The Estero Island Beach Restoration project is on course to re-nourish the much needed beach shoreline area on the northern 1.2-mile section of Fort Myers Beach.
The Lee County Board of County Commissioners approved the recommendation to bid award to Florida Dredge & Dock LLC. It includes the lowest responsive base bid amount of $3,533,486.80 with a project completion time of 150 calendar days. The action was taken at the BOCC meeting in Commission Chambers Tuesday.
Before making the approved motion, Commissioner Ray Judah addressed a concern about the timing of the project. Some Beach businesses, including Best Western Beach Resort, are worried about the impact of the project during tourist season. Lee County Natural Resources Director Steve Boutelle said the start of the project construction is anticipated to be March 15 at Bowditch Point.
“Clearly, we have a balancing act in play here. Under that scenario, as far as the Best Western is concerned, that might put us somewhere in their neighborhood around Easter (April 24) or perhaps just after. The truth is that there is no way at this point to estimate that closely. It will simply take some time to get operations in place, get some work under our belt and fine tune the production rate so that we know how quickly we anticipate moving down that shoreline,” said Boutelle.
Boutelle said the public can check progress reports on beach restoration on the county website. The link is www.lee-county.com/gov/dept/NaturalResources/Marine/Pages/EsteroIsland.aspx.
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The bid award selection is part of the timeline for the project to take fruition. Once the contract is signed, Florida Dredge & Dock will fill out insurance forms to provide a construction bonding on file. This allows the county to move forward on the processes and not allow the $2 million in state funds to be suspended.
The Fort Myers Beach Town Council passed a motion back on Dec. 6, 2010, to begin the construction phase as soon as Lee County secured the bids for it. It then endorsed the selection of Florida Dredge & Dock as the successful bidder on Jan. 3.
Due to a projected $3.7 million budget before the bid award, the county commissioners had resolved a budget amendment that will now include the amount of $860,224 for unanticipated revenues from WCIND ($750,000) and the Town of Fort Myers Beach ($110,224). Florida Dredge & Dock is based out of Lithia, Fla.
According to county documents, the beach restoration project consists of the replacement of a maximum volume of 315,000 cubic yards of fill on north Estero Island.
This project includes the construction of a terminal groin on the north tip of Estero Island, one that is expected to be 240 feet long at the crest by 48 feet wide at the base, and perpendicular to the shoreline. Modifications to the design position may be needed due to current conditions of the beach.
The project’s sand source is expected to be of high quality with very low organic content and would come from 1.4 miles from the area’s shoreline.
Once the beach restoration project begins, there would be bulldozers and lengthy piping on the beachfront. Sand placement would involve a secured 300- to 500-foot area of work to disallow public access. The rest of the pipeline will feature slightly inclined sand ramps which act as walkovers to aid beach goers in their Gulf approach.
The final task of the whole project involves dune plantings with property owners who have secured easements. This process is coordinated with the rainy season for plant growth (estimated early July timeline). The Town’s vegetation management plan is in affect for this project.
source: FortMyersBeachTalk.com
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