The Gasparilla Island Conservation and Improvement Association (GICIA) is pleased to announce that a Bike Path enhancement project began earlier this week.  Each year summer maintenance and improvement projects are established for the five miles of the GICIA Bike Path.  The focus this year is returning GICIA’s Bike Path property to pre-hurricane condition.  

Hurricane Ian destroyed much of the island’s beautiful vegetation.  It is estimated that approximately 300 trees and countless grasses and shrubs along the Bike Path were lost to the storm. This week crews began planting nearly 2,500 trees, shrubs and grasses to replace what was lost to Ian.

Drilling equipment to begin construction of the new permanent cell phone tower may show up as early as next week, according to representatives of the Boca Grande Cell Phone Tower Committee. After numerous frustrating delays and red tape, this is definitely good news.

One committee member, Steve Raville, said they had a call earlier this week that has given them some hope.

“There have been a number of delays in the proposed demolition of the bakery, relating to engineering and permitting issues,” he said. “Vertical Bridge has reviewed the situation with the various involved individuals and determined that construction can proceed and need not be delayed by the bakery situation.”

This year, preliminary tax roll values show the Lee County real estate on Boca Grande as valued at just under $3.3 billion. The $3,292,284,149 valuation for the Boca Grande Fire District, up from $3,162,022,991 in 2022, is an increase of 4.12 percent, and contrasts with the Sanibel Fire District, which had valuations drop from about $6.5 billion in 2022 to $4.2 billion in 2023, a 34 percent decrease.
This is the first property assessment year since Hurricane Ian. It reflects the greater damage to Sanibel.