Homeowners upset over possible new neighbors, community changes

Hundreds of homeowners are upset over the possibility of new neighbors. Those homeowners live inside of a private, manufactured community.

They say the company in charge of their community is entertaining the idea of purchasing the property next door. That would give them hundreds of new neighbors next door.

People who live in Pine Lakes Country Club in North Fort Myers, west of US-41, are worried that this transition would cause traffic issues ad lower the value of the homes.

Luckily the plans are not finalized yet, and these neighbors hope to stop it before it even starts. If they can’t squash the project, they plan on showing up to Wednesday’s Lee County Hearing Examiner’s meeting.

The drive through Pine Lakes Country Club is calm, and the roads are quiet. Bev Thoreson lives in Pine Lakes. “We don’t need another 300 people coming in using them,” said Thoreson.

The idea that those quiet roads may get loud is creating a lot of noise. Bob Hendershot lives in Pine Lakes as well.  “We’re not happy? Well, what the hell’s going on here?” said Hendershot.

Thomas Minahan is a Pine Lakes resident. “There’s just no room here,” Minahan said.

John Houser lives in Pine Lakes Country Club. “It’s not gonna be pretty,” said Houser.

Pine Lakes is full of homes with homeowners who have quite a bit to say on the matter. These residents say the company that owns their private community on the right wants to buy the empty lot on the left.

The company plans to build more than 300 homes on that new property. The problem these residents have is connecting the two properties. They worry that those new neighbors would use the private roads they pay for and all of the amenities.

“I mean, our pub can only take 88 people. The ballroom can only take 350. We fill that up with just the people here. We can’t bring another 300 and some homes over here using our amenities,” said Minahan.

Matt Heier lives in Pine Lakes. “When you buy into this community, you buy the lifestyle that’s available here to everybody. And if we wind up with 360 homes over there, that lifestyle is gone,” said Heier.

When these residents talk about their lifestyle, it’s not just traffic and amenities. They worry that the new community would be attached to theirs with a completely different layout.

On Wednesday, there’s a discussion about whether that plan violates a county ordinance. WINK News reached out to the community, but no one got back to us. They’ll likely make their position known during Wednesday’s meeting.