Pink Shell resort expansion project moves onto final vote

The future for the expansion of a Fort Myers Beach staple comes down to one vote.

The Pink Shell resort wants to build a new boutique hotel separate from the main building. Developers pleaded their case to the town council, which on Wednesday, agreed to have a final vote.

Council voted 3-1 to approve a final vote. Mayor Allers was not participating, saying he had a conflict of interest. The final vote will be on Feb 3.

Until then, Pink Shell has time to make changes to the final proposal that has caused a beach battle.

“This does not seem like a very good plan to me they may have the right to do this, they are now going to have a tunnel effect, and we really don’t want to look like Miami Beach,” Phyllis, who lives on Fort Myers Beach said in public comment.

“We moved here because it kind of had a Key West feel to it. It kind of had that more quaint vibe and I think part of the concerns that many of us, owners and residents, have now is we’re going to lose that,” Randy Briesath who also lives on Fort Myers Beach said.

The expansion would include a new 40 units in a six-story boutique hotel, four additional hotel units in the white sands building, and a duplex.

“It’s not about the cards you’re dealt, it’s how you play the cards. And Ian was the worst cards we were dealt, so it’s how we play those cards for the future so and I think that’s where we’re at now,” Bill Waichulis, the president of the Pink Shell resort said.

People against the proposal want the island to rebuild and come back but in a way where it’s not overbuilding and respects the feel of the past.

“I think as a community, we just got to accept change and try to find happy mediums of for progress,” Waichulis said.

On Wednesday, for over two and a half hours, Pink Shell representatives laid out their plan and listened to council members and public comment.

“We’re just looking at the next, final evolution of the Pink Shell. And this was one of the steps of approval, and we were happy with the outcome of the vote,” Waichulis said.

Someone not happy with the outcome is former Fort Myers Beach Mayor Ray Murphy.

“It’s impossible to stay the way it was, but we want an upgraded Fort Myers beach with all without all that extra intensity and density that comes along with all these additional requests to approve,” Murphy said.

He continued to say if approved in February, “something like that would be, would be extremely egregious, as far as I’m concerned, to give them something that they were really never even entitled to.”

Murphy was Mayor when Hurricane Ian struck. He says this expansion goes against the comprehensive plan.

“The whole community made up this plan after we incorporated, and that’s been our bible. It’s been our it’s been our plan to go along with. And it hasn’t changed,” Murphy said.

Before the final vote next month, the council has time to make sure this expansion is what is best for Fort Myers Beach.