On Tuesday the Lee County Board of Commissioners will vote on awarding the contract to rebuild the Fort Myers Beach pier. But don’t get your hopes up, despite the county being ready to go, there’s no start date for construction anywhere in sight.
Lee County cannot proceed without permits from the Army Corps of Engineers. County Commissioner David Mulicka has said on Beach Talk Radio, the county could receive the permits next month, next year, or later. Lee County has not received an answer about the permits from the Corps and with the Government partially shut down, everything is at a standstill. Earlier delays were caused by FEMA. Lee County had to wait for the federal agency to obligate build-back funds.
The Fort Myers Beach pier was totally destroyed by Hurricane Ian. Nearly 4 years later, visitors to the iconic structure are still looking at broken wood pilings and hundreds of birds that love to sit on them.
The new pier will be 1,000 feet long and 12 feet wide. That’s 71% longer and 50% wider than the pier destroyed by the storm. An $11.7 million contract will be awarded to RJ Gorman Contracting. The Board of County Commissioners approved over $17 million to build the longer and wider pier back in June of 2024. $11 million for the project will come from Tourist Development Council reserve funds. The balance will be paid by FEMA.
Mulicka was hoping all the pieces could fall into place and the pier would be open in the Summer of 2027. As of today, there is no reliable timetable to see that new pier. We do know that it’s expected to take 12 months to build.
We reached out to several of our contacts at the Army Corps of Engineers. Crickets.
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How about bathrooms at Lyne park . Now that would bring the beautiful woman back to the beach .
So Byron helps get everything going for Naples, and kicked Lee COunty to the curb.
You people posting negative comments do realize the pier brings in a never ending flow of revenue to continue paying teachers and building housing rather than a one time lump sum.
Do you know how many people use the pier off season? We do, until we retired here full time, it’s the only time we could spend here. Very few people were ever on it. When you’re talking about the amount of money being spent, it will never draw enough revenue to make it worth while. That money could have been used towards in any number of more beneficial ways to either help residents or help business rebuild.
Pier = traffic = gridlock =fustration
Please tell me what is the point of a pier is other than fishing and walking out and back? 17 million is a waste of taxpayer money.
What is the point of building restaurants other than going to them to eat a meal?
Why build an airport other than going to them to catch a flight far away?
Why build movie theaters other than to walk in a and watch movies?
Why build golf courses other than to walk around hitting balls into little holes?
Why build skating rinks other than to walk in and skate around in a circle?
Don’t forget a library that has no customers and a school that has no students. Pier seems like a better use of my tax dollars.
Maybe a compromise on the size would help. Why does it need to be so big?
twss..
That’s what she said
A number of reasons why it is necessary and beneficial to build a larger pier, but primarily:
There are two sides to the pier at the end. One side for fishing and the other for observation and enjoyment. The previous pier was so very narrow compared to other piers. Since the pier was first built, the use has increased. This size was built with future increased use in mind. And not necessarily due to more people coming to the island, but because a new, larger pier will inherently attract more people to enjoy it. The length will also help reduce sand accretion, saving us money on beach replenishment.
SORRY! not reduce sand accretion but promote sand accretion
The Town owes a huge “Thank you” to Allen and Cindy Shanosky. Allen headed up The Pier Committee, formed under a now-disbanded organization named Let’s Go FMB. Allen and Cindy traveled throughout Florida and up the East Coast researching piers and gathering an enormous amount of information that was used to drive the design and rebuilding process for the new pier. Allen then spearheaded discussions with the County to move the initiative forward and accelerate the timeline to get to this stage in the process. If it were not for Allen’s efforts and commitment, the rebuilding of the pier could likely still be languishing.
THANK YOU, ALLEN & CINDY!
Where is the Pressure from the Federal Elected and the Governor? They all have direct access to the President to pressure the Army Corps. I would investigate the time table and process on the Naples pier, since it appears questionable since all the piers were damaged by the same storm.
Where or Where is the pressure from the Elected Federal Officials? Where is the pressure from the Governor? All have direct access to the President to put pressure on the Army Corps. I would
investigate the time table on influence used for the Naples Pier since all were damaged at the same time.
More county money wasted. Shameful that we can’t pay teachers a living wage but we can build a pier to host tourists. And before you start with h “the tourists pay your salary” they do not. Get out of here with that mess.
This specific thought (teachers) occurred to me, as well.
You cannot pay teachers with TDC funds.
The pier is being paid for with TDC funds (tourists) and by FEMA (all U.S. taxpayers).
Funny how they have started the pier in Naples thou ?????
Collier County is building a slightly larger pier than the one that was destroyed. Lee County is making the FMB pier significantly larger than the original. It’s a shame the money couldn’t have been used on something more meaningful like housing or helping businesses rebuild than something that’s only used 3 months of the year.