Concerning walkover and MERTF
This is information is in response to an article in the Fort Myers Beach Observer and its website Fortmyersbeachtalk.com about the wooden walkover that was approved by the Town of FMB council last March.
There is a lot of information that is misleading and untrue in the previous article by the Beach Observer that the opposition would like the public to believe.
The walkover project was before the Towns LPA board in October of 2019 and was approved by the LPA with a unanimous vote of 7-0 to approve. The Council disagreed with the LPA the following month and voted to deny 3-2.
So in this instance there were a total of 9 appointed and elected officials that were in favor of the project and only 3 that voted against it.
The project came before the LPA again in February of this year with almost totally different board members than the LPA in 2019 and the project was again approved by a vote of 6-1 in favor of the project. The project went before council in the following month and was approved by a vote of 3-2 in favor. This time again there were 9 appointed and elected officials that were in favor and still only 3 against.
Since the project has been presented to the Town’s elected and appointed officials, there have been 18 voted in favor of approving this project and only 6 that have opposed. Hardly a majority opposition.
Addressing the incorrect comment about the walkover disturbing the wildlife with heavy machinery, there will be no heavy machinery involved in the construction. The Florida DEP permits require a method of construction termed “build ahead” and the construction is all performed by hand equipment.
This project has already been approved by the Florida DEP and U.S. Fish and Wildlife, organizations that their job is to protect the environment and the wildlife.
Florida Audubon has filed lawsuits against these property owners four times in the past few years. The Audubon has lost all four lawsuits filed against the property owners. Now they have turned on the Town of FMB and have filed a lawsuit against the Town to attempt to stop the construction.
The prior Town of FMB attorney on March 6 at the meeting where the permit was approved by the Town stated that the current lawsuit by the Audubon against the Town was a long shot and probably would not go anywhere. He implied that judges typically don’t intervene in Town council decisions.
As to the information in Fortmyersbeachtalk.com about the claim that if the judge ordered the walkover to be removed it would cause double the damage to the environment. At the last council meeting on Sept 11, when the attorney for the Town of FMB brought up the discussion about the permit, she told the council that the judge would not have the authority to order the walkover removed, that he could only advise the Town council to revisit all the information and take a new vote. Assuming the vote would still be 3-2 since there are no changes in councilors until November 2024, the walkover would stay. The current Town attorney also advised the Council there was no legal reason to not issue the permit.
The MERTF board that supported Audubon creates a conflict of interest in my opinion. Here is a board of people that are appointed by the Town council and they aligned themselves with an organization that is actively suing the very people that appointed them.
Contrary to Council Atterholt’s comments that the walkover is not in the public’s interest, the Florida DEP disagrees and makes the point that the walkover is in the public’s interest because the walkover redirects the foot traffic from 11 residences using the walkover around and outside the Critical Wildlife Area rather than the residents traversing directly through the protected Critical Wildlife Area.
A state judge ruled in one of the Audubon lawsuits that he agreed with the Florida DEP’s assessment that the walkover served the public’s interest.
Anyone that actually knows this area where the walkover will be located knows there are no nesting birds in close proximity to the walkover. The imperiled nesting shore birds and seabirds make their nesting area far to the south of the location of the walkover. The closest nest to the area of the walkover was almost 700 feet away; that’s approximately an eight of a mile away.
There are blue herons in the pond, there are ibis and pelicans. Bird experts will tell you that birds love structure, they are drawn to structure. Manmade or otherwise. Structures are a beneficial attraction to wildlife in general. The FWC has commented that they recognize the environmental benefit to the walkover.
A topic the Florida Audubon does not want to discuss in public is that they themselves have an almost 2-mile-long walkover of their own right through a highly sensitive environment and wildlife area. It is Audubon Corkscrew.
Rather than attempt to work with the neighborhood for a positive outcome, Audubon would rather file lawsuit after lawsuit to attempt to force everyone to bend to their ideals.
I would like to point out to the readers that there are always two sides to every issue, but unfortunately, only one set of facts and the facts are not on the Audubon’s side which should be apparent by the fact that they have lost every lawsuit against these property owners.
Although Town Council made its determination as to who will serve on the MERTF board on Monday, I would like to address my application as it was addressed in the Observer.
As far as the comments from MERTF that my putting in an application to be on the MERTF board would represent a cynical and dismissive view, that is unfounded rhetoric. I know the beach and environment on the south end of the island better than any of those MERTF members. I have spent literally thousands of dollars on environment studies and thousands of dollars in bird studies that have been required by the Florida DEP and were also used in the courts to defeat all the Audubon’s lawsuits. The MERTF chairperson’s comment that there is a poison by the property owners on the south end that is disrupting the efforts of MERFT and the FWC was a malicious and unfounded accusation. But it demonstrates their authoritarianism attitude and their unwillingness to work with the south end property owners.
There are MERTF board members who are not the friends of the beach property owners and are unwilling to make any compromise.
Audubon Florida is not a friend of any of the beach property owners and they are not a friend of the Town of FMB.
The MERTF board should be a balance of reason and common sense that can work towards finding a balance between the property owners and the environment and wildlife and forge an equitable relationship with the property owners.
I had hoped to bring that balance to the board.
Ed Rood
Fort Myers Beach property owner