Rebuilding San Carlos arches to cost more than $300,000

It will cost upward of $300,000 — more than six times what Lee County had estimated — to rebuild the San Carlos Park Arches, and some residents may have to foot the bill.

Fort Myers-based contractor Made in Rio, Inc. has estimated a maximum bid of $329,513 to rebuild the arches, long-hailed as the gateway to the south Lee community. County staff estimated in December the project would cost about $50,000.

Although Made in Rio has assured the county it will be thrifty, it is likely the project will be very close to the $300,000-range, said Denise Sabatini, Municipal Services Taxing Benefit Unit coordinator for the county.

“The problem is getting people in here to do such a small job. The contractor said he would do everything he can to come in lower than that,” Sabatini said.

A boom truck from Krehling Industries knocked down half the arches about two years ago, and the remaining arch was torn down in September after a teenage driver rammed the landmark two months before.

The county attorney’s office still is negotiating with the insurance company for Krehling Industries, a deal complicated when another company acquired Krehling, Sabatini said.

Money from the county operating reserve can be used initially to pay for the rebuild, she said, but the reserve must be reimbursed. That means residents who live in the San Carlos Park Special Improvement Municipal Services Taxing Unit will have to pay whatever the insurance company does not, she said.

The San Carlos MSTU is an area of about 7,200 homes roughly north of Broadway Avenue and south of Alico Road, and east of U.S. 41 and west of Oriole Road, that pay for special improvements to the area.

Photo by File photo

San Carlos Park Fire District Capt. Jeff Mozes works at the scene of an accident where a recycling truck ran into the arches that serve as a landmark gateway to San Carlos Park in 2002.

Without any money from the insurance company, residents in the MSTU will have to pay a millage rate of .7537 for the project, Sabatini said.

A millage rate of .7537 means the county will collect about 75 cents for every $1,000 of property value within the district, or a one-time payment of $75 for a home assessed at $100,000, according to an e-mail Sabatini sent to the county board of commissioners.

The commissioners will vote on the construction contract Feb. 14. However, some residents say they now have doubts about the project.

Phil Martin, chairman of the San Carlos MSTU, said he was against rebuilding the arches in the first place.

“I was the only member of the (San Carlos Park) Civic Association who voted against it,” he said. “It was understood right from the start that the (money) from the insurance company was not going to cover the total cost, but no one expected it to be $300,000.”

He agreed to the rebuild only if the arches were raised from 14 feet to 19 feet to keep them out of the way of large trucks, he said. Although many residents have a sentimental attachment to the arches, he said he thinks it is an unnecessary expense to rebuild them.

“Of course, the fixed-income people are the ones that get hit the hardest of an amount of increase. I always think about that,” he said. “I’m sure the community is going to have second thoughts about the cost.”

Rhea Bogner, past-president of the San Carlos Park Civic Association, always has been a staunch supporter of the arches rebuild, but she is having doubts about how much the community is willing to pay for the structure.

“Oh my God, we’ll never get it,” she said after hearing the new estimate. “When I go by there, it looks so empty.”

Mark Fedigan, president of the civic association, said he plans to bring up the issue tonight at the association’s monthly meeting. Lee County Commissioner Tammy Hall will be present.

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The San Carlos Park Civic Association will meet at 7 p.m. at the Karl Drews Community Center on Lee Road.