Estero Island Cottage/Mantazas Pass

What was your overall opinion of Estero Island Cottage and Matanzas Pass? What sights, sounds, and/or experiences stood out? Give concrete examples of how the local quality of life is being enhanced. How has your hometown changed since you were a child? Do you still feel a sense of community? If a developer offered you 300% the market value of your childhood home to develop into condos, would you take it? What if the county approached you about purchasing the land under the 20/20 program, for 80% of its market value?

            I enjoyed the visit to Estero Island Cottage and its caretaker, Jo, was very informative.  Having visited the beach many times, I never realized that tucked away right there was this slice of preserved land.  I particularly enjoyed watching the pelicans feeding from the end of the boardwalk.  Keeping an area such as this in its natural state is vital to the local ecology, and necessary if the waters are to have any chance at recovering.  The mangroves help anchor the shoreline and provide as a nursery for many commercially valuable fish species.  Providing a place where the public can see first hand what the island’s natural balance and environment is like, as well as the history of man’s changes to the island, is crucial to giving people a sense of connection with the island, beyond condos and parasailing. 

            As far as my hometown, there has been a steady growth since I was a child.  Many of the wooded areas I used to roam with BB guns and 4-wheelers have been developed, into suburban housing tracts, commercial stores and dealerships as well as a golf course.  There would be no reason for a developer to want to build condos where I grew up but what if I grew up on a family farm or near the water?  There was a case in CT I believe where someone didn’t want to sell there waterfront cottage to a developer and the city was using eminent domain to remove the owner.  Claiming the town needed the proposed development to survive and therefore needed the property.  I believe incentives should be raised so that conservation funds don’t have to offer only 80% of land value.  Through tax credits or some form of reimbursement a stronger push needs to be made to preserve critical habitats.