Pine Island Town Hall Meeting

Yesterday I attended a town hall meeting with several hundred Pine Islanders.  The topic of discussion was a new comprehensive amendment to the Lee County Land Use Plan, which would add the "coastal rural" land category on Pine Island to the future sewer services area map.  Basically, this amendment would open the door for expansion of sewer services to rural land on Pine Island.  Lots of Pine Islanders expressed opposition to this possible amendment, fearing that it would also open the door to more development and/or density increases.  One man described the amendment as a "trojan horse" which would mainly benefit the proposed Bocilla Island Seaport in Bokeelia.  A few people expressed support of the amendment, saying it would improve the Pine Island environment from septic run off.  Others called for scientific studies to determine if septic run off is a problem and where.  County staff was there to answer questions, including Mary Gibbs, head of community development and representatives of planning staff, DOT, utility department and Lee County Utilities.  Lee County Utilitie's representative acknowledged the cost per household could be "roughly half" of the Cape Coral sewer/water connection fees.  Also, the staff acknowledged the County would have to dig up our new bike bath in order to install sewer lines.  I concur with most of the concerns of the general population, and do not see a need to extend the future sewer service areas to coastal rural land.  Also, I would greatly miss using the bike path!  Attached is a copy of the map showing the proposed expansion.

The dark brown shaded areas already are part of the future sewer service area.  The coastal rural lands are the lighter "hatched" brown.  The blue dots represent existing sewer "package plants".  I am in favor of expanding sewer service to the dark brown areas, when funding is available.