Sewer conspiracy? It's garbage, says realtor

Allegations by Marco Island political action committees that island Realtors are conspiring with city officials to use the sewer expansion program to promote development are absurd, a top officer of the Marco Island Area Association of Realtors said.

Some members of Preserve Our Paradise and Marco Citizens Advocating Responsible Environmental Solutions — two political action committees that oppose the city’s septic tank replacement program — have muttered the accusations for months:

-- Realtors have exerted their influence on city officials to urge them to go forward with the sewer program so more hotels or condominium towers can be built.

-- The business community wants the sewer program to go forward so density of development can be increased.

Key CARES members such as John Putnam continue to push the claims, as Putnam did in two e-mails sent to Marco City Council members Friday. The e-mails were copied to CARES chairman Ed Foster and to the Daily News.

“We believe (the purpose of the sewer program) is to enable density increase,” Putnam said in the first e-mail, which used a subject line, “Sewers and Honesty.”

In a second e-mail Friday, Putnam reiterated his charge: “You are going ahead with the euphemistic (septic tank replacement program) because it is the only way to increase the density. You know it and I know it. The whole damn island knows it.”

But George Percel, president of the Marco Island Area Association of Realtors, said he doesn’t know it.

“The shameless inaccuracy being disseminated that Realtors are conspiring to create more condominiums and resort hotels can only come from individuals who are absolutely unfamiliar with Marco Island and its conception,” Percel said.

Russ Colombo, chairman of POP, the group petitioning for a referendum to force City Manager Bill Moss to run for election every two years, says he doesn’t recall alleging such a conspiracy.

“However, there is no doubt that Mr. Percel’s organization openly supports the frivolous, unnecessary, unwanted, extravagant, devious, disruptive, inequitable, toxic, environmentally threatening sewer program,” Colombo said.

“Perhaps Mr. Percel might explain what benefits there are that Marco residents — or critics of the sewer program — do not understand or care about,” Colombo suggested.

Percel offered some historical perspective on the Realtors’ involvement.

Marco Island is a methodically planned community in which every single lot or tract has an underlying zoning designation that is virtually unchanged from the original Deltona Master Plan, Percel said. The Deltona Corp. developed Marco during the 1960s and 1970s.

“The land originally allocated for multifamily or recreational use has been virtually built out,” Percel said. “It is preposterous that someone could actually believe that lots on Marco Island designated for single-family homes could be assembled and converted to high-density development simply because sewer lines are being installed.”

Contrary to the allegations, the Realtors are not the catalyst for development, Percel said. “Consumer demand is.”

CARES attorney Sam Gold of Naples said that CARES doesn’t believe there is a conspiracy between the business community and the city to expand sewers.

“Do we think outside hotel interests have too much influence at City Hall over these construction issues? You bet,” Gold said. “But that’s a long way from saying there is a conspiracy.”

Gold noted how several resort hotels on Marco signed on to an amicus curiae brief, or “friend of the court” brief filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers by the Marco Island Chamber of Commerce and the Realtors group.

In the brief, the groups asked the federal court to dismiss CARES’ suit against the city and Quality Enterprises Inc.

CARES is asking the federal court to stop the septic tank replacement program because city officials failed to stop Quality Enterprises from mishandling asbestos-laden concrete pipe at the former Glon property and along South Collier Boulevard during a road improvement project.

CARES claims in its suit that the asbestos “debacle” proves that the city can’t responsibly oversee the sewer expansion program. The group is asking the court to stop the sewer expansion and to punish the city and Quality Enterprises with fines and penalties for violating the federal Clean Air Act.

The business groups filed the amicus brief, in part, because the alleged asbestos contamination occurred along South Collier where many of the resort hotels and time shares are located.

The groups told the court the city had taken necessary steps to remove any asbestos danger and had cooperated with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to make sure no further contamination occurs. Therefore, CARES’ lawsuit was frivolous and should be dismissed.

U.S. District Judge John E. Steele, however, ruled in May that the businesses’ interests were represented adequately by the city’s legal representation, and dismissed the amicus brief.

Gold says the brief proves the theory that hotels are allied with the city against single family homeowners who are being forced to connect to an expanded sewer system.

“Why didn’t the amicus brief side with the single family homeowners? There are more of them on the island than hotel executives,” Gold said.

Craig R. Woodward, of Marco, filed the brief on behalf of the business organizations and hotels. He says the amicus brief had nothing to do with the sewer expansion program.

But the brief did have something to do with protecting all Marco residents from having to foot the tab for the city’s legal bills as a result of CARES’ unnecessary, frivolous lawsuits, Woodward said.

The judge’s tossing of the brief doesn’t mean the brief failed, he said.

“The standard for accepting an amicus brief is not how well represented a party may be, but the impact of the court’s decision outside the parties to the case,” Woodward said. “The brief illustrated that by pointing out the fines CARES wants imposed and the attorneys’ fees and costs, which will be considerable, to residents and taxpayers of the city who are not parties to the case. We believe the judge read this and may have understood our point.”

Percel noted that the Realtors in 1992 were participants in the creation of the Marco Island Vision Plan.

A cross-section of residents participated for nearly two years in drafting the plan for the improvement of the island’s infrastructure, which included expansion of sewer lines into unsewered residential areas. The Vision Plan became the essence of the city’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan, Percel said.

“As more than 65 percent of residences on the island, both single-family homes and condominiums, are already on central sewer, we fully respect the determination of the city council to fulfill the city’s Comprehensive Plan,” Percel said.

As for CARES’ penchant for filing lawsuits, Percel offered a stiff observation.

“We do lobby and we do attempt to sway the outcome of issues of importance. But we will not resort to bringing lawsuits against our neighbors to fulfill our objectives,” Percel said. “Debate is healthy. Lawsuits are self-serving and costly for all taxpayers. They create a very uncertain image about the cohesiveness of the community and the quality of life it offers to its residents.”

Woodward also blasted CARES for suing the city.

“With these people, the ends justifies the means. They will tear apart and destroy anything to achieve their goal ... which is strange beyond belief,” Woodward said. “How important is it to anyone to keep pumping sewage into their own backyards?”