That’s how much money Key Estero Plaza owner Carmen Naccarato owes the town in fines for operating what they say is an illegal parking lot. Naccarato has been racking up $500 per day fines for the last 2 years, and that’s after he paid $188,475 in fines in March of 2024.
The town has argued for years that Naccarato’s parking lot, at the Key Estero Plaza on Estero Boulevard, is an unpermitted parking lot. It was to be used for tenants of the businesses. In other words they claim it’s a single-use parking lot. He’s been charging people who walk across Estero Boulevard to the beach for years, even when his plaza did have retail tenants. The town says that’s a shared-use parking lot. All other private parking lots on Fort Myers Beach have to go through the permitting process to become a legal operating business. Those businesses believe Naccarato is taking money out of their pockets and the town needs to address this.
The town has repeatedly stated it would consider allowing Naccarato to charge for parking if he applied for a special exception. That is a 60-90 day process that starts with staff, goes to the LPA, then to the Town Council. Up until now, Naccarato has never gone through that process which forced the town to put a lien on his property and eventually start the foreclosure process…