Posted on June 10, 2025
For the fourth time since February, the Town of Fort Myers Beach has announced its beach renourishment project has been delayed again, pushing the project deeper into shorebird nesting season as well as sea turtle nesting season.
The new expected completion date is June 30, more than six months after it was supposed to finish.
The project, which was supposed to be completed in January, has faced multiple delays in part due to equipment failures and leaks from its sand dredging pipe that crosses several miles of the beach.
The town last received approvals from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to complete its work by May 15, the third extension the DEP gave the town to continue its work into the shorebird nesting season.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) comfirmed the project’s work is complete in the south segment – where the majority of the shorebird nesting takes place on the island. The FWC has documented nesting of threatened shorebirds throughout the project on the island.
Of Florida’s state threatened shorebirds that nest annually on Fort Myers Beach, the FWC confirmed as of May 21 the presence of 250 threatened least tern nests and eight chicks on the island, six threatened black skimmer nests, one threatened snowy plover’s nest and two chicks, and six Wilson’s plover (an imperiled species) nests and eight chicks currently on site, FWC spokesman Ryan Sheets said. “Nesting numbers can change daily, depending on weather conditions, predation, and other factors,” Sheets said.
There was no data on American oystercatchers, a threatened birds species who were seen on Fort Myers Beach as far back as February when the beach renourishment project was starting to work its way through the Little Estero Island Critical Wildlife Area on the south segment of the beach renourishment project. In February, as shorebird nesting season began, flocks of shorebirds including American oystercatchers, were seen gathering around areas being filled in by contractors for the town on the beach renourishment began.
The town has been given permission from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection back in February to continue its beach renourishment project near the Little Estero Island Critical Wildlife Area and around historical shorebird nesting areas as the project lagged behind its estimated completion date of January in order to avoid interfering with shorebird nesting season.
The work began last summer and part of the terms of the $21.7 million contract awarded by the Town of Fort Myers Beach, to Ahtna Marine and Construction Company in May, was for the project to be completed in 180 days – with an allowance to 195 days. The project has now far exceeded that timeframe by more than five months. The contractors face penalties of $750 per each day they exceed the contracted timeline. The penalties are a drop in the bucket compared to the overall project award
The Town of Fort Myers Beach Council awarded the bid to Ahtna Marine and Construction Company last year despite a bid protest from Callan Marine in May of 2024. Callan Marine, which bid $37 million on the project, alleged that the bid made by Ahtna was not responsive to the bid specifications as it could not be completed on time based on the equipment Ahtna would have on hand based on its bid response. The project is now six months past its due date.
The project was given extensions by the town initially due to the impacts of Hurricane Milton and Helene last fall and later due to equipment breakdowns and leaks in the sand dredging pipes used by the company.
While the Town of Fort Myers Beach pays a small portion of the project’s cost, the majority is covered by state, county tourist tax development funds and by FEMA.
Rather than starting the project in the southern segment where the sensitive environmental areas of the beach are after shorebird nesting season ended in September, the contractors instead started the project on the northern end of the island. Work on the beach around Leonardo Arms, which faced the most erosion on the entire island, did not begin until February and only recently completed.
According to Chustz, the remaining work will be centered around the area mid-island from Lanark Street to around the old Junkanoo and across from the Red Coconut property down to Newton Beach Park. That is where the sand dredging pipe can still be seen above ground for a long stretch of the beach. The piping is buried on most of the northern end, with a taped off area of the pipe at Lynn Hall Memorial Park – where there was two pipe breaks causing water and sand to gush out and create dangerous quicksand formations back in April.
Chustz said the sand is still “very squishy” on the southern section of the project between the Estero Beach and Tennis Club and Leonardo Arms. Contractors were putting the finishing touches on the sand and emergency berm on Friday, Chustz said. The sand is deep and squishy further north to areas extending to the Eden House and further south to near Island’s End.
Chustz said those with mobility challenges should be careful when walking across the newly graded sand, which is deep. Those walking across the deeper parts of the beach where the new sand has been placed between Leonardo Arms and Crescente Condominium Association, will find that the sand can come up to one’s shins.
“Watch your step,” Chustz said.
Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt commended the work that was completed at Leonardo Arms – a property once facing the worst erosion challenges on the island.
“To look at Leonardo Arms today versus two and a half years ago, it is truly transformative,” Atterholt said. “It is spectacular.”
Not everybody thinks the work is done though.
At a Town of Fort Myers Beach Council meeting in May, Councilmember John King asked about whether more sand could be dumped on the southern end due to what he believed were impacts from Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton to last year’s sand haul project.
“Being at the extreme south end of the island, we are looking forward to accretion because that’s how we got out beach to begin with. You had mentioned funding for more sand,” King said. “You had talked about I thought funding for Helene and Milton issues.”
Chustz said he is awaiting the state legislature to act to provide funding for more sand. “We do have hot spot maintenance in our beach renourishment project permit,” Chustz said. Chustz said the sand haul project last year at Big Carlos Beach on the southern end was a “one-time placement” landward of the mean-high water line though he said the town could apply for an emergency permit to potentially place more sand in the area.
The town received its third extension from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in April to extend the project through May 15 in the south beach segment. The permit extension specifies that there be no construction-related activities within the marked boundaries of the Little Estero Island Critical Wildlife Area (LEICWA) between April 1 and August 31.
While the mid-island segment of the project is less environmentally sensitive in terms of shorebird nesting, the exposed pipe can still intimidate sea turtles from nesting. The sea turtles typically turn around when they encounter the piping, which is currently exposed at Lynn Hall Memorial Park and other areas of the island south to the area around Newton Beach Park.
Turtle Time has relocated 12 loggerhead sea turtle nests that are located within the project’s scope since sea turtle nesting season began May 1. Turtle Time volunteers are monitoring the sea turtle nests that may need to be relocated due to their proximity to the beach renourishment work. Nesting sea turtles, a threatened species protected under the Endangered Species Act, are also turning away from areas where the sand dredging pipes block them.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation (FWC) continues to monitor Fort Myers Beach for shorebird nesting activity and has taped off sections of the southern end of the island to protect nests.
The town completed its work on the south segment, where most of the shorebird nesting takes place, on May 18. The town had been given multiple extensions by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to extend the project with the most recent extension awarded in April to allow the project to go into sea turtle nesting season.
“FWC shorebird biologists have been in contact with the town, project staff and qualified bird monitors hired by the project to conduct daily shorebird breeding surveys during the nesting season wherever there are project activities. These are part of the standard conditions for shorebird protections from DEP for any beach renourishment project,” Sheets said. “At this time, active nests are posted and routinely monitored,” he said. Areas around the critical wildlife area are currently taped off to protect nesting shorebirds and their nests.
The town’s permit from the DEP includes conditions for shorebird protections that, when followed, “constitute avoidance of take,” Sheets said. “There are daily shorebird surveys to determine if nesting occurs and conditions to buffer and monitor any nests that are located. While it is preferred that such projects occur outside nesting season, the ongoing project and sand placement should restore essential nesting habitat for coastal wildlife.”
Brad Cornell, Southwest Florida policy associate with Florida Audubon, thinks the nesting season has been going good under the circumstances, noting the snowy plover brood that has hatched as well as the other nesting numbers cited by the FWC.
“Black Skimmers are also just beginning to nest which aligns with the typical timing for their nesting activity in Lee County,” Cornell said.
