Estates gets update on growth plan

From boat ramps on Big Jim Lake to express lanes in the median of I-75, future growth was the focus of the District 5 Town Hall meeting, May 31, at the Collier County Agricultural Center on Immokalee Road.

"(This area) seems to be in the center of the world at the moment," District 5 Commissioner Jim Coletta told a packed house. The meeting was attended by several county department heads and four of the five county commissioners, with Donna Fiala absent.

Coletta told the group that "real estate values are stabilizing and that the county may have some lean years in the future (revenue wise), but it will be people who do not have the homestead exemption who will be paying the majority of those taxes." Each department head gave a brief synopsis of information included in a 77-page report on growth and services for the area east of Collier Boulevard. The full report is available online.

Community Development and Environmental Services Administrator Joe Schmitt mentioned the two special districts of Ave Maria and Big Cypress in the eastern part of the county as well as the development taking place in and around Immokalee and how few commercial and retail services exist in that area to serve the growing population. He also defended the need for the Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension, which some critics say is being built to service the special districts. Schmitt said there will be 65,000-75,000 residents living in the Estates and new roads, extensions and widenings are necessary for those residents, not just for the Big Cypress and Ave Maria developments.

Roy Anderson, with the public utilities division, outlined plans for the new North Regional water and sewer treatment plant northeast of Waterways. The 216-acre project will include the Orangetree Regional Park, which will consist of 60 acres of green space, soccer fields, tennis courts and a boat ramp and pier on "Big Jim Lake," named after Coletta.

Transportation Planning Director Don Scott said he spoke with state toll authority officials regarding possible express lanes in the median of I-75.

Florida Department of Transportation District 1 Secretary Stan Cann told the full house that SR 82 and SR 29 have been designated as"strategic intermodal systems," which means that they are considered critical roads in the state. This designation opens a "whole new category of funding", Cann said. The potential toll road and the proposed SR 29/SR 82 loop are a joint effort between Collier, Lee and Hendry counties and has been championed by State Rep. Mike Davis.

Coletta urged residents to work with the county in order to get approvals and funding for new road projects.

"People from the community helped get CR 951 from Collier to the Lee line through," he said. "Environmentalists were holding things up and it was citizen participation that got it through. We are all in this together."