County. The study addresses bringing services to the area and how much it is going to cost for different levels of service. Projections are for over one million people to be living in Collier County and 65 percent of them will be residing east of Collier Boulevard. A date isn't given when that will occur but planners are using the year 2050 for the estimate.

The services studied include roads, utilities, parks and recreation facilities, schools, storm water management, libraries, fire districts, emergency medical services and the sheriff's needs.

The levels of service being laid out include a "status quo," "medium" and "premium" service level for each of the above categories.

It reminds me of grocery shopping. Sometimes you have to decide to just live without it, buy the generic, or go for the premium name brand ice cream.

All of the future road maps include adding major changes such as a fly-over at US 41 and Collier Boulevard; a new roadway extending from US 41 east of Collier Boulevard to I-75 and by-passing Collier Boulevard; a parallel roadway along I-75 from Everglades Boulevard to Collier Boulevard; and extensions of Green Boulevard and Vanderbilt Beach road all of the way to Desoto Boulevard in the Estates.

Now that sounds like spaghetti, but if you check out the website, you can view it for yourself.

Costs are added to address urban services such as extending water and sewer to all of the Estates. Those costs alone add up to nearly $100,000 per household. Of course, if that is the direction the county takes, it won't be necessary to add any roadways, water, EMS, etc, because no one will be able to afford to live here.

That $100,000 figure doesn't include impact fees for any of the above-named services.

County Commissioners will be given a booklet to vote their desired level of service for each of the items listed above. They will vote for "status quo," "intermediate," or "premium" service. The results will be tabulated and county staff will be given a direction for the future.

The board wants public input before that happens so the show will be taken on the road to bring the matter before you.

The study does not address future land uses. Plans are being made based on the existing uses. If that many people do move to Collier County, there will have to be land use changes to accommodate the influx of people.

New land uses will be needed for water treatment, waste disposal, and industrial facilities to accommodate the one million people and land will have to be set aside for that future growth. We'll need real estate offices, grocery stores, tire stores, banks, government buildings, hospitals, doctors' offices and things such as that.

If those uses aren't allowed, the gridlock on the roadways will be tremendous because those services can only be fulfilled in the western corridor of the county. We see new centers popping up west of Collier Boulevard, but that won't accommodate triple the current population.

You can help decide where things will end up or you can let government do it for you. Personally, I prefer to do my own shopping rather than let the government chose the quality level of my goods.

What are you going to do?