News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 5

Fort Myers News-Press, Tuesday, August 23, 1977 5A Tro tm a with Estuaries said Monday he has assumed the role of "interim spokesman" for the firm. He said he has already assumed some of Troutman's duties. "He (Troutman) has withdrawn from certain duties and I am filling those activities. He is not leading the master planning and environmental negotiations anymore and he's not active in management," Cowan said. Cowan said Troutman still is president of Estuaries even though he has submitted his resignation.

"I don't think you'll find the resignation has been accept ed," he said. Cowan said Estuaries Inc. has suffered financial losses during Troutman's pursuit of the Estero Bay project and the firm has not fully recovered from those setbacks. "The project's solvency is returning. We still are not in good shape but we will be soon," Cowan said Monday.

Troutman began his development plans for Estero Bay in 1969 bankrolled by a group which included members of the Kennedy and Rockefeller families and the Chase Manhattan Bank in New the project. He said he wanted to build "a model community that will set the national standard for preserving the environment." Cowan said Monday he is leading an effort to pump new money into the faltering project. "We have been under strained circumstances but in two months we expect to have a new financial agreement made," Cowan said. He would not say how much more money might be needed to pursue the Estero Bay project. Troutman and his group bought the land in March, 1973, from the Windsor Trust, a Milwaukee, Wis.

group. He reportedly paid $940,000 down and assumed an $8.4 million mortgage. However, Fort Myers attorney Howard Rhoads, who represents the Windsor Trust, said Monday Troutman's group never has made a payment on the principal and only a few payments on the interest. He said Estuaries Inc. still is legally bound to the mortgage.

Cowan also said Monday that a second Estuaries Inc. development, Sandpiper Cove near Punta Rassa, is being planned. The Sandpiper Cove development plans initially called for 2,500 units York. He commited about $9.3 million for the 6,500 acres of land. Troutman said he had a dream to build a condominium city for about 73,000 residents on the land but Lee County officials repeatedly thwarted the dream, calling it an ecological nightmare.

Lee County real estate sources claim Troutman's financial backers became skittish as the county consistently rejected the project. Troutman spent what he called hundreds of thousands of dollars hiring environmental experts and engineers in an attmept to overcome Lee County officials' fears of finds other 'windmills' Troutman By LEE MELSEK News-Press Staff Writer Robert Troutman, the Atlanta attorney who commited millions of dollars to trying to breathe life into a dream that many called an environmental nightmare, was where between Miami and Atlanta Monday. "He's finding other windmills to battle," said his son, Bruce Troutman. Troutman's eight-year dream, to build a condominium community along the shores of Estero Bay, apparently had ended. His business associates say they'll continue the on 600 acres of land near Punta Rassa.

However, the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation has blocked the development claiming the project would destroy 315 acres of mangroves and fill 385 acres of submerged lands. Cowan said Monday plans to ap-, peal the Sandpiper Cove project still are underway. He said he working on a plan to reduce the number of living units at Sand-' piper Cove, but would not say by how much. Cowan also said plans to appeal" the Windsor Tract project before the state cabinet in December have not been changed. However, Troutman no longer is involved in those appeals, said Monday.

Bruce Troutman, who worked with his father at Estuaries until last year when he left to operate his own Lee County real estate firm, said Monday his father is traveling between Atlanta and the. east coast of Florida compiling' population figures. He would not be specific on what the elder Troutman is planning. "He'll go on finding more windmills to battle," Bruce Troutman said Monday. Cowan and Bruce Troutman also refused to give details on what sparked the disputes between Troutman and other members of Estuaries Inc.

Fort Myers resident Morris Burnham, one of five persons listed as corporate officers in Estuaries Inc. said Monday he does not know why Troutman submitted his resignation. "I don't have the details on it, although I had heard something about it. But he's still president and I'm acting as if he still is," Burnham said Asked if he is in favor of Troutman remaining as president or accepting the resignation Burnham said, "no comment." Troutman also has relinquished his role in the development of Bay Beach, a plush condominium and golf course community bordering Estero Bay on the south end of Fort Myers Beach. Cowan said Monday he has assumed the management role at Bay Beach.

A series of lawsuits were filed against Troutman and Bay Beach earlier this year by contractors who claimed they hadn't been paid for their work there. Cowan said Monday most of those claims now have been paid. Meanwhile, Troutman's. whereabouts was unknown Mont day. "I don't know where he is.

