Lee County, which owns the Fort Myers Beach Pier, is ready to go. The holdup is the Army Corps of Engineers. Without permits from the Corps. all the county can do is wait. We heard back from the Corps. and what they said does not give us confidence those permits will be issued any time soon.
We heard back from the Army Corp Monday. Here’s what they said when we asked when the permits would be issued:
“The project review is currently in formal consultation with USFWS and NMFS, under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act. Remaining steps before final approval include review of all responses/approvals/concurrences (such as Biological Opinions (BO) issued by USFWS and NMFS), and final drafting of the permit decision documentation…