Community organizations are suing Lee County over its decision to allow for development in the environmentally sensitive Density Reduction/Groundwater Resource area or DR/GR.

The DR/GR area is an almost 83,000 acre chunk of land in southeast Lee County that provides drinking water to the region.

Lee County Commissioners voted in November to allow more than 1,300 homes on about as many acres in the DR/GR.

The Estero Council of Community Leaders and the Responsible Growth Management Coalition sued. The lawsuit said the county’s comprehensive plan identifies the 1,400 acres of land as needing the most protection or restoration to return to historic surface and ground water levels.

Don Eslick, interim executive director of  the Estero Council of Community Leaders, said he’s concerned the development will make it harder for the land to absorb water.

“If you don’t have a lot of wetlands out there and a system for retaining that water on there so it recharges the aquifers and doesn’t move quickly to the gulf and create flooding in the downstream communities. You got a problem,” he said.

The lawsuit also said the area is habitat for the endangered Florida panther and that building would conflict with Lee County’s comprehensive plan’s protection goals for the animal.

The DR/GR was created in 1990 after a settlement between the county and state to limit development there.

The groups want a new trial to evaluate the rezoning.

The county declined to comment due to ongoing litigation.   

Read the lawsuit here: