The latest from Bonita Springs, Lee County: public safety, courts, local government, schools, business and the cost of living. Every story names its source and links the record.
Bonita Springs and Estero
FDOT schedules October 27 and 28 hearings on I-75 auxiliary lanes between Golden Gate Parkway and Alico Road; formal comments are due November 10.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office reported injuries and intersection closures after a six-vehicle crash at Bonita Beach Road and Industrial Road on Wednesday.
Florida Highway Patrol no longer lists the crash that blocked eastbound Bonita Beach Road at Quails Nest Lane in Bonita Springs late Wednesday.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office live traffic feed still lists a crash at Tamiami Trail and Terry Street with deputies marked arrived. Gulf Coast News reported that a rollover had closed the northbound lanes, but the road is no longer fully closed.
Lee County jail records verify an arrest on a written-threat charge after Gulf Coast News reported that an AI platform flagged messages directed at the sheriff's office.
Bonita Springs plans an overnight traffic shift on East Terry Street from Imperial Parkway east to Interstate 75 beginning at 7 p.m. October 6.
Bonita Springs has no official city cost index. Federal city data put median gross rent at $1,882 and median home value at $497,100, while seasonal use accounts for 81.6 percent of vacant homes. Local millage and utility rates show costs that the Lee County price level cannot.
Lee County awarded a $197,676 contract to inspect, clean and line 1,488 feet of storm drains along Bonita Beach Road between Mango Drive and Interstate 75.
All lanes are clear after emergency vehicles blocked the left southbound lane of Interstate 75 at mile marker 116 in Bonita Springs, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Florida Highway Patrol now lists the roadway clear on southbound Interstate 75 at mile marker 118 in Bonita Springs. An injury crash had blocked the middle and right lanes.
The Florida Highway Patrol lists a vehicle crash with the left lane blocked on northbound Interstate 75 at mile marker 118 in Bonita Springs. The public record gives no injury information or clearance time.
The Florida Highway Patrol board lists a disabled vehicle blocking the right lane of the Bonita Beach Road exit ramp from Interstate 75 southbound in Bonita Springs.
The Highway Patrol received the crash call at 2.22 a.m. and still listed a roadblock caused by emergency vehicles at 2.55 a.m. No lane count, injury information or cause has been released.
The Highway Patrol logged the vehicle fire at 12.18 p.m. at the southbound entrance at exit 116 and its board records the roadway as clear. The fire district says nobody was injured.
Gulf Coast News reports Bonita Springs firefighters are set to fully extinguish the Vincent Road brush fire Wednesday. A strike team has been on scene since 9.30 a.m., the roundabout there is down to one lane, and Verizon is on generator power.
WINK News reports both Bonita Springs brush fires at least ninety five per cent contained, seventy six acres between them. Chief Greg DeWitt says the hot spots left are inside the burn, and fire officials say lightning likely started them.
Gulf Coast News reports the Radio Tower Road fire at seventy acres and ninety five per cent contained as of 10.03 p.m. Monday, up from eighty per cent at 8 p.m. The two outlets now agree on the second fire.
WINK News and Gulf Coast News both put the Radio Tower Road fire at seventy acres and eighty per cent contained, up from sixty five per cent at 7.09 p.m. The two outlets do not agree on the smaller fire.
Gulf Coast News reports the Florida Forest Service had the larger fire at seventy acres and sixty five per cent contained as of 7.09 p.m. A second fire is four acres and nought per cent. Containment was fifteen per cent two hours ago.
Gulf Coast News reports the Florida Forest Service had one fire at sixty acres and fifteen per cent contained and a second at four acres and nought per cent, as of 5.20 p.m. Dozers are cutting lines.
Gulf Coast News reports crews were called about 2.30 p.m. after a resident heard thunder and saw flames. The Florida Forest Service had the fire at an estimated five acres and nought per cent contained as of 3.54 p.m.
WINK News reports the Florida Department of Transportation has switched on wrong-way driver detection at two I-75 interchanges in Lee County, at Bonita Beach Road and Alico Road. The equipment went in under a 22.9 million dollar resurfacing contract the department now marks complete.
Bonita Springs voters approved up to 35 million dollars of general obligation bonds for the Bonita Estero Rail Trail, 8,968 to 4,175 on the Lee County board. Backers now aim to close on the corridor in October.
The crash row was gone from the state board on readings at 7.56 and 7.57 this evening. The board carries no clearance column, so that is the state ending publication, not a reopening. A separate debris call is now open at the same spot.
The Highway Patrol logged the crash northbound at mile marker 117 in Bonita Springs at 4.03 p.m., with the left lane blocked. The entry was stamped again at 4.32 p.m. and now reads that the roadway is clear.
The Highway Patrol logged a vehicle crash with a roadblock at Bonita Beach Road and Interstate 75 at 4.15 on Monday afternoon, stamped it again at 4.20, and the entry was gone from the state dispatch board by 4.25.
The Highway Patrol logged the crash at 12.58 a.m. with a southbound roadblock, stamped the entry again at 1.04 a.m. and 1.19 a.m., and carried no Lee or Collier incident at all by early Sunday morning.
Governor Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed a death warrant for Harold Gene Lucas, 74, in the 1976 killing of 16-year-old Jill Piper in Bonita Springs. The execution window runs from noon on September 1 to noon on September 8.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office says an active death investigation is underway at the Bonita Springs Dog Beach off Estero Boulevard, with deputies on scene since about 2 p.m. on Monday.
Bonita Springs City Council voted unanimously on July 15 to set a maximum property tax rate of 0.847 mills for fiscal 2027, unchanged from this year, and voted 6 to 1 to establish stormwater utility assessments of $20 or $50 a parcel.
FEMA moved in 2024 to strip Bonita Springs of the 25 percent flood insurance discount its residents earn through the Community Rating System, citing Hurricane Ian rebuilding paperwork, but the city documented its work and kept the full discount that November.
Set at the county level, and it lands on every parcel in Bonita Springs.
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Lee County ends its 5 a.m. summer trash set-out requirement October 26 for unincorporated areas, Bonita Springs, Estero and Fort Myers Beach.
What it changes →
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Sanibel Fire and Rescue District adopted a tentative 1.3016-mill property tax rate and a $30,853,878 fiscal 2027 budget. The final hearing is September 21.
What it changes →
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The School Board of Lee County approved a $3.055 billion fiscal 2027 budget and cut its total property tax rate to 5.271 mills, down 0.048 mill from fiscal 2026.
What it changes →
