Fort Myers Beach mayor says change is inevitable but balance possible

Dan Allers was elected to the Fort Myers Beach Town Council in 2020 and named the city’s mayor in November 2022, just months after Hurricane Ian hit.

The Minnesota native has lived on Fort Myers Beach since 2012 and has spent his entire term as mayor overseeing the town’s government, along with council colleagues, as it focused on the rebuild of the beach community.

He spoke to the Business Observer about 10 days before the two-year anniversary of Ian about the rebuild and how the Lee County barrier island is and will continue to change. Edited excerpts: 

What kind of progress is Fort Myers Beach making and where do things stand two years into the rebuild?

Obviously, nothing ever moves as fast as we'd like it to, but I think our overall progress is fairly strong. We've got a house going up on pretty much every street and permits are continuing to come in for new builds, which is exciting.

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We've got a couple, three or four, fairly large projects that are in the queue to come before the (town’s Local Planning Agency) and the council to see where they stand as far as being built or approved or not approved.

Our condos are coming back. Sounds like we'll have quite a few of them that will come back online by season. There are some that are needing repairs and they won't be back, unfortunately this season

Overall, I'm happy with the progress. We've still got some improvements we can make on certain things and we'll work through that. But I'm pleased, if that's the word you can use, as you can be with with the progress we've made in just two years.

Fort Myers Beach has such a rich history and people know it a certain way. In the next few years, are we going to see a major change to the town’s character or is this going to be a transition into a mix of what was before and what's new?

I think it's going to be a hybrid of what was before. We had some houses that survived, that were protected and were built up to current code before the storm. And obviously, the new homes and the new buildings being built are going to have to be built to current codes and regulations. So, they're going to be taller.

We will still have some small cottages that are going to be around, but a lot of the cottages were destroyed and will be eventually built back as much stronger, more resilient structures.

We're definitely going to see a difference. We'll still have some of the old charm left that was able to survive, but it's just a matter of just evolving. Unfortunately, Hurricane Ian sped up that evolution.

There are fears that the island will be transformed into Daytona Beach or Clearwater Beach. How do you address those concerns?

Do I think that's going to happen? No. There's only so many pieces of property on the island that are big enough to be able to even ask for, or recommend, or potentially approve something that's big enough so that would work. So there's no developer that's going to come in and accumulate 10, 15, acres of residential property and try to rezone it. Mathematically, it doesn't make sense.

If you look at the island, we maybe have a handful, five or six properties that you would be able to build anything of substance on even by right.

In my opinion, to think that it's going to be a Clearwater or Miami Beach or something like that, the real estate just isn't there.

What changes could residents and visitors see then?

Well, before the storm we were actually going through the planning development code and the comprehensive plan addressing some language issues.

We're coming up on our 30-year anniversary of incorporation next year, so the documents were written back almost 30 years ago when, as someone said to me, cell phones weren't even around. You don't think about it that way, but a lot has changed since then. It's important to go back and look at these codes and how to implement them.

What we're looking at doing now is essentially some language cleanup, trying to take what the original forefathers thought of when it came to the comp plan —walkability, bike-ability, being able to get out of cars and traverse the island without having to jump in an automobile do it. By doing that, you can create some areas where you can have coffee shops, you can have a little breakfast spot or something that maybe you couldn't have before because the comp plan or the local code did not allow it.

Did Ian change the purpose of this effort?

It was moving along fairly well but the intent of the changes has changed, in my opinion, from before the storm. Before the storm, the intent was: How do we allow people to potentially have a coffee shop in an area?

To give you an example. The way the comp plan and the land development code were before, if (a property) was a bank and it sold to another person it could be nothing more than a bank.

Doesn't make a lot of sense, right? You've got to make a change to allow for a furniture store, a coffee shop.

Those are the minor things. We're not looking at adding any more density or intensity by right. We've already made that determination that that is not something we're looking to do. We still want to allow the process for property owners to ask for more if they want. But we aren't going to be giving anything away by right.

How will town leaders use this approach to manage the rebuild and move toward that hybrid you spoke about?

This process allows our constituents and business owners on the island to be able to come in and voice their concerns. Some, obviously, will be for things, some will be against things.

It's our job to weigh the pros and cons and what the community feels is important and not important, and what makes a viable project. It's not just about what a developer wants or what the island wants. It's what makes sense. And I think the process that we have in place allows for that conversation to happen.

We’re at the two-year point of what likely is a 10-, 15-year project. Where do you think the community will be in the next three, four years?

I think in the next three or four years you will obviously see more houses being built. I think you'll see all the condos will be back open. You'll see some approvals and some denials for some of these projects coming through. The council could potentially change hands, or could have some different voices on it come November, so that could play a lot into it. It just depends on the direction.

This island has always been an inclusive, funky, eclectic island. I think as long as we understand that the buildings are going to look a little bit different, that some of the architecture might be a little bit different, but as long as we can keep that community mentality and keep that balance between our visitors and our businesses and our seasonal residents and our residents, Fort Myers Beach will be just fine.

I think if we can keep that mindset and understand that things are going to look a little bit different but don't give up on our history, don't give up on where we came from, don't give up on the people that led us down the path to where we are now, 10,15, 20, 25, years from now we will look back and say, 'This is what we had in mind.'