Years ago, Bonita Springs was recognized as a small drive-through community, a quick blur for many motorists heading from Naples to Fort Myers. Few would have imagined the development boom that the 1990s would bring. Fewer still would have anticipated the current movement to make the area into a city.

But for those who live in Bonita Springs today, incorporation could very well become a fact of life. If it works, the city will give citizens an opportunity to solve some of the area's biggest challenges. If it doesn't, the area's present-day problems could be compounded. There is quite a bit to consider.

Historic Hurdles

If Bonita Springs incorporates as a city in 2001, it won't be for the first time. During the boom of the 1920s, Bonita Springs secured a city charter. Then the Depression hit, expenses became unmanageable, and the fledging city surrendered its status.

If a pending referendum is approved by the Florida legislature in the spring 1999 session, voters will be able to chose whether or not Bonita becomes a city on the November 1999 ballot. Thus, Bonita Springs could become the fifth community in Lee County to incorporate. Predecessors include the City of Fort Myers in 1911, Cape Coral in 1970, Sanibel in 1974 and Fort Myers Beach in 1995. Boca Grande, Pine Island and Lehigh also have discussed the possibility.

It seems that each time Bonita Springs experiences accelerated growth, the pros and cons of cityhood surface for discussion. Bonita's pre-Depression boom was only the beginning:

* In 1984, a group of citizens took a city charter application as far as a state legislative delegation. There a state senator kiboshed it on the grounds of inadequate information.

* Ten years later, in 1994, a business community initiative funded a professional Bonita Corporation Study. It showed that Lee County returned .03 cents in services and improvements for every .10 cents surrendered in taxes by Bonita Springs residents. (Today it's .04 cents).

* In 1996, an independent local Leadership Council of retired business executives undertook a review of the earlier feasibility study. They zeroed in on the specter of "unfunded liabilities," including roads, rivers, canals and ditches, in a separate Tax Equity Funding Study. Backed by encouraging numbers, the Leadership Council joined the local Chamber of Commerce in funding the 1997 Bonita Springs Incorporation Study.

* Finally, a 1998 incorporation study update funded by a newly formed Bonita Springs Incorporation Committee provided the platform for formulating a city charter approved by a state legislative delegation last December. The Bonita Incorporation Committee initially opted for neutrality but later decided to support incorporation. "We concluded that the quality of life could be improved," says Hal Brenner, chairman of the group.

Should the incorporation effort succeed, Bonita Springs would elect government officers during the March 2000 primaries in preparation for becoming a city one second before the new year of 2001.

So, You Want to Incorporate?

The proposed city of Bonita Springs would geographically cover most of the present-day Bonita Springs fire district, with the exception of an area east of I-75, where some lands are presently under negotiation as purchase for state preserve. The fire district itself would continue to function as is, funded by its own existing tax assessment.

The range of driving issues includes concerns over roadway congestion, unchecked growth, crime and infrastructure maintenance. The Bonita Springs Incorporation Committee believes incorporation will help achieve the following:

* Home rule, better control over the future in light of recent rapid growth.

* Preservation of a high quality of life

* The return of more tax dollars to the Bonita area

* Better control of growth and development

* Improved law enforcement

* Faster response and improvements to emerging needs

"It boils down to the issue of home rule," says Brenner. "Where should the decisions be made? Should they be made by the [Lee County] commission or by the people of Bonita Springs?"

Zoning, code enforcement and economic development are also on the list. "Planning for managed growth could be more conservative than it is now," says Bonita Incorporation Committee Treasurer Hank Hochstetler. "Developers are in a rush to acquire land west of I-75. When it's gone, watch what happens east of I-75. Also, we could offer better incentives to attract desirable industries. The Economic Development Office hasn't paid much attention to Bonita Springs."

According to the plan proposed by the committee, the city would function by a "government light" philosophy like that of the four-year-old town of Fort Myers Beach. It's a bare bones type of system, where a few employees manage the administrative side of the city and most functions -- roadway maintenance for example -- are contracted out to the county or to a private company.

The Bonita Incorporation Committee claims it can all be done without an increase in taxes. "The conclusion that the committee has come to," says Brenner, "is that the quality of life can be increased without an increase in taxes."

The city would operate, Brenner says, with funding that would have normally gone to the county for the municipal services taxing units, also known as MSTUs, charged to Bonitia residents for specialized services such as lighting. The redirected funds would add up to approximately $3.2 million in initial revenues for the new city. The city also would have other potential sources of revenue -- state gas tax proceeds, license fees and taxes, permit fees and investment income.

With a tax base of approximately $2.6 billion and growing, the city would have a continuing stream of revenue. With Florida revenue sharing proceeds, the Bonita Incorporation Committee claims, an additional $2.2 million would flow to city coffers.

Under state requirements, the city would have to raise the equivalent of 3 mills ($3 per every $1000 of tax value) of city taxes upon incorporation to qualify for the additional state funding. Judging by the MSTUs that would be directed to the city, Bonita will only have about 1.2337 mills to work with -- an apparent shortfall.

However, Joe Mazurkiewicz, who produced the 1997 incorporation study and the 1998 update, claims that the new city will be able to receive revenue sharing for five years due to a specification in the city charter. And even if the five-year exception isn't used, he says, the city can include special districts in its revenue sharing equation. Using the fire district and a solid waste assessment as such additions, the number would move up to 3.9, well within the qualifying range.

A Statewide Trend

Incorporation is not just a Southwest Florida phenomenon. It is affecting all parts of Florida, especially those with