Editorial: Growth in Southwest Florida

Two projects nearing their beginnings show the shape of things to come in south Lee County.

The Bonita Springs Golf and Country Club has closed in preparation for homes to be platted for its former front nine holes of golf, while the Lee County Sheriff's Office has begun to finalize its plans to move a south headquarters to Estero from Bonita Springs.

Residents of the country club have expressed disapproval at the developer's plans for more than a year. Yet, with residents left no legal standing to block re-development, plans are on course for 152 homes. The back nine will be redeveloped as an "executive" course, one where golfers are challenged on only a few clubs in their bag.

As for Bonita Springs and law enforcement, it will retain an office for the Lee deputies who are on Bonita-only patrols. But the sheriff's longtime headquarters for its south district will move several miles to the north in Estero.

Both projects reflect the evolution of growth in the county.

Bonita Springs, for better or worse, is no longer the epicenter of development. For the sheriff's office, deputies can be better directed out of an Estero HQ into Bonita to the south and San Carlos Park to the north.

For the golf course, the developer can make more profit from homes than foursomes wending their way through the longtime community.

Neither might win a popular vote, but they both represent a face of change.