A rock mining company wants the Lee County government to rezone 204 acres of land, the equivalent of about 154 football fields, and expand a rock mine that has been operating for more than 30 years off Alico Road.  

The agricultural land has Florida Gulf Coast University’s Innovation Lab to the west, Southwest Florida International Airport to the north, the county’s Green Meadow water treatment facility just to the northeast, a preserved natural water flow-way to the east, and Alico Road and the 1,100-home Wild Blue community to the south.  

CEMEX presented its request to Lee County Hearing Examiner Amanda Rivera during a public hearing Wednesday in downtown Fort Myers by using expert testimony in land-use law, environmental science, stormwater management, geology, transportation and blasting. These experts combined for more than 200 years of experience and made their presentations over nearly three hours.  

Brian Roberts, a plan reviewer with the county, told Rivera he agreed with almost all of their proposals. 

CEMEX Environmental Manager James Morris, leader of his company’s delegation, declined to be interviewed because of corporate interview guidelines. But as he addressed the hearing examiner, he stressed the mining activity would result from the area’s consistent demand for construction material to build new roads and rebuild after Hurricane Ian.  

“With the events of Ian, local demand for those materials will only increase and most likely outpace supply,” Morris said. “The location of our operations will allow for materials needed for repairs made locally.”  

CEMEX bought the bulk of the land for $1.2 million in 2016.  

Seven residents from Wild Blue and other areas off Alico Road spoke during a public comment period. Some of them discovered a cardboard sign stuck in the ground near the mine, notifying the public of the meeting. The Lee County communications office, which sends a dozen or so news releases to the media each month, did not notify the media of the hearing. 

Under Lee County law, the public’s presence at the hearing gives them the opportunity to speak for three minutes each in front of the Board of County Commissioners prior to commissioners Cecil Pendergrass, Brian Hamman, Ray Sandelli, Mike Greenwell and Kevin Ruane voting on the decision. 

That vote may not take place for weeks if not months. No other members of the public will be permitted to speak at that vote under current county law.   

Marsha Ellis, who lives near the mine, found out about the hearing less than 10 days ago. In less than a week, she presented a 30-page PowerPoint presentation during public comment. She asked about three times as many questions about the future mining expansion as compared to Rivera, the hearing examiner.  

Ellis raised concerns over damage to Florida panther habitat and gopher tortoises. She told Gulfshore Business she’s not fighting the mine, but the lack of commitment to the environment by the mining company. 

She wants CEMEX to commit to creating a working panther corridor on the lands surrounding its mining activity, which are owned by the FGCU Foundation and Lee County. In addition, Ellis took offense to about 69 acres of wetlands that the mine would directly impact. 

“This is a very, very dynamic area in terms of conservation and water flow,” the former teacher and a current beekeeper said. “Many of the maps the applicants have shown fail to show all of the nearby conservation lands.”  

Residents of Wild Blue focused their concerns on the blasting, the continued truck traffic and the continued dust on Alico Road and the surrounding areas created by the mining activity. During the past five years, CEMEX’s blastings have occurred once or twice per month and last just three seconds, said Jeffrey Straw, vice president of Geosonics.  

“It’s extremely low level,” he said.  

Jeff Hoss, a Wild Blue resident, disagreed.  

“I live directly south of where they are blasting,” said Hoss, who lives about two miles from the mine. “And I can feel the blasting.”   

The new air traffic control tower at the airport is 2.5 miles from the mine as well, but Straw said the airport’s own baggage carousel has created more vibrations there than the mine blasting.   

Hoss also expressed his concerns about the continuation of truck traffic carrying the blasted rock out of the rock mine, especially with tens of thousands of homes being planned for Corkscrew Road, and a planned connector between State Road 82 and Alico Road.   

CEMEX would not divulge the current amount of truck traffic generated when asked by Rivera but said it would not generate any more traffic.   

“At 7 a.m., you can’t get out of Wild Blue because it’s wall-to-wall traffic,” Hoss said. “I live directly south of where they are blasting. And I can feel the blasting.”  

Karen Desrochers also lives near the mine and has for 33 years. She had hoped to have seen her last public hearing about mining near her home, but she said she felt compelled to attend this one.  

“I’m like the bullseye, all around the mines,” Desrochers said. “We all went through this before, and now we’re going through it all over again.”