Council approves makeover for Beach Theater

The Town of Fort Myers Beach Council greenlighted the plans of the owners of the Beach Theater to convert the former movie house into two restaurants, while granting variances from town code to allow outdoor dining and entertainment.

The council voted 4-1 to grant the owners variances from parking requirements by reducing the required parking spaces from 115 to 33. The owners have pledged to provide additional parking down the road at the Dolphin Inn, which includes some of the same owners of the Beach Theater. Mayor Dan Allers was the lone vote against the variances.

Opponent Christine Madden, who owns a home on Egret Street behind the Beach Theater, countered that the Dolphin Inn property is for sale and argued that the outdoor entertainment would be injurious to the residential neighborhood. A canal runs behind the Beach Theater between two streets – Curlew Street and Egret Street.

At Monday’s meeting, local planning consultant Patrik Vanasse said the new outdoor dining and entertainment venue at the theater will be buttressed around a concrete block wall which will serve as a buffer between the residential neighborhood in the rear of the property. Vanasse said the buffer will help protect neighbors from the sound, including the outdoor entertainment which could include live music, as well as ambient music.

Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt asked at Monday’s hearing how tall the wall would be. Vanasse said renderings have not yet been completed. Vanasse said it will cover the back portion of property.

Madden said the wall wouldn’t be fully enclosed to protect the neighborhood from the sound and “will cause a nuisance and be injurious to the low density neighborhood.” Madden expressed concern for the outdoor dining, outdoor bar and entertainment, which were all prohibited by town code for the current zoning.

Madden said she and her husband John have owned their property for 39 years.

“We intentionally sought the quiet south end of the island, comfortably away from Santini Plaza in a low-density neighborhood with a family-friendly atmosphere,” Madden said.

The town’s planners had recommended denial of the outdoor entertainment and outdoor dining variance from town code due to its potential impacts on the nearby residential neighborhood.

“We’re not expecting a big party scene here,” Vanasse said. Vanasse said there won’t be a PA (public address sound system) though there will be speakers for the live music and ambient music controlled by management. There would be an outdoor seating balcony.

Co-owner Steve Boge said there could be events and dinner parties.

After a request from Allers to limit the hours of ambient music, Boge and Vanasse said they would cut off live music and ambient music at 9 p.m.

The request from the property owners for a variance to lower the required parking from 115 to 33 was not supported by Allers, though the plans gained the approval of the rest of the town council.

By building a ground-level restaurant, the theater property will lose the parking spaces that it had when it was a movie theater. The plans for expansion will also take additional spaces. When the property was used for a movie theater until 2022, Vanasse said there were 65 spaces – or roughly twice the number the owners are seeking now.

Instead, Vanasse said the owners have a commitment from the Dolphin Inn (which has some common ownership as the Beach Theater) to allow for an additional 45 spaces, which will bring the total number of spaces to 78 that are available. The Dolphin Inn was torn down last year, two years after incurring damage from Hurricane Ian.

The owners said they would offer valet parking during the busy parts of the season.

In turn, the town council sought guarantees that the owners would provide valet parking during the town’s tourist and snowbird season.

The group which purchased the Beach Theater also acquired the Gulfview Manor across the street in a combined deal for $19 million. Vanasse said the Gulfview Manor could potentially be another source for parking for the Beach Theater.

A Naples limited liability company owns the Beach Theater property and includes Steve Boge, Kory and Candace Nanke. Kory Nanke also operates restaurants in Iowa.

Vanasse said he also talked to town councilmembers about potentially using the town hall lot down the road in the evening, which could mean revenue for the town.

Vanasse said in the event the Dolphin Inn were to be sold, the owners would be required under the town’s approvals, to find additional parking for customers at the Beach Theater.

All employees would park at the Dolphin Inn under the plans.

Allers expressed about the parking situation and traffic potentially backing up on Estero Boulevard. Madden and her husband John also worried about the traffic impacts to Egret Street as well as Estero Boulevard.

Allers said the lack of parking at the theater property could lead to people parking on Egret Street.

Councilmember Scott Safford said he believed the town code was generally too restrictive on restaurants, requiring more parking than he was needed. Safford suggested the town consider changing its code to allow less parking for restaurants.

Vanasse took some questions on the boating slips at the dock the owners constructed on the property along the canal this year. The dock was approved for up to four boating slips.

Vanasse said the dock would only allow boats owned by the owners, their friend or family to dock there. Vanasse and the owners agreed to make signs noticing that the dock was not open to the public and restricted for private use.

There were some concerns raised by Allers and Town Attorney Nancy Stuparich about how the town would know if the dock was being used by friends of the owners or not.

Vanasse and the owners denied a request from Allers to restrict the dock from accepting water taxis. Vanasse said water taxis would be something every resident along a canal would be open to utilizing. Vanasse said the boating docks would not be open to water ferries though.

Vanasse said the owners were not seeking to commercialize the canal. “We don’t want to prohibit water taxis. We don’t want to attract more boating traffic. Water taxis will be available to any residents and we don’t want to be restricted,” he said.

Safford said he thinks the owners should meet with neighbors.

Boge said he was happy to give his phone number out to neighbors and speak with them.

Coucilmember Karen Woodson asked the owners If they have any idea for a name for their restaurants. “Otherwise it will forever be the Beach Theater. It would be nice if it had a respectable name,” Woodson said.

While the Beach Theater hasn’t shown movies since it was purchased before Hurricane Ian in 2022, Atterholt asked Boge if he would still consider using one of the four screens for movies. Boge said they were “still looking into that.” Under a presentation to the Local Planning Agency, Vanasse said the plan was to not show any new movies though occasionally show an old film on a projector against the wall.

Under the plans approved by the council, food could begin being served at 10 a.m.

The Beach Theater owners had faced scrutiny from neighbors and town residents in the past for illegally removing mangroves from the rear of their property in the canal. Since then, the owners have installed a seawall, docks for boating slips with plans to plant new mangroves. They face an ongoing consent order process with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for the removal of the mangroves – a key protector of coastal communities from hurricanes and flooding. The town separately fined the owners and the contractor who did the work.