Restoration final nod at Town meeting?
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’ to serve as explanations in two 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, there has been recent advisings on the groin and new technologies, according to the transcript of the recent Lee BOCC meeting.
“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. We didn’t have that information when we put those conditions on it.”
County Commissioner Ray Judah, the Beach’s district representative, is happy to see both Town and County are on the same page.
“The Town of Fort Myers Beach and the County are rolling in the same direction at least doing a mile of beach re-nourishment from Bowditch to the fishing pier,” he said. “I’ve always been a strong advocate of beach re-nourishment, and it’s heartening to know that we seem to be very close to an agreement with being able to use $2 million of state money, $750,000 from West Coast Inland Navigation District and TDC funds along with the $110,000 the Town is going to contribute towards protecting public assets such as the fishing pier, Lynn Hall Park and Bowditch.”
The BOCC meeting transcript also mentioned the commissioners are hoping the re-nourishment can go past the Beach pier and include the three lots currently in foreclosure. Lee County is expected to purchase those properties soon.
“That’s a separate issue,” said Judah. “That includes the acquisition of the Seafarer’s Village property which includes those three undeveloped beach front lots. Once we acquire those, we can look to work within the design modifications of the permit to allow nourishment of those three lots also.”
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 state funds go away June 22.
“It was very definite what they were trying to accomplish was ‘let’s do this one last time,'” said Kiker.
Judah agrees the project can begin in the upcoming months. He also believes that the $40,000 Town savings -since the Town’s share for the project went from $150,000 to $110,000- could help towards finding new technologies for future nourishment.
“We need to have everything in place approval-wise by June 22, and the project will begin this fall,” said Judah. “We appreciate the Town’s interest in looking at new alternative ways to nourish the Beach particularly due to the lack of easements to implement a full beach re-nourishment project that would have extended the entire 4 to 6 miles. There are still hot spots that need to be addressed. The West Coast Inland Navigation District could match that $40,000 with another $40,000 towards looking at investigating an alternative way to restore those hot spots along the southern end of Fort Myers Beach.”
The Pink Shell Resort at 275 Estero Blvd. is one business which is expected to benefit from the added beach girth. Sales and Marketing Director Ellis Etter recently called the lack of beach at the resort a “crisis situation” due to loss of business regarding planned beach events such as weddings. He is happy to hear both sides are getting closer to a deal.
“That is great news,” said Etter. “Hopefully, now that we’re getting near everyone’s approval of it, the actual job will begin with haste as we continue to have a crisis situation at the north end. The sooner the better so we can move on towards developing the plan to get the equipment in place and get it started.”
If the north section of Estero Island does undergo restoration, positive results may convince the naysayers to help open the door for future re-nourishment projects. Only then will the stalemate turn to a true checkmate.