CELCAB to recommend name for Newton project
The Cultural and Environmental Learning Center Advisory Board will make a name recommendation to the Fort Myers Beach Town Council in the near future to what is now referred to as the “Newton Park project.”
CELCAB passed a motion on the name “Seven Seas Park” by a 4-2 count at its monthly meeting Thursday. The recently formed ad-hoc committee for both the Newton and Mound House properties will now prepare a resolution draft for the board’s May 28 meeting before asking the town council to consider the proposal under its advisory committee items and reports agenda thereafter.
After much debate on the subject, the motion was passed after two previous motions failed. The first motion to recommend to name the project Newton Park failed 4-2; the second to recommend Mid-Island Park also failed 3-3.
“I think this would be an appropriate recommendation for a representative of the committee to appear before town council,” said project director Theresa Schober.
This will be the second time in less than two years that CELCAB makes a recommendation on the name of the Newton property. Schober referred to a question that was asked at CELCAB’s last meeting about whether or not the committee made a prior recommendation to town council.
“I pulled a memo and there was a position statement originally drafted by Bill Grace and then tweaked by the committee by a consensus rather than a motion and approved on July 11 (2007) on the way to a workshop with town council,” she said. “You all distributed this document to them and you’ll see that the last item on it says ‘change name and focus to Mid-Island Park.'”
Schober said the town council didn’t “specifically respond to changing the name” and mentioned certain agencies that “contributed significantly more cash to the project.”
Schober identified three contributors -Florida Communities Trust: $1.3 million; Lee County: $970,000; and the Tourist Development Council: $500,000- who donated money to recognize Jim and Ellie Newton who sold their property to the town before their deaths.
“The message that was sent to the granting agencies that contributed funding was directly relevant to the Newtons,” said Schober. “There has always been this interesting dichotomy about this property. Certain people on the island believe the Newtons and their associations should be commemorated. This is diametrically opposed to the people who see that as the commemoration of island development because of the real estate business the Newtons had on the island.”
Even though board member Barbara Hill believes there should be due respect to the Newtons and their history on the island, she thinks the naming of the park shouldn’t be celebrity driven.
“Had there been a donation (from the Newtons) clearly the Newton Park name would have been most appropriate,” she said. “But, because the Newtons benefited financially from the sale of the property, that doesn’t really (warrant) a naming privilege.”
While all board members had different views on either naming it after the Newtons or giving it a designation to better suit its location, Schober offered more food for thought.
“I think even though the Newtons didn’t donate the property, a certain amount of respect has to be given to the fact that they chose for this to be public park land,” said Schober. “I do think they, in some senses, went out of their way to help the town obtain this parcel whether they did so financially or didn’t do so financially. They were willing to enter an extremely long and complicated process. I think we shouldn’t forget that.”