Sequencing the Southwest Florida Shelf: Early Detection of Water Quality Impacts on Marine Ecosystems

Recipient: Florida Gulf Coast University

Location: Bonia Springs, FL

Amount of Request: $1.6 million

Details: This study will provide invaluable data on the species compositions of our coastal region and improve our understanding of the SWFS ecosystem. Currently, we know very little about the zooplankton dynamics on the SWFS, which is critical for effective management of our local fisheries. The difficulty identifying and studying the microalgal community will be improved by these analyses and allow us to identify potentially unknown toxic bloomers in our region. And, finally, the characterization of the benthic communities will allow us to identify many unknown species that cannot be discerned without molecular techniques, which may be commercially important or pose threats to our SWFS. These three populations (microalgae, zooplankton, and benthos) are also food for many of our commercially important fish species, so effective management of all components of the food web are integral for sustaining our fisheries or even restoring those that have been in decline.

Financial Certification Letter (link)

Fort Myers Beach Critical Infrastructure Protection – Emergency Operations Backup Generator

Recipient: Town of Fort Myers Beach

Location: Fort Myers Beach, FL

Amount of Request: $2,062,500

Details: The acquisition of a commercial-grade 600kW diesel generator will provide uninterrupted emergency command capability, protect life-safety operations, and significantly strengthen the island’s disaster resilience for decades to come. Funding will support the design, procure, and install a permanent secondary power system for the Town’s Emergency Operations Center. Furthermore, this permanent and storm resilient system will have protected fuel storage, an elevated and hardened platform to withstand hurricane conditions and necessary electrical upgrades to ensure seamless integration and automatic transfer during outages. 

Financial Certification Letter (link)

Fort Myers Beach Stormwater Utilities Infrastructure Hardening Project

Recipient: Town of Fort Myers Beach

Location: Fort Myers, Florida

Amount of Request: $1,250,000

Details: The Town of Fort Myers Beach community faces persistent drainage challenges, including street flooding, tidal intrusion, and aging infrastructure—conditions made worse by Hurricane Ian and ongoing high tide events. This project will fund engineering assessments, updated drainage modeling, and the design and construction of upgraded stormwater systems such as larger culverts and pipes, enhanced outfalls, pump assisted drainage, improved swales, and tidal backflow prevention devices. It will also incorporate water quality treatment features and green infrastructure to reduce pollutant discharge into Estero Bay. The program includes permitting, construction management, public engagement, and post construction monitoring to ensure effectiveness. Federal investment will protect public safety, reduce future disaster costs, support environmental health, and safeguard the town’s tourism-based economy. Stormwater Mitigation will deliver significant public safety, infrastructure, and environmental benefits for the Town of Fort Myers Beach. By reducing chronic flooding and tidal intrusion, the project protects residents, visitors, emergency access routes, and the community’s tourism dependent economy. Upgraded drainage systems help safeguard public infrastructure and lower long-term maintenance and disaster recovery costs. The inclusion of water quality treatment features and green infrastructure supports cleaner discharge into Estero Bay, aligning with state and federal environmental priorities. This investment advances key resilience priorities by strengthening coastal infrastructure, improving water quality, supporting compliance with FEMA and EPA standards, and enhancing the community’s ability to withstand future storm events.

Financial Certification Letter (link)

City of Cape Coral Septic to Sewer Conversion and Utilities Extension

Recipient: City of Cape Coral

Location: Cape Coral, Florida

Amount of Request: $3,000,000

Details: This comprehensive project installs municipal water, sewer and reuse/irrigation utilities to about 7,400 property parcels within the City. This request specifically includes converting septic tanks to municipal sewer. The overall project will also support stormwater enhancements, and new roadways, reducing the harmful contaminants entering regional waterways and the number of private wells in the northern part of the city are rapidly depleting water resources from shallow aquifers. Residents will gain access to the City's potable water and distribution facilities, reducing the frequency of wells running dry and saltwater intrusion. This project also reduces dependence on fresh water and provides a disposal method of treating wastewater for lawn irrigation and fire protection uses. This request is only for the construction of the “septic to sewer” portion of the project. Specifically, the North 1 East project includes approximately 160,000 linear feet of gravity sewer mains with sizes that range between 8”- 24” totaling approximately $21 Million in construction costs.

