Front Dip Update (November 2011)

As many of you know, our attempt to correct the "front dip" in our driveway has been an ongoing problem since April. Repeated rejections by Lee County of our engineering plans required numerous revisions and resubmissions to the county in order to gain approval before beginning the project. When a plan seemed to finally meet the county's approval, it turned out we had to reject it because it wasn't acceptable for our needs. After this we called for a meeting with all those involved in the planning, approval and completion of the project. We met with 3 county representatives, our engineer, 3 representatives from the paving contractor, and condo representatives. Since most of the problems seemed to be related to the sidewalk and adjoining catch basin, the group was able to establish exactly what was required to obtain county approval, and to once again visually demonstrate our specific needs.

After this meeting, everyone seemed to be on the same page. The engineer made the suggested changes, and after one additional rejection, the plans have been tentatively approved by the county awaiting additional approval by the SW Florida Water Management. Assuming this happens in a timely fashion and permits are issued, we will begin work the first week of December. It is anticipated the project will take a week to ten days for completion. Our contractor has promised that there will be uninterrupted, but perhaps bumpy, access to our complex during the project.

These many delays have created a lot of frustration, but we hope that once finished the end result will be very pleasing to all our owners and guests….and no more scraping bottom!

- Board of Directors

Paving

As of Friday, August 19, 2011 the paving was completed at Estero Cove. With the exception of the front dip. That will be done soon. County has issues!! Sure seemed like a long haul getting this accomplished, between the City of Ft. Myers Beach, our engineers and the weather it was tough. But it looks great. The car stops and all the stripping will be completed Monday, August 29 under the buildings as well as outside. I think everyone will be pleased when they arrive in the fall.

The elevator in building 2 was repaired after a 6 week process. It now has a new cylinder and runs great. The garage is cleaned up as well as the stairwells. We had two (2) leaks, one in the valve on the 6th floor where the fire hoses used to be and one (1) under the stairs on the ground floor in the stand pipe. The one (1) on the 6th floor has been repaired and waiting on parts for the other. The irrigation crew is here hooking up all the new irrigation lines. It will be so nice having irrigation by the tennis court and in areas we didn't have before. They will all be on timers and senor's so no one will have to turn on and off the sprinklers any more. YEA!

August 25, all the tree trimming was completed. That sure makes the property look better. Please be sure to look at the pictures on this site. I'll try and put one last set on when the front dip is done. Looking forward to everyone coming down this winter.

Take care. Sue

July 14, 2011

Rich Crain, the Board President, has been here since Sunday and overseeing the project. There really is a lot to oversee. All the grading, drains, the piping we are having installed for future electrical and our new irrigation system and the dumpster pads, etc. It has been great having him here. Very helpful. Once this side is done they will start tearing up the old black top by building 1, 2 and the tennis court area. We have had a lot of rain which has made it tough getting full days of work in, but they sure are moving when it isn't raining. The elevator in building 2 is still down. They have the cylinder almost completed. Should be done today and will start installing it on Monday. They say it will be done and operational by the end of next week. Sure hope so. I'll continue to keep you posted on the paving with more pictures. Stay cool. It is 94 degrees here with 90 some degrees humidity. HOT!!

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At the end of building 4, we found water coming up out of the ground.  We investigated and found a break in the domestic water line.  Fortunately, we found the break before the paving company had put the asphalt down in that area.  I called Metro Diesel immediately and they came right down within a half an hour and started to repair the break.  They were here until around 8 p.m.  In the meantime, we found water coming up from the manhole cover out front by building 5 and in front of the liftstation.  Metro checked it out and found the control board, (the brains of the control panel) was faulty.  They did a temporary fix and had to order parts to repair it properly.  They should have the parts in by Wednesday of next week.  So needless to say, the paving in those two areas stopped.

I have to say that Rich Crain and I have spent a tremendous amount of time with the paving company and the equipment operators and have learned more than we ever thought we would need to about paving and site preparation for this kind of project. It is certainly quite a process to get the property ready to pave. 

I'll continue to keep you posted.