BULLDOZED

Florida City Green Lights New Apartment Complex on Possible Native American Burial Ground

Fort Myers council members said they have no reason to believe the site holds any cultural importance.

The city council in Fort Myers, Florida, has decided to move forward with building a new apartment complex on what could be a Native American burial site. Council members met on Monday and concluded there’s not enough evidence to determine whether or not the area is historically important enough to halt the development. The history of the site came into question when an archaeologist with Florida Atlantic University said the area could be the location of the Seminole Wars of the 1850s. If anything is discovered on the site, the attorney for the developer insisted construction would “stop immediately” and archeologists would be contacted to examine whatever is found. The site has previously had a 19th century Methodist church and a funeral home.