Ray Judah

Preserving the Lehigh Spring, the 208 feet deep lake off of Joel Blvd., next to the Lehigh Resort complex, is a little closer to reality today, thanks to a vote of the 20/20 Conservation panel, which met in Fort Myers last week to hear Lehigh supporters of the lake make their pleas to ask the Lee County Commission to purchase the 20-acre site.

Some 17 speakers supporting the purchase of Lehigh Lake took to the podium immediately after the 20/20 group opened its meeting at 5:30 p.m. And for 45 minutes, residents, One Voice for Lehigh members, an architect, a biologist and others, including Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah, asked the 20/20 group to approve the request.

Finally after another 30 minutes of discussion on the 20/20 panel, a motion was passed “to forward the nomination to secondary review,” according to Lynda Thompson, the Conservation 20/20 program coordinator. It was the third request in the last few years that the committee has been asked to push for the purchase of the lake.

The committee in its discussions appeared reluctant at first when some members questioned the criteria of the panel’s mission to purchase a piece of land that would need maintenance that the county could be responsible for. Others questioned the water sources beneath the ground and wondered if was also part of the panel’s mission to forward to the commissioners for a negotiated purchase.

Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah, who had spoken during the public response period, went back to the podium and assured the committee that the purchase of the Lehigh Spring met “all the criteria set forth for this committee.”

Still, members went back and forth with several seeming to object to siding with Lehigh Spring supporters.

Even Kathie Ebaugh, the county’s principal planner and project head for the Lehigh redevelopment plan, went to the podium to disperse any fears that the land would become commercialized.

“We want to preserve the lake, the oaks around it. Any additional buildings or parking lot in the future will not be located on this parcel you are considering today,” she said.

By passing the motion to move forward, the plan still has a couple of hurdles through review to get through before the county is given the recommendation to purchase. Now a review board will look at the proposal and hopefully, commissioners will get the recommendation by the end of this year.

Ebaugh told the 20/20 group that the lake has been included in the Lehigh Plan and would be the nucleus of a new “community center,” one of three planned for the Lehigh community. Planners have come up with a project for other community centers that will include businesses, residential and open areas in Lehigh.

Off and on when Lehigh Spring supporters spoke before the 20/20 panel, they suggested that the beaches and baseball parks were not the only attractions in Southwest Florida. It brought laughter since Commissioner Judah was present. He pushed to have the JetBlue Park ball stadium built on Daniels Parkway.

Dick Workman, a biologist from the area, told the group that the core of the 20-acre lake site was the hammock oaks which need to be restored by removing non-native invasive plants which will destroy the oaks.

Supporters noted the scientific value of the site and said it was one of the best sites for scientific research in Southwest Florida. The lake is believed to be at least 208 feet deep, according to a study in 1947. It could be deeper and it is believed that the lake is at least 10,000 years old and dates back before the Calusa Indians when this area of Florida was under water and a part of the ocean.

Ruth Ann Anglickis, who spoke on behalf of One Voice Lehigh, noted the historic importance of the lake and that it should be preserved for posterity and likely set for research.

The 20 acres would become a recreational area, probably with paths designated for public use. If a museum or other buildings become a part of the Lehigh Spring project, they would be constructed on parcels adjacent to the lake.

Kathy Kruse, a 4th grade teacher in Lehigh, said she sees the lake becoming an important project for school students to visit from all over the county, and nearby counties. She suggested that it is a great place for studying Florida history.

State Rep. Matt Caldwell told the panel that the project “fills the bill” of what 20/20 is all about.

Supporters called the lake a jewel and a project that in the future could provide jobs for people in Lehigh.

Cecil Pendergrass of Gateway told the group that Lehigh was Gateway’s neighbor and the people of Gateway support the project.

Mohamid Yasid said it was “an opportunity behind my door stop and it will benefit Lee County entirely.”

When the discussion began on the committee, it was member George Wheaton who first raised the notion that purchasing the property may not meet the criteria of the 20/20 conservation group.

Anglickis later said she wondered if many in the group had ever been to the site. She said One Voice Lehigh would likely present a PowerPoint presentation to the review board, the next hurdle the project must pass, possibly at a July meeting.

After the meeting, businessman Gerry Carrick said the panel should do what it has to do to make it happen, even if the rules had to be amended.

Of the 50 or so supporters for the project, hearing the discussion was difficult as many members spoke softly and there were no microphones and speakers.

Because of the hearing problem, some members left not knowing if the 20/20 panel had set conditions with the motion to move the project forward.

But 20/20 Conservation 20/20 Program Coordinator said Friday that meetings are sometimes hard to follow, especially when the motion is changed numerous times. In the end, all conditions were dropped and the motion was simplified to “forward the nomination secondary review,” Thompson said.