Estero on the River project raising few concerns before hearing examiner

Estero on the River Project Raising Few Concerns Before Hearing Examiner

By Elizabeth Wright
Bonita News
April 4, 2007

If the plans call for a theater that would seat more than 500 people, and the theater would be right in the middle of a development near what’s now a quieter part of Estero, where would all the traffic go when a show is over?

That was one of the questions people who live near the proposed Estero on the River project had for developers at an all-day public hearing on the project Wednesday. Amid what amounted to stream of support for the project, which would include a mix of shops, offices and homes on one of the most central corners in Estero, traffic was the concern that came up throughout the day.

Comments ranged from nearby resident Patricia Faye’s worries about what it would be like as cars left the theater onto Highlands Avenue and drove through an older, residential neighborhood to Estero Fire Rescue Fire Marshall Tom Siegfried’s request that some foresight go into getting a traffic signal at what would likely be the development’s main entrance off U.S. 41. Those who spoke at the hearing, though, talked about the nearby roads as problems they hoped could be fixed as plans go forward, not as reasons for disliking plans for the development.

The hearing was part of the review process for rezoning the 85 acres of land the Naples-based D’Jamoos Group now owns on the northeast corner of Corkscrew Road and U.S. 41 in Estero. The company plans to use the land to build Estero on the River, a development that would have 530 residences and 300,000 sqaure feet of commercial space.

The development would include the Gulfshore Playhouse. Director Kristin Coury said that with a mix of shops and restaurants nearby, part of the plan in a mixed-used development like Estero on the River would be for people to find things to do in the area after a show and not zip away in their cars immediately.

It might also be possible that Highlands Avenue — the narrow street that runs south from Broadway past a mix of smaller, older homes and — could be blocked off during performances, some on the developers’ planning team suggested. The development would have two entrances off U.S. 41, one main entrance off Corkscrew Road as well as an entrance off Sandy Lane.

County planner Chip Block said the county will continue to take a close look at the traffic on County Road and Highlands Avenue to the north of the project. He said the developers might be required to make some road improvements before being able to build.

One road improvement that county staff have already pointed out would need to happen before the area’s roads could handle new traffic from Estero on the River is the six-laning of U.S. 41.

Because that road runs along the west side of the proposed development, county staff had recommended that, if rezoned, nothing be built on the land until the Florida Department of Transportation begins work on widening U.S. 41 north of Corkscrew Road.

As for that condition, developers repeated their expectation that they wouldn’t be ready to build any sooner than that is likely to happen, so they don’t think it will be a constraint. The widening work is in the state transportation agency’s budget for late 2010, at the earliest.

Neal Noethlich, an Estero resident and member of the Estero Community Planning Panel, a group that regularly looks over plans for development in the area, asked that developers continue to push for the widening to happen sooner, even if they don’t feel it will limit their construction plans.

After Wednesday’s meeting with the hearing examiner, the next step for the Estero on the River project is for Lee County commissioners to look over the plans. The board eventually decides whether the project goes ahead.