On Tuesday night about 50 Fort Myers Beach residents attended a community meeting at Nervous Nellie’s. The topic was future development on the island. The meeting was organized by Bahia Via residents Mike and Dawn Miller and featured former Town Councilman Bill Veach and candidate Greg Scasny as speakers.
A majority of the discussion focused around the new development proposed for the former Outrigger property which is now owned by London Bay. The company was scheduled to be on the LPA Agenda Friday after submitting their plans to the town back in February. After reading feedback from the town staff, London Bay pulled their application from the LPA agenda to address the town’s concerns.
London Bay is proposing a hotel that is 10 floors over 2 floors of parking for a total of 12 floors. The hotel would have 100 hotel rooms and 50 condo units they would sell in that same building. They are also proposing a 15 story condo building over 2 levels of parking, for a total of 17 stories. There would be 46 condo units for sale in the second building. The proposal also includes 24,000 square feet of commercial space. Before the storm, The Outrigger was 3-4 stories high, with a Tiki Bar on the beach, and 144 hotel rooms. The building was a total of about 35-40 feet high. It was approved in 1995 before the town incorporated. The new proposal states that “the height is a maximum of 200 feet over FEMA Base Flood Elevation.”
London Bay has also been dealing with pushback from Bahia Via and Curlew residents concerned a canal that runs through their backyards will be used to shuttle customers to the old Charley’s restaurant property, which London Bay also owns. London Bay purchased both properties for $32 million. The company has not revealed any plans for the Charley’s property and wants 100 percent of the focus right now to be on their proposal for The Outrigger property.
Former Town Councilman Bill Veach told the crowd, “This is the tip of the iceberg. We are a small island, long and skinny. Anything that happens affects the entire island.”
Town Council candidate Greg Scasny said, “Residents on the island that do not want to see these large, egregious developments, should get involved and have their voices heard by their town government. He also stated that residents should not be afraid that the beach will never be rebuilt if residents don’t accept the large developments that are being proposed. The beach will be rebuilt and how that rebuild happens will depend on how vocal our town’s residents are to our elected leaders.”
The Miller’s were pleased with how the meeting went. “It was a great opportunity to get the community involved and working together. We feel like our message was heard and hope that Mark Wilson and London Bay will go back to the drawing board. We have spoken with them and are available to continue the conversations. We feel that the residents and owners of the island have been empowered and hope that we have inspired them to use their voices. Letters and phone calls to town staff and elected officials, reaching out to the developers with ways forward that are agreeable to the neighbors and the most critical VOTE. We encourage others to do your research, talk to your neighbors and get involved.”
In addition to the live audience at Nervous Nellie’s, over 200 people watched the meeting live on our Facebook and YouTube Channel. Redevelopment is clearly the biggest topic on Fort Myers Beach and will play a big role in the November election for Town Council.
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No mega developments
Just say “no” forever
Why can’t someone come in and just build a common hotel they make money and keep everyone happy. What’s with all the millions, its not Miami and no one wants Miami. Can’t someone build an outrigger similar to what it was just slightly bigger, lets be real. All this money greed is just not what the island or the residents are about and honestly neither are the snow birds. Wish someone could get this concept
Mr. Scasny is correct. The beach WILL be rebuilt and mega developments aren’t needed nor wanted.
Amen to that!
We need the same engagement on the proposed SeaGate development at
the former Red Coconut property.
This is great dialog and the feedback is common sense for the island and the nature of the community plan. Too bad developers often ask for too much instead of a thoughtful effort. It’s all because the value of the land is based on intensity without regard to quality or the impacts. Small resorts are fine / look at Pierhouse in Key West. Thanks for organizing this.
Thank you to Dawn and Mike Miller for hosting this forum. They are modeling how we residents, and visitors who care about our community, can make our voices heard. We all need to help shape the future of this fragile, beautiful barrier island. Those of us who can should research all candidates and VOTE! Say no to excessive, corporation-enriching mega-development that will bring more detriments than benefits to islanders. Let’s protect our island’s character, ecosystems and community spirit.
The “Development Team” for all these projects should buy a house and live as a citizen of FMB while they are planning these monstrosities. Let them meet neighbors, join nonprofits , sit in traffic, go to the beach for sunset. Then they would understand they are on 7 miles of sand not Miami Beach or Tampa. We are a small community, not much to do actually but be small town.
Great idea!
12 floors plus – way too many. We don’t want a wall of concrete like Marco island. Our island is small. We should be discouraging visitors to bring cars. And Or have off island parking for visitors. I’m still working on the free tram to go from pink shell to Santini plaza. Thank you to the Millers and everyone who voiced their concerns.
Yes, we would use that!!! We are on Flamingo St.