Debby and James Hotka are trying to build the Access 26 Food Truck Park on Estero Boulevard. They were hoping to be open for at least part of this upcoming season to recoup some of their investment. According to the Hotka’s, that will not happen now because of issues they are having with the town’s permitting department.
The Fort Myers Beach Town Council approved the project in May of 2025 and held a ceremonial ground breaking in June of this year. The project has been stuck in the permitting process since being approved. The Hotka’s are now asking for the Town Council in getinvolved in the process and help.
Here’s the full letter from the Hotka’s letter to the Fort Myers Beach Town Council
Dear Mayor, Town Manager, and Members of the Fort Myers Beach Town Council,
Debby and I love Fort Myers Beach. We are full-time residents, this is our home, and we care deeply about the future of this community. I am not writing simply to complain about the permitting process. I am writing because we have reached a point where we need the Town’s help finding an immediate solution.
Four years ago, my family and I began pursuing a vision for a family food truck park on Fort Myers Beach. Part of that vision was to create a place where some of the legacy restaurants and food businesses that lost everything during Hurricane Ian could maintain their presence on the island.
We did not expect the project to be simple. We presented our proposal to Town staff, attended three LPA meetings and two Town Council meetings, listened to concerns from surrounding property owners, and made numerous changes to address those concerns.
Finally, in May 2025, the Town Council approved our Commercial Planned Development (CPD), subject to numerous conditions.
In September 2025, we began the permitting process for the Development Order and two building permits:
Based upon the progress of the project, we anticipated receiving our permits and scheduled a groundbreaking ceremony for June 2026. Our goal was to open in December 2026 or January 2027, in time for the 2027 season. That obviously did not happen.
Since beginning the permitting process, we have received three environmental rejections involving turtle-lighting requirements and three zoning rejections.
Some of the zoning issues have ultimately required us to remove or modify features that were included in the Commercial Development Plan approved by the Town Council because those features were not specifically addressed in the underlying Town Code.
This is where my frustration has reached a breaking point.
It feels as though the goalposts continue to move. Each time we believe we have addressed the Town’s comments, another submission is requested and additional requirements are identified. Every new submission can add another four to six weeks to the process.
Before our most recent resubmission, it is my understanding that we even asked reviewers to briefly review the revised documents so we could identify any remaining issues before formally resubmitting and potentially losing another four to six weeks.
I now see that zoning has requested yet another submission. At this point, this is no longer simply an inconvenience.
Our projected opening has moved from December 2026 or January 2027 to potentially May or June 2027. That means losing approximately four months of the 2027 season. We estimate the lost opportunity during those prime months could exceed $250,000 per month.
Even more concerning is the possibility of opening a brand-new business at the beginning of the off-season without having the revenue from the prime season to help carry the substantial overhead through the slower months.
I understand that Town employees have a responsibility to enforce the Town Code. I also understand that many of these regulations existed before Hurricane Ian, when Fort Myers Beach was not facing anything remotely comparable to the amount of rebuilding and commercial construction occurring today.
I believe that reality deserves consideration. The same applies to the environmental requirements we have encountered.
I strongly support sea turtle preservation and responsible environmental stewardship. Fort Myers Beach’s natural resources are one of the reasons Debby and I love living here. I will comply with the law, and I am not asking anyone to ignore legitimate environmental protections.
However, I am concerned when regulations are applied in circumstances where the practical benefit to turtle protection is difficult to identify, particularly when those interpretations result in substantial construction delays and costs.
There has to be a reasonable balance between environmental protection, public safety, economic redevelopment, and common-sense application of the regulations.
I also recognize that the individual reviewers are generally enforcing regulations rather than creating them. My concern is therefore not intended as a personal criticism of any particular employee. It is a concern with a process that appears capable of continuing indefinitely through successive reviews and new submissions.
What I am asking for now is help and a solution. I respectfully ask the Mayor, Town Manager, and Town Council to have the appropriate departments conduct a coordinated review of our Development Order and building permits and tell us, collectively and definitively, what remains necessary for approval.
If something is wrong, tell us what it is and we will fix it.
If something must be removed, tell us and we will address it.
If additional documentation is required, give us the complete list.
But after nearly a year in permitting—and after four years of working through the approval process—we cannot continue losing another four to six weeks every time a new issue is identified.
We are asking the Town, if we have substantially satisfied the major requirements, to approve these permits with conditions to be addressed prior to Certificate of Occupancy (CO), or immediately provide us with one complete, coordinated and final list of everything necessary to obtain approval.
We want to build this project. We want to invest in Fort Myers Beach. We want to create something that Debby our family and I believe will be good for residents, visitors, local businesses, and the continuing recovery of the island we call home.
I would welcome the opportunity to sit down with the Town Manager and the appropriate department heads as soon as possible and work through every remaining issue together. I am not interested in assigning blame. I am interested in getting this project permitted and moving forward.
After four years of effort, I believe that is a reasonable request.
Respectfully,
Jamie and Debby Hotka
Access 26 Family Food Truck Park
Approved by the Town Council May 2025! These “leaders” should be embarrassed.
They are not the type of so called “human beings” to be embarrassed. Every new permit is revenue for a broken system that refuses to tighten their spending belts.
Fort Myers Beach is trying to be California!
Code enforcement depends on who you know. Check out the beach front cottage at 61 Miramar. The permit states that it is for interior remodeling and minor exterior repair from hurricane damage. It’s an ENTIRE NEW HOUSE! The only thing left after the storm was 1 partial wall and the original pilings. Now it is a new building about 10’ below flood requirements. Did FEMA allow this or the town? “ minor exterior repairs”
Someone allowed this, who and why? Out in the open corruption is happening on FMB and it continues. Honest, hard working people are being denied access to their businesses and others lie and build without any accountability. Mr Manager, you have a giant responsibility to address what is happening on FMB as to permitting and codes, not to mention missing millions of dollars and suspended employees. Get to work!
