Imperial Landing falls flat

It’s back to the drawing board for Old 41 Road.

Four Bonita Springs City Council members Wednesday went against the tide of overwhelming public comment, recommendations from their staff, concessions from the developer, an economic feasibility study and the impassioned argument from the three dissenting council members to kick Naples-based Antaramian Development Inc. off the redevelopment of the 5.3-acre Bamboo Village in the city’s downtown historic district along Old 41.

“This issue didn’t have to be yes or no; we wanted to continue constructive dialogue to the objectives,” John Passidomo, Antaramian’s attorney on the project, said after the 4-3 vote. “But what stuns me is the straight-out refusal to continue that constructive dialogue.”

The decision to discontinue negotiations with the developer sent the standing-room-only crowd, which reached more than 200 people at one point, storming out of the City Hall chambers. Some audience members yelled at the four council members, calling them short-sighted and threatening them with a recall election. Sheriff’s deputies escorted council members from the chambers after the meeting.

The issue began three years ago when the city bought the 5.3-acre Bamboo Village mobile home park for $2.6 million in 2003 and subsequently poured $900,000 into the site. The idea was that the redevelopment of the site would serve as a catalyst to revitalize the rest of the Old 41 corridor with private redevelopment.

In January, the council selected the Antaramian plan for a mixed-use development of shops, condominiums, restaurants and river access. The project, which is on the Imperial River and Leitner Creek, would have been called Imperial Landing.

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This rendering shows Antaramian Development Inc.'s plans to develop 5.3 acres on Old 41 Road. Wednesday, the Bonita Springs City Council approved the conditions for the contract to develop the property. Under the agreement, Antaramian will pay the city $3.44 million for the property. In exchange, Antaramian will build Imperial Landing, a mix of residences, public access and entertainment.

Following the March 7 elections, new council members Pat McCourt, Richard Ferreira and Martha Simons stated their opposition to the plan. They joined with two-year Councilman Alex Grantt to defeat the project Wednesday.

The workshop Wednesday gave the new council an opportunity to hear the Antaramian presentation, get comments from the public, city staff and consultants and ultimately decide the fate of the Antaramian plan.

The public packed the council chambers to overcapacity, with the overwhelming majority of the crowd in favor of the project. Of the 21 people who gave public comment, 17 were in favor of the Antaramian plan.

“We have plenty of river space for everybody, if we do this, it will help everybody,” said John Warfield, a former city councilman.

John Spear, who represented the Bonita Springs Downtown Redevelopment Alliance, said he had a petition with more than 700 signatures of people who are in favor of Antaramian. He asked everybody in the crowd to raise their hands if they were in favor of the project; 90 to 95 percent of the audience did so.

“It is a fantastic project, please don’t shut the door,” Bonita Springs resident Kathy McGrath said.

The dissenting council members, though, said they didn’t think the majority of residents supported the plan.

“I don’t believe the people in this town want (Antaramian),” McCourt said.

The four people who spoke against the project said they were concerned about taxes, the public’s use of the Imperial River and the fate of the small businesses downtown. Lucy Mastej said she had a petition of 200 to 300 people who were against the Antaramian plan.

Russ Weyer, from consultant Fishkind & Associates, gave the council an economic feasibility study of the Antaramian plan and three other uses for the 5.3-acre site — a botanical gardens, library and park. These other uses were alternatives posed by the four council members.

According to the study, Antaramian would generate $12 million in sales and $4.6 million in wages earned. The library would generate $3.6 million in sales and $943,000 in wages earned. The botanical gardens would generate $512,000 in sales and $181,000 in wages earned. The park would generate $408,000 in sales and $92,000 in wages earned.

City Manager Gary Price came out strongly in favor of the project, at one point making a presentation of the limited development that has happened in the downtown area since the city incorporated. When he said nobody uses the Bamboo site now except for late-night drinking, Simons chastised him for being unfair, saying the property is surrounded by “No Trespassing” signs.

When Antaramian finally made its presentation, lead engineer Charles Thomas said the developer had given more setback from the river than originally projected to satisfy safety requirements and the demands of the new council members.

Throughout the presentation, Thomas and Passidomo answered concerns from the four disapproving council members on issues like setbacks, river access, density, water quality and stormwater management.

When McCourt suggested the city put a referendum to the people on whether or not they wanted this project, Passidomo said Antaramian would not wait through that process when it had already gone through so much to get to this point. The company had already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and wanted to move forward, he said.

“We came to this welcome mat set by the City of Bonita Springs,” he said. “Will we wait another nine months? No.”

Ultimately, Simons was against the project because she thought it would destroy the charm of Old Bonita. Grantt was against it because he thought the proposal was too intense.