Town and County officials meet at Bay Oaks
Building a partnership was the central theme for town and county officials in discussing three agenda items and gaining consensus action toward them in a two-hour non-voting workshop at Bay Oaks Recreational Campus. The Fort Myers Beach Town Council and the Lee County Board of County Commissioners with the help from their respective staffs began moving forward towards solutions on Beach issues such as Estero Boulevard, public transportation and the transfer of county properties.
“Considering our issues, we aspire to become part of the solution and not add to the problem,” said FMB Mayor Larry Kiker during his introduction. “We are looking for this combined group to set policies and direction.”
– Estero Boulevard
Kiker used the town’s North Estero Boulevard project as a model to achieve the affordable, sought-after outcome for the remaining six miles of the county-owned Estero Boulevard. With landscaping and paving left to be completed on the project by late February/early March, the one-mile North Estero portion of road will cost the town roughly $4.4 million. The improvements include all utilities, storm-water management, trolley pull-offs, sidewalks and a bike lane.
Councilwoman Jo List made the short-term presentation, and Councilman Tom Babcock took the lead on the long-range part of the commitment. All officials came to an understanding the Estero Boulevard project needs a master plan and re-prioritizing. Major work in the future should be combined, and incremental steps should be made to achieve its success in completion.
The town officials reminded county personnel that the town’s crumbling water utility system is in desperate need of repair and should take precedence when the roads are ready to be torn up. They also believe Seafarer’s Mall Property should be involved in the widening of the road’s ‘bottleneck’ area.
“One of the most challenged roadways in Lee County is Estero Boulevard. We can all agree that Fort Myers Beach is the county’s playground,” said List. “Improving Estero Boulevard isn’t just about keeping the Islanders happy – it’s about serving all your constituents who come to our town to enjoy the beauty and fun our Island provides.
List said when the two groups met two years ago, there was an understanding the county commissioners had earmarked $5 million in five years for short-term projects. She suggested the ‘Seafarers stretch’ might have a pedestrian walkover or barriers of some kind to more efficiently control pedestrian traffic. ?
“It appears there is $1.5 million of that $5 million committed this year, and then $2.3 million to be used in the fifth year for ‘engineering’. We strongly disagree that the engineering slated for that time would rightly be a part of the short-term scenario, and should be considered a normal piece of the long-term projects,” said List.
Lee County Department of Transportation’s David Loveland said that $1.7 million was for drainage improvements and trolley pull-offs from general fund grant funds. Funds may also come impact fees and gas taxes. They hope by next year the two groups can talk about the projects that are under construction.
“We’re going to continue to search for available revenue to complete the interim improvements that have been identified,” said Loveland. He also stated gas tax money needs to be budgeted for the bridge at Big Carlos Pass bridge which is projected to be replaced in the 2020-21 time frame in the tune of $30-$40 million.
Babcock opened his presentation by acknowledging that Estero Boulevard will be expensive to fix, its timeline will be long for completion, right-of-way issues need to be addressed and multiple projects need combining together within the whole project. He said storm water upgrade is expected to be the main cost at around 40 percent while water utility is close to 27 percent followed by placing the wiring underground and landscaping and paving.
“You’re going to have to attack this in a phase mode and one that probably overlaps,” said Babcock. “The conservative estimate is about $8.5 million per mile, but it is significantly less than the $10 million per mile that was estimated a few years ago.”
He listed the sewer system, drainage issues, ROWs and traffic control as reasons for the increase in cost from the $4.4 million per mile for North Estero. Seafarer’s Mall Property was called a key element in the proposed future work now that county owns both sides of the road and, coupled with the fact that Estero Boulevard is an evacuation route, are reasons to begin the project sooner than later.
“No road in Lee County is more congested,” said Babcock. “We truly feel waiting until the year 2014-15 is really not acceptable.”
Commissioner Tammy Hall agreed and suggested a time line that both staffs can report back with a proposal for incorporation before the budgetary talks end for fiscal year 2011-12.
