Fort Myers, FL
As the Gateway Golf & Country Club and the Gateway Board of Supervisors continue to fight each other over who's responsible for the damage done to wetland 47, one possibility beginning to gain some steam is the district just taking the land from the country club by eminent domain. The district has the option of taking that land which is now owned by the club (the district is the permitee which is why we are paying the fines). With the price of land pretty low right now, and wetland 47 basically a swamp with weeds, a "reasonable price" may tranlslate to dirt cheap.
The issue of Wetland 47 will come up at the Supervisors meeting Thursday night and the topic of eminent domain will likely be an option discussed. And, who knows, this may be something the Country Club actually wants. If they no longer have to take care of the wetland, it's less expense for them. It doesn't resolve any of the past expenses, the residents have wrongly paid, but it would remove the issue from their plate.
One thing residents can bank on, if the district takes the property, is that while the wetland would be maintained according the SFWMD regulations it will not be maintained for "playability" purposes. In other words, you could see some of the tallest rees and highest weeds spraouting from Wetland 47. Call it payback if you will. Call it the GSD going green to the extreme. Call it whatever you want to call it. It is what it is.
By the way, in one of our polls (in the left column) 96% of residents who participated in the poll say we should not spend any more money on wetland 47. Of course, I agree with you 100%. You are some very smart people out there.
