New Yacht Basin will wait a year - at least; Developer blames Corps of Engineers review

It's been not quite two years since Suntex signed a lease with the city to 'redevelop' the battered Fort Myers Yacht Basin.

The Dallas-based company says it now needs another year to pursue permitting, specifically pointing the finger at the Army Corps of Engineers. They'll ask City Council for a year's extension at Monday evening's meeting. The company is doing business through Fort Myers SMI, which it created for the project. It operates several major marinas in Florida.

The amendment to the lease calls the delay "unavoidable, not arising through any fault or neglect" of Suntex.

More: FWC wants more information on Fort Myers Yacht Basin rebuild post-Hurricane Ian

Some city residents, however, are saying that with such a huge undertaking the company - and the city - should have known better. And at least one council member agrees.

Jim Ink is an engineer who's been involved in numerous coastal projects needing federal and state approvals. He was involved with one of the groups that vied for the Yacht Basin project when the city was accepting proposal in 2022. The council chose Suntex, and the lease was signed April 1, 2023, several months after Hurricane Ian devastated much of southwest Florida - including the basin.

Ink says it's disingenuous for the company to blame the time lapse on the Corps.

"They're not going to get permits in another year," he said. "What they applied for is nothing like what's in the lease."

Ink said it could take five to seven years to get permits, if they're ever granted at all. He said the City Council has never gotten a presentation comparing what is under review to what they agreed to in the lease.

Councilman Fred Burson says the lack of such a presentation has been frustrating.

"I'm not so sure that we're being kept fully informed," Burson said. "And we should be."

The lease between Suntex and the city includes a conceptual plan for a new marina. The application, however, looks little like the original plan. It calls for placing over 75,000 yards of fill where the old basin was located, raising the property to 14 feet above mean high water to meet FEMA standards. It also calls for dredging almost 95,000 square feet of the river bottom. The new marina would stretch from nearly the U.S. 41 Bridge to the Edison Bridge downtown, stopping within 100 feet of each bridge.

Ink points out plans also call for buildings between Edwards Drive and the water, which will block the view of the river. That, he says, was never presented to the public.

When the city and Suntex signed the lease on April 1, 2023, it gave the company two years to get permits. That time runs out April 1.

As the review continues various federal and state agencies will weigh in. The Corps of Engineers has already said that impacts can be expected to imperiled species such manatees and the smalltooth sawfish and to their habitat. In fact, a request for more information from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission has gone unanswered since Dec. 16.

There have been meetings between reviewers and Suntex consultants. The minutes from a Jan. 16 meeting showed up in project files this week - after the News-Press asked about the 2-month response time.

According to those minutes, the meeting dealt primarily with slip numbers. The plans call for 286 total slips, with no differentiation between motor slips and sailboat slips. That number was included in the Dec. 16 communication, and it is enumerated by both FWC counts and by the county's Manatee Protection Plan. Concerns over pollutant flushing and details of marina management plans are yet to be addressed.

Burson noted the application calls for filling the basin and re-dredging a new channel. He said the existing channel allows for flushing by the river flow. It seems to him, he said, the proposed channel would routinely fill in, requiring ongoing maintenance.

"I think five to seven years is optimistic," he said. "I don't see the Corps ever agreeing to move the channel. I think it's a waste of time and money."

Burson said he's disappointed that council has not been kept up-to-date, and with the project in general.

"I am pessimistic it's ever going to get done," he said. "I don't see it happening ever, and I'm not happy."

"I am pessimistic it's ever going to get done. I don't see it happening ever, and I'm not happy." - Councilman Fred Burson

City Manager Marty Lawing, responding to emailed questions, said Suntex will make a presentation to council at Monday's meeting.

"Suntex will be in attendance present an update on their project to include the design of the marina and conceptual building designs for the upland development. Staff is recommending an extension. Delays with Army Corps of Engineers permitting are not unusual."

The lease calls for Suntex to make at least $30 million in improvements, and as much as $45 million. The city is to receive $400,000 per year at the beginning of the lease, increasing to $500,000 for the second 5-years and $600,000 for the next five years. Ther rent would increase by 10% for every following 5-year period. The lease calls for a 30-year term with two 25-year potential extensions.

Mayor Kevin Anderson could not be reached, but he has expressed impatience with the progress of the project.

Suntex Fort Myers attorney Sawyer Smith was likewise unavailable.