Alyn Pruett

After more than two years of work which included holding public sessions with hundreds of Lehigh Acres residents, officials of Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT) offered its final draft copy before a group of about 40 people last week at Faith Lutheran Church. The presentation was made before the start of a brief meeting of the Lehigh Acres Community Planning Corp. (LACPC) in which a 2009 board was elected.

Alyn Pruett and Sylvia Vargas who have used their efforts and the support of their firm putting together the Lehigh Community Plan, stood before the group

and gave a PowerPoint presentation, which was promoted to be the last final public presentation in Lehigh.

The next move will be the final presentation to the Lee County Commission, which is likely to accept the study, according to Commissioner Frank Mann who

was at the LACPC presentation Thursday night, January 15.

Sylvia Vargas

“I’m very excited about this plan. A lot of work has gone into it. It’s your plan. I told you that months ago and you want to make sure this is what you want. I would like for the LACPC to review it and at their next meeting, if they like what they see, make a recommendation to the Council for our adoption,” Mann said.

The land use study plan began in September of 2006 and Vargas took the group through a timeline when they were in Lehigh and held workshops that were

attended by some large crowds. The county appropriated $500,000 to pay for the plan.

“We took your suggestions and we listened to what you wanted Lehigh to be like in the future. This is the plan we are presenting to you tonight,” she said.

The Lehigh Community Plan can be seen online at: Lehighplanning.com.

Jim Mudd

Lee County Principal Planner Jim Mudd was also at the meeting and has attended most sessions over the last 28 months.

He told The Citizen the plan would likely come up within two months for consideration by the Council. It already has seen a preliminary draft.

Not everyone in the crowd thought the plan would “see the light of day.” Frank Larossa, a member of the LACPC ever since its inception, said there had been a plan made several years ago for his generation but the county never followed

through on it.

“I won’t live to see this plan come to be and neither will most of us in here tonight,” he said. “I hope the Council will see this one through for our

children and their children,” he said. Very few young people were in the crowd and few young people have attended various sessions held over the past two years.

The plan is broad and makes several suggestions about the way a future Lehigh may look if the county follows through and adds it to its own comprehensive plan.

“When the county accepts this land use plan, it will become a blueprint almost immediately,” Mann said. He was sitting in the back of the room and most people didn’t know he was there.

“There won’t be any more repairing streets here and there, but the DOT will have a plan set out for it to accomplish. Some of the recommendations can begin

very soon with the passage of this plan.”

Basically, Vargas told the group of a three-tiered development plan for Lehigh Acres. She explained Tier 1 as the present core area of downtown Lehigh. Tier 2 stretches out to areas that are also developed with residential development.

Tier 3 is the rest of Lehigh and is only sparsely populated, she said.

She talked about taking square-mile “neighborhoods” and developing them, not only with housing, but also with townhouses, lakes, walkways, commercial development, community centers and smart landscaping.

She noted the poor conditions of the streets in Lehigh. She said the county would have to make changes in zoning and make priorities to achieve the plan for commercial development.

Vargas said Lehigh has a population of between 80,000 and 83,000 and that once the economic downturn ends, thousands more will choose Lehigh to come and build homes. She said there must be more green space such as parks and places for

schools throughout the community. She also noted that it would take about 3,000 acres of land for water retention and she said the study suggested a moratorium on septic tanks in areas where a public water system exists.

She noted some of the issues Lehigh faces because of the thousands of residential platted lots, which has prevented the county to interfere. She said

there was inadequate infrastructure. She also noted that many streets in Lehigh come to dead ends because of a canal drainage system that has been in place for years.

Instead of thinking of them as drainage ditches, they can become attractive, Pruett later said.

He said the Abel Canal, the widest of canals in Lehigh could become a beautiful waterway in the future.

Vargas said the study estimated that by the year 2030, Lehigh could have a population of 188,000 to 191,000 people, including locals and seasonal residents.

She noted the lack of land available for commercial development and said this is something the county must address in zoning changes.

Pruett gave an illustration of what the area at Gunnery Rd. and SR82 might look like in the future. It showed waterways with pedestrian bridges, homes,

townhouses and commercial development. The same could be the case at Lee Blvd. and Gunnery Rd., he said.

Pruett painted a pretty picture but admitted that there is no money to augment the new plan at the present time.

“There must be zoning amendments to make changes, work with septic and well variances and modify the zoning of land to come up with more commercial properties,” he said.

Several in the crowd complained about present conditions in Lehigh – the potholes in the streets, and the lack of sidewalks in most areas and the lack

of a steady flow of streetlights throughout the community.

Commissioner Mann reminded the group that there would be public hearings before the Commission gave final approval of that body to accept the plan.

“That’s where you have to make sure this is what you want. If you want to tweak any part of it, now is the time to do it,” he said.

“It’s your plan from ground up it’s been three years in the making and once adopted, we’re going to make some decision about moving forward this is a critical first step here tonight,” Mann said.

“We’ve been burnt before,” LACPC member Larossa said.

“I know of the frustration and we need to put it behind us. I am truly excited to get this done,” Mann said.

Richard Georgian, a member of the LACPC said, “Let’s make it happen.”

Following two hours of the presentation and the questions and comments made by those who attended, the LACPC met briefly and approved the officers for 2009.

Nothing changes on the board except for the addition of James Crews, a younger member of the board, who was elected secretary. Bo Turbeville is president; Edd Weiner is vice president; and Richard Georgian remains as treasurer. The next order of business was to adjourn because of the late hour.