2024 Year in Review
2024 is quickly coming to a close and I’d like to take this opportunity to review some key accomplishments. 2025 is setting up to be even busier, bringing us closer to our goal of a Rail to Trail project that will be transformational for our area’s economy and a safe place to ride, walk, and roll for all of us.
On February 5, 2024, Friends of BERT learned that Trust for Public Land successfully negotiated a purchase agreement with Seminole Gulf Railway for the 14.9-mile, 130-foot-wide rail corridor that will become Bonita Estero Rail Trail.
The contract for the rail corridor meant we could all start working on funding for the $81.7 million purchase, with a deadline of March 2026. I am happy to report that Friends of BERT and our partner Trust for Public Land have made great progress on that front since the beginning of the year. Dozens of elected officials and staff, business leaders, and lobbyists at the local, state and federal levels are all working hard to acquire the funding for the purchase of the rail corridor.
We also have endorsements from multiple municipalities that will benefit from the rail to trail. The latest two to offer their formal support was Bonita Springs and Estero Village who also pledged financial support to purchase the rail corridor. Both Bonita and Estero councils are the biggest supporters of the trail and continue to work hard to bring the trail to fruition. Prior to that, Fort Myers Beach officially voted to endorse BERT. Even after all of their loss with multiple hurricanes, they invited us to speak to their council and passed a resolution of endorsement. And the first to endorse BERT was City of Fort Myers early in the year. All four jurisdictions passed their respective resolutions unanimously, with each acknowledging the tremendous pubic support for the project from Friends of BERT members and supporters.
Some of the most gratifying success this year comes in the form of active support from our State Elected Officials. I’d like to give a shout out to Representative Adam Botana who is our champion at the state level. Senator Kathleen Passidomo and Senator Jonathan Martin have also pledged their support for the project. This support is critical as we head into our 2025 Legislative Session, where we will ask for State Appropriations to help fund the rail corridor acquisition. We will call on Friends of BERT to make their voices heard as we work to influence Lee County and the State in funding BERT.
BERT is a key portion of the 440-mile proposed regional Florida Gulf Coast Trail that will run from Tampa to Naples.As regional trails in Northern Florida reach completion, the state’s Office ofGreenways and Trails assembled its Council to determine their new priorities. Friends of BERT lead a letter-writing campaign with our members, as well as other “Friends” groups impacted to encourage the Florida Gulf Coast Trail (and BERT) to become a high priority. Our efforts paid off! FGCT is currently #4 on the Greenways and Trails list and will move up as others are completed. Big thanks to Charles Hines of TPL for his leadership! This translates to better funding position with FDOT’s SUN Trails.
March sure shaped up to be a big month! On March 22nd Friends of BERT attended and spoke at the Lee County MPO Board meeting. The Florida DOT agreed to open their list of priorities to add BERT, if the MPO Board approved. The MPO unanimously approved, and BERT was added as a priority to the FDOT list. This also opens us to more funding from the State.
In Mid-April Friends of BERT leadership reached out to Commissioner Sandelli, pointing out that his district had an open seat on the Parks and Rec committee. We proposed to the Commissioner that our own Terry Koch would be a great candidate. Ray Sandelli immediately made the appointment and Terry now serves on that committee. Thank-you Terry for your commitment to our area’s parks. A second key team member joined the Friends of BERT Board of Directors. We welcomed Beth Castro to our Board, leading our business engagement effort.
Businesses have become great partners in supporting BERT, with Rooftop at Riverside first among them. We celebrated Fourth of July this year in downtown Bonita Springs with our good friends. After the event, Rooftop at Riverside awarded Friends of BERT $2,000! Caloosa Riders is another amazing supporter. They dedicated their Spring fund raising ride to two non-profits, and also awarded us $2,000. This generosity is allowing us to continue our work to make this Rail to Trail a reality. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Schenkel-Shultz and their pro bono work to create renderings of key places along the trail. This, as well as the exhibit they created, allows us to truly visualize what is possible!
In May we held our second Friends of BERT All-Member meeting. We updated the attendees with news of progress and launched our Founding Members program. We now have more than 200 Founding Members! Check out the levels and the benefits before it’s too late! Click here to find out more.
I was invited to serve on Lee County’s Safe Streets for All initiative. Lee County was awarded a Federal Grant to study and make recommendations for methods to improve safety. This includes not only motor vehicle crashes but Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety. Our region is one of the worst in the county for pedestrian injuries and fatalities. The good news for us is that BERT has been adopted as one of the projects deemed important to improving safety. This means we will be eligible for future Federal Grants.
You’ve heard us state that as of this writing 27 HOAs have endorsed this Rail to Trail project, representing 23,600 homes. Our most recent endorsements came from Spanish Wells and Cedar Creek by unanimous vote by their respective boards. Thank you to all who have worked to make these endorsements a reality.
