Fort Myers may turn 40 acres on Treeline Avenue into a nature park

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) — The City of Fort Myers is exploring plans to preserve more than 40 acres off Treeline Avenue, turning what could have become commercial space into a quiet, nature-focused park.

The property features a large lake, wetlands and natural areas that caught the city's attention. WINK News visited the site to learn why city leaders decided to rethink development.

"People over the past, I say, 10 years have come through, and they're scalping the property, throwing up cheap apartment buildings or housing, and just developing the heck out of it," said Kim Gupton, a Florida neighbor.

"There are buildings everywhere. Apartments building, just too much. All that nature, all that wildlife. There's no room left," said Holger Strauss, a Fort Myers neighbor.

For many Floridians, the signs of growth are everywhere. Heavy machinery, construction crews and new developments have transformed the landscape.

"It's been terrible. So we used to have tons and tons of wild land, you know, forest, and just beautiful, pristine grounds," Gupton said.

Right in the middle of new developments along Treeline is a property that could have had a very different future. This land was originally planned for commercial use.

Now, the City of Fort Myers is looking to protect this green space. It's a move Gupton wasn't expecting.

"Most cities are not after what's going to be actually be best for the population. They tend to gravitate toward what's going to be best for their pocket… So the fact that they chose for this to be a park and recreation area versus another apartment complex, I think, is wonderful," Gupton said.

For neighbors who have watched this area transform, they feel like this is a step in a different direction. "Finally, something positive," Strauss said.

"It's so important to keep Florida, Florida," Gupton said. "We want to see our wild lands. We want to see our forests. We want to see our preserves."

If the park moves forward, it could become a future favorite. "I'm going to use it for sure," Strauss said.

The city still has some work to do before this becomes a park. Leaders first need to change the property's land use from commercial to recreation, then they'll begin the planning and design process to figure out what this space will look like.