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Brent Batten: The road to Ave Maria is paved in $100 million
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You hear about growth paying for growth.
But you always wonder whether it really does.
The massively expensive project to widen Oil Well Road in eastern Collier County does little to clarify the picture.
Oil Well Road runs east and west from Immokalee Road. For most of its length, it is little more than a glorified golf cart path. Two liberally patched, narrow lanes lacking curbs cutting through acres of farm fields.
It is used by about 7,200 vehicles per day, a fifth of the volume handled by arterial roads closer to the urban area.
Yet the county is poised to launch a more than $100 million project to widen and curb 11 miles of Oil Well Road. The reason lies at the end of that 11-mile stretch. The town of Ave Maria.
When completed, developers envision 11,000 homes and 24,000 residents living around the new Catholic university that shares the same name. The theory is many will work and shop in the town, minimizing the need to drive into Naples.
Still, to get permission to move ahead with the project, Barron Collier Cos., promised major contributions toward the improvements to Oil Well Road.
Among them, right of way to provide a 200-foot-wide corridor for the road, valued at $7.8 million; land for stormwater mitigation, valued at $1.5 million; design and permitting work valued at $6 million and access to cheap fill dirt, worth $11 million.
In addition, the developers estimated buildings in Ave Maria will generate $60 million in road impact fees that will be spent on county roads near the town.
Even with all that, Collier County commissioners last week found themselves forced to borrow $50 million from the state to move ahead with Oil Well Road and other projects.
One reason is the staggering expense associated with Oil Well Road. While bids have not been submitted, county engineers estimate the improvements will cost just under $105 million, or more than $9 million per mile.
Just a few years ago, projects, such as the widening of Goodlette-Frank Road north of Pine Ridge Road and Golden Gate Parkway from Livingston Road to Santa Barbara, were completed for about $4 million and $3 million per mile, respectively. The Florida Department of Transportation estimates work similar to that planned for Oil Well Road should cost about $6 million per mile, although it is quick to note that the figure is generic.
The cost of concrete, fuel and asphalt are behind the rapid rise in road construction costs, according to county transportation department spokeswoman Eileen O’Grady.
Other current county projects, such as the widening of Santa Barbara Boulevard, are also running around $10 million per mile.
E-mail Brent Batten at bebatten@naplesnews.com
Comments
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Dear Bigot: There would be no need for anything if something was not there.
#1 Posted by oremus on April 13, 2008 at 1:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Developers should front the 60 million in future road impact fees, that the buildings in Ave Maria would eventually bring. Instead of paying the state, they would pay the developers.
Where are the names of the people who approved this outlandish deal?
When people read about sweetheart deals like this, they do get bitter, if they are laid off, and not making their share of the pork.
#2 Posted by volochine on April 13, 2008 at 1:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I drive that road daily. It's falling apart, narrow, patched. I often see trucks wander or get jostled onto the gravel shoulder.
Why should the people who live out here have to suffer?
#3 Posted by GoodSense on April 13, 2008 at 6:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Volochine,
Collier Economics 101. If the Collier family wants something, abracadabra it's done, and we get to pay for it. Neat deal, huh??!!
#4 Posted by almasonlybar on April 13, 2008 at 11:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If this road is estimated to go over budget, then some modifications need to be explored. Why are curbs needed? How much without curbs?
Why isn't the cost per mile reduced by the amount of the contributed fill?
If the costs are rising because of the cost of materials and "growth pays for growth" then perhaps the impact fees should be raised too.
Ave Maria is a for-profit development. We should not be expected to pick up the tab especially when it becomes a net loss to the public coffers.
Can we expect to see the rest of the farmland between here and there infilled with more developments? Isn't that what this road will lead too?
#5 Posted by sailingby on April 13, 2008 at 2:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
good for you brent barton- the poor fools in naples and collier county who dont know they will pay for the interest on the loan the principle and the road maintenance for a religious ghetto what a shame
#6 Posted by welcome02 on April 13, 2008 at 2:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you, Almasonlybar....I'm quickly learning that.
As a reply to GoodSense, no one has a problem to re-paving your 2 lane road. You shouldn't be complaining to us, you should be calling your representative to get that done before your safety is compromised.
#7 Posted by volochine on April 14, 2008 at 1:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm not complaining to you, nitwit. I'm commenting on a story, and previous comments.
Everyone should remember how Ave Maria was lauded for their generous civic-mindedness. The road improvement was promised long ago. The commencement date was then changed, and has passed a second time. Now, all we're getting is excuses.
Meanwhile, we are treated to several stories a week in the NDN about the great Ave Maria.
#8 Posted by GoodSense on April 14, 2008 at 6:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The usual inflammatory NDN piece. The arithmetic says it's a good deal for the county. 26 million has already been committed and 60 million will be collected as land sales close. Some of that is already in the county coffers and at the rate the road project is going the rest will be collected before the road is finished. So the "bad guys" as Batten would have it are paying 80% of the cost for a road that has to be improved in any event. Or does "Collier County" mean Naples and only Naples?
#9 Posted by enufbigotry on April 14, 2008 at 4:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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