THE ISLAND'S OF RECORD •w^iEtf-QF:MAY:;5'1;: 11v 2605 V FLORIDA: .VOiLUME 32 NUMBER; 19 20 PAGES 75 CENTS City Council starts to look at Historical Village cuts buildback and redevelopment ribbon on new exhibit By GARY PHILLIPS the land development code." Schopp [email protected] said. "There are definitely some common issues between redevelopment and build- Sanibei City Council held a special back. We think they should be consid- discussion on buiidback and redevelop- ered separately. Buildback has a single ment as part ol" their regular meeting focal point and that is simply restoration Tuesday. of the status quo after a disaster so as to Mayor Carla Johnston explained the prevent loss. Redevelopment on the other purpose for the review. hand looks to the future." "This is a variation from a regular Schopp went on to say that buildback council meeting in that there is no deci- should mean just that; building back sion going to be made this morning," she structures as they were before a disaster. said, "The purpose of this is to get the "Residential property owners should views from across all sectors of the have the opportunity to build their prop- Sanibel community pertaining to defini- erly back to the size, location and con- tions of buildback, definitions of redevel- figuration that existed prior to the disas- opment and to try to determine exactly ter," he said. "In the process of build- where changes are needed in the existing back, nonconformities should be elimi- Sanibel Code in order to make more nated to the extent practicable." clear how buildback should occur and Sony a Smith of the Condominium what should be the scope of the upcom- Association of Sanibei reported on the ing redevelopment study." status of the island's condos. Johnston then opened the floor to pub- "Many condominiums and time-share lic input. Larry Schopp was the first to properties are still recovering from the address the council and said buildback relatively light hit we received from Photo by Gary Phillips and redevelopment should be treated as Hurricane Charley last August," Smith Committee members and volunteers cut the ribbon on the replica of a packing different endeavors with different goals. said. "If a worse disaster occurs we will house which has been added to the exhibits at the Sanibel Historicai Village and "COTI (Committee of the Islands) need a buildback ordinance to provide a Museum. continues to support adoption of a com- (!-r): Paula Newton, Alex Werner, Dottie Miller, Mary McLaughlin, Jackie Raushert, prehensive buildback ordinance to aug- See BriU>BA<!:K Sam Bailey, Mick Denham, Muriel Veenschoten, Jody Brown and Jim Jennings. ment the provision.-, ihat are already in Sanibel kids learn about building and birds By GARY PHILLIPS "The Hammerheads put together [email protected] some kits for the bird boxes."' Road Restrictions Denham said. "They're very sub- A group of Sanibel Middle stantial bird boxes. The School students is learning about Hammerheads then went to the around the island wildlife and doing a service at the school to work with the kids to same time by building and erecting assemble them." bird boxes at Sanibel Gardens. Boxes were built to house Causeway to be one-lane The sixth-grade students of sci- screech owls, great-crested fly- ence teacher Karen Chin built the catchers and red-bellied woodpeck- Wed. &Thu., May 11 &12 boxes and placed them in the ers and placed in appropriate sites wildlife refuge under the guidance at Sanibel Gardens. Thursday and Friday, May 11 and 12 the of the city's Natural Resources Wildlife Committee Chairman Sanibel Causeway will be reduced to one lane Department and volunteers from Vern Frankwich said the Hammer- from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. both days to the Hammerheads. heads and students worked together install temporary drainage on spoil island B. Sanibei Vice-mayor Mick on the boxes. Flagmen will be on hand to direct traffic. Denham served on the Wildlife "The kids were all great. They Committee before being elected to worked with the Hammerheads: council. He now serves as the liai- Dean Skaugstad. Chuck Hoover son between the committee and the and George Vernay." Frankwich council. Denham provided funds said. San-Cap Road! down to for the bird box project. A well-developed plan for the "I've invested S500 into this, for placement of the boxes is critical, one-lane Friday, May 6 (he poles and the boxes,'' Denham according to James Evans of said. "Then I provided bird identifi- Sanibcl's Natural Resources Vehicular traffic will be restricted to one lane cation sheets to each of the kids.'' Department, explaining that birds, on portions of Sanibel-Capliva Road as the City Denham said he searched for of Sanibel sanitary sewer installation work just like humans, have