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July 12, 2026 · The Sunday Brief No. 008 · Cape Coral, FL
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FREE EDITION
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What's being built · What it means
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1,279.5
Acres inside the newly filed Star Farms at Cape Coral Community Development District, Forestar's financing vehicle tied to the Hudson Creek footprint.
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992
Residential units planned for the 7 Islands site, now moving through its own CDD petition alongside a hotel, marina, and retail.
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5.1988
Proposed mills in the FY 2027 current service level budget, the rolled-back rate discussed at Wednesday's Special Budget Workshop.
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Follow-Up · Hudson Creek · Northwest Cape Coral
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Forestar has a name for the Hudson Creek site now: Star Farms at Cape Coral. And it wants a special district to help pay for it.
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On the July 15 City Council agenda: Ordinance 35-26, an introduction that sets a public hearing for July 22 on a petition to establish the Star Farms at Cape Coral Community Development District. The petitioner is Forestar (USA) Real Estate Group, the D.R. Horton subsidiary that closed on the 1,745 acre Hudson Creek site at 4101 Burnt Store Road back in December 2024. The proposed district covers approximately 1,279.549 acres.
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Why the Digest is treating this as the same project
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The petition itself does not use the words Hudson Creek. But the boundary description in the city's agenda packet is hard to read any other way: the district sits east of Burnt Store Road, south of Yucca Pens Preserve, north of Wilmington Parkway, and west of Andalusia Boulevard. That is the same general footprint the Digest laid out in Issue No. 007 when it covered the D.R. Horton land purchase, down to the Yucca Pen and Wilmington Parkway boundaries. The petition's own Statement of Estimated Regulatory Costs projects approximately 2,500 residential dwelling units within the district, the same single-family unit count that appeared in Hudson Creek's approved entitlements. The five initial board members listed on the petition all share a Fort Myers office address at 9001 Daniels Parkway, and one of them, Christian Cotter, holds the title of Region Director of Resort Hospitality at Forestar, the same title he holds on the company's existing Star Farms community in Lakewood Ranch. This appears to be Forestar applying its established Star Farms brand, used at a similar scale in Manatee County, to the Cape Coral site. The city has not issued a statement confirming the two names describe identical parcels, and the CDD boundary at 1,279.5 acres is smaller than Hudson Creek's full 1,745 acre purchase, which likely reflects the preserve acreage and commercial frontage that fall outside the district's scope.
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A Community Development District, authorized under Chapter 190 of the Florida Statutes, is not a shortcut around city zoning or permitting. The city's own agenda materials are explicit on this point: a CDD has no permitting, zoning, or policing power. What it does is give the developer an independent unit of local government that can issue bonds to finance infrastructure, then repay that debt through assessments on property within the district, rather than the developer covering it out of pocket or the city fronting the cost. Per the petition's Exhibit 6, the district would own and maintain drainage systems, perimeter landscaping and walls, and environmental restoration work, while the city retains ownership of sanitary sewer and potable water systems and the city or county retains off-site road improvements.
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Star Farms at Cape Coral: petition snapshot
Petitioner: Forestar (USA) Real Estate Group, Inc. ·
District size: approximately 1,279.549 acres ·
Location: east of Burnt Store Road, south of Yucca Pens Preserve, north of Wilmington Parkway, west of Andalusia Boulevard ·
Projected units: approximately 2,500 residential dwelling units ·
Ordinance: 34-26 (7 Islands) and 35-26 (Star Farms), introduced July 15 ·
Public hearing: scheduled July 22, 2026 ·
Construction period cited in petition: 2026 through 2034 (typical planning estimate, subject to change)
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For readers who track Hudson Creek because of what it means for the North 3 Utilities Extension Project, this filing does not change that timeline. A CDD petition is a financing mechanism, not an infrastructure milestone, and it does not accelerate or slow the city's own UEP construction schedule. What it does signal is that Forestar is moving from land ownership into the administrative machinery of actually building the community, five months after the Digest first reported the purchase.
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Sources: City of Cape Coral Regular Meeting Agenda and backup materials, July 15, 2026, including the Petition to Establish Star Farms at Cape Coral Community Development District and its Statement of Estimated Regulatory Costs; Cape Coral Digest Issue No. 007, July 5, 2026. The connection between Star Farms at Cape Coral and the Hudson Creek site is the Digest's editorial assessment based on matching boundary descriptions and unit counts in the public record; it has not been independently confirmed by Forestar or the city.
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What to Watch Update · 7 Islands
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The 7 Islands project also filed for a CDD this week, even while its federal wetlands permit sits withdrawn.
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Ordinance 34-26, also introduced July 15 with a public hearing set for July 22, would establish the 7 Islands Community Development District. The petitioner is Gulf Gateway Resort and Marina, LLC, developer of the mixed-use project on 47.18 acres adjacent to the North Spreader Waterway, west of Burnt Store Road. Per the city's agenda materials, the district would serve a development made up of an estimated 992 residential dwelling units, a 240-room hotel, event space, retail, a community center, and a marina, with an estimated District population of 2,480.
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This is the project Issue No. 007 flagged as an open item, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit in withdrawn status after mangroves were cleared at the site earlier this year. The developer has said a contractor removed the vegetation by mistake while working to clear invasive species, and the Corps' withdrawal was attributed to design changes rather than enforcement action. Neither agency has announced a resolution as of this writing. A CDD petition addresses financing for infrastructure inside the district; it is a separate track from the federal wetlands review, and approval of one does not resolve the other.
