Looking for love
Lovers Key facilities could be getting an upgrade – that is, if the state will pitch in.
The Friends of Lovers Key State Park (FOLK) have been hoping for a new under-roof visitors center for years.
“We’ve been working for three or four years to develop a visitor center,” said FOLKS president Tim Horvatich. “Now we’ve seen the ability to move forward.”
The state did allocate $450,000 in last year’s budget for the beginning of the work – which has helped survey the site for the center as well as hired an architectural firm, Sweet Sparkman of Sarasota, to draw up conceptual designs. The center would be approximately 5,500 square feet with two sections, an area with educational exhibits about the park, and a multipurpose are that could be used as a classroom or meeting room. The building will cost about $3.55 million; the displays inside would cost about $800,000. The FOLKS group has committed to raising the funds for the displays through its own efforts and private donations.
“There are a lot of activities that people aren’t aware of. They come for the beach and miss out on the rest,” Horvatich said. “We need a facility that shows all the other activities, the back trails, the kayaking and canoeing in the back channel. And we do have (educational) programs, but when there is a weather event, there’s no where to go.”
The visitors center would not be a part of the Lovers Key State Park’s budget through the state’s parks department, but a separate line item allocation which would have to be approved by the governor.
The FOLKS group legally cannot lobby the state government to fund projects, so an individual has taken up the mantle to do it himself. Mark Generales, a Fort Myers-based financial advisor, knows the ins and outs of government – he was a county council member for eight years in South Carolina. He’s been making contact with the area’s state representatives and encouraging them to support the project.
“Lovers Key is a massive economic driver,” Generales said. “The park sits out there, all by itself. It’s part of its beauty, but even though it serves so many people it doesn’t get as much attention.”
He’s visiting local municipalities and the Lee County Board of Commissioners as an interested citizen to encourage these entities to put the visitors center on their upcoming legislative agendas. He presented the idea to the Fort Myers Beach Town Council at its Tuesday, Feb. 21 meeting, and asked for the council’s support.
“Your backing is so important for these projects, that the communities around the park are substantively behind the project,” Generales said at the meeting. “We are trying to get private donations, but we’re competing with other organizations.”
The capital project requires no financial support from the town, but the state may be more willing to assist with funding the visitors center if the communities surrounding Lovers Key give the project their blessing
Although the park is one of the state’s most popular, Generales believes its isolation from either Bonita Springs or Fort Myers Beach prevents it from getting the same kind of financial support as other groups and organizations.
“We’ve got so many charitable organizations that are very worthy, and the community warms to the ones it can wrap its arms around,” he said.
But Lovers Key isn’t unloved: in the 1960s, the island was slated to become a housing development. Canals were dredged in anticipation of selling water-front homes, but the local community rose up and petitioned the government to save it. Now, it’s one of the last remaining breaks on the developed west coast, Generales said. Its mangroves also provide an important filtration system that is helpful for water quality.
“This place is fantastic. This is old Florida, before all the condo developments,” Generales said. “And the filtration system of Lovers Key is dramatically important. It’s cleaning the water – I can’t overstate that.”