FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

COMMISSION DELAYS TOLL REVISIONS/APPROVES SAN CARLOS BLVD. OVERPASS/WATER TREATMENT PLANT CONSTRUCTION PRICE

FORT MYERS, Fla. (August 5, 2003) - The Board of Lee County Commissioners today approved the following items during its regular weekly meeting. They are:

Proposed Toll Revisions - Unanimously agreed to delay proposed revisions to LeeWay's toll structure and cancel a public hearing on the issue that had been scheduled for Aug. 12. Commissioners asked Department of Transportation staff to get with the cities of Sanibel and Cape Coral, LeeWay users and business customers to address their concerns about the changes.

Summerlin Road Widening - Approved $879,756 to design a four-lane overpass over San Carlos Boulevard, with frontage roads, as part of the Summerlin Road widening project (to six lanes). The amount includes all design engineering, topographic surveying, and geotechnical work, along with plans development. TY Lin International is the vendor.

North Lee County Water Treatment Plant - Approved $24 million as the Guaranteed Maximum Price to build the North Lee County Water Treatment Plant. Kellogg Brown and Root Inc. is the construction manager. The plant, off Durrance Road in North Fort Myers, will have an initial treatment capacity of five million gallons per day (mgd) of potable water by drawing brackish water from the Lower Hawthorne Aquifer and treating it through a reverse osmosis process. The plant could be expanded to a total capacity of 10 million gallons per day in the future. The plant is being built to add additional capacity and to have a more reliable source water to help the Olga area when the Caloosahatchee River water quality degrades.

Ten Mile Linear Park - Approved ranking of consultants for the Ten Mile Linear Park. A competitive negotiations committee ranked the consultants in the following order: (1) David M. Jones Jr. and Associates, Inc; (2) T.Y. Lin International; (3) Wilson Miller, Inc.; and (4) RMPK Group. The county will negotiate a contract with the top ranked firm.

FGCU Position - Approved a $25,000 one-time allocation to Florida Gulf Coast University to a fund a Lee County Comprehensive Strategy Coordinator. This position will address juvenile needs in our area. The part time position will serve as a Juvenile Justice contact for the community and will work through the Center for Public and Social Policy at FGCU.

Gator Slough Acquisition - Approved the recommendation of the Conservation Lands Acquisition and Stewardship Advisory Committee to pursue 146 acres of land in Gator Slough in North Fort Myers. Also approved the recommendation to acquire 1,575 acres of land located on Telegraph Creek in Alva. This action begins the negotiation process to buy these environmentally sensitive parcels of land to include in the county's Conservation 20/20 Program.

Medical Examiner Expansion - Approved $3 million as the Guaranteed Maximum Price for the renovation and expansion of the District 21 Medical Examiner's Offices. The construction manager is Kraft Construction. The project will include renovation to the existing building's 10,978 square feet and two additions, a morgue addition of 5,616 square feet, and physicians' addition of 1,823 square feet.

Sanibel Weigh Station - Approved an interlocal agreement with the City of Sanibel allowing the county to take over the operation of the Sanibel Causeway weigh station and to collect overweight fees on behalf of the City of Sanibel.