Lee County’s new beach plan
To the editor:
Lee County pushed for over 12 years to get easements to do their artificial beach widening plan. All last year, the number of easements kept shrinking as people learned more and county changed the plan.
As of Jan. 1, 2010, there were 34 percent signed easements plus seven percent of non-legally binding letters of intent. At years end, 7.3 percent of the existing easements expired.
In desperation, county is about to launch a BRAND NEW beach plan under the guise of a “modified plan” or so-called “option C”. This new plan focuses on Bowditch point and fixing the botched engineering that was used in the Matanzas Pass dredging Project, last summer. This is not beach Re-nourishment. It is a Matanzas Pass inlet management plan, with affected beaches.
That said, this NEW inlet management plan is a new ball game. The Town of Fort Myers Beach Land Development Code Sec. 10-101 page 11, Para (a) Development orders requires a permit for land activities with eight specific exemptions. Inlet management is not one of the eight exceptions.
It should be pretty clear that now the Town has the rights and the responsibility to require a permit for county inlet management activities. That would indicate that the town’s advisory agencies such as the LPA, the Marine Resources Task Force and the Traffic Mitigation Agency should be involved in this new project.
Bottom line is that our town should now be in control as an equal partner with Lee County on what the design of the New Beach Project will be. A new agreement between county and our town is now required.
Both county and town should understand that they have to obtain more proficient engineering. County’s record of failures can no longer be ignored.
Frank Schilling
Fort Myers Beach