The Naples Daily News from Naples, Florida • 3

Aib aM NAPLES DAILY NEWS Tues Sept 28 1993 3A Local News MijM-tiaipaMfttSNalNllirsia-avSSwaPei1 Others are the Florida Growth Management Conflict Resolution Consortium which is housed at Florida State University and The Urban Group a Fort Lauderdale real-estate consulting firm The Naples architects are volunteering their services the other two groups would charge a fee The firms of architects Andrea Brown A1 French and Larry Warner would do the work on behalf of the AIA Warner said Those firms would schedule a series of public workshops to find out what the public wants in downtown redevelopment and to develop criteria by which the Community Redevelopment Agency could hire a planning firm to create the redevelopment plan Warner said Duany is doing this already on Fifth Avenue and the city has asked him for an estimate of how much it would cost to perform the same service far the entire district There also are some local architectur the other two proposals to the redevelopment advisory board The Economic Development Council of Collier government affairs coordinator Bill Neron put the advisory board in touch with the Growth Management Conflict Resolution Consortium and with The Urban Group The consortium has not provided a specific cost figure for its services The Urban Group says it would charge no more than 535000 on an hourly as-needed basis Reimbursable expenses including travel lodging printing postage and longdistance telephone calls and faxes would not exceed $15000 and would require written approvals according to The Urban Group proposal Its proposal includes the cost of drawing up the redevelopment plan not just the cost of building a community consensus on what it should include The biggest step toward downtown redevelopment came this month when the City Council and the Fifth Avenue Property Owners Association agreed to split the cost up to 3120000 to hire renowned town planner Andres Duany to develop a redevelopment plan for Fifth Avenue His project gets under way next month That leaves the rest of the 500-acre redevelopment area which stretches generally from Seventh Avenue North to Fifth Avenue South and from Eighth Street to the Gordon River redevelopment advisory board is looking for someone to lead them through the steps (toward completing a redevelopment said Larry Warner a member of the advisory board and the government liaison for the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) The AIA chapter is one of three groups proposing to undertake the community building consensus needed as a first step toward drafting a redevelopment plan al firms interested in bidding for that job Warner said Warner said the Naples run for a piece of the redevelopment action should not be interpreted as conflicting with Duany's work on Fifth Avenue Although he said he hates to see money for consultants go to out-of-town firms such' as Duany's he admitted that someone with showmanship and ability to motivate people is what is needed right now for redevelopment to take root are happy to have him in town and we hope to work with Warner said He said the group of Naples architects could bring a unique perspective to the redevelopment work because they are the ones that will eventually have to administer whatever plan comes out of the process live here and work here and want to see it done Warner said Another local group has worked to get By ERIC STAATS Staff Writer In an attempt to focus downtown rejuvenation efforts the redevelopment advisory board will consider proposals today from three consulting groups interested in guiding the process The most important job for the chosen group will be to build a community consensus for what a redeveloped downtown Naples should look like That is the element that has been missing from several past attempts at urban planning projects in Naples Those projects resulted in reports which have been shelved since their inception some say because they lacked any community support This time around the Naples City Council has named itself a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and has appointed a redevelopment advisory board The board meets at 4:30 pm today at City Hall 8 Ross resigns from Marco fire board said Ross who had previously served 18 months as the fire commission chairman "But I'm going to get out so I can travel The one bad thing about Marco is that it takes so long to get out of the While on the fire commission Ross spent most of his time trying to get the new centralized fire station at 1280 San Marco Road It became the subject of debate around the island as many island-'-ers criticized having such a costly fire station The price tag of the Spanish-style stucco building: $2 million I Ross along with other fire officials felt that there was a need for more space for firefighters' and a centralized location Also Ross along William Filbin the current fire commission chairman hired a bookkeeper in 1991 to get a hold of the district's finances