Fort Myers Beach Chamber head leads complicated Ian recovery

Over her eight years as president of the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce, Jacki Liszak has endured one challenge after another. 2017’s Hurricane Irma. Major red tide outbreaks. The pandemic. And, of course, 2022’s Hurricane Ian, which completely devastated the town on Estero Island.

Her job for almost a decade has been one part business booster, one part tourism promoter and one part community cheerleader. It’s required perseverance, adaptability, and a desire to keep advocating for the barrier island Liszak calls home. Even after her own residence and the boutique hotel she owned suffered major damage from Ian.

“You just do it,” says Liszak, 58. “You wake up every day and you look forward.”

She’s doing just that in her position as head of the chamber, which is playing a crucial role in the recovery and reinvention of Fort Myers Beach. One major focus is maintaining the offbeat, funky spirit the town was known for as it rebuilds — and changes significantly — for the long term.

“It’s a big topic right now, especially with all the projects that are coming forward, because we have some pretty big-sized projects that are approaching us and are going through the process right now,” she says. “How do we embrace the new builds and the requirements that we have to have, but how do we also put back that funky feeling, that cute eclectic thing that we are, while still following the rules for the future to give our children and their children a community to call home down the road?

“I live on the island, and I’ve lived here most of my life,” she continues. “My friends and neighbors, we’re not going down without a fight. We’re very much wanting and requesting the developers to build in our style, not their style.”

Recovery is taking a lot longer than Liszak and everyone else on Estero Island would like. But she’s also pleased by how far Fort Myers Beach has come since Ian, as well as the sense of community togetherness she’s seen since the storm.

Photo by Stefania Pifferi

“We’re still continuing to pull together and support each other,” she says. “The community spirit is incredible. And the human spirit and resilience is so powerful and so motivating.”

Changes and reinvention were already taking place in Fort Myers Beach before Ian swept through. Mother Nature helped accelerate all of that.

“The silver lining is that there were a lot of structures on the island that had lived their lifespan, frankly,” says Liszak. “The storm just kind of kicked it all into high gear by removing a lot of those and giving folks no options.”

She’s one of them. The small boutique hotel she owned, The Sea Gypsy Inn, is no more. “In retrospect, that building was toward the end of its lifespan, and I was going to have to make some hard decisions in the next few years about it,” she says. “Well, guess what? Those choices were taken off the plate.”

As work continues in Fort Myers Beach, balancing the needs of the community with the needs and wants of the developers behind much of the rebuilding will remain a challenge. “Construction is expensive, and these people have spent tens of millions of dollars on property,” says Liszak. “It’s about helping them find a way to build a large project that will sustain the revenue stream that they need, yet also making it so that the community isn’t overrun by over development.

“We do want nice things on the island, and we do want a community that welcomes visitors and that supports our children and their children into the future,” she adds. “But we don’t want to be just a tourist town. We want to be a place where people can move to and live and thrive.”

For that to happen, she knows the town can’t do it on its own. “I’m a big believer in reaching across the bridge to our partners in the county,” she says. “Because as much as this is our beach and we live here, it’s all of their beach as well. [My role] has taught me diplomacy and the need for teamwork and the need for collaboration…Those relationships that you build are what support you and sustain you through times like this.”

Things on the north end of Estero Island are moving along, with more than 50 bars and restaurants open, watersports and boat tour operations up and running and a proposed redevelopment plan for the Times Square area. Spots like Margaritaville Beach Resort Fort Myers Beach are bringing in visitors to the island.

“Do we have what we had before the storm? No, not yet,” says Liszak. “But every week that goes by, more and more things are opening and more homes are being completed.”

Liszak can easily envision the bright future of Fort Myers Beach down the road. “It’s so cute!” she says, picturing what it will look like. “We’re going to have world-class amenities for people to come, stay, visit, fall in love with the town, buy property and move here. We have a special island here; it’s really unique.”