Government reps applaud progress, predict long-term recovery
“When we say ‘long-term recovery,’ it does take a long time to recover,” Lee County Manager Dave Harner said at the SanCap Chamber’s business luncheon on Sep. 27 at The Sanctuary Golf Club on Sanibel. “There have been a lot of opportunities from the state that has been wonderful to provide these opportunities for us to move a lot quicker.”
The chamber hosted a panel of government officials to look back at the last 364 days since Hurricane Ian struck Southwest Florida and ahead to the future of recovery. Jeff Muddell, with The Sanibel Captiva Trust Company, moderated the discussion. Harner, Sanibel City Manager Dana Souza, Lee County Department of Transportation Deputy Director Rob Price and Florida Rep. Adam Botana all agreed “thank God for the state of Florida,” as Souza put it.
Price started off the look ahead with a report on the Sanibel Causeway’s progress, explaining that state measures from the Florida Department of Transportation in recent years “are really going to help us moving forward.” He showed a presentation of measures going forward to fortify the causeway against future stormwater and a timeline for its completion.
“The project is in the late stages of completion,” Price said. “They are really starting to intensify the night work that’s happening out there right now. We are doing our best to minimize impact … But I don’t want to sugar-coat it. There’s going to be a lot of activity happening in the next three months.”
His timeline slide showed a December estimated completion for road surfacing. Price projected the reopening of the Punta Rassa boat ramp for the end of 2024 and the Causeway Islands recreation areas restoration for late 2027.
Other panelists commended the state for its assistance in picking up the tab for debris removal on the islands and providing funding to bridge the wait time to receive Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance money.
“If the state wasn’t involved, we’d be having this luncheon on the mainland,” Botana said.
Souza expressed gratitude to Gov. Ron DeSantis for swift bridge repairs and power restoration, but he also attributed the great gains made in the past 364 days to island businesses and residents.
“It’s just amazing to see the recovery efforts that have happened,” he said. “And the other thing I’ll say is that it’s amazing to see the attitudes of the people on the islands … We’ve kept our spirits up no matter what we’ve been faced with. People are very optimistic, and we all know we have challenges ahead of us in the next couple of years, but we need to maintain that optimism.”
Harner gave a shout-out to Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau Executive Director Tamara Pigott and her team for targeting the “loyalists” — tourists who are past fans of the destination — and installing strategic interactive webcams throughout the county.
“It’s really important that we continue to educate the public on our community,” he said.
“We have to support the businesses that are open,” Souza added. “I want to say also that we have to support the chamber of commerce … We as a community cannot afford to let the chamber of commerce fail on what their mission is or even be minimized, because this recovery is long-term, and the work that they do is critically important to this community.”
“The panel talked about the importance of partnerships, and we at the chamber could not survive without the great partnerships we have established with the government factions that were represented in the panel,” chamber President and Chief Executive Officer John Lai said. “We thank them for all they have done to bring us to a point we never dreamed we be this time last year, and for their support of our island communities.”
The Trust Company and Stevens Construction sponsored the luncheon.