The Fort Myers Beach Town Council did a bit of a flip flop Tuesday. Two weeks ago the town council gave town attorney John Herin direction to send an indemnification letter to Estero Boulevard residents Eddie Rood and Kurt Kroemer. The letter would have triggered town staff sending the homeowners their permit to build a dune walkover.
That decision was reversed Tuesday when the town council gave Herin new direction; don’t send Rood and Kroemer the letter, don’t send them their permit.
Several months ago the Fort Myers Beach Local Planning Agency approved (6-1) plans for Rood and Kroemer’s 293-foot walkover to the beach which was followed by a 3-2 vote of approval by the town council. Rood and Kroemer say they lost access to the beach due to the shifting of the Critical Wildflife Area behind their homes. A vocal group of residents, and the Florida Audubon Society, have been fighting to prevent the walkover from being built for years. They say constructing a walkover in the CWA will do harm to the wildlife, especially nesting shorebirds.
29 days after the council approved a special exception granting Rood and Kroemer their permit, the Florida Audubon Society filed a lawsuit against the town claiming the council ignored its own staff and did not follow the rules of its own charter by approving the walkover. The lawsuit is sitting dormant in a clogged up court system at the moment.
Rood and Kroemer are prohibited from doing any work until after turtle nesting season ends in October. They were willing to sign a letter of indemnification, holding the town harmless, if the town were to lose the lawsuit filed by Audubon. In other words, they would have to remove anything built, at their own expense, if Audubon were to win.
Two weeks ago, Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt, who opposes the dune walkover being built, believed the original three votes in favor of the walkover would also vote to send the indemnification letter to Rood and Kroemer. So he voted to send the letter. However, Mayor Dan Allers said, after the vote, that he would have opposed sending the letter, much to Atterholt’s surprise.
Before town attorney John Herin could send the indemnification letter to Rood and Kroemer, Atterholt asked him to hold off and put the item on the agenda this week. New direction was given to Herin not to send the letter. That also resulted in the permit not being issued.
Rood and Kroemer believe that being that the town council approved their special exception, they should be given their permit. The permit was approved and they have every right to have it in hand, they say, despite the Audubon lawsuit.
Eddie Rood shared this statement with Beach Talk Radio after the meeting Tuesday: “Kurt and I were not concerned about the reversal of the June 5th approval for the letter of indemnification since we were not going to agree to the indemnification letter as it was presented. Kurt and I were willing to enter into a limited agreement to accept liability for the walkover as a concession to the town’s request but as usual, the demands requested in the town’s indemnification letter were far over anything we would agree to. Per state statutes, we do not agree that signing a letter of indemnification is even a requirement to get the building permit. All this being said, we wouldn’t have gotten the permit even with the previous June 5th vote. So in the scope of things, nothing changed from June 5th to today.”
The court in which the Audubon lawsuit has been filed has given no indication when the matter may be heard.
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