Fort Myers pursues seawall elevation funding and weighs short- and long-term river defenses

City Manager Marty Long briefed council on staff's follow-up to a request to study flood-control options for the Caloosahatchee River and downtown areas. Long said the city applied for seawall-elevation grants and estimated an initial project cost near $28 million (no design completed), and staff asked for council direction on next steps.

Jessica McGowy told council the grant requests remain under review and said two main seawall-elevation projects "do look like they will be recommended to FEMA" and that, based on the county priority list, the projects are likely to be funded, representing about $31,000,000 in potential seawall-elevation funding. She cautioned that designs, environmental reviews and permitting would be lengthy and that, if funded, projects could take years to complete.

Councilmembers discussed short-term protective options for downtown businesses, including merchant-installed products and area barriers such as AquaFence and slide-in aluminum plates. Staff showed examples and raised the possibility of a CRA grant program with a 50/50 match to help businesses acquire tested, removable barriers.

A council member proposed exploring a regional structure across the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River—compared to the Thames barrier in London—as a long-term, multi-jurisdictional solution to protect both sides of the river from storm surge, while cautioning it would require county, state and federal cooperation and major funding.

Staff will continue research on short-term rental/contract options and long-term funding opportunities and report back to council.