To the editor:
Regarding Seven Islands and the plan at hand:
What the builder is offering is nothing like the original plan. It is obvious the builder has major concerns about the profitability and success of the project. This should be a super major red flag to the city and residents.
It is better to re-market the property with a plan that actually works financially for the builder, city and residents in a TIMELY manner rather than to build something that does not fit the site on so many levels that you end up with a white elephant that does nothing well.
This entire project has slowly turned into a giant bait-and-switch that bends over backwards to help the builder but does little for the residents or city. The tax dollars coming in over a 30-year period instead of 10 is inadequate. It is not what the city planned, counted or told us when proposing this project. It will not replenish funds or repay the city for the enormous cost ($2 million) being requested by the builder for the marina and community center not to mention the millions the city has already spent trying to make this project work.
The city already cannot keep up with the current cost of expansion which is crushing residents financially with its water expansion projects and taxes. What happens when the state puts through its property tax reduction plan? How will that loss of money be replaced by the city without more crushing costs to the taxpayer?
Millions of dollars going to a builder that could instead be going to drinking water and road improvements to current taxpayers, not to new people who would be buying here and have no skin in the game. The builder will not stop asking for more tax breaks or modifications and money as the project drags out. The city should not cave in just to save face.
What the city approved was nothing like the original plan. The city ignored nearly all public input and went eight-stories high instead of the four or six everyone wanted. The city claimed it would widen Old Burnt Store Road to relieve traffic, and all we got were bike lanes. Four lanes are the only thing that would stop this from being a giant parking lot. Bridge enhancement?  Exactly what is bridge enhancement and how does it help anything? Now the builder is asking for even more modifications after the city already gave into many other demands. It will not stop.
There is nothing about this plan for that is good for the local neighborhood or environment.  It is obvious this plan does not work financially, environmentally, or safety wise. Even the builder has cold feet.
Traffic on Old Burnt Store, Embers, Tropicana and Ceitus will be backed up every day in all directions. New lights will be needed everywhere and merging on to Burnt Store from these three roads will be even more dangerous than it already is. All of which will cost the city even more to try and fix later.
Boat traffic will be backed up on weekends endangering boaters, kayakers and aquatic wildlife. Anyone who actually boats on the spreader canal knows it cannot comfortably handle this kind of traffic and is keenly aware of the already dangerous conditions on the spreader as it approaches Matlacha.
The canal is not only to shallow but too narrow to handle the kind of boat traffic this plan will generate, not to mention the continued build out of the rest of the northern spreader canal which will add hundreds of more boats and cars on its own.
You can dredge the canal but you cannot widen it. There are at least three places now that are dangerous on weekends just from the current local use. Add a hundred more boats to this area and the kayaking and fishing opportunities disappear while putting kayakers and boaters in danger.
Bird and wild life displacement from the boats, noise and bright lights will also adversely affect the local neighborhoods.
Loss of mangroves and the loss of 48 acres of water displacement that will now be pushed directly back into the streets and local neighborhoods. There is no area left for retention ponds or soil of any kind to absorb or dissipate storm water slowly. These roads are already flood prone. This giant over build will only add to the number of flooded homes in the area after every storm. Imagine 48 acres more water in your neighborhood after a storm like Ian or Milton.
Three thousand more people using public water while the northeast cape often has no drinking water
Water and boat pollution in area that is famous for its tarpon, snook, and other game fish and manatee, the exact thing that attracts people here. You are building something that will ruin the attraction to the area for everyone
A marina being built in an area with high manatee population, which is just a bad idea. Sirenia Vista Park, which is now famous for manatee viewing will become a great place to watch them get slaughtered by the heavy boat traffic. The kayak launch there will be dumping people out into a mad house every weekend and the fish and wildlife will slowly die off.
The city always claims to be concerned about the water quality and environment in the Cape yet they constantly approve plans like this that destroy water quality and the natural surrounding environment. This is a major estuary that will never be the same if they go through with the plan the way it is now.
The only sensible and responsible thing for the city to do is to back out of this deal gracefully and start over using the knowledge they gained from the mistakes and unforeseen problems. They need a plan that does not take 30 years to complete. They need a plan that works with storm water management and flooding. They need a plan that works financially, environmentally, and is more considerate of the surround existing neighborhoods taking into account the small roads in and out of this area and the great costs in the future associated with correcting inadequate roads.
Emile LeDonne
Cape Coral