Minutes – Alva general community meeting, May 23, 2002   Alva Middle School  

Attendance:   Over 150 people attended the meeting.  137 signed in.  There were 165 available  bound copies of the plan and all were taken.  

Meeting was called to order by Rob Andrys, vice president.  Rob introduced Lynn Fensterer, Alva inc treasurer to come forward to run the annual meeting for ALVA inc.  Lynn announced that the annual Florida return filed for non-profit organizations will shortly be available on the website.  A few printed copies will also be at the next general meeting in June for those that are interested.  ALVA inc has its 501(c)4 tax exempt status.  The members voted upon 2 bylaws changes and they were unanimously passed..  These included 1)  A change in the requirements for membership to reflect the statement on the ALVA inc website which reads:  “membership is open to all residents, business and property owners of Alva , FL."  2)      The number of required general community meetings will be changed to 6 from 10.  This will allow for flexibility in scheduling, although we will probably still have about 10 general meetings a year.

It was also unanimously agreed payment of dues will be extended to the end of the year.

Two Board of Directors were up for re-election:  Martin Call and Lynda Kendrick.  The group unanimously re-elected them for another 2 year term.

Lynn ’s treasurer report included the following information.  We began the month with $8928.53 and had disbursements of $6352.25.  These included partial payments to Carol Cunningham, printing costs for the plan, sign costs.  Current balance is $2576.28.  Payments still owed include $3193.19 to Carol Cunningham.  Accounts receivable include a pending $7,000 funding check from Lee County .  So far we have received $14,000 from the county for our community plan and have spent about $19,000 on the plan.  The additional money for the plan has come from donations and fundraising.  Lynn acknowledged especially generous donations from the following:  Brookmans, Mike and Anita Buff, Mike Dove,  Jim and Irby English,  Lynn Fensterer, Sarah Gillim, Kindelans, Lidells, and Wigdales.  The annual meeting was then closed.

Lynn presented a beautiful young oak tree and a luscious jug of honey to Sarah Gillim, president of Alva inc in thanks for the year’s work.  The tree will be planted somewhere in the Alva community.

Rob Andrys introduced Carol Cunningham, our professional planner, to guide us through the draft of the community plan.  Public comment on the draft can be made in several different ways

1)      yellow comment form can be filled out and sent to PO Box 2022 , Alva

2)       comments are accepted on-line

3)      Special BOD meeting on May 30 at the Alva museum  

The following is a summary of Carol’s guide through the Alva community plan.  Everyone is advised to read the plan carefully on their own.

The plan begins with a general vision for the Alva community as a whole.  The vision statements come directly from the input given at the community’s public workshops.  These statements reflect how we would like the community to look in about 20 years.  The vision is the future “big picture”.  Each subsection also includes a vision statement.  The rest of the plan is a strategy for the community to follow in order to achieve the vision.  Not all of the material in the plan will become comprehensive plan amendments.  Most things in the plan will require further work from the community to implement. 

The first sections in the plan deal with “central Alva”.  This is the area the county has currently designated as urban community in the Lee comprehensive plan.  The Alva community plan recommends changing the urban community designation to “rural village”.  The maximum densities will remain the same at 1 to 6 per acre but bonus densities will be eliminated.  The concept of the rural village is a walkable, pedestrian friendly community with a mix of low impact commercial and residential uses.  To implement the rural village concept, the plan recommends the Alva community develop a rural village overlay zone.  This rural village overlay zone would specify types of commercial allowed and provide guidelines for new developments that would be compatible with the rural village concept.  Developers could then choose to develop using the rural village overlay and bypass the usual long administrative approval process.   If they did not want to use the overlay, then they could still take the county’s traditional planned development path.

Much care has gone into the plan to preserve the historic core of Alva (subarea 1).  The goal of the plan is to take an approach that will maintain the character and charm of historic Alva and its surroundings.  These things can and should be specified in the rural overlay zone.  Carol stressed that nothing in the plan will require any changes in existing residences or businesses.

There is a policy in the plan that will attempt to prevent strip development all along SR 80.  The plan provides for an adequate amount of commercial development in the “node” of Alva’s center.  The plan asks that no other commercial rezoning occur (other than what is already existing) from Hickey Crk to Hendry county line other than in that “node”.  The plan also allows for a small commercial facility to serve the Charleston Park community.

The Alva plan also deals with an area called subarea 4 which are the undeveloped lands on the fringe of central Alva.  The Lee comprehensive plan allows these to be developed at from 1 to 6 units per acre.  The Alva plan encourages the development of conservation communities rather than gated golf communities or cookie cutter subdivisions through a list of incentives whereby a developer could increase his density over the current zoning of 1 unit per acre by clustering development, increasing open space, linking green spaces, preserving native vegetation etc.  If a developer does not choose to do this then the planned development option already available by the county can still be used.

The Alva plan also deals with preservation of rural character in the outlying areas. The Alva community is strongly urged to form a land trust to help purchase conservation lands and to coordinate a voluntary program where willing landowners could sell their development rights.  These owners who may never wish to develop their land could get some value for their land by selling or transferring their development rights.  Again the program would be entirely voluntary but could be coordinated by an Alva land trust.  The plan also recommends that the community implement  a planned development ordinance in the area east of Caloosahatchee Park and Hickey Creek park.  This ordinance would provide incentives for developers  to increase open space through a point system and the voluntary transfer of development rights.

The Alva plan also recommends that the county make CR 78 a scenic hwy and help the community get a federal scenic hwy designation.  This could be very instrumental in securing funds for bike paths etc.  Other issues covered in the plan include the Caloosahatchee river, developing a water budget and increasing recreational opportunities for kids.  Again, just because a statement is made in the plan about the communities’ wish for something, it does not mean it will happen unless there are diligent volunteers in the community who will make it happen.

The Hickey Creek park neighborhood is discussed in the plan with the recommendation that the folks in the neighborhood work with community and county reps to start a petition and gather signatures in an effort to protect the character of their neighborhood.

Meeting was closed and those with questions or comments were invited to stay for additional informal discussion.