A development order was approved July 11 by the Estero Planning, Zoning and Design board for a 20-acre mixed-use planned development on the southwest corner of Via Coconut Point and Corkscrew Road.
The development called Via Coconut will consist of 330 multifamily units, 27,310 square feet of commercial uses and a 1-acre public park on Via Coconut Point across from the Genova community. There will be two access points on Via Coconut, with future pedestrian and vehicular access to the west.
The multifamily apartments will be three- or four-story buildings. Public amenities include a dog park, pocket park, a meandering multiuse path and a fishing pier.
The applicant, Estero 5 LLC, presented the project to the board during a public information meeting on Jan. 11, 2022. Village staff then recommended approval with 17 stipulations.
Estero Development Review Manager Jim Hart addressed the drainage stipulation, which was an area of concern for some neighboring residents.
“The whole issue on the site is they’re changing the drainage basin from where it was previously flowing to the railroad right of way,” Hart said. “Now, they’re going to change and come through the Lee County Park to the Corkscrew Road right of way and then the Sandy Lane right of way.”
The stipulation states the developer will maintain water elevations the same or lower than is existing for 5-year, 25-year and 100-year storm events and throughout the recovery periods for all properties and rights of way which may be impacted by the redirection of flows.
“Our concern is there is nothing in the code that speaks to changing drainage from one basin to another,” Hart said. “So, we don’t want to add any additional flooding.”
Easements still must be granted by Lee County to change the drainage path.
Board member Barry Jones asked what precipitated the change.
“Our understanding is that they were trying to negotiate easement with the railroad, and it didn’t work out,” Hart said.
Hole Montes Inc. Vice President Rick Brylanski clarified the issues with drainage on the property. He described the switch as a common benefit and more reliable than what’s existing. “If the storm drainage system and the swale system is in the right of way, and the county maintains it, the village maintains it, you have more rights to it,” Brylanski said. “When it’s in a railroad ditch, for one it’s obscured, it’s tough to find. Secondly, you’ve got less control over the vegetation that’s in this ditch, that clogs the ditch, that clogs the pipes in the right of way. You don’t have that same challenge with vegetation susceptible to detriment of the drainage system.”
The property was analyzed for 5-year, 25-year and 100-year storm events, which found only one instance where a 5-year elevation increased by 1/8 of an inch, which was the park site.
“Theoretically everything works and meets South Florida Water Management District [standards],” he said. “We’ll work out the nuances with your staff, but I want to say that what we have done has been collectively through Lee County through their encouragement to get a better and more reliable outfall, where they don’t have to rely on the railroad ditch to be maintained. They can maintain their rights of way, collectively with Estero so they have more control over making sure that this is a reliable system.”
Regardless of how the drainage system is linked, it will all still go to the same watershed basin, which is the same portion of Estero River.
Ultimately, the applicant was in agreement with staff’s proposed conditions, which allowed staff to be comfortable that issues can be worked out prior to building permits and vegetation removal.
