Important dates All activities are open to the public

March 12: Alva Garden Club straw-berry shortcake, plant and bake sale, 9-1 p.m., 21420 East Pearl St. Call 239-233-7331

March 13: Fire District chicken bar-becue, 12-4 Styles Road station; Daylight Savings begins

March 14 Alva Inc. general mem-bership meeting, 7 p.m. Alva Com-munity Center. Speaker is Wayne Daltry, Responsible Growth Man-agement Council president

March 25: Good Friday

Inside buzz Teacher goes for gold ....... Page 2

Love those alpacas ......….. Page 3

Alva not giving much ……. Page 4

Newsletter Information

The Alva Inc. newsletter is published monthly. Get the newsletter by email. Send your address to Alva Inc. President Ruby Daniels at: rubydaniels@embarqmail.com Readers of the condensed printed version can read the full newsletter online at Alvafl.org. Send news and photos to editor Don Ruane at: ruanedon@aol.com Join Alva Inc. by completing the mem-bership form on Alvafl.org.

March 2016

How many houses can land take and still be rural?

Alva Inc. questioned proposed density changes in February for 40 acres at North River Road and State Road 31. Land owner Daniel Kreinbrink proposes to rezone the land from rural use to outlying suburban, which would allow him triple the density and al-low a community of up to 120 homes. Kreinbrink, or a subse-quent owner, also could have fewer homes and up

to 100,000 square feet of mixed use commercial. David Depew maintained one unit per acre doesn’t automatically preserve the rural nature. Nor does three ruin it. “My concern is the densi-ty. It is far too much to be considered rural,” said Ruby Daniels, president of Alva Inc. “I have a problem with that much density.” The proposal also has been discussed several times in front of the North

Olga Community Planning Panel. Kreinbrink’s property is in the North Olga planning district. No decision to support or oppose the project has been made by the Olga panel, Depew said. No decision is immi-nent. There will be more public hearings as the pro-posal moves through the process and gets more specific, he said. “I understand there are a lot of questions,” Depew said. “We haven’t de-signed anything yet.” The intersection is viewed by some as the gateway to Alva. Some say Kreinbrink’s proposal could open the door to more develop-ment there. Depew said allowing some commercial could create an entrance to Alva and protect the area against more develop-ment to the east.

Planner David Depew shows were project might go.

Project sits at gateway to Alva

Support the Alva Museum renovation project by attending the

Alva Garden Club’s strawberry shortcake/plant/bake sale

March 12 at the museum on Pearl Street. 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Residential Commercial Creek Land 239-728-5481

Services Provided by

Matthew Miller: 239-872-0690

M &M Horticulture: debris re-

moval

Matthew Miller Tractors:

Tractors, Trailers

Com Ag Inc.: Tree trimming,

Excavating

M & M Farms: Organic Soil,

plants and materials

DBI Limousine: All occasions mild

to wild

M&M Dumpsters: Commercial

dumpsters

Millers Lawn Service: Lawns, Land-

scaping, ponds, waterfalls

The Alva Museum

Open every Saturday Oct—May 2 pm. — 4 p.m.

Courtesy of the Alva Garden Club Meetings the third Tuesday of the month

2 p. m. — 4 p. m. Information: 239-728-3180 or 239-728-6543

February 2015 Nancy B. Sizemore

Certified Public

Accountant

3211 Tuckahoe

Crossing LN

PO Box 605

Alva, FL 33920

www.sandrabatesfacepaintingwebs.com

Cherie Sukovich of The Alva School is in the finals of the Golden Apple award competition. Sukovich teaches sev-enth and eighth grade science and agro-science. This is her first year at The Alva School, but not her first as a teacher. She has 15 years of experience at the middle and high school levels. Six teachers are selected from 30 final-ists to receive a Golden Apple award from the Foundation for Lee County Public Schools. The awards will be pre-sented April 8. The Golden Apple pro-gram started 28 years ago to recognize and reward excellence in teaching. So far 165 educators can call themselves Golden Apple award winners. Students, teachers, parents, administrators and the public can nomi-nate a teacher for the award. A typical year draws

Alva teacher could bring home the gold this year

Sukovich

nominations for about 2,300 educators.

Other school news: Friday, March 4 was Read Across America Day at The Alva School. Coordinator Erica Smith had help from a dozen vol-unteers from the commu-nity. They visited class-rooms to read to the stu-dents and to talk about the importance of reading in their lives. Two eighth graders at The Alva School captured

attention of their own this year as finalists in the Thomas Alva Edison Kiwa-nis Regional Science and Engineering Fair. Erin Alt-man was recognized for her acid reflux project. Kaylee Alsip captured the judges’ interest with her question: Does gender affect memory. March 25 through April 1 is a time for extra caution on the road. Students will be on Spring Break. They may be in places you least expect them so drive care-fully.

Fire district chow

Help your district by buy-ing a chicken dinner March 13: half a chicken, baked beans, coleslaw, roll and drink for $10.

