BONITA SPRINGS
Hurricane Ian forced the Gulf to take a big gulp out of Tom Podleney’s yard.
The water pushed through his Bonita Beachfront backyard, leaving a mess when it left.
The water reached 3 to 4 feet high in the backyard.
“Just my luck, I got the river running through it,” Podleney said. “That’s the risk you take living on the beach, we’re all big boys who live here, and that’s something you deal with. But what we’re asking for is just get us back to some level of normalcy.”
For Podleney, normalcy doesn’t come from his empty pool, his missing oavers or walls defined by frames.
But he knows sand would help protect those assets.
“All we’re asking for is the sand to be put at the edge of our lots, we will pay for moving the sand,” Podleney said.
He and a handful of neighbors feel like they’ve been stiffed by Lee County.
Homeowners on Bonita Beach are worried the county will run out of sand before getting to them. (CREDIT: WINK News)
“All of it seems to be going to the north end of the island, and none of it is coming back to the homeowners,” he said.
A Lee County spokesperson told WINK News the sand is first going to supplement the Bonita Beach berms, but it will go north and south along the island, through access points 1 through 10 and Bonita Beach Park.
That’s where the big pile is now.
But for, Podleney, that pile is only getting smaller. He fears the county will run out of sand before they fill his dip.
“The sand, unfortunately, seems to be completely depleted.”
WINK NEWS