Q: I live off Immokalee Road just past the new Bear Creek Elementary School that the county is currently building. I was curious if you know what the big, round structure on the school property is for. It looks like it might be a big water tank. If so, what is the purpose? Also, a cell tower has been erected on the property. Any idea what providers will be on the tower and when it will go live? — Cliff Marano, Naples
Q: Can you find out how this eyesore was approved right on Immokalee at the new school being built just west of Valencia Trails development? They couldn’t have pushed it farther back? — Michael Losurdo, Naples
A: Passersby can’t miss the monumental tank and pine tree cell tower under construction at the intersection of Immokalee Road and Cornerstone Drive, about 3 miles east of Collier Boulevard. The more than 28-foot-tall tank is part of Bear Creek Elementary School, which is targeted to open in August for the 2025-2026 academic year; the 185-foot cell tower is not on school property, nor does it have any association with the school district.
Bear Creek Elementary, under construction on 22 acres at the southeast corner of Immokalee Road and Moulder Drive, is the first new elementary school built since 2008 by Collier County Public Schools. The tank in question is part of the school’s thermal energy storage system, which produces and stores chilled water during off-peak demand hours, for use during peak demand hours to cool the school through even the hottest day of the year.
Of the school district’s 60 school and support sites, thermal energy storage tanks are being used on 21, including Aubrey Rogers High School and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Administrative Center, said Marc Rouleau, chief facilities officer at Collier County Public Schools. The use of the thermal energy storage system enables the school district to be more fiscally responsible and environmentally sustainable, Rouleau said, by reducing energy consumption during peak hours, lowering electricity costs and enhancing the long-term efficiency of school facilities.
The school will cost more than $80 million to build. The $1.1 million cost to build the tank at Bear Creek is expected to be recouped within less than 3.5 years of operation because of $103,000 in estimated annual electric bill savings, an estimated $440,000 in Inflation Reduction Act savings from the federal government, and an estimated $323,000 rebate from Florida Power & Light.
Several factors influenced the placement of the tank, Rouleau said, including its proximity to the adjacent chiller plant, which is next to the rear of the school along Immokalee Road. This synergistic positioning minimizes the distance for underground pipes, which lowers costs and increases efficiency.
“We want to have minimally sized pumps that can deliver chill water to the building, so the chiller plant is placed as close to the building as possible to keep the chill water lines short,” he said. “Also, the chill water plant is located next to the main electrical room. It requires a tremendous amount of power, so it makes sense to place that near the main electrical room, and FPL’s electrical service enters the campus not far from that point.”
The positioning of the thermal system, though, began with the school site determination, which was especially influenced by planning for vehicle traffic from school buses and parents dropping off and picking up children, Rouleau said. The two-story, 128,000-square-foot school building is being built to serve 919 students in kindergarten through fifth grade and 80 pre-kindergarten students. Bear Creek will be the first public elementary school in Collier with a pre-K wing.
“We felt that it would be safer to have the building rotated where the back of the building shields them from the roadway,” he said. “When you have a large volume of cars, you have to consider how you’re going to manage that traffic without it becoming a hazard to the community. So, one of the things we had to very carefully consider is how we’re going to put much of that traffic onto Bear Creek Elementary campus rather than allow it to drift out into Immokalee Road.”
That was achieved through a series of interior roads that serpentine around the campus to stack vehicles while attempting to keep bus and car traffic separated as much as possible. Moulder Drive will be considerably widened, and a traffic light will be erected at its intersection with Immokalee Road.
“The reason the tank is positioned where it’s at goes back to the building location,” Rouleau said. “I had to place the chiller plant as close to the structure as possible — with access roads, of course, into consideration. The reason for that is we want to minimize the cost of construction and also we want to reduce the amount of pressure generated by long, long chill water lines.”
Building permit review and issuance, as well as site inspections and building inspections, are regulated by the Florida Department of Education, so the county government was not involved in the process for the new school. The state of Florida has essentially pre-empted local jurisdictions from plan review and inspections for educational facilities with the exception of utilities, roadway improvements and environmental considerations, said Mike Bosi, Collier County planning and zoning division director.
Landscaping, including palm trees, will be added parallel to Immokalee Road so that the view of the thermal energy tank will be minimized by passersby. The intent is to plant mature palms so that the palms are at least as tall as the tank, Rouleau said.
“I’ve got other tanks where community members were very concerned about its placement. At the end of the day, we want to be good neighbors, so one of the things that we will be doing, in addition to painting the tank a relatively different color — it will be like a tan color to help it kind of blend in with the background and also the school a little bit — we’ll be adding some landscape breadth and depth,” said Chad Oliver, chief communication officer for Collier County Public Schools.
Bear Creek Elementary’s first principal has been named: Margaux Horne will lead the new school. Horne was named the 2023-2024 Principal of the Year for the school district. She previously was principal at Highlands Elementary School in Immokalee and assistant principal at Lake Trafford and Estates elementary schools.
Towering above
The highly visible communication tower under construction on Cornerstone Drive near Immokalee Road is not affiliated with Bear Creek Elementary School, being built immediately west of the tower.
Gulfstream Towers LLC, based in Winter Park, is erecting the towering monopine at 11160 Immokalee Road to “serve as the infrastructure for multiple mobile communication networks that provide personal communication services and enhanced E911 service along Immokalee Road and surrounding residences and businesses,” Collier County permitting public records show.
The monopole cell tower is disguised as a towering pine tree for more than aesthetic reasons. The tree design allows its tenants to use additional antenna equipment, which ultimately delivers better network coverage to its users, said Michael Burkhead of Gulfstream Towers.
Once activated, the tower will host communication transmission equipment from various wireless carriers.
“T-Mobile has signed an agreement to place equipment on the tower; Verizon and AT&T have made application to start that process,” Burkhead said.
The new tower does not replace an existing tower, but will bridge the gap between towers operating 2.5 miles east and 3 miles west along Immokalee Road, Burkhead said. The new tower’s range depends on the number of users and amount of data being transmitted at the time, he said, but the tower will generally serve customers within a range of 1.5 to 2 miles.
The “Tim Aten Knows” weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at tim.aten@naplespress.com