It’s akin to someone asking you to go to the store because they need flour to make chocolate chip cookies. You do, and when you get back and they ask you to get eggs, you do, and when you get back they ask you to get chocolate chips………GIVE US THE WHOLE RECIPE from the beginning. Do better FMB. I use to support our town government, but no more. We need to go back to Lee County.
The rules in the permitting office change everyday. Depending on who you talk to, the run around is incredible. It took me 6 months to get a pool permit closed to sell with a new issue added everytime I went in the office. It was a complete joke and we spent $8000 putting ditches in our yard to hold an inch of water from going into surrounding neighbors yards should we get a storm. Two weeks after the sale the area flooded and it was all gone with an added sink hole that happened near the pool. I was never so happy to be off that island! There are rules upon rules that don’t make any sense but you have zero power to question them. I dont wish that hell on anyone!
Let them get going and work on the lights later.
Not to change the subject, but the same with Code enforcement…they don’t enforce! I submitted numerous violations and nothing is done…Obviously the 12 people they hired were put in the wrong department…
The only time the town responds quick, if it involves Turtle lightning, otherwise who cares attitude!
During the over 30 years while doing my job as a Packaging Specialist, the number 1 customer focus was” Are you easy to do business with.” If not then you either lose or fail to gain customers. They will go somewhere else. Unfortunately this is the case with Fort Myers Beach. Other beach areas are way ahead of rebuilding after these recent hurricanes. And many businesses will eventually be forced to look into those opportunities. Many have already.How many examples have we heard of with the same statement “ The requirement goal posts keep being moved.”?
I feel really bad for the Hotkas. What they are going through is unfortunately something we have experienced firsthand.
Stephanie and I have not been able to open our rebuilt business at 2815 Estero Blvd. this past season — our Tommy Bahama clothing store, furniture store, and PGT doors and windows showroom.
On December 28, 2025, we reached out directly to the Town Manager asking whether the Town could provide an administrative review that would allow us to complete the necessary site work and open for the season. Our goal was to open January 21, 2026.
At that time, our building was essentially ready to open. The remaining work included the sidewalk, handicap ramp, steps and site work. We even proposed changes that would have increased parking and eliminated a driveway apron on Estero Boulevard that was on a curve.
Unfortunately, that administrative approval did not happen, and we were unable to open. We are still working on approval to do the site work that was in our original permit.
The consequences for a small business are enormous. We had more than $400,000 in Tommy Bahama merchandise ordered for the season, with the merchandise originally scheduled to begin arriving in November.
This is not just about one business. Small businesses are investing millions of dollars and taking enormous risks to rebuild Fort Myers Beach. They need a Town government that understands that every month a business remains closed can mean the difference between surviving and failing.
In our case, we have also experienced what we believe was punitive treatment by the Town and Mayor over containers that were there pursuant to a permit issued by the Town.
I truly hope the Hotkas are able to open this year. Fort Myers Beach needs their business, and it needs a Town government that works with small businesses to get them open — not create additional obstacles.
We all want to see Fort Myers Beach come back. The Town should be doing everything it reasonably can to help make that happen.
This is crazy. It seems like the town is using permitting as the final backstop to block the businesses they don’t want. How come some businesses seemed to sail right through permitting while others get tangled up in a back and forth mess?
The same thing is happening with Estero Island Beach Club. The Town has to do something SOON!!!!!
We built a house on San Carlos Island, address of FMB, when interviewing/hiring contractors as soon as I said we were governed by Lee Co. not FMB everyone said good, every contractor said working with the Beach is more challenging then Lee Co. some contractors we met will not build on FMB because of the permitting process. This limits the options for FMB residents to find a contractor. It’s common knowledge with locals, instead of (it is what it is) it’s long overdue for it to be addressed and fixed.
It is time to consider taking permitting back to Lee County. Time and time again the same ugly story emerges, good people and respectable business owners encounter repeated instances of the FMB permitting department seemingly shifting and expanding an ever changing list of requirements and expectations. After satisfying one exhausting round of conditions and requirements applicants are presented with additional requests and demands. Is it that the permitting department isn’t sure of its own rules & guidelines? How much further along would the Island’s recovery be if the permitting process was more efficient? Would Lee County provide a smoother, more efficient alternative?
It’s like the Town says we need to move forward, we need visitors and then does everything they can to stall the process.
If FMB is to survive, it needs folks like this who love this island and are willing to stick their neck out to rebuild something that’s gives folks a reason to vacation here. That is what this couple is trying to do! Quit making it so hard that everyone gives up and the island will die! If families don’t have things to do on their vacation they will go to another beach somewhere in Florida.
Guberment….where none of them ever ran a business except suck on the tax payer tit…..
This is a wonderful project that is sorely needed. Not to downplay its complexity but this is an infrastructure project for portable buildings. I can’t fathom how the town will move forward with velocity on Seagate, London Bay and the other large scale projects.
the permitting dept is ridiculous and is giving fmb a horrible reputation for people wanting to rebuild amd invest here! we have been trying to get a new pool built since Jan and still dont have a permit yet! constantly in review. said we have too much lot coverage when its the same amount that we currently have and was approved post Ian! they are beyond frustrating and also are causing contractors to not want to work on the island. its a serious problem.
I hope the town council will work with the Hotka’s. They are good local people. These are the type of business owners that the town needs.
Again the Town of Ft Myers getting in its own way to prevent progress. No wonder recovery is lagging and frustrating
I don’t even know what to say. I am speechless.