Town Manager Will McKannay brought that good news to Beach Talk Radio Sunday when he appeared on the show with Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt. McKannay says he’s seen the drawings for the new church and they are “absolutely gorgeous.”
Watch McKannay detail the plans for the Church to rebuild HERE. The town recently held a meeting with the Diocese of Venice to find out what was going on at the property. The plan is for the church to come in within th enext 6-8 months to start the permitting process.
The Church of The Ascension on Fort Myers Beach was located at 6025 Estero Boulevard. The Church was ripped apart by Hurricane Ian two years ago and it’s been a slow go to get the rebuilding process started.
About a year ago, Church representatives met with the town for a pre-application meeting to discuss the demolition of what’s left of the church campus, the new layout and circulation of the parking lot, layout of utilities, setbacks and landscape buffers.
Father William Adams and the Poor Clare nuns were on the church campus when Hurricane Ian came through bringing with it 18 feet of storm surge. Everyone who stayed through the storm at the property survived.
The home on the property, where Father Adams lived, was also destroyed leaving him with only the clothes on his back. In June of 2024 Adams told Beach Talk Radio News that even though the church was deemed structurally sound, repairs far exceeded FEMA’s 50% rule, and the buildings (the Church, the Church Hall, the Monastery Chapel and offices) needed to be demolished. The church did have insurance and was covered for catastrophic loss.
There have not been any services being held for church members on Fort Myers Beach. Adams had been sending members to St. Leo’s in Bonita.
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If you just drive carefully and the speed limit that curve is not a big issue
FMB council should have addressed that curve with the County years ago. And they might have and that is why it’s still a dangerous curve on Estero Blvd. I think there have been many opportunities to address this. Why should the church now?
It would be wonderful if part of their rebuilding included straightening out of Estero Blvd in front of the church property.
LOL
LeeCo owns Estero Blvd; a property owner cannot simply modify the road.