Jon and Rebecca Zoler didn’t want ugly stormwater pipes, pumps and generators to destroy their beautiful beach and Gulf views. They worked with the city of Naples for two years to change the industrial look of a proposed pump station.

In August 2022, Council had voted 4-3 to approve Erickson Consulting Engineer’s plans, despite Jon Zoler branding them an “enormous monstrosity” that would ruin the charm of Old Naples.

The Zolers, who purchased their $6.9 million Third Avenue North home for $1.4 million in 2004, were shocked at the plans, so they developed images to show city officials what the finished project would really look like.

“They didn’t know what they were buying,” Jon Zoler explained, calling the original 18foot pump and 40-foot concrete platform design “ugly beyond belief.”

The Zolers and some of the 18 other residents who hired local attorney Matthew Mc- Connell after the initial approval were successful in preserving views at beach ends, moving pumps to more discreet locations and hiding pipes underground. They joined city officials on Oct. 15 for the ceremonial groundbreaking on an $86.2 million stormwater project to improve the quality of filtered water discharged into the Gulf of Mexico, and reduce significant flooding to homes along Gulf Shore Boulevard.

The ceremony was held under a tent on the Third Avenue North beach, where the north wwwqwpump station will be constructed, while a southern pump station will be located at the Eighth Avenue North beach end. Work will extend from Oleander Drive south to Second Avenue South, and completion is expected in late 2026.

Long time on the drawing board

It took more than a decade to get the project to that ceremony.

Mayor Teresa Heitmann thanked the Zolers and others for fighting for the best plans.

“The Zolers were very persistent. I appreciate that,” Heitmann told the crowd of about 50 people. “They went through drawings and really worked with us. That’s really what it’s about, coming together over a project. Even though no one really wanted it at that location, it was necessary. It’s going to be a better project because of the two of you and those who worked with you.”

Heitmann said she’s glad McConnell is on the city’s side now — he was hired this year as the city attorney.

The first phase began two years ago, with design, which cost $11 million, and preconstruction. Citywide, 12- to 54-inch backflow preventers were installed inside outfall pipes — the pipes that empty runoff into the Gulf of Mexico — to prevent rain from backing up into the stormwater-collection system and flooding streets.

This second phase will remove eight industrial- size stormwater outfall pipes from the city’s beaches and add 6,000 feet of new 24- to 54-inch pipes underground. Considered a landmark project, it is planned to lessen flooding, improve water quality, reduce beach erosion and protect critical habitats, such as sea turtle- nesting areas, through a state-of-the-art treatment system.

Stormwater will be filtered before being pumped 1,500 feet offshore by new pump stations, replacing an existing gravity-based system. The city’s project exceeds Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) standards, ensuring flood protection, environmental conservation and increased resiliency to climate change — the ability to handle a 25year storm event.

“Although a lot of preconstruction work has taken place over the summer months, we’re very excited to finally put a shovel in the ground and begin the physical phase of this very important project,” City Manager Jay Boodheshwar told the crowd, which included staff and state Senate President Kathleen Passidomo. “Hurricane Milton was yet another reminder about the importance of not only this project, but many projects that we will be contemplating in the years ahead.

“Without her help, this may not have been possible,” Boodheshwar said of Passidomo, a Naples resident, pushing for $40 million in state funding.

Moving runoff out to sea

Heitmann told the crowd that in 2008, when she was on City Council, she drove to Tallahassee to speak with the FDEP about the need for the project, while fellow Councilman Gary Price drove there to meet with economic development staff.

“When I went to DEP, they said, ‘You must remove those outfalls or we will not do another beach renourishment,’” Heitmann said. “I pushed and pushed. … Year after year, the Council wouldn’t approve it and I kept persisting. … I pray and I’m thankful that we have this right and that this will solve everyday flooding now — maybe not Ian and maybe not Milton, but everyday flooding, which has changed just so recently where the flooding of our streets just gets worse and worse.”

This phase comes 14 years after the FDEP ordered Naples to remove the beach outfall pipes, two years after the mayor’s verbal warning. Naples gets an average annual rainfall of 56 inches — about 14 billion gallons — mostly during four to five summer months, causing flooding on streets.

“The current system collects that water and discharges it … very close to the shore,” said city Public Works Director Bob Middleton. “The current system is a gravity-based system. … It’s not being pumped, so it’s very susceptible to tides.”

As a result, he said, heavy rains currently pool on roadways, but the new pump system will pump it out quickly. Stormwater will be collected in a new trunk main system, he said, and water will be treated and diluted at North Lake, South Lake and Alligator Lake, reducing nutrient levels — phosphorus and nitrogen — and street-runoff particulates. Pump-station screening systems will then further reduce particulate matter and improve water quality.

To help pay for the project, the city will request $10 million in tourist development tax funds from the county Tourist Development Council. That money comes from a 5% bed tax on revenues from hotels, Airbnbs and other rentals of six months or less.