Neighbors Concerned Canal Traffic Will Increase

Recently, at a Town Council meeting, residents living behind the Beach Theater voiced their concerns about a proposal by the new property owners that included boat slips behind the building that might lead to additional traffic down their canal. We reached out to Egret street resident Jim Dunlap for an explanation of the neighborhood’s concerns.

(By Jim Dunalp) I live on Egret Street on the South end of the island.  The canal behind my home is “U” shaped in nature.  It’s a continuous canal that serves both Curlew and Egret streets.  At the end of the canal is where the Beach Theater and Charlies are located with a small bridge on Curlew Street going over the canal.

With the development plans that have “leaked out” to date, it’s our understanding that both the Beach Theater and the new London Bay development plans include a substantial increase in boat traffic on our narrow pedestrian canal. Again, I will emphasize that we have not been included nor officially advised by the owners of either development exactly what the plans are but to date have heard the following;

The Beach Theater (who already illegally removed a substantial and mature growth of mangroves at the end of the canal) are looking to put in a sea wall and construct several docks or a large continuous dock at the end of our canal for boat access to the property during business hours.  In addition, we also hear that the London Bay project will include a transport ferry from the current SaltLeaf (Ritz Carlton) project in Estero potentially dropping off guests and customers to the Charlies Boat House property thus again, creating a commercial use on our residential canals.

Our issue with both of these scenarios is the same.  Commercial traffic on a residential canal

These canals are only 60’ wide and after the buildable allowances are used for owners’ docks and boat lifts, it only leaves 30’ for boat navigation.  Literally, a 25’ boat with an outboard can barely turn around in these narrow waterways so imagine having to pass other boat traffic with only inches to spare.  It also invades the privacy of the residents enjoying their back yards and pools as well as the wildlife that utilize these canals for food and shelter. The canals are very shallow, particularly at low tide, so safe navigation for both the boaters and the wildlife is restricted except during those hours when the tides are high enough to allow passage.

To our knowledge, there are no waterfront restaurants along FMB that use any residential canals for their boating customers.  It literally makes no sense to allow this type of usage for this narrow residential canal.

As I mentioned earlier, we have not heard directly from either property owners as to the specifics regarding their development plans.  The culture of Fort Myers Beach is based on neighbors respecting and communicating with each other.  We understand that both developers have rights to use their properties to the highest and best use within the allowable town guidelines.  But, in keeping with the culture of our community and the respect we have for one another, it would seem appropriate to expect both developers to offer to spend some time communicating directly with the affected neighborhoods and allow the interaction and communication to drive the relationship vs suspicion and rumors to drive the emotion.

We understand that the canals, as public waterways, are open to all public navigation. We appreciate that the development is coming and it’s not necessarily a bad thing when it’s done right.  However, the town directly controls the development along these canals, and we will continue to ask the town council to prevent these entities from using our residential canals for their commercial use.

Reach out to Jim directly by email at jdmd0516@gmail.com