Villagers are friendly (really)

Mention the newly incorporated Village of Estero to builders and developers and at best you'll get a roll of the eyes.

Since it became a municipality last year, the small town between Fort Myers and Naples has earned a reputation as a thorny place to do business because of the vocal not-in-my-backyard crowd. Some landowners and builders believe the town created a de-facto moratorium on development.

But Estero recently approved the rezoning request by a continuing-care retirement community operated by the nonprofit Volunteers of America to build a 340-bed community and 15,000 square feet of medical office space on what was to be a 200,000-square-foot office building and shopping center. It's the first rezoning approval by the city, and construction is scheduled to start next year.