Financial Certification Letter (link)

EMS Education Academy

Recipient: Lee County Emergency Operations Center

Location: 2675 Ortiz Ave, Fort Myers, FL 33905

Amount of Request: $417,000

Details: "Southwest Florida continues to experience sustained demand for advanced life support providers (paramedics), while the cost and availability of paramedic education remain a limiting factor. Reliance on external educational partners results in tuition expenses, limited class availability, and reduced control over curriculum scheduling aligned with operational needs. Lee County EMS currently operates an internal paramedic program through a partnership with Braxon College (formerly Hodges University). The County provides all instruction, develops curriculum, and conducts clinical oversight of paramedic classes. The partnership with Braxton College exists solely for the utilization of their Department of Education CoAEMSP Accreditation, a requirement of the regulatory body that oversees the licensing of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics.

Continuing to utilize a third-party sponsor is costly and unnecessary considering the substantial involvement and financial commitment made by the County. Operating an internal paramedic program has proven remarkably successful over the last seven years. Without intervention, workforce shortages and training delays may continue to impact EMS service delivery and overtime utilization. Establishing an independent, internal paramedic education program presents an opportunity to stabilize the workforce pipeline, reduce long-term costs, and increase regional capacity. Additionally, operationalizing and implementing a CoAEMSPs accredited program will allow for the expansion of education to include certification classes for emergency medical technicians and public safety telecommunicators. This program will focus on developing talent within the local community at a cadence that supports the operational needs of the department. Onboarding and enrollment of the project will commence within six months of the start date upon approval, with renewals following thereafter.

Financial Certification Letter (link)

Drone-as-a-First Responder (DFR) Program

Recipient: Lee County Emergency Operations Center

Location: 2675 Ortiz Ave, Fort Myers, FL 33905

Amount of Request: $400,000

Details: Lee County’s Public Safety Department has acquired five docked drones for our Drone-as-a-First Responder (DFR) program, providing valuable intelligence to first responders at critical incidents, such as fires, vehicle crashes, hazardous materials scenes, and active investigations. These systems provide high-resolution aerial imagery and live video feeds to incident commanders and dispatch personnel, allowing responders to assess scene conditions prior to arrival, identify hazards, and determine the appropriate level of response. In many cases, drones can confirm whether an emergency exists, enabling dispatch centers to scale resources appropriately and reduce unnecessary apparatus deployment, improving operational efficiency and preserving critical public safety resources. While the current docked drone network provides coverage across portions of the County, additional systems are needed to expand aerial response capability to underserved areas including Bonita Springs and Lehigh Acres. Expanding the DFR network will reduce response times, improve responder safety through enhanced situational awareness, and strengthen the county’s ability to manage emergencies across a rapidly growing service area. This project will thus enhance regional public safety infrastructure by integrating advanced unmanned aerial technology into the emergency response system, ultimately improving incident response coordination and protecting an additional 170,000 residents across Lee County. Upon completion of the procurement process, which is expected to take three months, we anticipate delivery of the new drones within five months thereafter.

Financial Certification Letter (link)

Mobile Response Unit (MRU) Replacement

Recipient: Lee County Emergency Operations Center

Location: 2675 Ortiz Ave, Fort Myers, FL 33905

Amount of Request: $1,000,000

Details: The Public Safety/Emergency Management department currently uses a Mobile Response Unit (MRU) purchased in 2006 to provide support in case of an Area Command or an expanding incident. However, due to the unit's age, it is experiencing frequent hardware and component failures, as many of the hardware or components are no longer supported. As a result, the unit has extensive downtime with vendors, which decreases service to the community. To resolve this issue, replacing the existing MRU with another unit has been proposed. The County's population has grown significantly since the purchase of the original MRU. With the current rate of growth, having the new unit would improve support and coverage for the County during multiple events or incidents. Additionally, this will provide better support in a large-scale or catastrophic incident, allowing for geographically dispersed of mobile command posts to support centralized Emergency Operations Center functions. This project will benefit the community with improved coordination and collaboration between responding agencies for planned events and disasters. A new unit will have greater reliability and become the staple of field-incident management as it was ten to fifteen years ago. Having another unit also allows for more frequent use with scheduled events, while also allowing for deployment to address fires, weather events, hazardous materials incidents, and other major incidents. Delivery of the new MRU would be by June 2027.

Financial Certification Letter (link)

Bonita Springs Public Safety - Emergency Response Center Project

Recipient: City of Bonita Springs

Location: Bonita Springs, Florida

Amount of Request: $4,800,000

Details: Demolition of an obsolete existing 1980's structure (old library facility) not conducive to rehabilitation. A new multi-story emergency response center will be constructed using code-plus development standards. The center will house sleeping and bathrooms/showers quarters, meeting spaces, communication/media facilities, an on-site generator, and a large meeting space to accommodate at least 75 people. The facility will house emergency response personnel during a disaster. During and after the disaster city staff, law enforcement and other response personnel will be housed in the facility. Immediate response will be available to the surrounding neighborhoods, also LMA designated. Additionally, the facility will support FEMA as a food, tarp, water distribution site.

