Judah speaks on Beach issues and Lee economy
Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah discussed Fort Myers Beach issues and offered insight on how the County has been working to generate more jobs and diversify the economy.
Judah hosted Beach Mayor Larry Kiker and Interim Town Manager Jack Green at his office Thursday, and covered Island topics such as Bay Oaks Interlocal Agreement, Beach re-nourishment and Estero Boulevard
“We talked about the smooth transition that will commence on Tuesday with our board approving the $490,000 to the Town Council for the shifting of the Bay Oaks park from the County to the Town,” he said. “That provides ample dollars for immediate improvements such as repairing the roof of the recreational center and for operational dollars as part of the transition.”
Beach re-nourishment was the second issue discussed between the officials.
“We looked at a map of the property owners who have already signed easements and the ones we still need to touch base with to secure their approvals on easements to allow us to move forward,” said Judah. “I think that effort has been going very smoothly. We clearly need more easements. To that end, Mayor Kiker and I will be contacting some of the individual property owners personally.”
The county commissioner called the end of the calendar year the deadline for the project due to Federal and State funding.
“I would say December is the deadline from the standpoint that if we don’t have it all together by then we won’t be able to expect the Federal dollars,” said Judah. “Quite frankly, if we don’t get it together by then, we can perhaps lose the $2 million we are anticipating from the State. Certainly, by next legislative session, I expect those dollars to be re-directed to some other use.”
Estero Boulevard was the third issue the three public servants exchanged ideas on. Judah said he will be making an appointment with the Lee County Department of Transportation staff and Green to “see what monies are available for the necessary improvements” for the Beach’s main road.
“The improvements may be in the form of initially re-surfacing the entire corridor,” he said. “We just did some re-surfacing recently, but we did the worst parts of the road and stretched the dollars as far as we could. Now, it kind of looks like a checkerboard. Clearly, the overall objective is to improve on the drainage as well as the widening of the road for shoulder bicycle paths and maybe even under-grounding the utility. It’s all expensive, and it’s all preliminary. What’s important is for the County to get the improvements in the five-year Capital Improvement Program. So, if we may not have the dollars today, at least three or four years from now, we’ve made that commitment.”
Judah stated that the County has received commitment by several existing companies that have expanded and recruited companies from outside the area to provide roughly 1,000 jobs to the surrounding communities.
“We have a lot of opportunities for other companies that are in the bio-tech research development/ life science-type field,” he said. “They have expressed interest and are looking very keenly at the lands that were leased to the Gulf Coast Technology Center. They are going to be breaking ground this year with their business park along the Daniels Parkway by the old international airport. There are a number of perspective companies that are looking at locating there and other parts of the County. That will mean more value-added jobs and helping to strengthen our economic base by diversifying the economy with something other than tourism, agriculture and construction.”