FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Pete Winton, Lee County Administration
              (239) 335-2777

BOARD APPROVES MORE DEBRIS REMOVAL COSTS/IMPLEMENTS PINE ISLAND DEVELOPMENT RULE

FORT MYERS, Fla. (September 14, 2004) - The Board of Lee County Commissioners today approved the following items during its weekly meeting:

Emergency Declaration - Allowed the state of local emergency declaration (in effect since Aug. 3 on a week-to-week basis) to expire. There is no current need to extend it.

Debris Removal - Increased a contract with Solid Resources Inc. to $1.3 million to provide the county's Solid Waste Division with monitors/inspectors for debris removal activities resulting from Hurricane Charley. The contract provides trained site debris monitors, field debris monitors and debris monitoring management.

Concurrency Management - Accepted the annual Concurrency Management Report, which evaluates the ability of county facilities (parks, utilities, roads, solid waste, surface water management) to keep up with growth. The county has no concurrency problems except in the transportation area with three road segments at a failing level of service: Estero Boulevard; McGregor Blvd. between Winkler and Colonial; and I-75 between Alico and Daniels. The report also indicates that traffic along Pine Island Road from Burnt Store Road and Stringfellow Boulevard has reached 937 peak hour, annual average two-way trips. The county's land development code stipulates that when average trips on this stretch surpass 910, residential development orders will not be granted unless measures to maintain the adopted level of service can be included as a condition of the development order. The draft concurrency management report can be viewed at
http://www.lee-county.com/meetings/agendafiles/2004/09-14-04/Consent/C4D.pdf.

Preserves Management - Approved a Wildlife Cooperative Agreement with the United States Department of the Interior, Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program to restore and enhance wildlife habitat on a 103-acre portion of San Carlos Bay-Bunche Beach Preserve. The county will receive $25,000 on a reimbursement basis for mangrove forest and salt marsh habitat restoration benefiting wading and migratory birds, bald eagles, and wood storks. Also approved the Prairie Pines Preserve Land Stewardship Plan, which establishes guidelines for management and public use facilities at the 2,700-acre Conservation 20/20 preserve in central North Fort Myers. The citizen Conservation Lands Acquisition and Stewardship Advisory Committee unanimously endorsed the plan and two community public meetings were held June 15 and July 26. The plan can be viewed at
 http://www.lee-county.com/meetings/agendafiles/2004/09-14-04/Consent/C11A.pdf.

Elections - Increased the FY 03-04 budget of the Supervisor of Elections by $200,000 to pay for overages in postage and overtime relating to party changes, increase in numbers of voters and increased requests for absentee ballots.