Financial Certification Letter (link)

Bonita Springs Paradise Road Bike Pedestrian Improvement Project

Recipient: City of Bonita Springs

Location: Bonita Springs, Florida

Amount of Request: $6,500,000

Details: Project components include the installation of an enclosed stormwater drainage system in order to construct a 10-foot -wide multi-use path on the west side of the roadway and a new 6-foot-wide sidewalk on the east side of the roadway. Additional improvements will be curb and gutter, irrigation and landscaping, streetlights, along with the resurfacing of the roadway and a possible roundabout at Shangri-La Road and Paradise Road.

Financial Certification Letter (link)

City Wide Sanitary Lift Stations

Recipient: City of Sanibel

Location: 800 Dunlop Road, Sanibel, FL 33957

Amount of Request: $5,500,000

Details: The funding would provide replacement electronic panels, and elevate these panels, to the City's 135 sanitary sewer lift stations. All of Sanibel's sanitary sewer lift stations were completely inundated by the 8'-13' storm surge produced by Hurricane Ian in September 2022. The replacement panels will be elevated to 2' above base flood elevation to meet FEMA's 500-year storm requirements. This is a critical infrastructure project that increases the resiliency of Sanibel's sanitary sewer system. It benefits the entire population (residential and business) of Sanibel.

Financial Certification Letter

Periwinkle Way Box Culvert Replacement

Recipient: City of Sanibel

Location: Sanibel, FL 33957

Amount of Request: $5,000,000

Details: The funding would be used to design and construction of the replacement of a critical infrastructure culvert under the Periwinkle Way arterial road. This culvert conveys tidal waters between the Sanibel canal system and San Carlos Bay and is critical infrastructure for the conveyance of storm water from the Sanibel River (Sanibel Slough). Periwinkle Way is an arterial road carrying high volumes of traffic daily. It is also an evacuation route and primary route for police, fire and emergency medical services. The project improves the resiliency of Sanibel's transportation system that was damaged by Hurricane's Ian (2022), Helene and Milton (2024). This project can be completed with an 18–24-month period. While the culvert conveys water under an arterial road, it is considered a high priority stormwater and resilience project in the City's Surface Water Master Plan (2025).

Financial Certification Letter

 Tank Replacement Wulfert Plant

Recipient: City of Sanibel

Location: Sanibel, FL 33957

Amount of Request: $5,100,000

Details: This project replaces a 500,000-gallon reuse/reclaimed water storage tank at Sanibel's Wulfert Plant site. The project is necessary to replace an aging tank that provides necessary storage of reuse/reclaimed water processed through the City's advanced sewage treatment facility. The storage tank is available to properties irrigating with reclaimed water, reducing the amount of potable water consumption for irrigation purposes. The storage tank also reduces the amount of reclaimed water that must be sent to a deep well injection point for the treated wastewater. This project benefits the entire community of Sanibel. The project is designed and shovel ready once funding is secured.

Financial Certification

Del Prado Interchange

Recipient: Lee County Commission

Location:

Amount of Request: $7,500,000

Details: The Del Prado Interchange Project will construct a new full-access interchange at Del Prado Boulevard and Interstate 75 in Lee County, Florida, creating a critical east-west connection between Cape Coral and the regional interstate system. The project is designed to relieve severe congestion on existing arterial roadways, enhance emergency evacuation capacity, and improve regional mobility across Lee and Charlotte Counties. Cape Coral, now home to more than 220,000 residents and one of the fastest-growing cities in Florida, currently relies on a limited number of north-south corridors and distant I-75 interchanges, resulting in prolonged commute times, traffic bottlenecks, and reduced network redundancy. The new interchange will provide a more direct and efficient route to I-75, reducing travel times, improving traffic flow, and increasing reliability for residents, businesses, and freight movement. The project directly addresses significant public safety concerns in this hurricane-prone region. Southwest Florida has experienced repeated major storm events in recent years, highlighting the vulnerability of communities with constrained evacuation routes. By providing an additional access point to I-75, one of the primary evacuation corridors in the region, the Del Prado Interchange will expand evacuation capacity, reduce clearance times, and improve emergency response access for first responders. This added system redundancy is critical for safeguarding life and property during natural disasters and other emergencies. Beyond safety benefits, the interchange will generate meaningful economic impacts. Construction of the project is expected to create short-term jobs in engineering, construction, and related trades, while supporting indirect employment in materials supply and local services.

Financial Certification Letter