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By Denise L. Scott
dscott@news-press.com
Originally posted on February 22, 2007
Estero mine hearing delayed
About 150 east Estero residents had planned to speak out Friday
against a proposed mine in their neighborhood. However, that zoning
hearing before Lee County’s hearing examiner has been pushed back to
July.
Estero Group Ltd. of Naples wants to rezone 318 acres along Corkscrew
Road for a 10-year mining operation to a depth of 40 feet, without
blasting.
County staff in October issued a report recommending approval with
conditions. The hearing was originally scheduled for November.
County Planner Chip Block said the county has no objection because the
mine would abut an existing mine with mostly agricultural surrounding
land uses; digging would be limited to 20 feet with no blasting; and 414
daily two-way truck trips would not overload the capacity of Corkscrew
and Alico roads.
“The applicant has not supplied any new information,” Block said
Tuesday, noting the staff report and recommendations also are unchanged.
Block said mine representatives requested Friday’s hearing be postponed
and allotted five days on the hearing examiner’s calendar instead of
one.
The hearing is now scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, July 18, with reserve
days, as necessary, on July 19,20, 24 and 25.
East Estero resident and anti-mine activist Bill Lytell said the
postponement will hurt protesters’ momentum.
“I had a big ole group coming up there, maybe 150,” he said, noting they
raised money to pay for signs and fliers and coordinated taking time off
work.
“(The property owners) literally, the day of the hearing, can say, ‘We
need a continuance,’ and we’re shot. All our money is gone.”
Lytell said it cost residents $50,000 to battle and defeat a previous
Schwab Materials proposed mine a few years ago. He said that hearing
lasted six days. Schwab is now suing Lee County over that denial.
The Estero Group mine attorney, Beverly Grady, could not be reached for
comment. Block said Estero Group Ltd. indicated July is the earliest
date it can get all of its consultants together at one time.
“They wanted to make sure they took care of the complete public hearing
process in as short a time as possible,” he said.
Block encourages those who plan to speak to attend the hearing the first
day to avoid missing the opportunity if it wraps up sooner than
expected.
“About a month ahead, we’ll start e-mailing more often and send a
mailing,” Lytell said.
“Does it surprise you that it’s out of season? Think how many people
are going to be up north.”
Lytell said he will ask those who can’t attend the July hearing in
person to write letters of protest instead.
In the meantime, another mine application for the Corkscrew Road
corridor has been submitted to Lee County.
Schwab Materials Inc. applied last month to rezone about 600 acres at
19500 Corkscrew Road to excavate and mine construction materials. The
maximum depth would be 110 feet with blasting, about a mile east of Six
L’s Farm Road in Estero.
“The case is insufficient for public hearing,” Block said. “The ball is
in their court to resubmit information required by staff.”
He said Schwab technically has 60 days from the Feb. 8 notification to
respond, but extension requests are allowed.
Block said the state fire marshal’s office, not local government,
oversees permitting for blasting construction materials.
“We will not be providing conditions or saying yea or nay to blasting,”
he said, noting it will come to the county for zoning approval only.
Lytell said the new Schwab proposal is less than a mile from his home.
“If the residents, Lee County and the federal government don’t step up
to the plate, we’re going to lose for our kids and grandkids a fabulous
area,” he said.
Lytell and his group want a moratorium on all new mines — Westwind Mine
is already operating along Corkscrew Road — until the environmental
impacts can be studied.
“There are big water-quality questions,” he said. “This is Okeechobee 50
years ago. We don’t want to sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the
immediate.”
Two other mine applications previously submitted for the corridor,
Corkscrew Excavation and Golfrock, are also still insufficient for
public hearing, Block said.
Corkscrew Excavation, 1,356 acres across from Six L’s Farm Road, is
owned by Youngquist Brothers and two east coast partners.
It is proposed for up to eight years of fill dirt mining without
blasting, followed by development of a subdivision with 135 2-acre lots
around a 600- to 700-acre lake.
Farther east, Golfrock LLC owns 255 acres proposed for 10 years of rock
mining — with blasting — followed by development of a 24-home
subdivision.
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