So far, we’ve covered the history of The News-Press; the formation of Lee County; the storied history of the Lee County Courthouse; the making and selling of Southwest Florida’s largest city, Cape Coral; and the county seat Fort Myers in this space.
This week we take a look at Lee County’s newest city, the Village of Estero. Just over a decade ago, the headline in the Naples Daily News read, “After Estero incorporation legislation, developers speeding up projects.”
Estero’s population had grown 144% from 2000 to 2010 — from 9,261 to 22,612, according to one study. The south Lee community’s population was expected to grow at a higher-than-average rate than the rest of the county, according to an Estero market assessment released in September 2013.
It all came together in 2013
The Estero Council of Community Leaders, a civic group advocating for policy issues in and outside of Estero, started to push for the creation of a village, in part due to the city of Bonita Springs’ attempts to grow north.
A big step to villagehood
On May 12, 2014, Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill sponsored by Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, that created a mechanism for Estero to become its own village and all but assured the community would get to vote on the issue in November…