Re-nourishment failed!: Restoration unfolds
Last December, the Federal government canceled funding and ended County’s 4.6 mile Re-nourishment Project. In January, County came up with two new projects: The Channel Navigation project and a mini-restoration project.
The new Navigation Project consists of building a 240-foot rock wall to keep the Matanzas Pass channel open. That project also requires 2,000 feet of beach additions south of Bowditch Point. The channel Navigation Project has nothing to do with our Town, but is a Federal responsibility of County.
County next devised their mini-restoration project for an area of ONLY ABOUT 3,700 feet continuing south of the Navigation Project. It includes Count-owned Lynn Hall Park and the Pier. County intends to do this project even though the majority of the private owners in that area would not sign Re-nourishment easements.
Unfortunately since 1961, the Pier restoration area has had eight restoration failures, with sand washing away each time. Today, that beach is measurably worse than it was in 2001, the date of that eighth restoration.
Failure has been typical for other Lee County restorations of the past at Lover’s Key and at Bonita Beach. A Bonita City official has pointed out that they are now facing their seventh restoration project in about a dozen years.
The Fort Myers Beach Town Council listened to the public outcry about lost sand and took action. In February, Council voted to require new technology for County’s mini-restoration project. Then in June, Council voted to require that County post a performance bond guaranteeing that the sand would not wash away. Council added a requirement for an independent engineering review of County’s 3,700-foot restoration project. They also required a fixed expenditure cap of $110,000 that our Town had to pay. County’s response was to reject all of these Town requirements. But, there is some good news!
The Beach Mayor and the Town Manager have committed to propose to proceed to find a suitable engineering company, with technology to avoid another sand disappearing act on the completed mini-restoration project. Both the Mayor and the Town Manager have met with an engineering firm who displayed intriguing new technology already approved and installed in Florida. The Mayor and Town Manager have seen state-of-the-art engineering modeling technology that can find the causes of sand washing away. The Mayor has charged the Town Manager to come up with a plan including funding for Council review.
We can get into the world of modern beach engineering technology and lead the way! We just have to try harder.