will certainly miss you serving on the board" Filbin said to Ross at the meeting By TRISH MARTIN Staff Writer MARCO ISLAND A fire commissioner who played a key role in getting the new central fire station here is resigning Ralph Ross who has been on the Marco Island Fire Control District board for nearly three years said he has sent Gov Lawton Chiles a letter of resignation effective Nov 1 resignation which came at the end of the monthly fire district meeting on Monday was expected by some Ross said he wants to wait until November to step down so that the governor has enough time to find a replacement for him on the three-member commission The 58-year-old islander said moving to Tucson Ariz where he knows a few He has lived on Marco for four years may come back to Marco" Police officer charged with shoplifting at Wal-Mart on US 41 East on Sept 13 Security officers accused him of trying to steal baseball cards Sired said The store is in East Naples outside the jurisdiction of the city Police Department Col-f lier County sheriff's deputies re-' sponded to the call but did not make an arrest It is routine to allow state attorneys to decide whether to pursue charges Sireci said Lewis who has been with the city force since 1975 works in patrol division A police officer with the Naples Police Department has been suspended from the force pending investigation of charges that he was caught shoplifting Kenneth Lewis 41 has not been arrested but has been suspended with pay until the State Office decides whether to pursue misdemeanor charges according to police Capt Paul Sired According to Sired Lewis was stopped by store security officers Staff photo by Ben Gray using your sheepshead Nathaniel Woods and Jessy Davis watch as James Grimsley tries to unhook a sheepshead he caught from the Gordon River Bridge on Monday afternoon The sheepshead was the first of the day for the group Bills: WNPL parent seeks bankruptcy protection Man injured in head-on collision remains in serious condition Site'of fatal accident 8 ayJENDRYCO By Naples Daily News staff Two men were killed and one injured in a head-on collision at 8:55 pm Sunday on State Road 82 at the Lee-Hendry county line 27 miles south of LaBelle said Florida Highway Patrol David Herman Bennett 40 of Felda Fla and his passenger whose name is not being released until notification of his relatives both died in the accident troopers said Both the driver and the passenger were wearing seat belts The driver of the second vehicle Richard Jones of Fort Myers was not wearing a seat belt He survived and was transported to Southwest Regional Medical Center He was listed is serious condition Monday Daily News graphic According to troopers Jones was driving a 1977 Ford pickup truck westbound (Hi SR 82 and Bennett was driving a 1983 Chevy eastbound Jones crossed the median into the eastbound lane and both vehicles struck head on Charges are pending and the accident remains under investigation Felix Meyers Meycom president ailesma haphazard bookkeeping and questionacie business practices The suit was later dropped but Darling led stockholders in a corporate coup ousting Meyers and the board of directors in September 1988 Darling was installed as the head of a new board Soon afterward stockholders reportedly became disenchanted with the way Darling ran the station In January 1989 the station was placed into receivership over the objections of Meyers and other stockholders After the receiver sold what was left of the station Darling and a group of limited! partners Southwest Florida Telecommunications Inc outbid another group for the operating permit paying $650000 for what was to be the last permit issued in Southwest Florida After a number of proposed on-air dates came and went WNPL began broadcasting test signals in September 1990 About a week before however the station was sued by a Naples businessman who charged that it defaulted on lease payments for editing and field equipment In June 1992 former general manager for technical operations was arrested and charged with stealing thousands of dollars of equipment from Palmer Cablevi-sion A few months later the US Department of Labor investigated charges that the station was not paying its employees properly Waterman Broadcasting Corp of Florida filed suit earlier this month claiming that WNPL reneged on that agreement The company is asking far an injunction that would force WNPL to broadcast programming supplied by Waterman Under the agreement WNPL was to have leased its broadcasting facilities to Waterman so that the company could air its own programming Waterman would also assume responsibility for sales and marketing in connection with the programming In return Waterman would pay WNPL $35000 per month WNPL has refused to allow Waterman to broadcast its programming according to the suit The suit claims that without the steady cash flow WNPL could dark" due to its inability to pay its bills for utilities broadcasting equipment (including its transmission tower) and