their own set resumes. The areas where traffic will be impact- commercially-made bird box kits Photo by Gary Phillip's of "zoning" rules regarding place- and couldn't find any he deemed The first birdhouse goes up at ed on Sanibel Captiva Road is west of suitable. Enter the Hammerheads. Sanibe! Gardens. See BIRDS Bowman's Beach Road to the west end of page 2 Sanibel Island. MOTORISTS ARE STRONGLY URGED TO OBEY ALL THE CONSTRUCTION SIGNS AND LOWER SPEED LIMITS. THE • LETTERS PAGE 6 SAFETY OF MOTORISTS AND THE WORK- The Sanibel ERS ON THE SITE ARE OUR PRIMARY • VOXPOPUU PAGE 7 DELINQUENT School Beacon CONCERN. • POUCE BEAT PAGE 7 This work is anticipated to begin Friday May • DATELINE ; PAGE 11 This month's edition of the 6, 2005 and continue for several weeks. The TAX contractor is scheduled to work from 7:30 a.m. « TV LISTINGS PAGE 13 school newspaper put out by the students is inside. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. • OBITUARIES PAGE 14 For additional information regarding the City NOTICES of Sanibel sewer installation project, please call • PERMITS & DEEDS PAGE 16 the Department ol" Public Utilities at 472-1008. • CLASSIFIEDS PAGE 17 — Sec page 9 • SPORTS PAGE 19 2 • Week of May 5-11, 2005 • ISLAND REPORTER City to honor May 15 declared Peace Officers Memorial Day By GARY PHILLIPS Johnston called Sanibel Police Officers Rachel [email protected] Bauer-Fithian and Mark Steele to the front of the room and presented them with the proclamation. late Planning Police officers dedicate their lives and at times risk In another official act, Johnston read a proclamation their own safety to protect the lives and property of the from the city expressing condolences and sympathy to public. Some have paid the ultimate price by losing the City of Fort Myers Beach and to the family of Bill Commissioner their lives in the line of duty. To honor these heroes, Thomas, city councilman and former mayor of Fort May 15 has been designated Peace Officers Memorial Myers Beach. Day. The designation was formalized by a proclama- "Bill Thomas moved to our neighboring Fort Myers tion at Sanibel City Council's meeting on Tuesday. Beach in 1962 after a 35-year career in the travel John Dillon Mayor Carla Johnston read the proclamation aloud. industry," Johnston read from the proclamation. "(He) "The police officers of America have worked devot- served the citizens of Fort Myers Beach during his edly and selflessly on behalf of the people of this time in office in code enforcement, animal services, nation, regardless of the peril or hazard to them- licensing, public relations, media, the Beach Access selves," Johnston read. "By the enforcement of our newsletter, special events, televised meetings and as a laws, these same officers have given our country inter- representative to the Southwest Regional Planning nal freedom from fear of the violence and civil disor- Council." der that is presently affecting other nations. These men The proclamation stated Thomas served on the Fort and women, by their patriotic service and their dedi- Myers Beach Town Council beginning in November, cated efforts, have earned the gratitude of the repub- 2001 and was mayor from April, 2004 until March. lic." Sgt. Cooper named 'Employee of the Quarter' Photo by Gary Phillips Mayor Carla Johnston presented Sanibel Police Set. Michael Cooper with the award for "Employee of the Quarter" for the second quarter of 2005. "I want to thank you very much for what you have done/' Johnston said. "You were promoted to a police officer in October 1986, promoted to sergeant in 1994, reassigned as a detective in February 2003 and are a valuable member of the Sanibel Police Department." The public is invited to the dedication of a Commemorative Marker and planting of a Memorial Tree Cooper shared the honor with his fellow officers. in honor of deceased Planning Commissioner John Dillon. "I want to thank my peers for nominating me for this/' The program is scheduled for 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, May 24. he said. "But I think it goes without saying that I'm The event, hosted by the City Council, will be held at the really fortunate to have the staff I work with." City Hall Gazebo immediately prior to the Planning Commission meeting that morning. Sighrseeing-SunseT Cnuises RenTal & Toun Boar Imps * enjoy fRoLickinc, dolphins, scenic mnune TOURS and Samlwl's famous sunseTs ' .../•• *•-•*' -t • . • '••v* >v . • »* * **.• \H ••! _;. ._ •-•• I'4 ^ ., •";• .••>.••' .'.•»••.- .V ' •.**•'i: ••..:4.'i.".S •* . ' •'' •.-.-.• ii» M* BIRDS v-r. From page 1 ment and density. "Different species like different habitats. Screech owls are very territorial and can't be within seeing dis- tance of another screech owl," Evans said. <JAnother this is, screech owls are nocturnal.