Lee commissioners OK mining plan for second read

Wednesday, June 11, 2003

By CHARLIE WHITEHEAD, ckwhitehead@naplesnews.com

Lee County commissioners gave the provisional go-ahead to a slate of changes in the Land Development Code on Tuesday, but axed one change they said would take the county backward instead of forward.

Commissioners sent most of the slate of changes, including a controversial mining plan, on to a second public hearing. They rejected the elimination of a disclosure requirement that demands the names of every landowner applying for a development order or zoning change.

That requirement dates back to the late 1980s, when so-called blind trusts owned and traded large tracts with trustees shepherding projects through county review.

Commissioners heard recommendations from their own planners and from residents of the Corkscrew Road area that a map of presumed compatible mining areas be sent back to the drawing board. The map is the centerpiece of a strategic mining plan that proposes new regulations on mines, things like wetland and surface water monitoring, and tries to identify the most appropriate areas for future mining.

Residents' concerns centered on the truck traffic that is an indispensable part of a mining operation, but also included quarry noise and environmental damage.

"If a mine is near a resource area, we need to be sure buffers are determined through good science," said Ellen Lindblad, director of the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed, whose environmental preserve lands are in southeast Lee County near the mining lands. "And panthers and other wildlife corridors need to be addressed."

Lindblad said mining uses are encroaching into rural residential areas. That point was argued by mining industry representatives who see it the other way.

"The mines are there," said planner Greg Stuart, who is working for a mine on Corkscrew seeking an expansion. "The people are moving there."

A parade of residents from the Corkscrew area urged commissioners to do what they could to keep mines away from their homes.

"Mining is incompatible with the nature of our community," said Spencer Preston, a Three Oaks Middle School seventh-grader. "And it's unsafe."

Spencer said his school bus was nearly struck from behind by a speeding dump truck, a horror story other residents repeated. Suzy Santamaria called it "the Corkscrew Speedway Dump Truck Relay."

Florida Rock executive Tracy Hayden said that it would be fiscally irresponsible to disregard the economic impact of mining in Lee County. Mining is one of the most regulated industries in Florida, she said.

Commissioners voted unanimously to send the mining plan to a second public hearing on June 24.

They also took a step toward allowing fire districts the right to appeal impact fee decisions made by the county. The change is rooted in a 1998 decision that Estero officials say cost the district millions of dollars.

A county attorney decided an agreement made years before had allowed a major developer to pay for full impact in advance. The district, however, maintained the advance was not meant to be a full payment but a partial payment. The county attorney's decision meant the money going to the district was far less. The new rule would allow an appeal by the district.

Commissioners will hear the change proposals again on June 24.

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