An Under Taking

Bill Cobb Jr. was in high school the first time he heard someone say his family was going to lose its Bonita Springs property. It was the late '90s, and Cobb and his father were attending some of the first meetings with representatives from the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), which wanted the family's Harrell Avenue property for flood relief.

More than a decade since, Cobb, now an entrepreneur who owns the five-acre property with his sister Christina Kunz, is finally losing it to the district through eminent domain. The district recently acquired the property, and he has received a notice evicting his tree-service company from the property on Nov. 21. Left with few real estate alternatives, Cobb says the eviction will put him out of business. As he looks for another job, Cobb points to his family's lengthy battle with the water management district as a case of eminent domain run amuck.

The project, known originally as the Southern Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (So. C.R.E.W.), stems from a major rainstorm in 1995 that caused a 100-year flood. The rain ultimately displaced some 1,700 residences near and including the Manna Christian Missions RV park on Bonita Beach Road for weeks.