Environmental advisory board backs effort to rename, improve access to Billy's Creek

The Fort Myers Environmental Advisory Board voted March 4 to recommend that City Council seek federal recognition of the creek's possessive name and to ask staff to study and promote improved signage and kayak launch access at Billy's Creek.

Board members acted after a presentation by local stakeholder Jerry Miller, who described 14 years of volunteer cleanups, a conservation easement he holds, and several technical reports showing improving water-quality trends. Miller told the board he has title research and historical materials showing the creek has long been written as “Billy's Creek.”

Why it matters: board members said a formally recognized historic name could help with heritage and eco‑tourism promotion and that better signs and access would make existing public facilities easier to find and use. Miller and other speakers also urged the city…