Estero on the River Plans Gaining Community Acceptance

Estero on the River plans gaining community acceptance

By Elizabeth Wright
Bonita News
April 3, 2007

It’s not typical for longtime Estero resident Ellen Peterson to have nice things to say about the strip after strip of “ticky-tacky” buildings going up in the area or the people whose business is planning those changes.

“Ordinarily, I’m not pleased at all with the development that has happened in Estero,” she said.

In the past, Peterson has been particularly critical of early plans to build on the 85 acres the College of Life Foundation wanted to sell on the northeast corner of Corkscrew Road and U.S. 41 in Estero — acreage that hems in her narrow strip of Corkscrew Road property on three sides.

One developer’s plan, which later faltered, called for shops to replace the old farmland and forest — land that used to belong to the Koreshan religious community. While that sort of change was to be expected in any development, Peterson said, that plan also called for a bridge over the Estero River with several pilings sunk in the water, something she thought was a bad idea.

Since then, a new plan for the land — the D’Jamoos Group project called Estero on the River — has been edging closer to becoming a reality with 530 residences and 300,000 square feet of commercial-space.

But Peterson is comfortable with this project, and so far she is comfortable with her new developer neighbors.

“I’ve been very pleased,” she said. “That’s very unusual for me.”

She’s especially happy there are no plans for buildings right up against her property and that Estero on the River wouldn’t be a gated community.

“The way it’s being developed is not going to encroach on me at all,” Peterson said. “It’s very important that the land be preserved as much as possible, and I think they’re doing that.”

Peterson still plans to watch the project carefully, though, just in case there are any surprises, and she said she and other nearby property owners plan to be in Fort Myers this morning when the project goes before the Lee County Hearing Examiner. The hearing examiner’s recommendation is the last step in the development review process before the board of county commissioners get the final say in whether the project goes ahead.

Peterson’s goodwill, and that of other neighboring property owners, was something managers at the Naplesbased D’Jamoos Group have said they’ve sought, and it seems they’ve succeeded.

Plans for the project have come up at several community meetings recently. And while there have been questions, particularly about developers’ commitment to providing public access to the river, there has been no organized opposition to the project. In fact, it’s not clear who would expend the effort at this point.

Mimi Straub, who is active in the Estero Historical Society and has worked hard to preserve certain pieces of the area’s past, echoed Peterson’s resignation to changes in the area.

“You learn to live with development. That’s the name of the game in Florida,” she said.

She does hope the neighborhoods near Highlands Avenue wouldn’t change drastically after the project gets built. But she also said that area is past the point of being the citrus orchards and swamps she remembers, and that not enough is left of the area’s old charm that Estero on the River or any project like it could be blamed for erasing it.

“I don’t think it will make that much of a difference, really,” she said of the project. “We just hope it will be an attractive addition.”