Estero leaders pledge anti-mining support - Estero Council of Community Leaders will assist East Corkscrew Road residents in their fight against rock mining near their homes.

By Jessie L. Bonner - Bonita Daily News
Saturday, June 17, 2006

A small band of East Corkscrew Road residents may have found an ally in their fight against rock mining near their homes in rural Estero.

Jim Lytell brought his case against three separate mining operations to the Estero Council of Community Leaders on Friday and requested assistance in protesting the projects, which are set to go before the Lee County Hearing Examiner.

"They're going to make an industrialized corridor out of Corkscrew Road," Lytell said. "We need help."

The council, which is made up of volunteers who oversee development in Estero, voted to support Lytell as he takes his plight to the county.

"We can count on working together on this issue," said Don Eslick, chairman of Estero Council of Community Leaders.

Residents of the rural community have spent more than $120,000 during the past five years hiring various lawyers and experts to testify to the negative impacts of mining near their homes on land within the DR/GR, or Density Reduction/Groundwater Resource area.

The DR/GR includes 96,000 acres that were set aside in the 1980s to protect groundwater resources in Lee County.

Mining is one of three activities allowed in the DR/GR, which also permits farming and development at a density of one housing unit per 10 acres.

Mining is often the most profitable use of land within the DR/GR, said Kevin Hill, who has lived on Corkscrew Road for 18 years and attended Friday's council meeting to support Lytell.

"A lot of this is simply land speculation," he said. "People are just looking to make more money from their land than they would have."

One of the proposals the county will consider is from Estero Group Limited to mine a 318-acre site to a depth of 95 feet. The Fort Myers-based Youngquist Brothers Excavation has a 25 percent share in a proposal to mine a 1,365-acre site to a depth of 20 feet and transport fill materials from the site.

Richard Friday, chief financial officer for Youngquist Brothers, has emphasized that the operation is allowable under Lee County codes and less intensive than a full-blown rock mining outfit.

Council member Arnie Rosenthal was among the consensus that voted Friday to explore whether the ECCL should take an active role in lobbying the county to resist approving additional mining in the rural Corkscrew neighborhood.

But residents also noted that mining operations have been part of Lee County since the 1950s. The East Corkscrew Road neighborhood where Lytell and Hill live is home to the second-largest stone reserve in the state.

"That's a hell of a foe that we've got to fight if we're going to save the DR/GR," he said.

Lytell estimated there are 30 mines and 49 residents who live within a mile of an active mine on East Corkscrew.

"What concerns me is if any of the mines go through," Lytell said. "How could they say no to any more?"

Also on Friday, the council voted to create the Estero Arts Development Council, a group of residents who will seek to increase community interest in the arts by organizing local performances and sponsoring art-related events through venues such as the new Estero Community Park scheduled to open this fall.

The park features a 41,600-square-foot recreation building designed to accommodate pageants, festivals, concerts and parades.

"We always say that we want to develop an identity for Estero," said Cas Obie, an Estero resident who helped develop the council.

"We want the arts to be part of that identity."

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