For months the Town and Fort Myers Beach Fire District had been negotiating a possible land swap of two properties on Estero Boulevard. The town was hoping to trade its town hall land for the former Topps property, which the fire district owns. That deal is officially dead.
The town was interested in the old Topps property because it backs right up to Bay Oaks, which the town also owns, and it would have given the town one larger contiguous piece of land. The town did not have solid plans to build anything on the Topps property, ideas of workforce housing or an Olympic size swimming pool were being discussed but nothing was decided.
The Fire District was up for the swap because, following Hurricane Ian, plans changed the way people think in terms of resiliency. Fire Chief Scott Wirth wants the district to move its administration building and training facility over the bridge to San Carlos Island where property is less expensive and safer from storm surge. The Fort Myers Beach Fire District also covers San Carlos on the other side of the bridge. Fire Station 32 is located on San Carlos. The Fire District admin building is now on Voorhees street one block over from station #31 which was heavily damaged in the storm.
If a swap was done the Fire District would have sold off the old town hall property. Both properties are fairly close in size and were assessed at about $16 million so no money would have exchanged hands.
Wirth was looking for a piece of property in the vicinity of Delmar avenue to build a smaller fire station on island, in addition to moving the admin building off island. However, new FEMA zoning regulations on that part of the island created issues for the district building an enclosed garage on the ground floor, below 16 feet, nixing any possible property purchase near Delmar. A new 4,500 square foot fire house also didn’t work on the town hall property because of the way that property is configured.
That brought Wirth back to the Topps property where he says a new fire house will be built. The urgency killing the land swap deal also had to do with FEMA, which controls the funding. They want to see a plan and they want the rebuild project to start rolling, according to Wirth. He’s already been discussing the new facility with an architect and if all goes well he hopes to see something start to come out of the ground in 6-7 months.
The new building on the old Topps property will be paid for with either FEMA funds or from the recent award of $14 million the district received from the state. There’s still a possibility the fire district will sell off the front part of the Topps property. The new building will be built near the back of the property. The entire piece is 2.14 acres.
The town’s property is made up of 3 parcels totaling 2.21 acres and includes a residential piece of property on the back end that the previous council and town manager purchased with the hopes of building an upland facility on for the mooring field. The town council has not yet decided where its future town hall will be built. They are considering including town hall in the new future Bay Oaks building or they could rebuild it as a stand-alone structure on the former town hall property.
Right now the town is renting several trailers and they are on the fire district property. New trailers are being built and the town’s government facilities will soon be on the Bay Oaks property.
Had the previous council purchased a structure that met the same height requirements as they were enforcing, we might not be having this conversation.
I am all for free speech but I think that on this platform there should be a badge or something that identifies home owners/tax payers. Since we are footing the bill, I think our opinions should be priority over people that just like to stalk the message board and do not even live on the beach, let along own a home.
There is a very LOUD mouth on this forum that loves to portray herself as the wisest one in the room. She is the queen of copy and pasting. If some one wasn’t paying attention, they would think she is home owner. She is not. So her opinion doesn’t matter since she is not the one footing the bill for these “projects”. Actually no one should be sitting on the town council that is not a home owner either since they are making financial decisions that not only effect the values of our properties but our taxes as well. Any decision about trailers costing millions to house the town council staff and building a new town hall should be up to a vote by the tax payers only.
If you look at these comments, there is one person saying not to take away the library. ONE! She believes that is the best part of the island. WOW….just let that one sink in.
The library should be used for town hall as well as the school. We have FIFTY students FIFTY!….Both of those entities should easily be able to fit in the library building. The library can put a little bench in a corner with free magazines for the “intelligent” residents who find it the best part of FMB.
🤣🤣🤣 A “badge to identify homeowners…” 🤣🤣🤣
Welcome to the internet.
Homeowners’ “opinions” do count for “more” (if it’s your primary residence) right there at the ballot box. 🤦♀️
Do NOT take our library away from us! That is the best part of this island, a necessity for the more intelligent residents of Ft. Myers Beach. We are missing it terribly!
“for the more intelligent residents” ROFL! Welcome to 2023 the rest of us that are not as “intelligent” as you carry computers with us and they are called “smart phones”. That is why we don’t have to go to the library.
You heard it! That library is for the intellectual. Far be it beyond me, I don’t qualify to enter through its gates…but there is a set of gates I do qualify to enter.
Great response! Bravo!
We need less Govt , using Library for much more as suggested is a great idea. As is moving town hall OFF a the island to some financially sensible place. Not on a $20 million Estero rd property – these are supposed to be public servants , not neighbors keeping up with the kardashians –
A large fully functional Library building, which was underutilized to begin with, is currently lying fallow with virtually no appreciable need for the next several years given the complete devastation of our client base. The small number of remaining residents are already struggling with overwhelming expenses. Why not utilize the building for a new town hall. Lee County already has numerous libraries close at hand.
An idea worth considering! Huge 3 story library for a 7 mile long island. There must be space in there for “town hall”. It pains me to see that library millage tax on my bill each year.
That building is big enough that it could be the FMB school for the whopping 50 students as well as townhall offices all in one location. But the last time I said anything suggesting that I was attacked by people saying how important the library is. Of course those people were most likely not home owners that have to foot the bill for the place or the ones that don’t even live on FMB but love to chime in to make themselves feel like they are part of FMB. Unless you are a home owner who pays taxes, you are not part of FMB. It’s really just a place for older people to sit around and read magazines when they are too cheap to buy them themselves or for homeless to hang out at.
That’s an awesome idea!!
Unincorporate, sell theproperty…
Dear lord you just said the silent part out loud.
If the council is considering moving to the new future Bay Oaks building that means it’s doable, so just do it. That frees up the current property for better use or sale.
Agree with above comment don’t spend much on town hall. When you go in they just say apply online. Maybe move it to San Carlos as well, sell beCh property and lower taxes. Win win!
San Carlos is not a part of the Town of fort Myers Beach. It is Estero island only.
Don’t spend too much money. I have owned property on FMB for 24 years and have never stepped foot in town hall. Most business can be done online or over the phone.