Arches restoration group rejects county location offer; says 40-foot site won’t work
The Fort Myers Beach arches restoration project has been dealt what proponents say is a significant setback by Lee County.
After three years of planning, talks and waiting, a site on which the Beach group could rebuild the old welcome structure agreed upon – Crescent Beach Family Park.
This week, to the disappointment of the Restore Fort Myers Beach Arches, Inc. volunteers, the county granted a 40-foot location to recreate the 104-foot structure.
Saying county staff said the location offer was take-it-or-leave it, it’s back to stone one with the organization saying it is now forced to look for a new location.
“The arches were a mainstay of Fort Myers Beach, you couldn’t ask for a better landmark,” said Steven Ray McDonald, project lead for the Arches group. “We’re a little bothered by the final decision, but we’re not stopping fundraising or the project overall. We’re just looking for a different location, something privately owned or based on Fort Myers Beach property.”
The history of the arches themselves is uniquely Fort Myers Beach.
Built by area developer Tom Phillips in 1924, the arches were the physical gateway to the beach, but for many people, they came to represent much more. People who grew up in the area remember them fondly, as they were the literal only entrance to the beach.
“We’ve collected dozens of photos from people that have them climbing the arches as kids, playing around the location, taking dates there. It was a historical site, for all intent and purpose, and we’re sad that Lee County doesn’t want to preserve it in its proper form,” McDonald said.
The Arches rebuild project started back in 2016 when McDonald and his group, along with some development engineers, presented Lee County with blueprints and an idea of how to get the arches back on the Beach. This has changed location a handful of times but, Lee County participation seemed a given.
The annual “Rock The Arches” fundraising event will still be held in April 2020, with acts and bands and more announcements coming.
“We plan on shopping the Arches around; Lee County may not have been willing to give enough to do it, but we’ll find someone in the area who will. It’s got too big of a following now and we definitely want to keep some Fort Myers Beach heritage going,” McDonald said.