UEP North 3: Three Options to be decided on November 2nd.

North 3 UEP  ·  Committee of the Whole, October 14

Council sent North 3 back to the drawing board. The November 2 hearing will now repeal the assessment, not adopt it.

Of the three paths staff laid out Wednesday, a majority of the seven members present chose Option C: take Alternative 5 out of North 3, redesign the major roads to the standard UEP cross-section, and rebid. Within minutes, City Manager Mike Ilczyszyn listed what that sets in motion. Bidders will be told the contracts will not be awarded, the city will negotiate a redesign with the engineer, Monday's homeowner open house is off, and the November 2 agenda will carry a repeal of the three initial assessment resolutions Council passed 5 to 3 on September 28.

If you own in North 3, here is where things stand

No assessment is moving forward on the current numbers. The $41,029 west-side and $35,264 east-side figures were tied to bids the city is now walking away from. Staff's own estimate for Option C put the west side at about $39,728, roughly $1,300 less than today, after adding about $500 per parcel for redesign and $1,000 for a year of construction inflation. That is an estimate, not a new assessment. The final numbers come from new bids.

East-side owners should watch this too. Explaining why the two sides differ, the city manager said assessments are simple division: project cost over equivalent parcels. If a redesigned North 3 is assessed as one area, he said, "East will go up, West will come down." Whether the redesign keeps two separate figures is not settled in the record.

The timeline moves into next year. Staff estimated about 12 months for redesign and rebidding. The city manager said a redesign contract will come back to Council because it exceeds his approval threshold; staff put the cost of taking Alternative 5 out at roughly $3 million. Mayor Gunter said that cost should not land on assessments ("This is our screw up. This isn't your screw up."), but acknowledged the next Council will decide.

How the dais split

The staff account, and the survey

The city manager opened by owning part of the confusion. Staff presented the full $5,765 road cost in September, he said, when it should have led with the difference between Alternative 5 and a standard rebuild: $2,801 per parcel, or about $17.25 million project-wide. He also argued that "non-assessed" was never meant to cover items owners have paid for in every past UEP, like driveway restoration, and used the driveway line to make the point: standard restoration runs about $100 per parcel, while Alternative 5's 20-foot driveway extensions run about $260.

The turning point came from a text. Mayor Gunter read a reply from the Northwest Cape Coral Neighborhood Association's Kevin Black: its Alternative 5 survey went to 1,264 households and drew 407 responses. The mayor put that at 6.8 percent of the 6,157.2 equivalent parcels west of Burnt Store; by our arithmetic it is about 6.6 percent of parcels, or about 32 percent of the households surveyed. The city manager confirmed it was not a city survey and that it predated any cost estimate. Gunter also said the stormwater ponds Alternative 5 requires will need land the city has not yet bought and that is not in the current numbers.

City Council  ·  Wednesday, October 21, 4 PM

Bimini East's final vote, the trash protests reopened, and more than $130 million on the consent agenda.

Bimini East, second and final hearing. Ordinance 55-26 returns for adoption: the development agreement with Crown Development, the purchase and sale of the city land with a $24.3 million deferred price, and the Four Freedoms Park ground lease. We covered the first hearing in detail last week, including the preschool that cannot move with the park's other programs and the non-recourse note. The package does not flag any changes to the agreements since October 7. This is the last scheduled vote.

All four trash contract votes are up for reconsideration. A late addendum puts Resolutions 246-26 and 254-26 (sending the Coastal Waste and Waste Pro protests to a state hearing officer, both passed) and 284-26 and 285-26 (denying the protests outright, both failed) back on the table. The package does not say who requested it. A reconsideration can only reverse the October 7 outcome if members change their votes.

The consent agenda. Consent items pass together in one vote unless a member pulls one for discussion. Wednesday's has 16, including these:

The hospital deal, line by line

Fawcett Memorial Hospital, Inc., listed in the exhibits as HCA Florida Cape Coral Hospital, plans a 60-bed acute care hospital of about 200,000 square feet and a 40,000 square foot medical office building at 322 SW Pine Island Road, with a good-faith construction estimate of about $270 million. Staff's summary notes a city of about 242,000 with one hospital and says recruiting began in May 2025. The four incentives:

Property tax rebate, up to $17.9M: 62 percent of the increase in city property taxes over the 2026 base year, for site items including a $5 million helipad, roads, parking and stormwater. Site development grant, up to $6M: $3 million a year for two years, released after plans are approved. Job creation, up to $5.25M: $3,000 per new full-time job, capped at $1.05 million a year for five years, which works out to a ceiling of 350 jobs a year (our arithmetic); the minimum to qualify is five. Impact fee assistance, up to $1.8M. Deadlines: plans within 14 months, construction within 120 days of all approvals, opening within 36 months of construction. Miss them and the property tax rebate is not paid. The agreement says the site and job grants deviate from the standard program rules under the code's special-interest provision.

