By KEVIN SHEA,Special To The Citizen The residents of the Copperhead community located off of Beth Stacey and 23rd Street in Lehigh Acres are facing the loss of their street lights. They learned that the developer EH Building Group as of January 1 would no longer pay for the lights. The developer has built several communities in Florida including Sail Harbor in the past 20 years. Several attempts were made without success to contact EH Building Group. Eddie Niebruegge, a homeowner, expressed the concerns and frustration of the 10 full time residents losing their streetlights at the meeting. The community is composed of 110 lots and a golf course. Some 25 homes have been built but due to the economic downturn no additional homes are being built. A 10-year contract was made with Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC) to install 24 decorative street lights to cover equipment, installation, and on-going power costs and maintenance, according to Karen Ryan of LCEC. The electric cooperative is forbidden by statute to provide “free” equipment and electricity. They are making every effort to resolve the problem with the Lehigh Street Light District, she said. The residents are paying the street light tax to the district which was confirmed by a review of the tax bills received in November. A major complication exists due to the previous establishment of the Copperhead Community Development District (CDD) by the Lee County Board of County Commissioners on August 14, 2007. When the landowners’ meeting to establish the board of supervisors was held on November 6, 2007 it was determined that in fact another developer, Jordyn Holdings (241 acres) which was in bankruptcy, held a majority of the votes. Their nominees were elected to all five seats. Copperhead LLC (132 acres) has no representation. Richard Ellington, the district manager, confirmed that the supervisors have failed to meet to conduct the business of the district. In the transcript it was noted that there were $43,342 in outstanding obligations. EH Building Group is the agent of Copperhead LLC. This CDD was established to issue bonds to provide for infrastructure for the Copperhead development. As of this past weekend, the status of the conflict between the developers was unknown. A special meeting of the Lehigh Street Light District has been scheduled for Wednesday, January 28 at 1 p.m. at Veterans Park in Lehigh. The public is encouraged to attend the meeting.