Feb 1, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jim Lavender, Lee County Public Works, 479-8301

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS GIVE OK TO FIRST MASTER MITIGATION PLAN PROJECT

FORT MYERS, Fla. (February 1, 2006) Lee County reached a significant milestone this week when Commissioners approved the first project in a Natural Resources Preservation/Master Mitigation Plan that has been in the works for four years.

For the first time, the county will mitigate on a Conservation 20/20 Preserve (Island Park Preserve south of Fort Myers) wetland impacts from one of its public works projects (Three Oaks Parkway Extension South).

On Tuesday, the Board of Lee County Commissioners approved a contract with Bundschu Kraft to manage the construction of the $923,014 Island Park Regional Mitigation Project (80 acres), with estimated completion in five months.  The project includes excavation of a filter marsh and canal bank, FPL easement culvert installation, clearing and grubbing, exotics removal and plantings.

This is a meaningful water quality improvement, on a countywide basis, because it is at the headwaters of Mullock Creek in an area that receives runoff from U.S. 41 and filters into Estero Bay.

In May 2005, the County Commission endorsed a plan to allow mitigation of public sector projects on Conservation 20/20 parcels.  The plan allows for accelerated restoration of Conservation 20/20 preserves, and mitigation of critical public works projects in a meaningful, countywide approach, instead of on an isolated, or piecemeal, basis.

It also supports the countywide Master Mitigation Plan, which helps the county meet the mitigation requirements of regional projects; and provides a comprehensive approach to restoring the "Green Infrastructure" of Lee County, which supports the economy and our quality of life.

Construction of this project satisfies the mitigation requirements of the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) for the Department of Transportation project known as Three Oaks Parkway South, and provides restoration and enhancement on Lee County Conservation 2020 lands known as the Estero Marsh Preserve.

Conservation 20/20, since its inception in 1997, has acquired 11,773 acres of environmentally sensitive land for preservation.  Much of the land is combined in 22 preserves that are managed by Lee County Parks & Recreation, which is developing Land Stewardship Plans for the preserves.

The Master Mitigation Plan is an outgrowth of the problems the county has had in the past satisfying, in a meaningful way, mitigation requirements for road projects, particularly the widening of Alico Road, which took three years to get permits.

The county began developing its Master Natural Resources Preservation/Mitigation Plan in early 2002 to proactively address potential cumulative impacts to the county's natural resources such as water supply, water quality and wildlife habitat due to existing and future development including both private and public works projects. 

A proactive and comprehensive approach addresses environmental concerns through implementation of retrofit and restoration-type projects instead of engaging in the continual technical debates and legal challenges, on a case-by-case basis, that had characterized the process. 

Additionally, many of the mitigation efforts were not coordinated in a comprehensive way, so there were isolated and scattered mitigation projects that weren't as meaningful individually because they did not connect to anything as those that have been identified on a countywide basis as having a countywide impact.

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