Section of Bonita road will be gated

Mark S. Krzos

The eastern end of Bonita Beach Road will be off-limits within the next few weeks.

Oakbrook Properties will install a locked gate a few hundred yards east of the gated community of VillageWalk.

That two-mile stretch of asphalt - six miles east of Interstate 75 - is a private road, said Ned Dewhirst, senior vice president of Florida operations for Oakbrook Properties. He said a permit for the gate should be issued soon.

The gate is to secure the property owned by Oakbrook, which straddles both sides of the road as well as the property at the end of the cul-de-sac.

"We got cited for illegal dumping out there - even when it wasn't us doing it," Dewhirst said.

During Bonita's building boom in the early part of the decade, developers had planned to build more residential and gated communities at the east end of Bonita Beach Road. Lakes were dug and the road was extended to make way for future development.

Today, it's a wide open field where weeds have begun a slow encroachment on the road. Concrete drainage pipes sit unused, empty Modelo beer cans have piled up and skid marks show evidence of drag races.

In May, human remains were found about a half mile east of VillageWalk; the official report does not make it clear whether it was on Oakbrook property.

Oakbrook filed its application for a fence/structure wall with Bonita Springs Community Development on May 11 - six days after the skeleton was found.

"That had nothing to do with it," Dewhirst said. "It was just about securing our property."

Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott said the skeletal remains case is "still under investigation."

Bonita Springs City Manager Gary Price said the city hopes the gate will stop other activities.

Over the past two years, nearby residents have complained about drag racing, gunfire, parties and all-terrain vehicles.

"It's not so much about drag racing as it is all the ATVs, swamp buggies, hunting and shooting back in the CREW (Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed) area," Price said. "It's trying to put a stop to all the activity that's been going on back there for years.

"That portion of the road should probably have never been opened in the first place," he said.

Brenda Brooks, executive director of CREW, said ATV and swamp buggies are not permitted in the 60,000 acre CREW area, located just beyond Oakbrook's land. Hunting in the CREW area can be done only through permits obtained from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Bill Lonkart, Bonita Springs city councilman whose district includes east Bonita, said complaints have subsided.

"It was pretty bad about two years ago, but I haven't heard anything recently," he said.

Scott said he didn't know if the gate/fence would solve any problems.

"There is a fence along the border of Mexico and Texas," he said.

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Source: http://www.news-press.com/article/20100706/NEWS0102/7060336/Section-of-Bonita-road-will-be-gated

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