FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Pete Winton, Lee County Administration
(239) 335-2777
COMMISSION APPROVES NEW SIDEWALKS/APPLIES FOR CAUSEWAY LOAN
FORT MYERS, Fla. (September 9, 2003) - The Board of Lee County Commissioners today approved the following items during its regular weekly meeting. They are:
New Sidewalks - Added two new sidewalks to the FY03-04 list of bicycle/pedestrian projects, to be paid from unused funds over the last two years. The projects are: Bonita Beach Road from Bonita Grande Drive to Palmira subdivision entrance (1.1 miles, $340,000), and Beau Drive (NFM) from Hancock Bridge Parkway to North Key Drive (0.3 miles, $50,000). Previously approved for next year include:
Lehigh Acres
North Fort Myers
3. Laurel Drive from Garden Street to Business 41 (0.6 miles).
Pine Island
4. Stringfellow Road from Marina Drive to Pamegranate
Drive (2.7 miles).
5. Stringfellow Road from Helen Road to Barrancas Road (0.8
miles).
Estero
6. Williams Road from Halfway Creek to Three Oaks Parkway (2.1 miles).
Loan Application - Approved an application for a $25 million loan from the State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) to help pay for the replacement of the Sanibel Causeway bridges. Repayment will be guaranteed from surplus toll revenues. The loan would partially fund the replacement of the three bridges, anticipated to cost a total of $64.2 million. The SIB provides low-interest loans for road/bridges construction projects.
Fiber Optic Cable - Approved $377,000 to lay a fiber optic cable ring around the downtown government campus, to coincide with Fort Myers' streetscape project. The Sonet ring will connect Public Works, SunTrust, Justice Center, County Administration, Wachovia, City Hall and Codes Enforcement buildings with Sprint, KMC and US Lec. This will improve reliability for the county's phones and computer systems. If a break occurs in the fiber ring, data is simply rerouted the opposite direction, making it a redundant system. It also will allow the ability to use any of the transport carriers for new services and provide dual access paths to all of the government buildings. Savings projected at $295,000 a year with a return on investment of 15 months.
Dogs and Bunche Beach - Adopted staff's recommendation to prohibit dogs - leashed or off-leash - at San Carlos Bay-Bunche Beach Preserve. The prohibition is part of the land stewardship plan for the property.
Mooring Facility - Approved a resolution requesting West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND) funding of $306,500 for a Matanzas Harbor Mooring Field. This is a Town of Fort Myers Beach project, which has obtained the permits necessary to construct and manage a mooring field for vessels in Matanzas Harbor. The mooring field will have 70 moorings and will allow the Town to gain some measure of control over the mooring field that currently is established in the Harbor. Funding will be for the removal of existing derelict vessels, mooring buoys and rigging, various signage, environmental protection, water quality and construction safeguards, construction surveys and administration, and 2 vessels, one sewage pump-out vessel and one vessel for the Harbormaster. The Town expects to begin construction in November 2003 and be complete by February 2004.
State of Local Emergency - Extended for another week the State of Local Emergency that has been in effect for several weeks due to flooding because the ground is still quite saturated and subject to more flooding if rain continues.