HOUSE OF PRAYER

RETREAT CENTER

A sacred place to

come home to self

and to God

Spiritual Direction *

Retreats Group

Presentations

17880 Cypress Rd. Alva,

Fl. 33920

(239) 728-3614 * FAX

(239) 728-3760

Office.hopretreatcenter

@gmail.com

Www.hopretreatcenter.

org

Excellence in child care,

welfare and education

License: C20E0055

14801 Palm Beach

Blvd., Suite 200

Fort Myers FL 33905 .

Office: (239) 680-0104

Fax: (239) 694-0105

RiverdaleRiverdale

Learning AcademyLearning Academy

Alva Inc. Board members

Ruby Daniels (P) Emily Smith (T)

Connie Dennis (S) Paul Furbay

LIS Architecture, Engineering, Land surveying 21430 Palm Beach Blvd. Alva, FL 33920 Tel: (239) 693-9244 Fax: (239) 693- 9828 Central Florida Location: 2572 West State Road 426 Suite 2064 Oviedo, FL 32765 Tel. (321) 244-0402 Fax: (321) 244-9419

Alpaca Day 2016

Kids and adults love alpacas. That was

clear Feb. 27 at the Star Ranch in Alva.

People could mix with and feed the alpac-

as, buy products made from their coats

and learn how the fibers are processed.

Take a look around Alva

Citrus picking time is upon us

ALVA: Facts and FQs What is ALVA Inc.?: ALVA, Inc. is a local civic organization working to preserve the unique historical, rural, agricultural and equestri-an ambiance of Alva. What is the purpose of ALVA Inc.? ALVA, Inc. provides a forum for community planning and strives to bring about community awareness,

and work toward constructive solutions con-sistent with community goals. Is ALVA concerned only about development? No. ALVA is interested in many activities and issues that affect our community. How can I join ALVA? Membership is open to all Alva residents, property owners, or business-es interested in the future of Alva. Please com-plete a membership form and mail it with your dues to Alva Inc., P. O. Box 2022, Alva FL 33920. Forms are available at Alvafl.org

Report from:

Here’s what your neigh-bors in northeast Lee Coun-ty are talking about on the Internet community site for Alva, Fort Myers Shores, Charleston Park and north-ern Lehigh Acres:

Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Olga is rais-ing funds with a pulled pork dinner March 10 from 4 to 7 p.m. The church is at 14561 Old Olga Road. The cost is: Adults $8, children under 12, $4. The din-ner includes scalloped potatoes, vegetable, salad, roll and home-made desserts.

The Cottage Thrift Bou-tique was to open March 5 at the inter-section of Weber and Matanzas in Fort My-ers Shores. The bou-tique sells gently used household items and clothing and supports the community out-reach and ministries of Grace Church.

Alva United Methodist Church is sponsoring a blue grass concert March 12 at The Alva School auditorium. The music starts at 7 p.m. and features the New River Bluegrass Band.

Listen to that letter from Radiology Re-gional about compro-mised medical records, the Lee County Sher-iff’s Office advised. Files were scattered on a Fort Myers street during shipping for destruction. Most if not all records were recovered.

Alva dollars just a small fraction of Lee sheriff’s re-election war chest

If money talks, Naples has a bigger voice in the Lee County Sheriff’s race than most of Lee County’s communities. Donors with addresses in Naples and South Naples put $45,760 into Sheriff Mike Scott’s re-election campaign by the end of January, ac-cording to campaign finance reports filed with the Lee County Supervisor of Elections. Alva sources provided $4,160. Scott has a clear financial edge overall with a bulging fundraising total of $427,750 compared to $15,393 by Stephanie Eller and $13,232 by James F. Didio. But Alva does have an edge on donations from Lehigh Acres ($2,745) and Sanibel ($2,600), which has its own police force. Alva, however trails everyone else in Lee County. Scott contributors using a Fort Myers address lead the way by far. Their total is $216,911. The total includes $70,387 from law enforcement officers, other employees of law enforcement agencies and other first responders. They used

the LCSO headquar-ters’ address to pro-tect their privacy as allowed by law. Here’s a look at how other commu-nities stack up in terms of their sup-port for Scott: $25,793 Cape Coral $14,000 Bonita Springs $6,815 North Fort Myers $6,790 Estero $6,050 Captiva $4,620 Fort Myers Beach Eller loaned her campaign $10,000. She has $180 from Alva, $1,500 from Naples and $1,383 from Fort Myers. Didio has no Alva contributions, $6,680 from Fort Myers and $1,300 from Estero.

Scott

A mockingbird resting on a fence post in Alva.

Need help in Alva? Try one of these

COMMUNITY CONTACTS FIRE/RESCUE/SAFETY 9-1-1 EMERGENCIES 1-800-222-1222 Poison Control NON-EMERGENCY 728-2223 Alva Fire Department 694-2833 Fort Myers Shores Fire Department 344-1600 Lehigh Acres Fire Department 477-1000 Sheriff’s Office 728-2882 Alva Community Center 728-2882 Olga Community Center 694-0398 Caloosahatchee Regional Park 728-2494 Alva Elementary 728-2525 Alva Middle 693-0349 Riverhall Elementary