East Lee County Commission Meeting

by Rob Andrys - Alva
I attended the East Lee County Council and the Caloosahatchee Estates
project in the heart of Olga, right down the street from the Winn-Dixie on
the river. They're going to put as many homes as they can on 1/4 acre
lots.
As far as the political forum went an interesting question came out. When
asked about a bridge over the Caloosahatchee to service the growth on the
north side of the river in Hendry County the following was said:
Commissioner Ray Judea - Before he could support the issue of a bridge, he
said that first there must be a highway network for the bridge to connect
into. Highway 78 at its current size does not warrant a bridge that would
only bring congestion to this small road. He used the example of Estero
Island with only one arterial road running the length of the island with
numerous roads connecting into it. Naturally the traffic does not flow
well or can stop for a long time if an accident occurs anywhere along this
single access road.
Commissioner Albion - We don't have money for such a bridge and Hendry
County really doesn't have that amount of money, and with a wave of his
hand he dismissed the whole thing. He did say that a new sector plan was
being put together by Lee and Hendry Counties planning staff. That is to
say Vince's plan and some thing from Alva but we donít know anything about
it.
Just as a personal opinion, I don't understand why so much effort is being
spent on the bridge issue when a lot more energy should be spent looking
at how the south side of the river should be developed, the commercial
corridor that will expand there and of course the monster lakes at Berry
Groves and the huge developments that will surround those lakes. Those
are the real issues. The plain fact is that the north side of the river
will be developed by the first ones in the race, the road will slow to a
crawl and the rest of the land will have a harder time being developed
because the widening of highway 78 will take a minimum of 10 years.
Hendry County will have its hands full trying to build roads on the south
side of the river for the onslaught of new homes that will spring up there
soon.