Way of life destroyed when housing takes over

Many residents of this area have never been to the remote and rural areas of Lee County. After all, these modest country places have little to offer there are no beaches or shopping malls and only an occasional golf course.

In areas such as Buckingham, Alva, North Fort Myers and Pine Island you are more apt to see farms and ranches, pickup trucks, roadside fruit stands, grazing horses, and trailer parks. These pockets where the pace of life is slower and more peaceful always have been a refuge for those of us who want to get away from traffic and the hectic pace of city life. But this unhurried rural way of life is under attack and about to change now that developers are running out of buildable land on the rivers, beaches and islands in south Lee County. They are now looking inland to these remote and peaceful lands.

Right now many of the residents of Pine Island are desperately fighting to save their island from becoming just another version of Fort Myers Beach. A victory by developers who are trying to overturn the Greater Pine Island Comprehensive Land Use Plan literally will pave the way for housing developments and condos to come in and replace farmers and pine tree uplands where eagles and osprey nest.

Likewise, neighbors of the planned development of 1,275 homes on Pritchett Parkway are among the first to feel the effects of the unstoppable march of approaching development in North Fort Myers. Intensive development in these areas would destroy North Fort Myers country ranch and farm life and would, likewise, ruin Pine Island s laid-back flavor. In addition, Pine Island Road, the only escape route which serves Matlacha and Pine Island, already is at capacity and cannot be widened.

Several articles lately detailed developers dreams to build communities in Alva on citrus land or potentially on the pristine and unspoiled lands of Babcock Ranch. These developments and others are planned despite reports of low water pressure in some areas, flooding in North Fort Myers, inadequate roadways and frequent water restrictions that lead to concerns for the future of our water supply. Large developers last week also have challenged the Water Resources Implementation Rule which provides water reservations for the environment. This means plainly that they want all of Florida s water to be available to them for construction and they don t care if there s anything left for the environment.

Shouldn t it be a warning to all of us when the large corporations (from out of town) want to take away our natural surroundings and replace them with concrete and steel and with so little regard as to the consequences? Residents in many areas are fighting to hold onto their slower way of life. Surprisingly, not all people want to trade the neighborhood grocery or hardware store for the convenience of the big box stores, stoplights and the gridlock that has paralyzed the southern regions of this county.

It s a frequent consequence of growth and development. People move into an area in order to enjoy what they find appealing only to find out that by their very action they have destroyed what they love. Local citizenry in some of these areas have formed groups such as the Association of Concerned Citizens for Bayshore or the Greater Pine Island Civic Association. These are the real residents who have a true sense of place and are fighting to preserve the community character of the places they call home.

Their efforts need to be recognized and supported for they see value in their land and their community that extends beyond the economic gain that can be extracted from fit. Once you scrape the land and put up houses you can t recover what you have lost. And those houses will require water, sewer, roads, schools, hospitals, utilities, police and flood protection, and more. Is what you gain in tax revenue worth what you have lost? I think not.

Debbie Preston lives in North Fort Myers.