Posted on December 20, 2021
The Lee County Board of County Commissioners recently approved funds for local beach and shoreline projects, which included approximately $2.43 million for Sanibel and Captiva combined.
At its Dec. 7 meeting, the commission voted to approve interlocal agreements to fund 17 projects across Lee using more than $4.5 million tourist development tax dollars. Among the agreements, the city of Sanibel will receive $2,070,100 and the Captiva Erosion Control District will get $358,500.
On Sanibel, the city requested and received in full: $1,605,100 for facility beach maintenance, $225,000 for the Bowman’s Beach bridge replacement, $200,000 for changing room rehabilitation at Bowman’s Park, and $40,000 for beach erosion monitoring.
On Captiva, the CEPD requested and received in full $127,500 for beach park maintenance. It also requested $680,000 for Alison Hagerup parking lot upgrades, but was approved for $231,000.
The requests for beach and shoreline funds are submitted through the Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau, which then evaluates them and makes recommendations to the commission.
The approved funding is allocated for fiscal year 2021-22.
In addition to the islands, the commission approved interlocal agreements with the Barrier Island Parks Society, cities of Cape Coral and Fort Myers, town of Fort Myers Beach, and Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The following non-island projects will receive the fund allocations as listed:
– Barrier Island Park Society: Gasparilla Island walking trail maintenance, $40,175
– Barrier Island Park Society: Port Boca Grande beach maintenance, $11,896
– Cape Coral: Beach park facility maintenance, $138,000
– Fort Myers: Legacy Island stabilization, $279,180
– Fort Myers Beach: Beach and shoreline maintenance, $862,875
– Fort Myers Beach: Beach erosion monitoring, $32,013
– Fort Myers Beach: Estero Island renourishment, $40,000
– Fort Myers Beach: Beach access restroom at Palm Avenue, $95,000
– DEP/Gasparilla State Park: Gasparilla Beach shade structure, $187,000
– DEP/Koreshan State Park: Koreshan ADA kayak and boat launch, $363,945
– DEP/Lovers Key State Park: Lovers Key beach maintenance, $62,000
According to the county, the funds distributed through the agreements are in addition to over $5.7 million in beach and shoreline funding allocated this fiscal year to Lee County departments. In addition to maintaining beach park facilities, it will design ADA improvements to Bonita Beach Park, a new restroom at Crescent Beach Park and boardwalk and overlook at Caloosahatchee Creeks Preserve East.
The county reported that beach and shoreline project funding accounts for 26.4 percent of the proceeds from the tourist development tax assessed on short-term lodging, such as hotels, resorts and motels.
