Pine Lakes residents pleading their case against connecting new community to theirs

Reporter: Sydney Persing Writer: Matthew Seaver
Published: Updated:
(Credit: WINK News)

On Wednesday, more than 100 people from a neighborhood in North Fort Myers gathered to fight against a proposed community right next door.

They say a bunch of new homes near Pine Lakes Country Club will make their lives a lot harder.

All of the people may be retired, but that doesn’t mean they forgot how to work.

Ron Thoreson of Pine Lakes showed up prepared for Wednesday’s meeting to discuss the neighboring community. “My presentation is over 380 slides”

The Pine Lakes residents take retirement living pretty seriously.

More than 100 color-coordinated members of Pine Lakes Country Club showed up at the Old Lee County Courthouse Wednesday. They protested as Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS), the company that owns Pine Lake, laid out its proposal to a Lee County Hearing Examiner.

ELS wants to build a new community on the empty land north of Pine Lakes and then connect it to Pine Lakes via Circle Pine Rd.

Development proposal for the new community with Pine Lakes connections highlighted in yellow.
The current layout of the Pine Lakes County Club. (Credit: Google Maps)

The residents of the Pine Lakes community told the examiner that it will ruin their retirement with traffic backups, overcrowded amenities, and mixed home layouts.

“We found what we were looking for in Florida. But what’s going to be taken away from us if this comes in,” said one of the Pine Lakes residents.

Bev Thoreson, who also lives in Pine Lakes said, “our biggest concern is losing the paradise that we currently have.”

Bruce Wrede, the president of Pine lakes HOA is also concerned. “That lifestyle goes right out the window. It’s not the same lifestyle we bought when we signed our leases with ELS. So it’s hard for them to then say, well, this is my livelihood. My dream. My retirement is basically being taken away from me.”

They’re not just angry about the proposal, they’re also angry about how they feel they’re being treated.

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