Greetings from an Estero that is relaxing from the always hectic “season” and the visitors it draws. Based on my trash day survey it appears that many of our snowbird neighbors are now “enjoying” cleaning up their northern houses after the winter storms and getting use to the rapid weather changes that mark the northern spring. The Lee County Coroner pronounced my March Madness brackets as dead before we even reached the final weekend. My alma mater let me down again so we must wait until next year! The “Madness” is a lot of fun…and disappointment.
The March Master Board meeting was relatively routine. We received a report that our state required website is now operational. Residents may access documents including the current financial statements and meeting minutes for the Master and the neighborhood HOAs and COAs.
The Club has confirmed its plan to seal their portion of Grande Oak Blvd. basically from the front gate to the driving range. Repaving is still being discussed but is a few years away. The proposal for the new pickleball courts has occupied their attention.
The Board is pleasantly surprised at the speed at which the village Corkscrew walking/biking path is proceeding. It will be a big improvement for walking to Publix. The Master Board is considering installing a Grandezza pedestrian gate to access it.
Do you know the official population of Estero? Our Village Manager informed me that it is about 47,000 based on the federal census. That apparently includes the seasonal visitors if they have a residence but not if they are renters. The “bottom line” is that we are quite a bit larger than I had estimated.
Engage Estero, the local citizens group, sponsored a meeting to discuss a village commissioned Traffic Study to identify and improve our principal traffic problems. It is no secret that many of the traffic problems occur around the morning and evening rush hours, but I was surprised the traffic count is relatively high throughout the weekdays. Estero’s most dangerous intersection is Three Oaks and Corkscrew and the consultants have suggested additional turning lanes. This problem reflects the congestion on I-75 which diverts traffic to the local roads. The state is adding an additional lane in each direction on I-75 between Alico Rd. and Naples which may reduce the congestion. Work has already started, and the main 2-year construction period is expected to start later this year. In the meantime, we will have to suffer through the traffic problems.
There was an interesting article in the April 7 Naples News about Forbes’ list of the richest Florida residents. Florida with its favorable tax laws is a popular home state for us and the billionaires. Palm Beach is an especially popular area with 67 billionaires enjoying comfortable weather and being near the “Presidential Golf Course.” One of the Palm Beach residents is the third wealthiest woman in the world, Julia Koch (the widow of David Koch) with an estimated net worth of $74 billion. The world’s wealthiest woman lives in Arkansas and is Alice Walton ($101 billion), the widow Sam Walton of Walmart fame. The wealthiest SWFL resident is Shahid Khan (# 175 on the worldwide list at $13 billion). I checked twice and did not see names of any of our neighbors!
Our Florida legislature is meeting in its annual two-month (March and April) session to propose new and amended laws for the state. Be sure and keep an eye on the news from Tallahassee to see what is going on! Next month we will try to summarize changes that impact us.
