"For the Betterment of Our Community"

An Open Letter to All Oakes Estates Residents from your Oakes Estates Advisory Board (Contact us HERE)

Some months ago the OEA Board presented the County Transportation Dept. with a list of concerns about the Oakes Blvd. corridor. Prominent on this list were our insistence on retaining "our" light at Oakes and Immokalee during the widening of Immokalee, as well as our concerns about excessive cut-through traffic and vehicle speeds on Oakes. By way of response, Norm Feder, head of the Transportation Dept. addressed our regular monthly meeting last April. He suggested that the county would be willing to consider many of our requests, but that retaining the light at Immokalee was not likely to be one of them. He explained that there are too many lights in too short a section of Immokalee for traffic to flow properly. Both Tarpon Bay Blvd. and Valewood Drive are expected to need, and get, full four-way stoplights during the project. "Our" light would become the "odd man out" in his analysis, and be removed to improve traffic flow.

The County held its kickoff meeting for the Immokalee widening design/build project on June 15th at the North Naples Baptist Church on Oakes. The plans presented to the public at this meeting showed the light at Immokalee removed and a continuous median created, effectively preventing Oakes traffic from entering westbound Immokalee. Residents who leave our neighborhood to drive to I-75 or other points west via Immokalee would be left with one of two alternatives: Either turn right on Immokalee, travel 700 feet east while crossing three lanes of traffic, enter the left turn lane at the new Valewood light and make a U-turn. Or, detour to Spanish Oakes Ln, turn right past the new neighborhood park, right again on Tarpon Bay Blvd., past the new SuperTarget to a left at the Tarpon Bay light. We find neither of these an acceptable solution. The latter is a detour of over a mile for residents of Autumn Oaks and an inconvenience of all our residents. SuperTarget traffic combined with the single-lane-with-median design of Tarpon Bay Blvd. could make it impossible to even reach Immokalee during peak traffic times. In addition, the county is in the process of rezoning our school district. Very soon there will be three new schools on Livingston. School buses collecting our neighborhood kids in the morning would have the same detour; it's very unlikely that they could negotiate the U-turn at Valewood.

Both Oakes residents and OEA Board members registered complaints at the meeting. In addition the Board has drafted and delivered a letter critical of the current county plan to Mr. Feder, with copies to Don Scott, head of Transportation Planning, and Tom Henning, County Commissioner. (See below for a link to the letter.)

After considering a number of alternatives, your OEA Board has also drafted a counter-proposal to the county's plan. Our plan suggests that as a condition of removing the light the county should provide a new egress from our neighborhood between Autumn Oaks Ln and Immokalee about 700 feet east of Oakes, connecting to the proposed Valewood light (see fig. 1.) Oakes Blvd should remain open to Immokalee as a "right in, right out" as in the county proposal, but a median cut would allow emergency vehicles unimpeded access to Oakes from all directions, to all directions (see fig. 2.) Note that no traffic can enter Oakes Estates from Immokalee at Valewood under our proposal. Traffic can enter from east and westbound Immokalee at Tarpon Bay Blvd. and from eastbound Immokalee at Oakes. The county may also choose to allow westbound traffic on Immokalee to enter Oakes at an uncontrolled (i.e. no stoplight) left turn lane.

We considered, and will continue to consider, other solutions to the county's elimination of our light at Immokalee. We can, of course, simply oppose the move and hope to change their minds. We think it a strategy unlikely to succeed. Or, if enough land could be acquired at the southwest corner of Immokalee and Valewood to accommodate three lanes we could ask the county to provide full ingress and egress at the new Valewood light and either close or vacate Oakes Blvd between Autumn Oaks Ln and Immokalee. We will, in any case, continue to defend your access to Immokalee and I-75 while trying to deter cut-through traffic from using Oakes Blvd.

We value each and every homeowner's opinion and hope that you will take a moment to contact us HERE with your reactions to this situation as it stands and any constructive ideas you may have to refine our position.

Sincerely,

The Oakes Estates Advisory Board