Council authorizes prioritizing federal projects and asks staff to explore a reduced-rate beach parking pass pilot

Summary

The council approved a prioritized list of candidate projects to submit to Congressman Donald's office for federal funding consideration and authorized Council member Bogaz to explore a pilot program that could offer reduced-rate annual passes for paid Lee County beach parking sites for Bonita Springs residents.

Council members approved staff's request to provide Congressman Donald's office with three prioritized project nominations and authorized Council member Bogaz to explore a pilot program to subsidize annual Lee County paid-beach parking passes for Bonita Springs residents.

Ellie McKeown of Public Works explained the congressman's office will accept up to 10 project nominations from the district and requested the city's priority order; she noted the city recently secured a $2 million appropriation for Rosemary Drive. Mayor Gibson suggested the public-safety emergency response center be the top priority, with a pool project and Paradise Road also discussed as potential priorities.

Council member Bogaz moved to authorize staff to pursue the priority nominations and to explore the beach-pass pilot; the motion was seconded and passed by roll call. Staff said any reduced-rate pilot would require cooperation with Lee County and verification processes, and the $15,000 operational line item previously placed in the budget could be a starting point for a pilot program.