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What to watch on both CDD petitions
July 22, 2026: public hearings on Ordinance 34-26 (7 Islands) and Ordinance 35-26 (Star Farms at Cape Coral). ·
Army Corps of Engineers: no resubmission date on record for the 7 Islands wetlands permit. ·
North 3 UEP: construction schedule unchanged by this week's filings; still the gating factor for Hudson Creek's vertical construction. ·
Board of Supervisors: both districts, once formed, hold public meetings of their own that the Digest will track separately.
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Sources: City of Cape Coral Regular Meeting Agenda and backup materials, July 15, 2026, including the Petition to Establish 7 Islands Community Development District and its Statement of Estimated Regulatory Costs; WINK News, June 2026; Cape Coral Digest Issue No. 007, July 5, 2026.
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City Hall · FY 2027 Budget
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Council holds a Special Budget Workshop July 15. Here is the shape of the FY 2027 shortfall Council has to close.
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The City Manager's current service level General Fund budget for FY 2027 is $285,012,674, built on the rolled-back millage rate of 5.1988 mills using the Property Appraiser's July 1 certified taxable value of $33,099,276,068. That rolled-back rate is higher than the current 5.1471 mills because certified taxable value came in lower than the city's earlier forecast, a roughly $312 million gap the workshop materials attribute in part to Value Adjustment Board reductions between the 2025 final roll and this July's certification.
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That current service level budget already reflects real cuts: the Coconut Festival loses $500,000, fiber and wireless operating funding drops by roughly $1.7 million, elections funding falls $500,000, and the banner program loses about $203,000. Layered on top is a separate request: $11 million in Police program modifications and just over $1.9 million in Fire's General Fund share of program modifications, for a combined $12.9 million in public safety additions Council did not include in the base budget. Staff has presented two ways to pay for it. One path raises revenue, through some combination of a higher millage rate (up to 5.6053 mills before triggering a supermajority vote requirement), a Fire Service Assessment increase from 81 percent to 97 percent cost recovery, or a Public Service Tax increase of up to 3 percent. The other path cuts roughly $12.9 million more from departments including Public Works, Development Services, and Parks and Recreation, with reductions ranging from turning off streetlights in some neighborhoods to eliminating the city's Communications division down to a single Public Information Officer and webmaster.
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A separate wrinkle for future years: state legislation known as CS/SB 4F now requires cities to calculate maximum millage relative to the rolled-back rate rather than the prior statutory formula, and any rate above 110 percent of rolled-back requires either a unanimous Council vote or a referendum. Staff also flagged that if voters approve pending constitutional homestead exemption changes, the city's own forecast shows the General Fund deficit growing to roughly $44.4 million in FY 2028 and $76.4 million in FY 2029 before any offsetting action, separate from this year's shortfall.
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FY 2027 budget calendar
July 15, 4 p.m., Special Budget Workshop, Council Chambers ·
July 22: Council sets the proposed millage rate, not to exceed ·
July 23, 4 to 6 p.m.: public Budget Town Hall, Council Chambers ·
August 4, 11, and 18, 2 p.m.: Budget Workshops 1 through 3 ·
September 10: first public hearing to approve tentative millage and budget ·
September 24: final public hearing to adopt millage and budget
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Sources: City of Cape Coral Special Budget Workshop Agenda and presentation materials, July 15, 2026; City of Cape Coral news release, "City to Host Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Town Hall," July 6, 2026.
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A Primary Election is now set for August 18, and Council's regular meeting returns to a full slate.
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Resolution 158-26, on the July 15 Regular Meeting agenda, calls for a Primary Election on August 18, 2026, for Mayor and for Council Districts 1 and 6, triggered because more than two candidates qualified in each of those races. District 4's Council race did not draw enough candidates to require a primary and will instead go straight to the November general election. Realtors and contractors with clients weighing northwest corridor purchases should note the practical effect: whoever wins the Mayor's race and the District 1 and 6 seats will be seated well before the CDD boards, budget, and North 3 UEP decisions currently in motion reach their next major milestones.
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Also on the July 15 Regular Meeting consent agenda: a $6.5 million South Florida Water Management District grant for the North 1 UEP East Reclaimed Water Extension project, and a $560,367 increase to the Hazard Mitigation Grant for the Weir 7 Improvement Project, bringing that grant to just over $1.19 million. Neither changes the North 3 timeline that governs Hudson Creek, but both are reminders that utility expansion is moving on multiple fronts across the city at once.
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The Digest will be in the room for both the July 15 Regular Meeting and the Special Budget Workshop, and will have the July 22 public hearing outcomes on the two CDD petitions next Sunday.
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Editor's Pick · Local Business
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Point 57 Kitchen & Cocktails
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Cape Coral, FL
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Scratch-made Southern and Florida coastal fare on Del Prado Boulevard South, named for the point where the Cape's landmass comes to an end. Steaks, fresh seafood, and a craft cocktail list deep enough to make a return visit feel like a different restaurant. Reservations are worth making on weekend evenings.
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Sponsor
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Need a website that matches the quality of your work? caloosa.studio builds clean, fast sites for Cape Coral small businesses.
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That is The Sunday Brief No. 008. Two CDD petitions in one week, both tied to projects the Digest has been tracking since they were land deals and vision plans, and a budget workshop that puts real numbers on the choice Council faces this fall. July 22 is the date to watch next.
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If someone forwarded this to you and you want it in your inbox every Sunday at 7 PM, subscribe free at thecapecoraldigest.com. Cape Coral is growing fast. This is the newsletter that tracks where and how.
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Cape Coral Digest is published weekly by Blue Skies at the Cape LLC · Cape Coral, Florida
Every Sunday at 7 PM · thecapecoraldigest.com
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