Susan here, reporting that Florida warm weather continued this week with daytime temperatures in the high 70’s to mid-80 degrees F. Island roadways have been getting busier by the day with early arrivals of holiday visitors.

Even after living almost 30 years on Sanibel, it still is a surprise when Christmas sneaks in with temperatures like this. It’s great!

Our phones were noticeably quieter this week, probably with many shopping and concentrating on upcoming celebrations.

The activity posted since last Friday in the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Multiple Listing Service follows a couple of other news items below.

Next Friday (Christmas Eve day), the SanibelSusan Team has the day off. Like on New Year’s Eve the following Friday, you still can expect to see an update posted on the week’s happenings. I won’t ever forget the year that I sold a house on Christmas Day, so even when we are not in the office, we are just a phone call or electronic message away, and always respond quickly. Technology is our friend.

This morning, I had a pre-closing walk-through and seller document signing at Superior Title, before the actual buyer walk-through on Sunday, and closing on Monday. Title companies are super busy in December with many sales to finalize before the end of the year. We always appreciate when some of the closing activities can be done before the actual closing day, especially with holidays fast approaching. That will be our last closing of 2021 and a nice one to report next week.

Always fun this time of the year to remember some familiar tunes that have been modified to fit our island paradise. Here are a couple of songs that the BIG ARTS Community performed in past years and still apropos now. Bet if you read the words, you start humming.

Sung to the tune of “Winter Wonderland”, words by Doug MacGregor:

Seagulls sing, are you list’nin’?

At the beach, surf is glist’nin’

A beautiful sight, a sunset tonight

Walking’ in a winter wonderland.

Stored away are the snow skis

Here we stay in our short sleeves

You sing a new song, “This is where I belong!

Livin’ in a winter wonderland.

In the yard, we can trim a palm tree,

Then pretend to shovel lots of snow

You’ll say “Do you miss it?”, I’ll say, “no ma’am”

“I feel younger by the minute don’t you know.

Later on, we’ll conspire

And grill some shrimp on the fire

The plans we have made include sun and some shade

Walkin’ in a winter wonderland.

This one with words modified by Mike Bugler is to the tune of ”Here Comes Santa Claus”:

Yesterday was the December membership breakfast meeting at the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Association of Realtors®. Chauncey Goss, former Sanibel City Councilor and son of Sanibel’s first mayor was the guest speaker. With a long career in public service, Chauncey currently is Chairman of the governing board of the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD). Here are few highlights from his presentation:

SFWMD began in 1949 and expanded as a result of the Water Responsibilities Act of 1972. Today several projects are underway that are part of the solution to improving Florida’s water quality. The C-44 reservoir project which mostly affects the St. Lucie River and Florida’s east coast was just completed in November. The filling of that reservoir has just begun. This is the first major project to be completed in 21 years. (I can attest to that with our local and state Realtors® working hard during that time to keep water issues in the hearts and minds of FL property owners and their legislators. The fight must continue as water is a major ingredient in real estate here.)

Chauncey offered some distance references to put the expansive work of SFWMD in perspective. Would you believe the distance of the waterways they manage is like from going from here to Quebec. Over a million acres are under their management including some big marshes which are wonderful not only for the protection they provide, but for birdwatching!

C-43 is the west coast basin which more greatly affects what happens with water here. That project is expected to complete in May 2022. About 67% complete now, you can see it on the right on Rte 80 on way to LaBelle. The storage reservoir for that project is expected to be completed in Dec 2023 and will be ~3 miles by 6 miles (that’s like half the size of Sanibel).

The third project he highlighted is the FAA Reservoir Project which is in the Everglades Agricultural Area. This one also will have a storm water treatment area. Construction is expected to complete in Sep 2023.

Managing Florida’s water quality requires efforts from multi-agencies and multi-solutions. Chauncey urged attendees to remind their customers to stay attuned to water quality issues.

At their Dec 7 Lee County Board of County Commissioners meeting, funds were approved for local beach and shoreline projects including approximately $2.43 million for Sanibel/Captiva. The commissioners voted to approve interlocal agreements to fund 17 projects across Lee County using more than $4.5 million tourist development tax dollars. Among the agreements, Sanibel will receive $2,070,100 and the Captiva Erosion Control District (CEPD) will get $358,500.

On Sanibel, the City requested and received in full: $1,605,100 for facility beach maintenance, $225,000 for the Bowman’s Beach bridge replacement, $200,000 for changing room rehabilitation at Bowman’s Park, and $40,000 for beach erosion monitoring.

On Captiva, the CEPD requested and received $127,500 for beach park maintenance. It also requested $680,000 for Alison Hagerup parking lot upgrades but was approved for $231,000.

The county reported that beach and shoreline project funding accounts for 26.4% of the proceeds from the tourist development tax assessed on short-term lodging, such as hotels, resorts, and motels. For more info, visit www.leevcb.com/funding-programs/beach-and-shoreline.

I saw yesterday on Facebook that Bamboo Pan Asian Kitchen just opened. Located on Tarpon Bay Rd behind Tower Gallery, their message said “Come on in, today, Friday, Saturday 4pm to 8 p.m. We will update our hours after the opening 3 days!”.

CONDOS

1 new listing: Duggers Tropical Cottages #1 1/1 $475K.

No price changes.

2 new sales: Pointe Santo #A26 2/2 listed at $1.35M, Atrium #106 2/2 listed at $1.71M.

5 closed sales: Spanish Cay #F8 2/2 $479K, Blind Pass #C207 2/2.5 $625K, Coquina Beach #3E 2/2 $875K, Sanibel Arms West #E3 2/2 $915K, Junonia #101 3/2 $1.579M.

HOMES

3 new listings: 3702 Coquina Dr 2/2 $899K, 1196 Sand Castle Rd 2/2 $899K, 2711 Wulfert Rd 4/4/2 $1.595M.

No price changes.

1 new sale: 1195 Sand Castle 3/2.5 listed at $1.225M.

7 closed sales: 5308 Ladyfinger Lake Rd 3/3 $779K, 328 Palm Lake Dr 3/2 $925K, 1187 Sand Castle Rd 3/3 $1.2M, 993 Sand Castle Rd 3/3 $1.4M, 924 Pecten Ct 4/4 $1.865M, 1511 Angel Dr 3/3 $1.996M, 4014 West Gulf Dr 4/4 $3.8M.

LOTS

1 closed sale: 5850 Sanibel-Captiva Rd $450K.

CONDOS

No new listings or price changes.

2 new sales: Bayside Villas #4306 3/3 listed at $850K, Bayside Villas #5341 3/3 listed at $969K.

3 closed sales: Tennis Villas #3217 1/1 $405K, Tennis Villas #3120 1/1 $470K, Bayside Villas #4220 1/2 $535K.

HOMES

1 new listing: 11548 Wightman Ln 4/4.5 $7.5M.

No price changes.

1 new sale: 5 Sunset Captiva Ln 2/2.5 listed at $3.595M.

No closed sales.

LOTS

Nothing to report.

This representation is based in part on data supplied by the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Association of Realtors® Multiple Listing Service. Neither the association nor its MLS guarantees or is in any way responsible for its accuracy.  Data maintained by the association or its MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.  The information provided represents the general real estate activity in the community and does not imply that SanibelSusan Realty Associates is participating or participated in these transactions.

Below is our ad from today’s “Island Sun”.