Water-Related News

Lee County to receive $7.1 million grant for Flood Resiliency Projects

FORT MYERS – Lee County has been awarded $7.1 million through the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s Rebuild Florida Infrastructure Repair Program for flood resiliency spending.

This grant will allow Lee County to step up the pace of drainage improvements in the Mulloch Creek basin.

The Lee Board of County Commissioners directed county staff to apply for the grant in October 2019. In the last several years, the Board of County Commissioners has set policies and directed major investments in the millions of dollars for both water quality and flood resiliency efforts. This is a next step in the flood resiliency efforts that began in 2016 with a study in North Fort Myers and continued through the rain events surrounding Hurricane Irma.

In March 2018, the Board directed a three-phase, comprehensive plan for both short-term and long-term flood resiliency efforts that included a $1.9 million Southern Lee County Flood Protection Study, sediment removal in Ten Mile Canal, canal and ditch cleaning in areas such as Island Park and the Villas, administration of East Mulloch Water Control District projects, a maintenance agreement with the South Florida Water Management District for 13 rivers and creeks, and a $3 million capital investment budgeted in 2018 for flood mitigation projects.

Congress allocated HUD Community Development Block Grant funds to Florida for post-Irma Disaster Relief, including funds for repair of infrastructure. Lee County’s Department of Natural Resources will manage the project. All work will be done in the San Carlos Park area generally east of U.S. 41 and between Alico Road and San Carlos Boulevard.

The county applied for Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds to remove debris, conduct drainage repair and replace sidewalks in qualifying areas of the San Carlos Park community and East Mulloch drainage system.

The resiliency a