EDITOR'S NOTE: To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Florida Gulf Coast University, WGCU Public Media presents "FGCU: The Beginning." The series chronicles the key founders and events that led up to Aug. 25, 1997, when the campus first opened. As the finale for the series, a half-hour television documentary will air on Aug. 24 at 8pm. Learn more about the series here.
As a regional planning official, Wayne Daltry’s business was to examine growth patterns in Southwest Florida. From his arrival in 1975 to the time talk of bringing a university to the region came about in the late 1980s, he’d already seen the population of Lee County double from 155,000 to 320,000.
Having lived through the push to get I-75 down to Fort Myers, he saw a similar community sentiment towards a university.
“You had this private-initiated/public understanding by the local governments that we need to do the full-court press on getting a university,” said Daltry. “We got that 15 years before for expediting the interstate which was supposed to be finished here in 2008. But, by the time everybody mobilized was finished in 1990.”
From planner, he’d been promoted in 1987 to executive director of the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council. That’s when the push came for a state university in the region. He viewed it as natural progression of community development that started with a regional airport in 1983.
“The general feeling was we need to do that again because a university was envisioned as basically completing our picture,” said Daltry. “I mean we had had the first push on a state-of-the-art airport; next was the interstate. And the push after that, here it is - the university.”
Building in a Swamp?
When he first arrived in Southwest Florida, Daltry had limited expectations for growth of the region.
“I’m from Bradenton -- I mean it was all swamp,” he said. “I mean, Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral were - you know - the land scams. They had made the national news. You know, these were places that were never going to make it. By golly, you’ve got to run the pumps 24/7 to keep the land dry enough.”
As a native Floridian, he also had perspective that development was likely, despite environmental challenges. He referred to Florida International University being built on the east coast.
“FIU off US-41 in Miami-Dade, yeah. What was that? That was called the Everglades,” he said.
So, when the site selection process narrowed the possible location of the university to three final sites – drainage was a major consideration.
Other factors, included proximity to the airport, within the I-75 corridor and access to infrastructure.
“We got 22 sites submitted by major land owners,” said Daltry, referring to a state-appointed site selection committee. “Seven were not acceptable based on too much distance from what we would call a central location and important infrastructure.”
The remaining 15 were put through “a fairly vigorous science/economic/transportation survey,” he added.
A second cut was made down to seven. The seven were reduced to three that were submitted to the board of regents. Two Fort Myers sites were north of Daniels Road - the Gateway/Westinghouse site and the Omni site.
The third was the Alico site, which had been used as a rock mine in the past.
“The corps of engineers had undertaken a review of the three sites,” said Daltry. “The other two sites were proximate enough to Six Mile Cypress [Slough] that the heavy rain season pretty much lead to a fair indication. Here, same thing, but the rock mines meant that the area drained fairly quickly. So, the corps of engineers gave this site the thumbs up.”
The Alico site, situated at the headwaters of the Estero Bay River watershed, was in a remote location, with invasive exotics as well as native wildlife including alligators, wild hogs and bobcats.
“You were out in the middle of nowhere.,” said News-Press Reporter Betty Parker, who covered the creation of the university. “There was melaleuca and some ATV dirt paths going through the melaleuca and the grass and a lot of weeds and trees. And, you were just a long way from anywhere. It didn’t look any different than being out in the middle of the Big Cypress or in the middle of the Everglades.”
Panther Problem
After the site was awarded to Alico in 1992, the next major hurdle for the tenth university came in September 1994, when the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service issued a biological opinion that the development of the site would “harm,” but not cause extinction of the endangered Florida panther.
Founding President Roy McTarnaghan visited with the federal office to negotiate a way forward.
“I went to Vero Beach to meet with the US Fish & Wildlife Service,” said McTarnaghan.” They had a wonderful map on the wall with pictures of where all the panthers were in Florida. And they pointed out that once in ten and a half years the panther had been on the site that we were to develop.”
With 20 years of experience working with Florida officials, he sought a direct answer.
“I said, so how do we get to develop our land?” said McTarnaghan. “And, they said we have picked out an equal number of acres in another part of Lee and Collier County. And if you will buy that land for us for a $2 million price tag, then you can build on your land. And I said that’s extortion. And they said no that’s mediation.”
Responsible Growth Concerns
Some citizens were concerned about the university’s potential impact on urban sprawl in an area that was considered part of the Density Reduction Groundwater Resource (DRGR) area before the county changed the land-use plan. Some people cited impacts to Estero Bay, the state’s first designated aquatic preserve, and questioned what it would do to the region’s drinking water supply.
One group petitioned the initial water management district permitting in February 1995 as their third complaint.
“The challenge came from a citizens’ group, the Responsible Growth Management Coalition,” said Daltry. “They challenged initial siting made by the board of regents. And, they challenged our comprehensive plan change made by the local government.”
Even though he had initially been in favor of a Fort Myers site rather than the Alico site, Rep. Keith Arnold (D-Fort Myers), was appointed to lead a 22-member advisory group to facilitate a settlement agreement.
Lee County commissioners purchased the proposed panther habitat south of Corkscrew Road for the suggested price, moving federal permits forward in April 1995. But, it wasn’t until November 9, 1995, that the water management district issued the construction permit.
The settlement agreement also created the Estero Bay Agency on Bay Management to monitor the health of the bay. The agency was set up to include representatives from civic associations, water management officials, private citizens, Lee County and FGCU.
“It’s had positive and strong influence on a lot of the decisions going on in the watershed,” said Wayne Daltry. “Estero Bay water quality has gone downhill…university or not. The fact that we still think we have opportunities to reclaim the water quality is in part because of the planning that resolved and was required to result from the siting of the university in this watershed.”