ESTERO, Fla – The School District of Lee County is getting ready to hold a community meeting Thursday night about the future K-8 school that's planned in Estero.
Several neighbors are expected to attend the meeting to voice concerns over traffic and stormwater runoff, which the school district plans to address.
The traffic concerns are over Three Oaks Parkway. People fear the road could get backed up during parent pick-up and drop-off. However, the district said its project engineers have come up with a queue that can line up as many as 600 cars on the school property, keeping them off of Three Oaks. The district also plans to add a traffic light at the entrance to the school.
The district is just beginning the planning and design phase. Construction is expected to start in 2022 and the school will open August of 2023.
It will be built for 1,600 students and have room for an expansion to 2,300 students when needed. This will help alleviate the overcrowding happening in the south zone elementary and middle schools.
Traffic is just one reason the district expects several neighbors to be at Thursday’s meeting. They've also voiced concerns over stormwater runoff.
“The neighborhood to north has been very concerned about their stormwater runoff and we've designed a system where all the water that falls onto the school property will be maintained on the school property. And that will take pressure off of the neighborhood to the north. Their drainage will only then be for the neighborhood. So we're going to improve the system they have now,” said Rob Spicker, Assistant Director of Media Relations & Public Information for The School District of Lee County.
The neighborhood Spicker is referring to is Copper Oaks. You can see how the community neighbors the future school here:
The district said the community meeting will be an opportunity for neighbors to see what's in the works to address the issues they have.
The meeting is scheduled to take place from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the gymnasium at Estero High School. The address is 21900 River Ranch Road.
