FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — The community has spoken about what they want the future of the Fort Myers Beach fishing pier to look like.
The survey was organized and hosted by Let’s Go FMB, a local group aimed at helping the island recover from Hurricane Ian.
For 10 days, more than 9,000 people submitted their thoughts and ideas for the future of the pier, which Hurricane Ian destroyed.
This week, the results were published.
“In just ten days, we had over 9,000 respondents to the survey,” said Alex King, who sits on the Let’s Go FMB Pier Committee. “I mean, that’s mind-blowing. The whole island is changing; it’s developing. We need a pier that reflects that.”
It’s no surprise that more than 90% of people want rebuilding the pier to be a priority.
However, what might be surprising is that nearly every single person who took the survey, 98.5% of participants, wanted an improved pier.
“Fort Myers Beach, Southwest Florida, has the thinnest pier in the state. Five feet wide. And the third shortest,” King said.
Of all the improvements survey takers asked for, a pier wider than 16 feet was the second most popular. A runner-up to building a more storm-resilient pier.
The results also show the community wants to keep the pier free. However, they would like to see a bigger area for sunset viewing and places to sit on the pier, like benches.
“I don’t see a problem with that, making it bigger and nicer,” said Debra Murphy of Estero.
To Murphy, this all sounds grand. However, to her friend visiting from New York, not so much.
“Nuh uh,” said Linda Geremiah. “I don’t agree with that at all. I say we use what we have and make it better.”
She’s an outlier to nearly every single person who is calling for an improved pier.
One thing everyone can agree on is that their biggest concern is how long it will take to watch a sunset from up on the pier.
“Just do something,” said Jim Zantow.
That’s exactly what Let’s Go FMB plans to get out of their meeting with Lee County leaders on Nov. 27.
They’re looking for a plan, a timeline and progress.
“We’re hoping to walk away with them agreeing that the community wants something new, and they will start the process of engaging an architect and start working on the design,” King said. “That would be a great goal to accomplish.”