payroll Richard Shanahan a shareholder of Southwest Florida Telecommunications said the change in leadership led to the misunderstanding attorney James Nulman could not be reached Monday night for comment on whether the bankruptcy filing will affect his client's suit relatively short history has been rife with corporate in-fighting and a number of lawsuits Darling was among the original investors of Meycom Inc which was granted a license to broadcast on UHF Channel 46 in July 1984 Four years later Darling filed suit against Continued from 1A Naples which claimed in a lawsuit earlier this year that WNPL owes it $71000 The bank took possession of the office furniture and equipment which was set to be sold at a sheriff's sale Monday morning The bankruptcy filing prevented that from taking place just want to get the money they owe said Robert Guididas Bank of Naples president bankruptcy just adds another The bank also filed a suit asking the court to appoint a receiver who would oversee management of the station and ensure that creditors would be paid Attorney Richard Gebhart said however that the bankruptcy filing renders the suit moot Gebhart filed the suit on behalf of the bank he said way the management of the company remains in the hands of those who up to this point done too general manager Jack Spiess said he would issue a statement but did not William Darling Sr who founded the station back in 1990 resigned as general manager in late May He moved to Pennsylvania and was seeking work in California according to court documents unrelated to this case In his absence WNPL allegedly signed an agreement in August under which the parent company of WBBH-TV Channel 20 in Fort Myers would take over most of the Naples station's day-to-day operations i 4 i- i i I COURT BRIEF Apartments: 75 angry residents seek out improvements Prostitution charges dropped The State Office dropped charges Monday against an Oregon woman charged with prostitution and running an unlicensed escort -service Diana Lynn Bard 23 was charged with the misdemeanors after she was arrested in July 1992 of charges of accepting $180 from proceeds of prostitution and sending unlicensed escorts to Collier County on two occasions The State Office did not return a phone message seeking comment on why charges were dropped Bard was arrested during an undercover operation that was filmed by the television series She was living in North Fort Myers at the time of her The State Office did not return a phone message seeking comment on why charges were dropped arrest She bonded out of jail and was living in Coos Bay Oregon Bard is still awaiting trial (Hi felony racketeering charges in connection with an alleged prostitution business she ran from Oregon that solicited clients in Naples as well as other major Westem and Southern cities She was arrested after authorities in Oregon served a warrant at her home She then was bodied into the Collier County Jail in May voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1991 a complaint about the coir lapsed patio was filed at office by the Golden Gate Fire Department Paris the tenant said he wants to move out and knows of other people who feel the same way He said he was told that he will have to pay the next month's and last month's rent and a $200 cleaning fee "I should not be held to my lease" Pai is said Affleck who said she lives in the compiei with her two children asked a TV crew from a Fort Myers station to leave before the meeting started After showing video dips of last Thursday's accident from local TV stations Affleck announced that engineers will be at Meadr owood this week to examine the structural problems Clark said the tenants are on their own if they use the stairs because the county has notified the owners and occupants about the problem done what is he said Although some tenants are scared about another accident they are still using the stairs Mary Pezzulo said people don't have a choice else can they she asked do you pick up and move Clark said the county is obligated to enforce minimum housing and building codes but it is not feasible for a staff of 23 building inspectors to check on maintenance in the thousands of apartments condos and homes in Collier It is the responsibility of the owners to maintain their facilities In the case of Meadowood which filed a Continued from 1A the patios Signs have been posted on stairways and patios that read: "This structure is deemed unsafe for occupancy It is unlawful for any person to use this stairway or Collier County Code Enforcement Director Dick Clark said the 2-by-8 pieces of wood beneath apartment had rotted out and the floor supports were not adequately secured to the beams around the outside of the building Clark noted that the 288-unit complex has not been properly maintained life expectancy of wood and metal is longer than seven years" Clark said "I've seen them last 20 years" Meadowood is not fully occupied but Clark said he understood that about 188 units are filled.