Bonita Bay stewards of environment

COURTESY PHOTO Award winning golf course at Bonita Bay. High tech computer skills might not seem to fit with a company that has a reputation for building developments around, not through, trees and waterways.

But in Brian Lucas' life, they fit together really well.

As vice president for business development and chief information officer for his family's Bonita Bay Group, Lucas has melded information technology and his company's environmentally friendly philosophy into his work.

"We build communities that we would be proud to call home," Lucas said. "That means we preserve the trees, plant more trees and always have nature trails through the community for walking and jogging."

Bonita Bay's Verandah, a green community near Fort Myers, is as good as it gets for environmental stewardship.

For its efforts at creating and maintaining the natural environment, the company received awards from the Council for Sustainable Florida, Project EverGreen and Trees Florida during 2007.

The company's desire to preserve green spaces is not lost on residents at Verandah.

"One of the attractions to the property was the whole environmental concept," said Donna Matthews, a snowbird from Delaware. "All the trees on the property, the live oaks, are fabulous. The nature preserve areas are wonderful. They can't be touched. If a tree falls it stays. The area is preserved in its natural state."

Bonita relocated 120, 50 to 60-yearold live oak trees and 1,200 sabal palms, said Tina McCain Matte, a spokesperson for the company. The slough and cypress stands were also preserved in what used to be a cattle ranch.

All of the homes on Verandah's 1,456 acres, including villas, town homes or custom and traditional single-family homes, must be certified by the Florida Green Building Coalition.

That fits right into Lucas' plans to use high-tech computers in the planning and maintenance of his company's environmental ideals.

Lucas graduated from The Canterbury School in Fort Myers. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in entrepreneurial management, with a minor in information technology at Stetson University.

COURTESY PHOTO Brian Lucas A computer whiz, Lucas joined Anderson Consulting, which became Accenture, a global business consulting company. At that company he worked to help health care and utilities companies run their businesses more efficiently.

While working there Lucas and his wife, Lee, lived in Maryland with their two children. Lee Lucas worked on the human genome project at the National Institutes of Health.

The call of family business and home in Southwest Florida became stronger than the technology job at Accenture. Lucas and his wife decided to become part of the Bonita Bay Group.

Lucas joined his father David Lucas, chairman of the board of the family residential development business, headquartered in Bonita Springs, in 2004.

"I always knew it was where I would end up working," Brian Lucas said. "It is where I belong."

He had to make some adjustments from his consulting job because land development demands more time.

Consulting projects might take typically three to six months. Creating one of Bonita Bay's green communities can take six years.

"It is a complex business and I started learning right from the start," Lucas said. "I can't put a number on the hours. It is every day. I do make time for my family."

How he does it is anyone's guess. He started company branches such as a golf management company called New Leaf. He keeps his eye on other family businesses such as the restaurant Rosie Spoonbill's at the Promenade near Bonita Bay.

When he joined the family business in 2004, customers rushed to buy lots in Bonita Bay's communities. Since then, the housing market in Southwest Florida and throughout the country has tanked.

The housing market slowdown since late 2005 doesn't faze Lucas. The majority of Bonita Bay group's customers buy second homes to enjoy as retreats from the winter months or for vacations.

"It varies by county but I'd say 65 percent of our market is for seasonal homes," Lucas said. "Except at Sandoval, I'd say it was 35 to 40 percent seasonal."

Planned in the 1980s, Bonita Bay, the company's flagship community, is described as ahead of its time. There were 40 different habitat types and 22 different drainage basins identified by planners.

Wetlands were preserved, a modern stormwater system was created and more than half of the 2,400 acres was set aside as open space.

The community opened in 1985 and became a magnet for upscale buyers with an appreciation of nature. It earned the Urban Land Institute's 1999 Award for Excellence.

The Brooks, a 2,532-acre planned community, opened in 1999. It has been designated "turtle friendly" by the Council for a Sustainable Florida because its design allows members to enjoy nature without intruding on turtle nesting grounds.

A gated community, Sandoval sits on 524 acres at Veteran's Parkway and Surfside Boulevard in Cape Coral. Single family, carriage and villa homes are priced starting at $200,000.

"I think Bonita Bay group brought more variety to Cape Coral with Sandoval," said state Rep. Gary Aubuchon, R-Cape Coral. "I think more middle-class people who still work live there."

Sandoval's development follows three phases. Phase I calls for 579 homes. Opened for sales in Jan. 2006, Phase II contains 541 homes. Build out plans call for about 1,550 homes.

Just to the east of Sandoval, a 26- acre shopping center - the Shops at Surfside - remains under construction. A Belk department store and other shops have opened.

The shopping center is a project of Chicago-based developer Bob Horne's Dodge Capital LLC. But it was built to Bonita Bay's guidelines on design, color choice, landscaping and signage.

The traffic along Veteran's Parkway generated by the shopping center called for a traffic light at the Surfside Boulevard intersection.

"I think we (Bonita Bay Group) are paying for it," Lucas said.

The shopping center's proximity to Sandoval is no accident. Like many new-urbanism planners, Bonita Bay Group planners design communities where people can live and be close to their work, shopping and recreation.

Despite building gated communities, the aforementioned developments are built with what University of West Florida sociologist and author Ray Oldenburg called a "Third Place."

In his book, "The Great Good Place: Cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, bars, hair salons and other hangouts at the heart of a community" Oldenburg said that communities are built around a "Third Place."

The first place people have remains their home. The second place where people have some socialization is the workplace.

Our commuter society in its rush to build suburbs after World War II lost something. It lost the community meeting place, Oldenburg wrote.

By commuting from home to work and back again the population became isolated. People need a place where they could walk, stop to chat, greet old friends and make new ones.

The people living in Bonita Bay Group communities such as Sandoval can socialize with each other at the Club Sandoval clubhouse or on the playing field. Sandoval boasts basketball, bocce and volleyball courts. It also has a free-form pool, jogging paths and many parks.

The chickee hut near the pool features an authentic luau and live music.

"Bonita Bay set the bar high for environmental living," said Nancy Keefer, president and chief executive officer of the Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce. "They have shown that they are good stewards of the environment in addition to building very attractive communities. They are heavily involved with the area through charities and especially with their work with the United Way."