Resident reacts to plan for new Amazon facility in Fort Myers

Reporter: Claire Galt Writer: Tim Belizaire
Published: Updated:

Amazon has paid $66.5M for 143 acres in Fort Myers to build a new warehouse. A resident who lives by the property said she has reservations about the facility.

Linda Bollinger is a Fort Myers resident. She said that driving on State Road 82 is a nightmare.

She was not happy when she learned that Amazon had bought 143.73 acres of land next to her neighborhood.

The company and the City of Fort Myers said the new facility will be the full package, bringing jobs and money to Fort Myers.

Bollinger said it’s going to bring problems.

“They ought to think about the infrastructure first,” said BolIinger. “I want to be able to water my lawn twice a week during the dry season. And where are we going to get the water? I don’t think they’re thinking about the infrastructure to support all of this.”

Mark Berry, a former industrial engineer for UPS said the city already considered that.

“The city had a really tough time with water pressure,” said Berry. “If you’ve got 1,000 employees or so, let’s say 300 of them are at the facility at any one time. That’s impact on the sewer and the water usage.”

Councilman Liston Bochette said that Berry is right.

“We were under a state mandate to improve our water,” said Bochette. “We’ve put new wells in, new pipes in. By next year, the end of next year, we’re going to be ahead of the water supplies.”

Bochette said that they have addressed traffic when it comes to the facility.

“Our engineering departments looked at widening certain roads, such as Hanson, Edison, all the access roads to get in and out to the interstate,” said Bochette.

A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Transportation said that as far as State Road 82 is concerned, this process is just beginning.

The developer now has to meet with planning. After the permitting process, they’ll review traffic studies and decide what, if any, changes need to be made to the roadways for the facility.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.