Fort Myers Beach Needs To Build Back Responsibly

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(Guest Commentary by Kim and Dapper Davidson) My name is Dapper, my wife is Kim. We’ve been been coming to Fort Myers Beach since 1997. We were tired of the east coast of Florida and needed something laid back, old school Florida, and we found it, Fort Myers Beach. 

We started staying at the Lani Kai, a great place, and the island was incredible. The local hangouts included Jimmy B which was right on the beach, Casey’s Alley, a bar where you could do your laundry, play a game of pool, and the band was the Casey’s House Rockers.

Then along came Hurricane Charley in 2004 and that changed everything. We believe it’s the main reason we now have Margaritaville. The development was a massive undertaking. There was huge public debate, but the town stayed firm, and Margaritaville was finally approved and built. 

What a beautiful resort Margaritaville is. It is now the jewel of the island. I personally think Margaretville saved our island after hurricane Ian in 2022. That resort gave us hope. It’s a great place to stay or visit as the island starts to recover and rebuild.

Now 2 years after the big storm things are changing big time.

I’m amazed at the amount of new projects that are going forward and being approved. This island will never be a Mexico Beach, but it will be a Miami if the Town Council fails at protecting the existing neighborhoods. I am not against high rise buildings. I like the Seagate development but it needs to be designed to protect the abutting neighborhoods.

That’s the neighborhood we live in. We own a house on Estero Blvd. that was destroyed by hurricane Ian and we were rebuilding. That didn’t work (our house was the one that fell over), so we will be rebuilding again. We bought a condo so we could live on the island as we rebuild but that keeps going backwards.

Our  condo is located in the Gulf Westwind complex on the corner of Donora Blvd and Estero Blvd. The Seagate property is 10 plus acres of land but they are building half of the condo units on Donora Blvd, and there is no buffer area , just a set back of 10 feet from the street.

The Seagate development will be 8 buildings with a height of 255 feet, so we’ll have a massive 255 foot wall of building on Donora with only a 10 ft set back and no buffer to the residential neighborhood. Soon when we look out our window we’ll see a concrete jungle and a service road with loading docks for the Seagate development. 

I am asking the Town Council to not destroy our neighborhood with this current design of this massive development. There is plenty of room on the back of the property to build these skyscrapers. Go up 30 floors, I don’t care, just add a buffer zone to protect the existing small neighborhood. We need to have a buffer space between residential neighborhoods and commercial projects like Seagate.  

The town talks a lot about having a view corridor for all the new developments. But the town is taking away our view corridor by approving the current design for Seagate. Our entire neighborhood is having their view corridor taken away and given to one company to sell for high profits.

We are coming to the island Sunday for the Monday Town Council meeting and have invited the entire Town Council to visit with us at our condo complex at 4PM Sunday to show them our issue in person. So far 2 out of the 5 members have responded.

Dapper & Kim Davidson
kimdavidsonpaint@aol.com

21 COMMENTS

  1. Do you really think FMB is a “ghost town” or won’t be developed? This stretch of SW Florida beach draws people like a magnet from everywhere. If Seagate can’t make money while complying with the Comp Plan, another developer will step up. The Council should not be afraid to stand firm.

  2. Love the response.. yes, i would think a “margaritaville” size resort could be built on that 10 acres. It’s not town councils problem that seagate paid too much for the land. At some point market prices will get to a point that a nice development built to conforming codes will get built.

    • Totally agree! It’s not our (the residents of FMB) responsibility to make sure these developers get their ROI quickly. They’re still going to make money, it’s just going to take a little longer.

    • That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking—the developers overpaid for the properties then they’re trying to guilt city council into making concessions in order to accommodate their need for big profits.

    • I’am also a home owner on the Island. The Council should not be afraid to stand firm. We can’t allow Big Developments to come in and do whatever they desire, while using every excuse why they need exceptions. It boils down how they can make a fast buck move on to the next project with no concern for the people (owners) on the Island. They knew the rules prior to purchasing the property period. Why do we need to go over this again & again. Margaritaville is a gem to the Island which all others developments need to follow.

  3. Yeah the answer is no progress. Muddy the process to any project takes 10+ years, so we will never enjoy the island because people that are 70 now will be 80+ years old.
    Wake up the island is a ghost town and very little progress is happening the last 2 years

    • Dave, Even if these huge developments were approved quickly, they won’t be done for at least 5 years. In the meantime, all of the condos that are still being renovated will be done and full, all of the vacant residential lots will have houses on them and traffic will be worse than pre-Ian traffic. Then the huge develops will get done and add more traffic and utility stress to an already stressed little island. This little island doesn’t need huge, 17 story, 100s of rooms density. Build to code and it’ll still be enough.

      • PS…Both Seagate and London Bay are going to be condos, sold to homeowners that will eventually own the HOA. Even if a restaurant and bar were public benefits for approval, once the developer turns the HOA over to the homeowners, the HOA can change that to have the restaurant and bar only open to homeowners.

    • If the island is a Ghost Town, I’ll come traffic leaving the island is backed up to Publix every night? Our priority should be getting our residents back in their homes, not capitulating to developers so that realtors can sell more properties.

  4. Thanks fir taking the time to write this article. Many of us agree with you, and your letter points out one more reason why Seagate should not be approved. We keep hearing about how “Developers will abandon FMB and there will be empty lots for years.” Cry me a river. Those developers drove up the price of the lots and willingly wrote the checks. Why are the developers’ needs more important than the residents? I really hope you all prevail and Seagate is sent back to the drawing board where they can design a development that aligns with the comp plan and works for all of us.

    • Terry is spot on – these developers could have acquired these properties for much less – they paid outrageous sums because it drives up the scale of everything- how many pilings, how many trucks , how many beeps , how much disruption and destruction to the environment- can’t see a sunrise when blocked by Huge buildings , can’t see the beautiful sky lit up by stars – Town council is a disgrace –
      End all emergency powers and stop driving up the cost of everything –
      Town can’t take care of the basics of managing a town –
      FMB is a one of a kind beach town –
      Nothing bigger than Margaritaville on the Gulf , Hotels bring people , revenue and activity – High end condos bring nothing to the day to day Vibe and business of FMB –
      Town Council knows this and specifically stated it on record yet they continue to sell out the residents and all these residential neighborhoods –

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