Posted on May 18, 2022
It’s been a decade since the last beach renourishment project on Fort Myers Beach and areas such as the beach behind the Pink Shell Resort and Leonardo Arms have undergone significant erosion.
“We are one storm away from devastation,” Gene Duffy, president of Leonardo Arms Building 2 Board, said on Thursday at a public informational meeting on the town’s beach renourishment project with the town’s engineering consultant Michael Poff.
As the town awaits funding from the county and state for a beach restoration project estimated to cost more than $22 million to cover one end of the island to the other, not everyone wants to take part. Several residents at Thursday’s meeting said they wouldn’t take part in the renourishment.
With an estimated 900-feet long stretch of sand behind his association’s property, Island Winds Condominium Association President Dave Nusbaum said Island Winds’ beach has been undergoing accretion, not erosion, since the condo tower was constructed in 1974 when there was a 100-feet long stretch of beach. While Nusbaum believes the town should shore up the sections of the beach that are critically eroding, his association wants to opt out.
Fort Myers Beach Manager Roger Hernstadt said that’s not a problem. Island Winds simply doesn’t have to sign up for the beach renourishment and no sand will be delivered to their property. “If you want us to put sand on the beach, you have to sign a form. If you don’t sign the form, we don’t put the sand in,” he said.
Nusbaum wants more assurances and points to vegetation growth on property next door to Island Winds as to why he is concerned. Nusbaum is worried that if Fort Myers Beach receives a designation from the state that its beach has been critically eroded, it could one day lead to dune plantings. He is seeking a 20-year agreement from the town that it won’t do any plantings on the Island Winds property, and that Island Winds won’t be subjected to any sand or any eminent domain procedures.
According to Poff and the town’s environmental project manager Chadd Chustz, those properties that sign up to receive sand as part of the beach renourishment project, must either have vegetation on their property or they will be required to plant dunes.
“We have no desire to hold back or delay the Leonardo Arms beach renourishment. They need that. The town needs to move as quickly as possible. However, we do not wish to cede control of our beach,” Nusbaum said. “All we’re trying to do is preserve our property.”
Nusbaum said he worried that “dumping tons of sand on the beach destroys the living eco system. They smother. It takes years for a sterile beach to recover.”
Fort Myers Beach Mayor Ray Murphy said “there are a lot of misconceptions” about the project, which has been in the works for two years since the Pink Shell Resort brought the erosion issue to the town. Last year, the town received $1.3 million from Lee County for erosion monitoring, designing and permitting, beach and shoreline maintenance. The town put in an application with the state to designate its shoreline as critically eroding in December as part of its application for funds to renourish its beach.
Murphy said he welcomed public input on the subject and workshops for the community.
“Everybody needs to calm down, to get involved in the process, become more educated about what’s going on here,” he said. “We’re trying to obtain funding for these projects and this is the process. Frankly, when I hear terms like that, ‘it’s a land grab by the town,’ why … would we want to grab these lands? Why would we want to do that? Frankly, when I hear that, it’s insulting to me. We’re your duly elected officials here to represent you and your interests on this island,” Murphy said at a council meeting last month.
“I’m sure that’s correct,” Nusbaum said. He is worried about a future council though since the critical erosion designation of the beach by the state lasts 15 years. “We have no idea who is going to be on the town council next November,” he said.
Fort Myers Beach staff are trying to calm these worries, with the town’s environmental project manager Chadd Chustz recently meeting with condo association representatives last month.
Town of Fort Myers Beach Attorney John Herin Jr. said the critically eroded designation will allow the tow to receive state funds.
“I like to call it the democratization of the beach,” Councilmember Jim Atterholt said in his support of the beach renourishment. “We have all these beach access points which allow the public throughout the island to have access our beaches which is wonderful. Since I have been here, which hasn’t been all that long, you have always been able to transverse the beach from the south point to the north point,” he said. “Right now, the way the erosion is occurring particularly in front of Leonardo Arms, the last two weeks the water is literally now abutting a seawall which is almost like a small cliff. During even medium and high tide, you can’t get from the north part of the south part of beach.
“It’s very serious there,” Atterholt said. He said those on the northern end of the beach can’t get to the southern end of the beach due to the erosion. “You literally have to swim 200 to 300 yards to get around,” he said.
Councilmember Bill Veach supports the beach renourishment but is also concerned about keeping the beach natural and allowing lagoons and crests to form. “If we are going to say we are going to not have that anywhere, then we are really going away from having a natural beach,” he said.
Hernstadt is hoping the project can get going in 2023 and be completed in 2024.
The cost would be shared by the town, Lee County and Florida, though how and when the money rolls in is currently a source for confusion for a town government figuring out how the project will be paid for. The town’s share is expected to be 15% but the key is when the town will receive the money and how much will be paid up front. The Lee County Tourist Development Council works in conjunction with the Lee County Board of County Commissioners and the state to provide the funding.
Lee County Government spokesperson Betsy Clayton said Monday that county staff would not be made available for an interview on the subject.
The Lee County Tourist Development Council, which is key to establishing the amount of funding for the beach renourishment, met on Thursday and approved funding for 22 beach projects, including Fort Myers Beach, but not the main funding.
The main funding will be done by an interlocal agreement between the town and the county manager’s office, subject to approval by the county commissioners.
Pink Shell Resort GM Bill Waichilus, who sits on the Tourist Development Council, said the funding is there from the county’s bed taxes. It’s just a matter of when the funding is released. It could be done in two phases, totaling approximately $9 million or more.
The project is not expected to start until fall of 2023, Poff said. Poff said those who don’t want to take part in the renourishment should let the town know so the project can be planned better. Those who want more sand will need to sign up for it.
Meanwhile, the state has not yet approved the town’s south or central end for classification as critically eroded, to start the funding process there. Further affecting funding decisions could be the result of a lawsuit between the state and the owners of two properties near the Little Estero Island Critical Wildlife Area. Kurt Kroemer and Ed Rood have challenged the formation of the Little Estero Island Crticial Wildlife Area, which is near their properties which they are seeking to build a boardwalk over a lagoon.
When the beach renourishment happens, Duffy wants to make sure Leonardo Arms is first. The erosion is threatening the building of Leonardo Arms, he said.
“It’s at our front door. We can’t wait in line,” Duffy said. “We are going to get wiped out if we aren’t first.”
