The battle for Estero Bay Dolphins at play in Estero Bay www.estero.org Floyd "Tootsie" Barnes David Burr Barbara Cummings Wayne Daltry Roland Eastwood James English Bill Hammond Raymond Judah Bill and Pat Mellor Howard Rhodes Lawrence W. Schafer Betty D. Simpson Bill Hammond on Robert Troutman

In the early 1960s, concerned citizens in Lee County began a movement to save Estero Bay from development. In 1966, these citizens, members of the Lee County Conservation Association and the Southwest Florida Conservation Clearinghouse succeeded in convincing the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund (TIITF) of the State of Florida to pass the first aquatic preserve law in the United States. This law serves as the basis for aquatic preserve laws throughout the country. Lawsuits followed that only confused the matter, including one filed by the Jack C. Windsor Trust. Howard Rhodes served as the attorney in two of these suits. Fearing a loss in court in the Windsor case, the TIITF negotiated a boundary line agreement with Windsor in 1970, under the administration of Governor Claude Kirk. It was not signed until 1971, under the administration of Rueben Askew. The Lee County conservationists did not learn of this agreement until the Ft. Myers News-Press announced it in an article on November 26, 1972, when it announced that Robert B. Troutman, Jr. agreed to purchase the Windsor property. He planned to build a condominium development on a 5,240 acre tract on Estero Bay, then zoned for housing density of 1 unit per acre. This mobilized the conservationists into action.

"The issue is land use" is the cry of most of the parties to this action. Does one have the right to use one's own property in accordance with one's own plans or can conservationists or any other person determine that use?

Troutman hired surveyors who issued a survey of the property that the conservationists argued was contrary to an earlier survey commissioned by the U.S. Government. These surveys disagreed on several points, one of which was the mean high water line. Troutman's survey may have violated the Aquatic Preserve law. Other of the plans for the development severely affected the environmental balance of the Bay region.

Troutman's plan for his project, named The Estuaries, include 2800 acres of lane in the original Aquatic Preserve and were to be left undisturbed. All but 526 acres were classed as wetlands by interdisciplinary study teams. Ultimately, it was to contain 26,500 condominium-type dwelling units housing 42,000 permanent residents and up to 74,000 during the season. Conservationists claimed it would destroy 2,000 acres of mangroves and 13% of the tidal marshes (red mangroves).

The 1972 News Press article prompted the Lee County conservationists to action. Negotiations ensued that involved state officials, county officials, Troutman, and the Windsor Trust. In 1974, another News Press article stated that the stated planned no action to change the original agreement with Windor.

On August 19, 1974, the Lee County Conservation Association, with others, filed suit against the Board of Trustees to have all agreements declared invalid. The Circuit Court dismissed the the LCCA on the grounds that they had no standing. Cabinet member Doyle Conner, former Cabinet members, Thomas O'Malley and Fred Dickinson, and Lee County Commissioner Walter Shirey joined in the action.

Despite the dismissal, a cloud hung over the project. And, not surprisingly, the County denied the development plan filed by Troutman and he again filed suit. Winning in a lower court, he lost when the County appealed. Ten years after the first announcement, the land was declared endangered and purchased, thus resolving this first battle for Estero Bay.