Commissioners approve project to rebuild Fort Myers Beach Pier

If you were lucky enough to walk, fish, or watch the sunset on the old Fort Myers Beach pier, you may be delighted to hear a new pier is coming.

“It was alive, you know; it was definitely something that represented the beach,” said beachgoer Ethan Goldsmith. “It looked like any old good dock or any good pier. You know, I lived in California, it looked like the Santa Monica Pier, but Florida version, right.”

“The old Fort Myers Beach Pier was great. Generations of my family have fished off that pier,” said Allen Shanofsky, Fort Myers Beach Pier Committee Chairperson.

Taken from us during Hurricane Ian, the Fort Myers Beach Pier is now on the road to recovery.

Tuesday morning Lee County Commissioners approved a whopping $1,176,914.23 to be put in the hands of Stantec Consulting services.

“it’s very exciting. My phone’s blown up. We’re very excited for the next phase of the process, which is the public input process that Stantec will be shepherding,” said Shanofsky.

Stantec’s job is to design a new pier that pays homage to the old one while being more resilient to future storms.

One thing we know for sure is the new pier will also be wider. This week was the first time Ethan Goldsmith has seen the pier since 2017.

“Yeah, my mom wanted to come down here and check out the beach and see what happened,” said Goldsmith.

Hearing the news of what’s to come, Goldsmith has some ideas about what could be next for this island staple.

“I mean, you got to put some good food on it, you know, you got to bring people out there, bring some food, bring some entertainment.”

With a design company picked, we should start to see versions of the first concepts of the pier.

Shanofsky told WINK News reporter Haley Zarcone, he hopes to have shovel to sand for the new pier by the third anniversary of Hurricane Ian, in September 2025.

Progress is progress, slow or not. People on this beach are happy to see their pier come back stronger than ever.