News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 17

Fort Myen News-Prew. Friday, April 17. 1W1 17A vative Environmental Land and Wa- Battle from P)qq 1A of dollars or permit construction In the Estero Bay wetlands. When Troutman Ant surveyed the Estero Bay shoreline (or condominium development. Fort Myers Beach's silhouette still was edged with the low, Hat tops of pastel cottage courts and the wind-bent spikes of coconut palms.

Pile drivers only then were sinking the first concrete beams into soft sand to prop the Beach's first high-rise a lofty six stories above the Gulf of Mexico. The coastline and the Beach's breezy, Bohemian lifestyle were in the process of being remodeled midway through two decades of relentless growth and change. By the time the results were in from the 1970 U.S. Census, both the Beach and Lee County officially had been transformed from another mosquito-bitten backwater Into a citified Standard Statisti 6,484 acres stretched from Hendry Creek to Punta Rassa. Of that acris! age, only 526 acres were considered' by government permitting agencies to be upland and prime development property in their natural state.

More than 90 percent of his property was classified as wetlands and was underwater at least part of the year. The consultants' final report weighed In at 17 pounds. It was com-; piled at a cost Troutman placed at! $600,000. It wasn't good enough for those who would have to pass on his development. 1 In 1976, the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council reviewed The Estuaries and voted 13-1 to recommend that the county commission reject the project The county commission voted 3-2 later that year to uphold the planning council's recommendation.

Their main objections to The Estuaries concerned its potential damage to Estero Bay and its wetlands. Troutman vowed to challenge the commission's decision before the; Florida Cabinet In filing his appeal, Troutman set in motion a chain of events that eventually dragged him and Lee County before the Florida Supreme Court Troutman's appeal was based on his argument that Lee County had trampled on his property rights and in effect "taken" his land without just compensation. Many local however, remain unconvinced that -there were any private property" rights to be taken in the state Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve. During the county's public hear- ings on The Estuaries, then-Conser- vation Association President Bill-Mellor was asked by a commissioner to explain their position. What did Troutman own if not the Estero Bay I wetlands? jj Mellor stated the environmental' lsts' position succinctly: "I think he bought the Brooklyn Bridge." I ter Management Act took effect "If I remember any dates, I remember that one," Troutman said.

Overnight zoning for The Estuaries became a relatively minor matter for Troutman. The Land and Water Management Act set stringent standards for developments like The Estuaries on sensitive lands. It created layers of regulatory bodies to pass judgment on the wisdom of such projects. Under its provisions, The Estuar-ies was classified as a Development of Regional Impact Troutman not only would have to prove that The Estuaries would not degrade the environment but that it also would not harm the health, safety and welfare of the people of Southwest Florida. Troutman's planning experts regrouped.

Over the next three years, they attempted to analyze and document the Impact of The Estuaries. Early on, the consultants advised Troutman to purchase additional property contiguous to but further upland from his original bayfront tract That would put Troutman in a better bargaining position before permitting agencies. He could offer to give up some of his most sensitive wetlands In exchange for development concessions on the higher, drier ground. Troutman agreed to buy more land. But he was shocked by his experts' second request.

They wanted him to agree to give up more than 1 ,000 acres of mangrove forest the most valuable acreage of the whole tract In Troutman's mind for the benefit of water quality and marine life In the bay. Or, as Troutman said he understood it they were asking him to preserve "food for fish." "As I recall, it was going to be 1,200 acres the 1,200 waterfront acres. Because we were aiming at a waterfront community, it was a very great shock to me," Troutman said. Troutman ultimately acquired ty," Troutman told Kuperberg. "I win engage them and I will follow them to a gnat's heel." It wasn't close enough.

Troutmantookallstofconsultants' names from Kuperberg. He got other lists from other state and federal agencies which conceivably would be involved in permitting of The Estuaries, Choosing consultants whose names appeared more than once on the lists, Troutman organized his group of ex- perts to begin planning The Estuar- ies. He spent another $100,000 and one year on an analysis of the bay water quality. His group of experts worked on The Estuaries design for 21 months. Troutman met at Intervals with Kuperberg and other state permitting officials and sought their advice.

The result was what Troutman called "a model community that will set the national standard for preserving the environment" In the completed development plans, the primary concession to the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve was a 7-. mile-long, river-wide Interceptor waterway to be dredged between Estero Bay and the condominium city. The Interceptor waterway was to 1 be an experiment in pollution control. Troutman said his experts told him that It would act as a man-made filter to catch and purify runoff from the developed upland In place of the natural filtering action of the uprooted mangrove forest As a result of his planning effort, Troutman felt even Kuperberg was beginning to look more favorably on his intentions and on The Estuaries project. But if Kuperberg had been persuaded of the merits of the inter-ceptor waterway and the develop- ment plan, local environmentalists "'r were not.

-y Troutman took his plans to the Lee County Courthouse. He applied to the commission for rezoning of the property, which was the only governmental permission he needed to begin construction of the condominium city. Troutman told a reporter that a rejection of his rezoning application would be the "end of the road" for The Estuaries. On Feb. 27, 1973, nearly 300 citizens Jammed the county zoning hearing to oppose the project Fifty of them were high school members of Students for Environmental Action.

