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His tenure may be up, but Bill Neal is certainly not heading off into the sunset.

Credited by many as one of the founding fathers of the redevelopment movement in East Naples, the longtime chairman of the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle Community Redevelopment Agency’s advisory board has retired.

However, the West Virginia native said he still will be keeping an eye on the community as a part-time resident.

“I’ve put a lot of years into this. I’ve been in the trenches for too long,” said Neal, 75. “I just felt that at this point in my life, it’s time to give somebody else the opportunity to do that.”

News of his departure was met with mixed emotions by those he worked with to get much-needed improvements into the Bayshore and Gateway Triangle communities.

“Without his contributions I don’t think we’d be as far as we are now,” said county Commissioner Fred Coyle, whose district includes Bayshore. “He provided critical guidance when it was sorely needed and we all appreciate what he’s done. I’m disappointed that he’s leaving, but he deserves the opportunity to relax.”

Dave Jackson, executive director of the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), also praised Neal.

“He has single-handedly turned an area around,” Jackson said of Neal. “He’s done a lot of good for the community and it’s been a long hard road.”

For years, Neal worked to clean up his adopted East Naples neighborhood, which is undergoing a residential and commercial renaissance.

“I was looking for something to do (after retirement),” Neal said. “My wife was worried that I was going to spend all day in the house.”

One of the biggest accomplishments of Neal’s tenure was the creation of the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle CRA and the Bayshore/Avalon Beautification Municipal Service Taxing Unit, or MSTU.

More than 10 years ago, the Bayshore community was better known for having prostitutes and drug dealers walking down Bayshore Drive than being the place to live and work.

Neal said he felt something needed to be done about Bayshore’s problems and credited his wife, Donna, and friends with his getting involved in cleaning up the area.

He made it his mission and said that he’s pleased with the progress that has been made in his community.

However, Neal said it wasn’t a one-man gig.

“There were scores of people that helped to do this along the way,” Neal said. “No man could have done it alone, without the tremendous help I received from the folks in the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle area.”

In 1997, Neal and a group of about 50 residents in the Bayshore and Avalon areas convinced the Collier County Commission to set up a special taxing district.

The district, which became the Bayshore/Avalon MSTU, forced residents in those areas to pay higher taxes, and those taxes have been used to clean up the neighborhoods.

Adding to the revamping movement was the county’s decision to brand the district as a “blighted” area and target it for improvement in 2000. The move created the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle CRA.

Through both organizations’ efforts, the area’s landscaping and lighting have been spruced up, the Bayshore bridge refurbished, and commercial and residential components are streaming in — a long cry from where the area started.

“Our goal was to change the image of Bayshore,” Neal said. “This end of town (Bayshore and the Gateway Triangle) has the potential to be the nice growth area. We have accomplished most of that.”

The rest will be up to those that succeed him, but if they need some advice they might just have to take a quick jaunt north.

“We did build a lake home up in South Carolina to go to in the summer time,” Neal said.

For more information on the CRA call (239) 643-1115 or visit www.colliercra.com