The Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 19 to mark the completion of its Caloosahatchee River Estuary Storage & Treatment project, a multi-phase stormwater effort nearly a decade in the making. The milestone, known as Phase III, completes the storage component of the project and caps years of excavation, grant-chasing and basin-connecting work meant to help control flooding across the district.
According to lehighacrescitizen.com, crews excavated roughly 635,000 cubic yards of material to create 585 acre-feet of additional stormwater storage along with added vegetation and ecosystem diversity. The project, known by its acronym C.R.E.S.T., is designed as a multi-phase effort to store stormwater and improve Caloosahatchee River water quality by removing nutrients. In total, Commissioner Julie Hollingsworth said at the ceremony that the project cost a little over $5.2 million, with the district spending just $368,000 of constituent money, the state of Florida contributing $4.2 million, and the federal government providing $700,000.
LA-MSID acquired the two parcels that make up the 104-acre site in 2018 through a Hendry County tax deed sale for a net cost of just $255,000, the district said at the ceremony, per the same account. The land sat at the center of a broader push to undo decades-old drainage patterns. District Manager David Lindsay told attendees that canals built throughout Lehigh Acres had changed the natural watershed process, and that the district began working to return water to a more natural flow with help from former Lee County Commissioner Frank Mann.
Connecting the Region's Water Basins
Assistant District Manager Mike Cook said C.R.E.S.T. is designed to improve regional flood control by connecting major water basins and expanding water storage capacity throughout the area. With existing sites and future projects like the Frank Mann Preserve, Cook said, the district will be able to move water between four major basins, helping manage high water levels and improve regional stormwater management.
Commissioner Julie Hollingsworth, who spoke at the ceremony alongside Commissioner Mike Bonacolta, Lindsay and Cook, said the project aimed to preserve land, filter water and encourage wildlife to return to the site. Following the ceremony, guests were invited to tour the site and see the hydraulic pumps and water storage and management systems built as part of the project, the article notes.
How the Project Took Shape in Phases
C.R.E.S.T. advanced through distinct phases, each with its own funding source. Phase II constructed a water-quality system across the street and cost $2 million, fully funded by a 2020 legislative SWAG grant. Phase III, which included a deep-water storage and pump system, was built with a 2022 legislative appropriation of a little over $4 million, and separately cost around $2.1 million to construct.
The district also contributed $158,000 of its own funds to complete the designs for Phases II and III, which brought in an additional $100,000 from the state legislature. LA-MSID's official project page for Phase III states that the final stage represents the full build-out of the project and was supported by an additional $4.06 million in grant funding, according to the Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District.
A Schedule That Shifted Along the Way
The district's Phase III project page had originally listed substantial completion as anticipated by Aug. 31, 2025. A later update on the same page noted that a time-extension change order had been approved, pushing final project completion to Sept. 30, 2026. The Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District also lists Turnbull Environmental Inc. as the contractor awarded the Phase III bid.
C.R.E.S.T. is not the district's first high-profile stormwater effort. LA-MSID previously received the Florida Stormwater Association's Program of the Year award, and its West Marsh project — a $3 million undertaking involving concrete structures and weirs — was expected to add another 200 acres to Harns Marsh once finished, with plans to plant 10,000 trees and 130,000 water plants, per lehighacrescitizen.com's earlier coverage. Lee County separately applied for a $10.3 million federal USDA grant to begin developing a nearby site known as GS-10, that same report said.