Their jeers and catcalls nearly, drowned out Troutman's presentation. Troutman's rezoning application was rejected 4-1 by the commission because of its potential harm to the aquatic preserve and concerns about the property boundary. Troutman reassembled his group of land investors. Their names read like a list of the moneyed and connected: members of the Kennedy and Rockefeller clans, Tampa Bay Buc-canneers owner Hugh Culverhouse, investment banker Jansen Noyes Jr. and others.

A million-dollar down payment was pooled. Development loans totaling $14 million to $15 million from a Chase Manhattan Corp. subsidiary were secured. On March 15, 1973, Troutman bought the Estero Bay wetlands. Deeds recorded in the courthouse showed Troutman paid $9.4 million.

Throughout his dealings over The Estuaries, Troutman has given volumes of sworn testimony in court depositions, investigations and public hearings. Often, he begged off answering detailed questions about project, explaining that the case had become so complex that he couldn't remember specifics. But July 1973 Is hard for Troutman to forget. That's when Florida's Inno In 1970. His development could have taken In 73,000 people three' fourths of the county's 1970 population.

More than 1,800 low-lying acres would be plucked clean of mangrove trees. More than 26 million cubic yards of coastline would be dredged. More than 3,000 acres of wetlands andbaybottomswouldbedestroyed. The Estuaries would be ringed by a river-sized, man-made canal and would have taken 25 years to complete. Troutman knew from the start he was stepping Into an environmental quagmire.

Joel Kuperberg, then a top state official and noted environmentalist himself, warned Troutman on first hearing of The Estuaries even before Troutmanhadplacedadeposltonthe land. As director of the state's Internal Improvement Trust Fund, Kuperberg was the keeper and protector of state lands. Kuperberg was opposed to development of the Estero Bay wetlands and told Troutman so. He was op posed to the state's negotiated property line. The protection of the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve was foremost in his mind.

"You have selected the most sensitive piece of land I know anything about," Kuperberg told Troutman at their first meeting in Tallahassee. "Youaregolngtohavetogothrougha keyhole and come back through the eye of a needle." "I want to take what might be the most sensitive piece of land in Florida and see if it can be developed in a way that man and nature can live together. It is an interesting challenge to me," Troutman replied. "You tell me what facets of study I should investigate and then tell me people who are competent to evaluate the public interest in this proper cal Metropolitan Area. As the landscape changed, local environmentalists kept a wary watch on the beachfront, wincing as bulldozers scraped aside an island-long ridge of sugary dunes to build a mountain-high wall of cement and steel.

The environmentalists rarely cast a glance at the back bay where Trout-man trudged unnoticed. When they did look bayward, it was through eyes glazed with the satisfaction that at least they had saved the pristine waters and wild north shore of Estero Bay from destruction by dragline. The last time anyone had dared try to put a shovel to their precious Estero Bay wetlands, the environmentalists had kicked up such a riptide of controversy that they rocked the Florida Cabinet into unprecedented action. The controversy only subsided when the Cabinet made Estero Bay the state's first aquatic preserve. The bay and its wetlands were to be a conservation and recreation wonderland.

Its rich fishing grounds and mangrove-flllgreed borders preserved for the public in perpetuity. The Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve was dedicated by the state in 1966. Troutman, an Atlanta lawyer-turned-developer, arrived in Lee County about 1970. He was looking for an entry Into the lucrative Florida condominium-real estate market. He found what he thought was the perfect waterfront opening on the southwest coast: 5.240 acres In the vast, untouched Estero Bay wetlands, Not all of the Estero Bay wetlands were Included In the aquatic preserve.

Part of the property Troutman was surveying for development was under private title to Milwaukee Investors known as the Windsor Group. Mis Elimteo The Windsor Group had long been trying to sell its bayfront land. Troutman, as president of a group of wealthy and prominent land investors known as Estuary Properties was Interested in buying. But defining Just what land It was that the Windsor Group had to sell was a problem as murky as mangrove tidal waters. The Estero Bay shore consisted of thousands of soupy acres of mangrove forests.

It was nearly impossible to tell where state-protected wet-' lands ended and the private, developable uplands began. To clear the way for a sale, the Windsor Group and the Cabinet in 1971 quietly and with no local publicity agreed to a negotiated property boundary on the Estero Bay shore. With the property boundary negotiated, Troutman placed a $100,000 deposit on the Windsor Group wetlands and began putting his dream of The Estuaries on paper. In 1972, Troutman unfurled his development plans before the Lee County Commission. Local environ- mentalists looked on, goggle-eyed.

Troutman had designed a sprawling condominium city in the Estero Bay mangroves. His proposed development extended deep Inside the 1966boundariesof the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve. Yet it also was within the confines of the 1971 state-negotiated property line a line previously unknown to the environmentalists. The conflict between the aquatic preserve and the negotiated property line was Instantly apparent to the environmentalists. The clash between them and Troutman sparked just as quick and has been everlasting.

The Estuaries development envisioned by Troutman would have been startling In its scope no matter where it was planned. It was monumental by Lee County standards. To the envl-ronmentalists, It was a disaster for the aquatic preserve and some of Lee County's most sensitive wetlands. As envisioned by Troutman, The Estuaries would have been the most extensive wetlands development In Southwest Florida since the 1950s, when GAC dumped mountains of fill Into a western Lee County swamp to create the city of Cape Coral, and the 1960s, when Deltona Corp. raised the fashionable community of Marco Island from the mangroves.

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