New bathrooms at south end beach

BY MARCY SHORTUSE - The state parking beach access by the Amory Chapel, just north of the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse, will be sporting a new bathroom by this summer.

According to Chad Lach, parks manager for Gasparilla Island State Parks and the surrounding barrier islands, they hope the project will be done sometime in June.

The new four-fixture bathroom will be elevated, 11’8” from the ground to the bottom of the floor, and will be ADA accessible.

Lach said it is modeled after the bathrooms at Englewood Beach and Stump Pass State Park, just minimalized.

“We will have a ramp to get up to the top, and the building itself will mimic what the chapel and the lighthouse look like,” he said. “It will just blend into the area.”

Lach said the state park applied for a grant through the Lee County Tourist and Development Council. It was approved in September of 2010, Lee County TDC contributed $186,000, and construction began in November of 2012. Lach said Lee County will contribute an additional amount to ensure ADA accessibility. The final amount of the building cost is still unknown.