Lee BOCC gives beach re-nourishment blessing/ Town to give it final approval
The chess match between Lee County and the Town of Fort Myers Beach regarding beach re-nourishment for at least one section of Estero Island may be nearing a close. The last move could be a final approval by the FMB Town Council on Monday, June 7, to allow one million square feet of sand to be pumped along the one-mile stretch north of the Beach pier.
On May 25, the Lee County Board of County Commissioners approved the $4 million project by a unanimous decision. This action was taken eight days after Council passed a motion to end an existing stalemate and agree to certain terms to get the north end of Estero Island some needed relief.
At the time, the Council’s conditions for the County navigational project were to pay a $110,000 portion if County provided a bond in case of problems with the project, cooperate on the Town’s navigational program, pay for a consultant to advise on new technologies for use on the remaining 3.5 miles of state-called ‘eroded’ shoreline and rescind existing property easements at its cost.
The County countered with ‘satisfactory responses’ in most of the conditions, according to Beach Mayor Larry Kiker.
“As far as the performance bond, it’s mandatory for them to want to keep it where it needs to be so we don’t need to pay extra money for it,” he said. “That was the explanation on it as I understand.”
Regarding the consultant, the County commissioners said there has been recent advisings on the groin and new technologies. The commissioners are also hoping the re-nourishment can go past the Beach pier and include the three lots currently in foreclosure.
“The design has been around for 10 years, and the Army Core of Engineers has run through the design since then,” said Kiker. “They want to continue with that design. They have re-evaluated it in the past few years.”
All in all, Kiker believes the Town Council will give it a final approval June 7, and the re-nourishment project will happen. The Interlocal Agreement needs to be modified and both sides have to sign before a state-funding June 22 deadline.
“We didn’t have that information when we put those conditions on it,” he said. “It was very definite what they were trying to accomplish was ‘let’s do this one last time.'”