But he'll be back in the county again. He may put something else together. He knows this area better than anybody else," Bruce Troutman said Monday. Chronology. have got but I'm betting on a gamble because I know I'm right," Troutman said of his proposed dream city along Estero Bay.

Troutman's development dream was detailed, from the types of trees to the color of the condominium rooms. The dream was his. He gave the plan intense personal attention, saying, "The most important ingredient to any farm is the foot of the farmer. "You can buy the best equipment, the best seeds and the best land, but one thing that makes everything grow is the foot of the farmer," Troutman insisted. net to declare that his land is being taken without just compensation.

Oct. 22, 1976 Opposition to the Estuaries mounts, as several organizations ask to intervene in the hearing against the development. Those groups included the regional planning council, Lee County, the Division of State Planning, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, state and local Audubon units, and the Lee County Conservation Association. Oct. 28, 1976 A prehearing conference in Tallahassee sets the hearing date for Jan.

17. Hearing The droopy-faced southerner, whose clothes never to seem to fit right and whose hands never stop talking, led an extraordinary promotion campaign to build his city. The message was always the same: "You cannot stop an American from coming here. They are coming whether we like it or not." Troutman wanted some of them to come to his proposed dream city on the shores of Estero Bay. But the oppostion, politicians and planners, may have ended his dream.

Troutman, his son says, has gone in search of new windmills to battle. Examiner Ken Ayers ruled that the issue of taking land without compensation would not be considered, but that any new information compiled since the county's ruling could be presented. December, 1976 Both sides begin preparation for the upcoming hearing, compiling witness lists and taking depositions. Jan. 17, 1977 The state hearings begin in Fort Myers.

The hearings lasted a week, and often ran as long as 15 hours a day. Both sides presented testimony and information on the proposed development. June 20, 1977 Ayers issues his recommendation that the development be denied on the grounds that it's destructive to an environmentally sensitive area. His main objections, Ayers said, were the destruction of 1,800 acres of mangroves and the interceptor waterway. On the other hand, Ayers said he found several points in favor of the development such as planned growth, a minimal danger from Environment ROBERT TROUTMAN abandons his dream hurricanes because the living areas would be elevated in the project, and that because Lee County doesn't have a land use plan, officials can't say the Estuaries is inconsistent with county development.

Ayers' order was delayed by the lack of a transcript from the hearings, which no party wished to pick up the tab for. The parties eventually split the cost by Troutman paying $2,000, the county paying $1,500 and the Division of State Planning, $500. The examiner's recommendation will be considered by the state Cabinet, which will have final administrative say in the matter. The Cabinet hearing has been postponed four times, however, and is scheduled for mid-December. Meanwhile, the Estuaries' consultants are working on modifications of the project, such as dropping the waterway and lowering densities.

Officials say, however, that any major changes of that sort must be reconsidered by the planning council and the county. project, but Troutman apparently will be out of the project's future planning. Why Troutman has abandoned his personal role in the project has not been announced. His associ-attes aren't saying. By his own claims, Troutman, the son of a Methodist minister, isn't a quitter.

He called himself the most environmentally sensitive developer in Southwest Florida, and spent, by his accounts, hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to prove it. He kept on spending, even the face of mounting opposition. "We may lose everything we From Page I A The order also called for Troutman to lower the Estuaries' density to two units per acre, one more than allowed under present zoning regulations. That would total out to 13,000 units, but only half of Troutman's requested 26,500 units. Troutman's lawyers say they will appeal the order.

Aug. 20, 1976 On the last day permitted, Troutman submits his appeal to the state Cabinet. He asked that the county's development order be vetoed as unduly restrictive, and an appeal hearing be held before a state examiner. As an alternative, he asked the Cabi 9 MERCURY psagj rrr MERCURY WAGON WEEK AUGUST 23rd thru 27th ONLY! At the sign of the Lee County Cot attended, and about 37 spoke at the hearing which lasted well into the night. There was about an even split between those who favored and opposed the project.

June 21, 1976 Lee County commissioners vote 3-2 to deny Troutman's development application. To a standing-room only audience, commissioners Betty Bowen, James Sweeney and L.H. "Bob" Whan voted against the project, while George Goldtrap and Dick Sayers voted for it. July 22, 1976 County commissioners issue a development order concerning what would be a permissible development for the Estuaries. The order, approved on a 3-0 vote with Goldtrap and Sayers not voting, stated that any new development plans must be submitted to the regional planning council, impact fees must be paid, a controversial interceptor waterway designed as a pollutant filter must be eliminated, and all marinas must be eliminated.

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