City staff previews interlocal agreement with Lee County covering Prairie Pines mitigation and Ortiz property conveyance

City staff presented a summary of a proposed interlocal agreement with Lee County covering four primary components: termination of a 2008 Prairie Pines mitigation agreement, recording of a South Florida Water Management District conservation easement, termination of a player development complex lease, and conveyance of the Ortiz property (site of the county detention center and EOC) to the county.

Staff said the Prairie Pines work would restore and enhance wetlands on a roughly 673‑acre preserve and that the estimated mitigation cost is around $6 million. The Ortiz parcel's land value on the tax rolls was described as a little less than $4 million; the conveyance would require termination of three existing interlocal agreements dating from the late 1990s and handling of a related consent order so the county would assume successor responsibilities.

Council members asked procedural and substantive questions, including whether the county would return the player development lease area to the city (staff said the county would deliver a notice of lease termination) and whether the proposed Prairie Pines mitigation would allow Eastwood Village development to proceed (staff said resolving mitigation was necessary to comply with South Florida Water Management District permit requirements). A councilmember observed the $6 million estimate compared favorably with mitigation bank pricing elsewhere.

Staff indicated the agreement had been negotiated over multiple years and said they planned to place the interlocal agreement on a forthcoming council agenda (the transcript records staff saying the item would be on the agenda for the 20th). No formal vote was recorded during the briefing.