Dirt mine petition raises concerns in Estero

The continuing No New Mines battle in east Estero pits middle class homesteaders living on 5- and-10-acre lots against owners of hundreds of acres they want to mine.

One of them is Bill Lytell, pastor of Gospel Baptist Church in Bonita Springs for 27 years.

“I’ve been called stubborn as an old goat,” he said.

In fact, he has goats — and ducks and chickens and a pond he dug himself and stocked with tilapia — on his homestead.

He’s proud of the cassia shrubs and night blooming jasmine he planted.

A former steel industry and railroad worker from Indiana, Lytell moved to his 5 acres on Glades Farm Road south of Corkscrew Road nine years ago.

His brother, Jim, and their mother, Lorraine, live on each side of him on 5-acre lots.

“I moved out here because of nature — the palmettos and the pines. I could see the stars at night. It’s peaceful,” he said.

When he bought his property, Lytell said he had no idea that mining would threaten his peace of mind.

Craig Cross, 51, who lives on the same road as Lytell, said he also had no idea that earth mines would pose a threat when he bought his property.

Cross and his wife Sandra moved to Glades Farm Road to raise horses because their son, Matthew, was interested in rodeo riding.

Matthew has since moved to Texas, but Cross boards horses for their owners on his 10 acres.

He and his neighbors prevailed in stopping rock mining next to him several years ago.

“Who would want to ride a horse in an area rocked by blasting?” said Cross, who teaches health and physical education at Bonita Springs Middle School.

He said he intends to speak out against the proposed Estero Group Ltd. dirt mine Wednesday.

“The county has a plan and they should stick to it to keep mines on Alico Road,” he said.

People whose roots go back generations here find themselves on the opposite side of the mining fence.

Opposed to mining is Kevin Hill, 45, another east Estero resident and a third-generation Lee countian.

Hill said mining will ruin the rural residential character of the area.

“The area is quiet and relatively untouched. It’s a nice place to live and raise kids,” said Hill, who has a son and daughter living at home.

Richard Friday, a seventh-generation Floridian, is chief financial officer of Youngquist Brothers, which also has a pending dirt mining petition.

“What both parties have to do is respect that each other has certain rights,” Friday said.

Unfortunately, “for a certain handful of people there is no compromise. They said you may have the right to mine, but we’re going to fight you tooth and nail,” Friday said.

Lytell said he’s certain he and his neighbors can stop all four mining petitions pending before the county.

The first — a petition by Estero Group Ltd. for a fill dirt mine on Corkscrew Road — goes before a county hearing examiner Wednesday. Three other mining petitions, involving a combined 2,211 acres on Corkscrew Road, are waiting for hearings.
“I will be stunned if any of them get approved,” Lytell said.