One hundred and twenty million households across the country begin receiving their U.S. Census questionnaires this week. The mass mailing is the first phase of the country's ten year population count. Local census officials say the region's ethnic diversity and the down economy make Southwest Florida one of the most difficult regions to count. WGCU's John Davis reports.

The 2010 U.S. Census will bring thousands of temporary jobs to Southwest Florida.   Although the bulk of the work won’t begin until next spring, Census officials say the time for job seekers to act is now.  WGCU’s John Davis reports.

Florida
Gulf Coast University started fall classes Monday with more students
than ever before. Even with all the construction underway the
university has room for even more. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports.

The developer behind the planned 18-thousand home Babcock Community east of Punta Gorda laid off 9 people who’d been working on the project last week – that’s half its staff…they were planners and office workers. Chairman & CEO of Kitson & Partners – Syd Kitson – told WGCU’s Mike Kiniry they were all doing great jobs and that he wishes he didn’t have to let them go. But he says tough times leave him with little choice…

Charlotte County Commissioners are rolling back impact fees to 1998 levels. It's a move calculated to spur the county's sluggish building industry. WGCU's Valerie Alker reports.

While it’s going to be several years - at least - until they’re actually building homes…a group of architects has gathered at Babcock Ranch to share visions for the proposed community’s first homes.

Once complete there’ll be about 19-thousand homes at the Babcock Ranch Community. The master plan calls for them to be as efficient, and ‘Green’ as possible...so developer Kitson & Partners brought in the principle architects from about a dozen firms to explore specific designs.

Director of Architecture and Sustainable Planning for Kitson/Babcock - Larry Peterson – says they’re trying to come up with design that looks like they belong on a real ranch…

“Not that we’re trying to build an historical village…it’s not a Disney-themed kind of an idea. But what we are interested in is how architects think about these new housing designs as they put new kinds of requirements in that they haven’t had to deal with in the past 50 years…like passive sustainability and hurricane resistance, and be very energy efficient and economical for people to operate.”

But Peterson says the plan calls for more than just efficient housing.

He says they’re starting a native plant nursery, and intend to landscape as much of the community as possible with drought resistant, indigenous plants grown on site.

The design forum wraps up Tuesday. Peterson says there’ll be another like it to discuss designs for commercial buildings.

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Lush, thick, green lawns amidst lots of rare flowering plants from around the globe…that’s exactly what designers hope yards in the Babcock Ranch Community WON’T look like.

Director of Architecture and Sustainable Planning with Kitson/Babcock - Larry Peterson - says the design plan for the proposed 19-thousand home community calls for as much native landscaping as possible. And it’ll be grown right there on site from a native plant nursery.

“So that all the plant palets and all the kinds of things that we would use to put in the medians of roadways and along the sides of roads, and our public spaces and civic spaces, and all of our churches and schools…that they’d all be native stock that was grown right here from the ranch.”

Peterson says residents will be able to pick amongst the nursery plants to ‘customize’ their yards.

He says they’ll also limit irrigation, and yard turf selection to less water-needy varieties…but because of that, he says residents might have to put up with a bit more brown than they’re used to during the driest parts of the year.

A controversial golf course community in northern Collier County won unanimous approval from the South Florida Water Management District’s governing board yesterday. It’s the second time the governing board has approved the proposed 17-hundred-acre development, called Mirasol. The U-S Army Corps of Engineers denied a federal permit for a nearly identical version of the project last year. That version was also first approved by the South Florida Water Management District. Environmental groups and others oppose the project because it would destroy about 650-acres of wetlands, including endangered wood stork habitat.
Conservancy of Southwest Florida President - Andrew McElwaine – attended the meeting. He says the board approved the project in spite of public outcry against it.

“What one governing board member said was ‘all these emails and letters I got all said this is a bad development, you know we don’t need another golf course in Collier County’ – and he said it’s not up to the water management district to decide whether to approve a golf course or whether it’s a good or bad development. All we can do is apply our standards, and we’re not a zoning commission.”

McElwaine says the case will likely wind up in court…although there are still several key approvals to be won. The U-S Army Corps of Engineers must give its nod…as well as the Collier County Commission…before the project can move forward.

It was standing room only inside an air-conditioned tent pitched on a Charlotte County field Monday – as hundreds of state and local officials gathered to watch Governor Jeb Bush sign the Babcock Preservation Act. While the new law does set aside 310-million-dollars for the purchase of 74-thousand-acres of Babcock Ranch for preservation, it does not mean developer Syd Kitson can get started on his planned community on the remaining land. WGCU’s Mike Kiniry has the story.

Collier County is feeling the heat of an expensive housing market. This week, commissioners voted to approve four new developments that will include a total of 350 affordable homes and condominiums. A family of four who makes less than 52-thousand dollars a year would be eligible to buy the discounted homes. Speaking on WGCU’s Gulf Coast Live, Commission chairman Frank Halas said it’s important for young people to stay in Collier.

“We have to make sure that they have someplace as a starter home for them so that they have the ability the stay in this community because a lot of them live in this community and they sure don’t want to move away and we sure don’t want them to move away. Because you have to have youths if you want a vibrant community.”

There won’t be any immediate relief. The Collier homes will take about four years before they’re ready and the need for many more affordable houses is still there.

Collier County is home to the most expensive housing market in Florida. This week, commissioners voted to allow more developments with affordable homes. Business owners in Naples and the surrounding cities are having a tough time finding enough workers who can afford to live in Collier County. So after years of complaints, commissioners voted unanimously to approve four developments that contain more than 350 affordable homes and condominiums. Collier Commission chairman Frank Halas says it’s something they needed to do.

“It’s not the total answer but at least it’s a start. And we’re really looking for the public sector to jump on board this thing and help assist these communities down here in Southwest Florida in regards to addressing affordable housing.”

Halas spoke on WGCU’s Gulf Coast Live. The vote ended a stalemate with developers when commissioners approved the first rezoning requests in almost four months.