Utilities panel puts off vote on Lehigh
Expansion measures will be decided Nov. 4 By JUSTIN ST. CLAIR JSTCLAIR@NEWS-PRESS.COM Published by news-press.com on October 28, 2005
ORLANDO — The board that controls Lehigh Acres' water and sewer system voted to delay deciding two key measures on a major expansion project Thursday so that the votes could be held at a newly scheduled meeting in Lehigh.
The Florida Governmental Utility Authority board will vote on a $25 million bond to help pay for expansion of the Lehigh system and renewal of the system's operations contract at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 4, at the East County Regional Library.
Thursday's meeting was originally scheduled for Friday, Oct. 21, in Lehigh, but was rescheduled and moved because of the threat of Hurricane Wilma.
Lehigh resident and activist Robert Anderson, along with three other Lehigh residents, traveled to Orlando to be at the meeting to make sure Lehigh was represented.
Anderson told the three board members, who represent Polk, Citrus and Osceola Counties, that decisions that could have such a great impact on Lehigh need to be made there so more residents can speak.
"We want to be heard," Anderson said. He said the hurricane made it even more difficult for people to make it to Orlando for the 5 p.m. meeting."I will be breaking curfew driving back tonight," he said.
The meeting Thursday would have been the first in which Lee County had a representative on the board. But the representative, County Public Works Director Jim Lavendar, couldn't attend because he was involved in hurricane recovery efforts.
He is expected to attend the Nov. 4 meeting.The authority is planning a $56.3 million expansion in Lehigh aimed at slowing the booming number of wells and septic tanks in the area, which was platted in the 1950s and 1960s into thousands of mostly quarter-acre lots.
But that plan, and the possible assessments on landowners, has met with opposition from some residents and has spurred county commissioners to talk about purchasing the system and making their own expansion plans.
Board member Richard Wesch of Citrus County said more local people will be able to attend the Nov. 4 meeting.The board also approved a measure accepting Lee County as its fourth member and an agreement allowing the county to buy the system in the future.
Lee County has asked the authority to hold off taking on any debt that the county and its taxpayers would inherit if the county buys the troubled Lehigh system, which is operating near capacity and recently spilled treated wastewater into a canal near the treatment facility.
ORLANDO — The board that controls Lehigh Acres' water and sewer system voted to delay deciding two key measures on a major expansion project Thursday so that the votes could be held at a newly scheduled meeting in Lehigh.
The Florida Governmental Utility Authority board will vote on a $25 million bond to help pay for expansion of the Lehigh system and renewal of the system's operations contract at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 4, at the East County Regional Library.
Thursday's meeting was originally scheduled for Friday, Oct. 21, in Lehigh, but was rescheduled and moved because of the threat of Hurricane Wilma.
Lehigh resident and activist Robert Anderson, along with three other Lehigh residents, traveled to Orlando to be at the meeting to make sure Lehigh was represented.
Anderson told the three board members, who represent Polk, Citrus and Osceola Counties, that decisions that could have such a great impact on Lehigh need to be made there so more residents can speak.
"We want to be heard," Anderson said. He said the hurricane made it even more difficult for people to make it to Orlando for the 5 p.m. meeting."I will be breaking curfew driving back tonight," he said.
The meeting Thursday would have been the first in which Lee County had a representative on the board. But the representative, County Public Works Director Jim Lavendar, couldn't attend because he was involved in hurricane recovery efforts.
He is expected to attend the Nov. 4 meeting.The authority is planning a $56.3 million expansion in Lehigh aimed at slowing the booming number of wells and septic tanks in the area, which was platted in the 1950s and 1960s into thousands of mostly quarter-acre lots.
But that plan, and the possible assessments on landowners, has met with opposition from some residents and has spurred county commissioners to talk about purchasing the system and making their own expansion plans.
Board member Richard Wesch of Citrus County said more local people will be able to attend the Nov. 4 meeting.The board also approved a measure accepting Lee County as its fourth member and an agreement allowing the county to buy the system in the future.
Lee County has asked the authority to hold off taking on any debt that the county and its taxpayers would inherit if the county buys the troubled Lehigh system, which is operating near capacity and recently spilled treated wastewater into a canal near the treatment facility.
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