By a vote of 4-1 the Fort Myers Beach Town Council voted not to advance Estero Island Beach Club’s new building proposal to a 2nd public hearing which kills the project. Council member Karen Woodson was the lone yes vote.
EIBC was proposing a new 10-story building to replace 2 buildings that were 2 stories and 3 stories respectively before Hurricane Ian destroyed them both. The EIBC team was pushing a view corridor to the beach as the public benefit to offset the additional height. EIBC was asking for a 117 foot building and 75 units that were 713 square feet in size. EIBC is a time-share with between 2,200 and 2,300 owners.
Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt said the public benefit EIBC was proposing was not enough for him to vote yes on a 10-story building. Mayor Dan Allers did not believe what was presented to the Town Council Monday was actually what the LPA approved last month (n a 5-2 vote). The Mayor was never onboard with the size of this project and was vocal that it could have been presented with a much smaller footprint. He also questioned whether the unit sizes needed to be as big as they were which, if smaller, could have reduced the overall size of the building…