This week the Fort Myers Beach Town Council heard another presentation about a wave mitigation wall. A wall that would cost millions to build up and down the island, and could save millions of dollars worth of destruction if there’s another big storm. The focus this week was Times Square.
For about a year the Town Council has been discussing the possibility of adding a wave mitigation wall. The town has a $60,000 consulting contract with the engineering firm J.R. Evans to explore the wall. If built in the Times Square area, a wave mitigation wall may allow for a slight enough change to the flood plain map that would allow a property owner to get more use out of the ground floor than is possible now. There are other benefits according to J.R. Evans.
A wave mitigation wall is designed to slow down the wave action, the storm surge, from an approaching hurricane. Times Square is in the highest risk velocity zone and was decimated by Hurricane Ian in September of 2022. Storm surge was recorded anywhere between 10 and 17 feet from the pier down to Bayside Park from Ian. It was the violent storm surge that inflicted most of the damage.
Part of the Times Square rebuild challenge has been what can actually be built on that property being so close to the water. How high do the buildings have to be? How much will it cost to build a much taller restaurant or a retail shop? La Ola owner Tom Houghton has been looking into constructing a wave mitigation wall in front of his new building. It’s not cheap.
Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers says he measured from the northern edge of Lynn Hall Park to the southern edge of Crescent Beach Park. That came out to about 1,354 feet. At a cost of $1,000 per linear foot, the approximate cost for a Times Square mitigation wall would be $1.35 million.
If the town were to take that on, the obvious question would be; where would the money come from? Does the town partner with the local businesses and also look for grant money? Or, does the town create a Times Square Community Redevelopment District, a CRA, which would be a specific taxing district for that area that could only be used to address blight.
When TPI (Margaritaville) was pitching its Grand Resorts project, part of that plan was a mitigation wall for a good stretch of the beach, including Times Square. It would have been a public benefit TPI was willing to give the town. The Town Council at the time rejected it.
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In case you have been living under a rock, the seas will be riding 1-2 feet in the next 5-10 years. More flooding. And more flooding further inland. Build the wall.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, they’ve been saying that for 60 years. Hasn’t happened.
Considering all the stuff on this island that is still NOT done why are we spending resources on this now??
Build a wall high and strong. Raise the elevation with fill some in time square as well. Problem solved! Elevation and sea walls are the only solution. Mangoves don’t stop flooding like a sea wall and fill dirt and elevation do. Don’t make it harder than it has to be. Back fill. Sea Wall. = Problem Solved
No one has a crystal ball to see the future of FMB and the mitigation walls, but I believe that any wall mitigation strength against future Hurricanes is worth it! The Town of FMB didn’t know what Ian would do along with any of us that stay/vacation or live on the beach! Our Southend condo building had full-time residents living in them and had refused to leave, as they had been through other Hurricanes and had stayed in place. Luckily, all survived, but had to be rescued. No one had hindsight. Ian produced the LARGEST Hurricane in SWFL!! Now, we need to move forward with our current information and work together. Let’s not tear each other apart. We can have different opinions, of course, but do it for a common goal of putting FMB back together. ❤️
Hurricane ian almost took out the sanibel lighthouse
I don’t think any wall built would hold back the wrath Of mother nature
If there is conclusive evidence from somewhere that a seawall will truly mitigate the effects of waves and surge, then maybe it’s worth pursuing. Otherwise, there’s a better way to use the money.
Mangroves significantly reduce wave energy through their root system and they are free. Of course, FMB has limited mangrove protection anywhere.
No they don’t. They only hold soil. You tree huggers have no idea the power of surge. The mangroves root themselves deep and wide. To hold onto the soil. This keep the soil from eroding. Doesn’t stop the force of water.
No, no, no.
Spending $60k for a consulting firm to “study” it is typical of the frivolous use of funds on the island. This needs to be reigned in.
Yeah who gave the approval for this? These “studies” are money laundering schemes. Wait til FMB is audited. We will see who is laughing then.
Totally agree. Bad money spent over and over. $60,000 for a study of what exactly?
Who gave the approval? Town Council.
All of the consultants the town hires are by resolutions passed (or, rarely, not passed) at Town Council meetings.
Anyone who attends or watches the meetings — or even looks at the meeting agenda — is aware what consultants are hired, the purpose, and the cost.
You don’t live here. Stay out of our business.
Thank you Steve for standing up for FMB against this stalker. Who would watch all the meetings, read every article and then jump in an attack FMB residents when they don’t own anything here and they don’t even live in Florida? You would think she would stop embarrassing herself.
Hahaha.
How odd you think BTR’s 100k+ followers are “stalkers.”
Embarrassing myself? That’s funny. I’m not the one shrieking “who approved this?” Try paying attention to TC meetings and actions; it’ll do wonders for curing ignorance.
Holly, with all due respect, why do you always come on BTR and pick fights with residents? You think it is appropriate to be condescending to the residents of Fort Myers Beach and it is quite offensive. There is a common pattern with you. Since you clearly are not going to stop coming to the message board, I am asking you nicely, could you please work on not attacking, mocking, and being condescending? No one appreciates it.
J
John King
A “wave mitigation wall” is a seawall. A few taps on Google provide warnings of equal problems by any name.
Walling a coastline is a bad bet.
You can throw money at a problem that the $60k engineers think they can solve, but Mother Nature is Mother Nature.
Plus, most if not all the structures that couldn’t handle storm surge of that magnitude are gone. What are we protecting at this point? Future construction has to be built to the current building codes.
Water will flow right around the wall and flood everyone anyway. So again, what’s it protecting?
Another $60,000 spent on a consulting firm and all of the information can be obtained from various valid sources with a free internet search that will say the same thing. There are pros and cons.
Here’s what the engineer didn’t tell you, what Florida papers and scientists have reported for years:
https://www.theinvadingsea.com/2023/05/31/in-florida-seawalls-hurricane-restoration-reimbursement-grant-program/
Read this as it has the facts of a migration wall and it’s mostly negative impact on the community.
Thanks Lee! Based on research, this will be nothing but an expensive, continuous maintenance nightmare!! TC stop listening to the sales pitch and do the research!! This is not a good idea! Beachfront property owners are already spending hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars to help mitigate flood damage to their properties by building on concrete pilings. Part of the destruction from hurricane Ian wasn’t just the surge, it was also the winds of 155mph!! A mitigation wall isn’t going to prevent wind damage!
A seawall is a defensive barrier that reflects energy, while a wave mitigation wall/design is a system (often incorporating modifications or softer materials) focused on managing and reducing that energy, leading to less overall coastal disruption. Modern coastal engineering often favors mitigation strategies or combined systems
Did anyone consider the effects this wall will have on properties north and south of where it ends? It could cause incremental damage to those properties. This does not seem like a good idea.
Let’s see who was on town council who rejected it……a public benefit.
The coastal protection system was pitched by TPI in 2015 for the Grand Resorts Concept. The only person on the Council from that error still around is Anita Cereceda….so someone should ask her why the CPS proposal wasn’t viewed favorably in retrospect.
Anita was in favor of the TPI wave mitigation wall.
Is it a public benefit for the properties north and south of where the wall ends? Data shows it will cause incremental damage to those properties not protected by the wall. Public benefit for a few, detriment for many others.
“When TPI (Margaritaville) was pitching its Grand Resorts project, part of that plan was a mitigation wall for a good stretch of the beach, including Times Square. It would have been a public benefit TPI was willing to give the town. The Town Council at the time rejected it.”
We don’t want that. What could possibly go wrong?
Because of the short sightedness of the prior Town Council, we are where we are today with Times Square. You can look up who was on that Council and thank them.