Less than 24 hours after 134 sandbags were put behind Building #2 of the Leonard Arms condo building, their sea wall collapsed. The area behind that building has been battered by high tides and storms and is in dire need of renourishment.
A portion of the parking lot collapsed back in March and the condo association has been putting band aids on the problem as they wait for the major beach renourisment project to begin. The problem with that is Fort Myers Beach’s $23 million beach renourishment project is not slated to begin until the Summer of 2023. That’s at least one full hurricane season, and many high tides away. And, in case you’re keeping score at home, the rainy season is officially underway.
Leonardo Arms Community Association Manager Tim Baggett told Beach Talk Radio News the association is also working through the process to get a new seawall approved.
Just to get the sandbags approved, it took six months. The permit process with the State of Florida to get the temporary fix started back in November of 2021. The sandbag project was expected to be completed by today. That was before the sea wall collapsed. The association originally requested approval for 204 sandbags but the state cut that back to 134 due to the possibility of turtles nesting in the area.
The sand and the bags cost about $160,000. There are 60 residents in building 2 of Leonardo Arms. The paid the entire amount through a special assessment.
Thay need to get busy now fixing this sea wall for these owners of condo’s. We know the storms are comeing and getting worse every year. Can’t wait anouther year. Help them NOW. Get busy with your red tape and get ur done.⌛is out.
Let us look back at the 2015 history of Leonardo Arms emergency sand bagging; what had changed; what remains the same
So, if 204 sandbags were requested, did the State engineers say that only 134 were necessary to prevent collapse? Surely they had to have done a study. They should fast track this and not hold up a basically eminent and catastrophic collapse!
PLEASE, State of FL,Lee County,Town of FMB.Help these people before it’s to late. They can’t afford to wait another year.What if this was your home.
That is just stupid! Are they waiting for another collapse like Miami?
For crying out loud, WHAT sea turtle nests?! Turtles cannot dig nests in water that’s waist deep or even in standing water — which is what they have at Leonardo Arms. There are no nests and there won’t be until there’s dry sand and an open beach; permitting should have been a no-brainer and permits issued immediately. Regarding the permitting process, common sense has left the building.
Interesting how the stateTown take a low interest in fining those that don’t follow the lighting regulations to protect the turtles, but choose to ignore or consider non issue when there could be a building collapse because of possible turtle nests.
Wow. $2,667 per resident for a sandbag seawall that immediately washed away!
I can’t believe the turtles are more important than people, I live here and don’t understand why it takes so long to get something done and agree, the sand bags must be made of gold. Do we need another collapse to get the states attention!
This is an urgent situation for our neighbors and they need urgent support and attention. Please, city, county, state…. Help them!
$160k for 134 bags of sand?! What’s I. That sand? What are the bags made from? Are we in California?
State cut back the number of temporary sandbags to protect the possible turtle nests. With a seawall and parking lot collapse and the possibility of a building collapse won’t this harm the Turtles more then some sandbags? 6 months of red tape to get temporary approval, the state and town need to be held accountable for the residents safety. Last year 3 nests in front of the building were washed away by a small storm. The state needs to take action immediately before they have a building collapse! Can you imagine all the Turtles that would be killed by this.