Lee County Commissioner David Mulicka joined Beach Talk Radio this past Sunday and provided the community with an update on several county projects that impact Fort Myers Beach, including the pier.
Mulicka told a packed house at Wahoo Willie’s that the pier project is in the design and permitting phase right now which will not be completed until the Fall of 2026. Construction will begin at the end of 2026 and is expected to take a year. So if all goes according to these estimated timelines the Fort Myers Beach pier is expected to be completed in June of 2028.Â
Lee County Commissioner Brian Hamman appeared on the Drew Steele radio show last week and mentioned that it might take up to a decade from Hurricane Ian before the pier would be repaired. Hamman was being somewhat tongue-in-cheek. He’s just as frustrated as residents are that it takes so long for projects to complete. He’s often voiced his concern about how long it takes road projects to completeÂ
On the show Mulicka also reported that the new Lynn Hall Park restroom facilities were on the same timeline as the pier, with completion not expected until June of 2028. Same for Bowditch park, which appears to have sustained much less damage than the Lynn Hall Park buildings. The Lynn Hall Park restroom facilities were a complete loss and eventually demolished. The Bowditch building is still standing.
Watch our entire 30 minute interview with Commissioner Mulicka HERE.
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I am in no rush for a new pier. To me, anything that attracts more traffic on FMB is not good.
Ok I get the pier, by why so long to build bathrooms?
The pier, library, park bathrooms, all should be completed by now, 2.5 years after the hurricane. They can blame it on various items, but all of these were originally built from scratch in less time. Incompetence is the cause, drain the swamp!
I agree,they should be in and running long before 3 more years
It’s called “kicking the can down the road” They’ve already shown renderings and aren’t the permits issued through Lee county? The same county that is going to rebuild the pier? I think it would be beneficial for someone from the county explain the whole permitting process and why (no matter what project it is) takes such a long time.
Why can’t our City Leaders, the Lee County leaders fast track the permitting? Cut thru the red tape.
Get Elon on it! 3 years til it’s done oozes bureaucracy and payola. Everyone wants that pier up sooner than later. Heck, we are residents and miss it every single day.
Gaza will get rebuilt sooner for goodness sakes
Get the Trump organization to build it. It would be completed much sooner.
Bring Trump on an I bet we would at least have bathrooms within the 1st year. He means business,. Why isn’t our governor stepping in? All of a sudden he seems to have fallen in the
background on these things, when he used to be front and center on all of these things?? I am just asking. Not trying to get into too deep of politics here.
The time for design and permitting does not seem reasonable. Would it be possible for you to learn how long it is taking other hurricane ravaged communities to replace their piers?
From the only experience I’ve had: Hurricane Matthew struck the SC coast in Oct 2016 destroying the Surfside Beach, SC pier. The process was lengthy but they have made attempts to build back a pier that will (hopefully) withstand future storms It was not completed and reopened to the public until March 2024.