Salty Crab Receives Final Approval

By a vote of 5-0 on Monday the Fort Myers Beach Town Council approved the new Salty Crab building. Owner Greg Powers plans to break ground later this year and have the restaurant back open in the Fall of 2026.

The LPA voted 7-0 in favor of the project in May.

Powers will need to work out a deal with the town to use the Waistin Away parking lot on the south side of Margaritaville for big truck deliveries. The property does not have enough room for those deliveries and the town does not want trucks stopping on Estero Boulevard to make deliveries. The deal with the town to use the lot will be for before 9AM or after Sunset before the lot starts to fill up with customers. Product from the big trucks will be walked over from the parking lot using hand trucks.

The original Salty Crab was wiped out by Hurricane Ian. The new building will be shoe-horned in between Margaritaville Resort and Lee County’s Crescent Beach Park on the beach side of Estero Boulevard. The property is 35 feet wide and the building will include an ice cream shop on the lower level, the restaurant and bar on the second level, and covered seating in the back and on the beach where alcohol can also be served.

The proposal includes 5,256 square feet of the property landward of the Lee County 1978 Coastal Construction Control Line. Before Ian wiped the building out, the site included a two-story structure with covered porch areas and beachside dining including 1,561 square feet of outdoor seating and consumption on premises. In addition to the restaurant there will be ice cream shop on the Estero Boulevard side of the building. 

Powers also committed to participating in plans to install a wave mitigation wall on his property. The town is looking into adding wave mitigation walls up and down the entire beach to help beat down future storms.
The proposed building is only 2 stories. They are allowed to go up to 3 at that property. The previous building did not take full advantage of second floor space while this new building will. 

Hours will be 7AM to 2AM both indoor and outdoor. Outdoor entertainment will be between the hours of 10AM and 10PM. Beach service hours will be from 11AM to sunset or 9PM, whichever is earlier.

Because of the limitations of uses and required elevation, the first floor is occupied by a significant amount of dead space. The ground floor building plan includes 1,285 square feet of loading area, dry storage and a turnaround for a delivery truck. It also includes 1,260 square feet of area of circulation and open areas used for elevators, stairwells, and customer circulation areas – a total of 2,545 square feet.

Powers also received a deviation to operate without any parking. The current code would require the restaurant to have 58 spaces. Not only is there no room for parking, the restaurant was extremely successful before Hurricane Ian without any parking. 

The Salty Crab is probably a 2-minute walk from the Lynn Hall Park parking lot and not much further from many other private parking lots. There are hundreds of parking spaces within 1/4 of a mile from the Salty Crab property.

The Fort Myers Beach Town Council has consistently stated they want the downtown area to be more walkable and bikeable with less automobile traffic and they’ve been granting parking deviations leaving it up to property owners to make their businesses successful.

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