City of Fort Myers wants progress on submerged boats at Old Bridge Marina

Reporter: Zoe Warner Writer: Elyssa Morataya
Published: Updated:

It has become a headache for many: boats left submerged at the Old Bridge Marina, next to the Edison Bridge.

The leaseholder, the city and federal agencies just can’t seem to get on the same page as to their removal.

Many people call them an eyesore and want them gone.

It’s been two years and three months since Hurricane Ian made landfall, but you might think it was more recent than that when you see the damage still left behind.

“I just get upset every time I come over to the bridge and see it all,” said resident Gary Paige.

The Old Bridge Marina, right off the Edison Bridge, sits quietly in its neglected state.

The city of Fort Myers said it’s time to see some progress.

“The marina has been leased by an entity for the past few years, and they were leasing it prior to Hurricane Ian with the intent of operating a marina facility,” said Steve Belden, Community Development Director for Fort Myers. “[William Skaggs Jr.] owns the upland portion. The submerged land portion is owned by the city, which he has been leasing from, and so he is responsible for that marina, and all the activities that take place there.”

William Skaggs Jr. is the leaseholder of the marina.

The activities Belden mentioned include the removal of over 20 submerged boats.

“On November 10, we had a meeting with the city to find out how we can be in compliance with getting the vessels removed,” said Annie Ford. “They told us that we needed to file a permit with the Army Corps of Engineers. We put in an emergency permit. It was turned down, and we have just submitted another permit to be able to get these vessels removed.”

The process is involved.

“So there’s a lot of entities involved with approving that permit to remove those vessels,” said Belden. “And so the leaseholder was working on that. Subsequently, things have happened with the leaseholder, and we felt it was, it was necessary at this time for us to take action to terminate that lease so we could take over the cleanup.”

Nonetheless, Paige is fed up.

“I’ve been going past here for three years now, two and a half years and no boats have been cleaned up. It’s just terrible. Something has to be done,” said Paige.

He hopes it’s sooner rather than later.

In December, the City of Fort Myers gave the leaseholder 20 business days to terminate their lease or submit an action plan.

The city did not receive a response so they plan to regroup to decide the next steps.

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