Those 7 property owners now have 2 months to come into compliance, which means clean up their properties, or face the consequences. If their structures are not demolished before the clock runs out, the town will knock them down.
Putting up fences or mowing the lawn is no longer good enough. The town has put a legal process in place to start knocking structures down. To recoup the taxpayer dollars the town has to spend to demolish any structures, the cost will be placed on the property owners tax bill.
Only 2 properties on this most current list were on the original list of 10 we reported on back on June 7th. Those two properties are 7955 Estero Boulevard (a home) and 1901 Estero Boulevard (the old Hoosiers restaurant building). The other 5 on this list are brand new.
We’ve been following 3 structures from the original June 7th list closely. 7945 Estero Boulevard was put on the list by mistake. That home had already been permitted and repairs were underway. 2401 Estero (a t-shirt shop business) was demolished one day before the list came out. And, 6555 Estero (The Dolphin Inn) was recently demolished.
According to the town, the other 5 property owners on the original list “took it upon themselves to come into compliance before we got to this stage in the process. That could be starting the demo process by obtaining a permit or fully demolishing the structure.”
The town wants every out-of-compliance property owner on the island to either explain what part of the demo process they are in or explain why they’ve done nothing to clean up their mess. Residents, who’ve gone through the process of cleaning up their property, also want to see more being done to clean up abandoned lots.
The properties on the original June 7th list that are no longer being chased down by the town are: 2310 Estero (The Neptune Inn), and 4 homes; 110 Egret, 7831 Estero, 8211 Estero and 8297 Estero.
The 5 new properties on the town’s radar, that have been red-tagged, include 159/161 Old San Carlos Boulevard. Many will know that building as the Tropical Sunset building. That building suffered an accidental fire in July of 2022 near the roof that was never repaired. A few months later Ian finished the job.
Another structure Fort Myers Beach residents will be familiar with is 131/133 Estero, the dilapidated house across from the Pink Shell. It’s a house that is shockingly still standing somehow and wasn’t in great shape before the storm. Back in March the owner of the house submitted an application to the town to build a 7-story 12-unit resort building.
The application includes a swimming pool and rooftop amenities. The building would be 90 feet above Base Flood Elevation. The most recent communication between the property owner and the town was July 12th where the town sent an insufficiency letter. The town also received a letter of opposition from residents at Pink Shell Villas.
The 3 other new properties on the list are all residences; 4903 Estero Boulevard, 139 Chapel street and 100 Washington street.
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