Mayor suggests acquiring Estero Boulevard from county
In an effort to expedite efforts for the long-awaited Estero Boulevard project due to a selective funding approach from Lee County officials, Fort Myers Beach Mayor Larry Kiker discussed the possibility of the town acquiring the county-owned road at Monday’s town council meeting.
According to Kiker, he met with Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah and other county officials in a meeting about beach re-nourishment three weeks ago and decided to ask how the Estero Boulevard project was progressing. The answer he received left him flabbergasted.
“In that meeting, I brought up Estero Boulevard and asked how we were with things,” he said. “Commissioner Judah took me to the office of one of the directors who handles Estero Boulevard. A project plan for Estero Boulevard was handed to me. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Disappointed wasn’t even a good start. I was totally disturbed with what I saw.”
Kiker said the county plan for the road originally had a $5 million allocation for repairs and beautification. The mayor discovered only a fraction of that committed money for the Beach’s main road had been spent and larger portions of the remaining balance were allocated for surveys.
“It ended up being $115,000 that was spent on our road and that was it,” he said. “There was inclusion of the $5 million that (the county) had committed to spend on Estero Boulevard and there was some discussion that we had asked them to spend $1.5 million of that money in a joint meeting with them. The answer to that is that there is a total disconnection to what I think was said in that meeting and agreed to, and the reality check of what’s really happening.”
Kiker then explained that other than $115,000 allocated for 2009, $1.8 million was “pulled from our gas tax money to do the survey” and was included in the allocated $5 million. He was told by county officials that based upon a visual observation of a two-mile aerial photo on how bad the road condition was, the Town of Fort Myers Beach would not get the allocated money because “there are a lot of roads worse then ours.”
Kiker continued to remember what he read from the project plan sheet beyond this year.
“In 2010, the plan called for about $300,000 to be allocated to Estero Boulevard, again based on gas tax money. In 2011 and 2012, there were blanks on the sheet with no money allocated. In 2013, there was something like $1.6 million which, in essence at the end of the day, is the money for the sidewalks we had planned this year. Low and behold, nothing was planned to get done on Estero Boulevard until 2013.”
Kiker says we should learn from Bay Oaks and admitted that he couldn’t say how upset he was. He decided to meet with certain community members to seek opinions on the matter.
“These are the kind of folks that I think should participate in a discussion about what and where we are going to go with what needs to happen with Estero Boulevard,” said Kiker.
The mayor then discussed possible funding and revenue sources if the town took it over.
“There are formulas on finding out on how much of the money (the county) keeps outside of what they give us that should be going to Estero Boulevard,” said Kiker. “You start looking at this and you start looking at what I consider might be millions of dollars on an annual basis, and I’m wondering how we can get our hands on that and what can we do with Estero Boulevard.”
He then went over federal contracting requirements that must be met for federal funds.
“There are 37 requirements, so the task is not small,” said Kiker. “We have some great minds and resources. We need to establish a list of possibilities and directions. This has been going on for how many years? And, it hasn’t been touched. Somehow, we need to establish a professional and respectful approach to what’s going on so that we can sit down with the right people who can talk to us and bring the right resources to bear.”
Kiker then asked his council for permission to work with some individuals, seek direction and develop a scope for permanent use. All four council members were in agreement.
“It’s time to hold their feet to the fire,” he concluded