The Lee Board of County Commissioners Tuesday took action on a number of contracts and projects including a filter marsh at Six Mile Cypress Slough, a mixed-use trail linking Fort Myers Beach and Bonita Beach, tree planting at Lakes Park and beach nourishment efforts on Hurricane Ian damage.
Commissioners voted to award a contract to design and permit the Six Mile Cypress Slough-South, a project in the Southern Lee County Flood Mitigation Plan intended to improve flexible management in the Six Mile Cypress watershed and restore natural flow within the slough.
The Sothern Lee County Flood Mitigation Plan was created in response to the historic flooding in Fall 2017 caused by Invest 92L and Hurricane Irma.
The plan had three phases:
- Immediate clearing of trees and debris in waterways that was impeding flow. That work was completed in early 2018.
- A broader review of waterways to identify causes and contributing factors to flooding and identifying blocked pipes, culverts, ditches, canals, creeks and streams for clearing. The phase was completed in the first quarter of 2018.
- Developing a comprehensive plan to reduce potential flooding in Lehigh Acres, Southeast Lee County, South Lee County and Whiskey Creek watersheds.
The Six Mile Cypress Slough-South project is part of that long-term third phase. The $538,000 contract is with Bowman Gulf Coast doing business as Hole Montes. Design work is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
Mixed-use trail
Commissioners voted Tuesday to approve an agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation to use state funding to design a 12-foot wide, mixed-use trail from the Big Carlos Pass Bridge to the Big Hickory Bridge, linking Fort Myers Beach with Bonita Beach.
The trail would be part of the Florida Shared-Use Non-motorized (SUN) Trail Program stretching about 3.25 miles along Estero Boulevard from Big Hickory Pass Bridge to Big Carlos Pass Bridge.
Design is expected to begin by the end of 2024. Construction is not yet funded but is expected to be budgeted by FDOT using state funds. The SUN Trail Program was established in 2015 and receives an annual allocation of funding from a redistribution of state vehicle tag revenues.
The Big Carlos Pass Bridge is currently under construction, and it will include sidewalk connections to the future SUN Trail. Additionally, the county has a future project to replace the remaining three bridges between Hickory Island and Fort Myers Beach, and those replacement bridges will also incorporate the future SUN Trail.
For more information on the SUN Trail program, including maps, go to www.Floridasuntrail.com.
Planting trees
Commissioners voted Tuesday to accept a $37,500 grant from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to plant trees in Lakes Park to decrease erosion, improve stormwater runoff capture and protect the water quality of the watershed.
The project area totals about 38 acres. All plantings will be completed within 200-feet of any waterbody in the park, such as the shoreline of South Lake, wetlands and man-made stormwater canals. This will reduce potential run-off entering the watershed.
Lakes Park is in the Hendry Creek watershed, which has a Total Maximum Daily Load for total nitrogen and is currently subject to a State of Florida Basin Management Action Plan.
Once the tree planting project is complete, it is estimated that it could intercept up to 1.5 million gallons of run-off during the course of 10 years. In addition to this, the park pond banks will be stabilized, reducing erosion and the cost of possible shoreline repairs in the future.
For more information about Lee County’s water quality initiative, visit www.leegov.com/water.
Beach nourishment after Ian
Commissioners on Tuesday voted to approve an amendment to an agreement with the City of Bonita Springs to expand the scope of Bonita Beach nourishment efforts south to the County line.
The expanded scope is necessary due to damage caused by Hurricane Ian in September 2022.
The northern 0.9 miles of Bonita Beach is designated by the State of Florida as a critically eroded shoreline. Lee County has worked to manage the erosion since 1995, including cooperation with the City of Bonita Springs since its incorporation.
Hurricane Ian damaged all of Bonita Beach including the historically stable shorelines to the south of the designed nourishment project. The City of Bonita Springs requested and was granted over $4 million in State funding for a one-time repair of beaches from the nourishment project limits south to the county line to cover all the costs associated with this extension.
The work will restore the storm protection, environmental benefits such as sea turtle nesting, and recreational opportunities along the South Bonita Beach area, including county parks and beach accesses.
Combining the South Bonita Beach Segment with the existing, planned nourishment project also provides financial, logistical, and environmental benefits.
Other action
In a related vote Tuesday, the Lee Board of County Commissioners approved a negotiated, noncompetitive lease with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management of the Department of the Interior to use outer-continental shelf sand resources for beach nourishment. The lease qualifies for a fee waiver and provides up to 3 million cubic yards of beach quality sand to use for nourishment of critically eroded shorelines and repair of Hurricane Ian damages on Lovers Key, Bonita Beach and South Bonita Beach.
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