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More change coming: Like much of Fort Myers Beach, the city’s pier is coming back bigger. The Lee County Commission voted last week to rebuild the beach town’s iconic pier 70.85% longer and 50% wider than it was before Hurricane Ian destroyed it nearly two years ago. The new dimensions will make it 1,000 feet long and 12 feet wide, up from 585.3 feet long and 8 feet wide. According to a statement from the county, commissioners saw an “opportunity not to be missed” and “decided they wanted to create a pier that would be grander than the one destroyed.” The new, bigger pier joins the list of new projects that some locals and longtime visitors fear will transform the once idyllic beach community into another Florida barrier island populated by million-dollar condos. Others see the change as necessary and inevitable after Hurricane Ian and the realities of stronger storms. Construction of the new, $17.1 million pier is expected to take three years to complete. 

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