“I don’t see why we can’t at least go with the direction of having our staff put together a master plan proposal that falls back into this decade project,” she said. “The county obviously has the luxury of doing a lot more utility work on the Beach. We have consultants and time that can probably save the Beach if you were to stand along with a consultant. Having ours staffs work together would be a great experience to understand what the challenges are.”
– Public Transportation
Vice Mayor Bob Raymond, the newly elected Metropolitan Planning Organization chairman, has been the council point man and has been busy trying to resolve the seasonal traffic situation on Estero Island. He discussed the need for additional mass transit service regarding trolleys and entertained comments about which government entity holds the responsibility for that service.
“I have been 100 percent behind public transportation since Day 1,” said Raymond. “I believe mass transit should be the responsibility of Lee County. These increases in demand of services are generated during tourist season. Day-trippers just don’t stay here on the Beach; they stay all over Lee County. The point is the increase in demand is promoted, supported and driven by county actions.”
Raymond spoke about the direct trolley lane on Matanzas Skybridge and how he heard it took 50,000 cars off of the Beach in one year. There has been talk about the need for a trolley-only lane on San Carlos Boulevard leading up to the Beach.
“We’re actually working on trying to solve something in somebody else’s town,” said Raymond about San Carlos Island being in unincorporated Lee County. “We all need the county to step up to the plate in solving present and future transportation problems. We’ll be happy to work with the county and San Carlos Island.”
Judah explained the partnership between town and county needs to continue to keep pace with the service level throughout the county. LeeTran Director Steve Meyer said most of the enhanced seasonal service is on Fort Myers Beach, Bonita Beach and the park-n-ride route.
“We operate seven buses during mid-January through mid-April. The Beach route costs for the entire year (off-season and enhanced service) is about $780,000. We spend an additional $500,000 on the park-n-ride route. The town has paid in the range of $180,000-$230,000 a year for enhancing two trolleys in addition to the three that the county provides.”
Kiker pointed out that the town’s average cost ($200,000) for trolley service is 10 percent of its revenue.
“That’s significant for two trolleys for three months. I think what we are asking is if we can identify the fact that we need to re-look at how we are servicing the people that we’re talking about,” he said.
There was a consensus among the officials to have the transit system be looked at by LeeTran officials to see if there is a better way for the cost apportionment methodology.
– Transfer of County properties
Councilman Alan Mandel has been the council point man on many financial matters since he took office. He asked the county commissioners if a dialogue could begin regarding the transfer of all county properties in the town except Estero Boulevard.
“What we are proposing is a county budget reduction with results of the land integrity for the town,” said Mandel. “We propose that we begin talks so that the town can take over these properties.”
He listed Bay Oaks as one major county property that the town took over in the past year or two as an expense savings of more than $708,000 out of the county budget. “We’re asking you to consider the transfer of the Estero Island beach accesses ($23,189 out of county budget expenses), Bowditch Point Park ($343,446 out of county budget expenses) and Lynne Hall Park (250,056 out of county budget expenses) as well as Seafarer’s Park and the Seafarer’s Mall building,” Mandel said.
Kiker said the council believes there would be some ‘efficiencies gained’ by the transfer of the property.
“If you look at two properties -one owned by the town and one owned by the county- you have three or four folks doing exactly the same job, passing each other on the way, having coffee together and waiting for the next to-do,” he said.
Mann said he believes the fees collected from the parks stays on the Beach, and that the county ‘breaks even at best’ with their funds. He doesn’t have an objection to the idea.
“You guys are now a city. If we can do some of our other operations and let somebody take them over and there is no financial impact, why not talk about it? I’m willing to discuss it,” said Mann.
The commission chairperson said he was impressed by the council’s ‘homework’ before joint sessions with the county.
“I think we have arrived at a new high in relations between the Town of Fort Myers Beach and Lee County government,” said Mann. “We’re making some incremental steps here.”