Also on the agenda: the feather banner ordinance (57-26), now with Planning and Zoning's recommendation; the Local Housing Incentive Plan (Res. 287-26) we flagged last week; a $14.59 million FY 2026 budget amendment introduced as Ordinance 58-26, which among other lines records a $1.83 million road impact fee revenue shortfall; a $200,000 settlement paid to the city for infrastructure damage, party not named in the agenda; Councilmember Kilraine's resolution backing a full VA hospital and veterans home at the Diplomat Parkway clinic; and $346,000 more for Sun Trail design from gas tax money.

Yacht Club  ·  Phase 2 and the Boathouse

The Boathouse owner says 2027. The city's next Yacht Club contract runs to mid-2029.

Two years after the October 2024 fire, Kearns Restaurant Group's Zak Kearns said in an interview published this week he is confident the Boathouse will reopen at 5819 Driftwood Parkway in 2027. In reporting published on Yahoo, Kearns said the project is in final planning and design, the team is meeting with architects and engineers before submitting for a permit, and the work has to be sequenced around the city's Yacht Club master plan. The restaurant is privately rebuilt under Kearns' 30-year agreement with the city; it is not part of the city's construction contract.

The city's side of that sequence is on Wednesday's consent agenda. Phase 2, the $34.55 million price for a new underground fuel system and the civil site work (utilities, a lift station, drainage, paving, landscaping, the beach and hardscape), would bring Wright Construction's contract to $58.87 million. Substantial completion is set for June 5, 2029. Council set aside $19.1 million in cash; the remaining $15.4 million would be borrowed, with annual payments mostly from the General Fund. Two pieces are placeholders: the electrical and technology prices are allowances because those plans are still conceptual, and Wright will rebid them at 90 percent design.

The package does not say which Phase 2 work must be finished before the Boathouse can build or open. That is the question to ask if you are counting on a 2027 sunset.

Also From the Committee of the Whole

Ghost homes, a pay policy left alone, a builders' agreement on hold and a memorial short $338,000.

Permits: the expired backlog is shrinking. Development Services' deputy director told Council expired permits fell from about 8,700 in May to 4,612. At the last count staff gave, 107 were permits for new single family homes that had stalled. Permits expire after 180 days of inactivity; after 30 days expired, the city can issue a stop work order, and code can cite overgrowth and debris and clean the site itself. Demolishing a half-built home requires a special magistrate's order, and staff said it has not done one in the past three years. The city manager added that some ghost homes are tied up in court cases that bar the city from touching them. To check a property, use the city's online permit search: no account needed, and it shows permit status, stop work orders and code cases.

Other numbers from the report: 25 permitting services employees, down from 51 in 2023 and 2024; about 68 percent of applications approved on first submission; and since July 1, 2,582 of 2,596 qualifying small residential reviews met the new five-day state deadline, with 14 deemed approved by law. Staff noted plan reviewers must offer a meeting after a second rejection. Councilmember Steinke suggested requiring applicants to check off each comment before resubmitting; staff said the permitting software can do that.

Non-union raises: no new rule. After the October 7 vote holding raises for about 145 non-bargaining employees, Mayor Gunter proposed capping each employee at the bargaining unit's 4.49 percent unless Council approves more. Kilraine, Steinke, Donnell and Lastra said Council should set the total pot and leave individual raises to supervisors; the mayor called that the consensus. The ordinance he had planned for Wednesday's first reading is not on the agenda, and nothing in the packages says when the hold on raises lifts.

Builders' agreement: not now. The mayor's draft three-way agreement adding the Cape Coral Construction Industry Association alongside the Lee Building Industry Association drew support from Long; Donnell, Steinke, Kilraine, Lastra and Kaduk preferred keeping the current Lee BIA agreement and revisiting once the CCCIA, under its new executive director, settles. Lee BIA's Philip Ford told Council his group did not agree to modify its contract.

Firefighter memorial: paused. The city has spent $95,200 on the bronze statue. Estimates for the rest total $437,550, leaving about $322,750 unfunded after the remaining $114,800, plus roughly $15,000 for landscaping and irrigation (about $337,750 in all). Finance estimated only about $25,000 left over from the fire department's FY 2026 budget. Consensus was to keep the project alive while donations are sought; Kilraine offered to approach the builders' associations.

UEP delivery: no objection to staying with design-bid-build after program manager talks failed, with one engineering firm to be hired for North 6 and later areas.

Record Update  ·  October 7

The official record fills in last week's gaps.

Last week we reported the October 7 trash votes from the transcript and flagged three names we could not hear. The Final Action Summary and draft minutes now settle them. On Res. 284-26 (deny Coastal's protest, failed 4 to 4), Lehmann voted aye, as the tally implied. On Res. 246-26 (refer Coastal to the state, passed 6 to 2), the nays were Kilraine and Lehmann. On Res. 254-26 (refer Waste Pro, passed 7 to 1), the lone nay was Lehmann. All other vote counts we reported match the minutes, including Donnell's no on 284-26 and the 6 to 2 hold on non-bargaining raises.

On the Road  ·  Cape Coral Parkway East

Six lanes open by Friday, and curbside parking goes away for good.

Three through lanes in each direction are expected to open on Cape Coral Parkway East between Coronado Parkway and Del Prado Boulevard by Friday, October 23, weather permitting. Final paving and striping happen overnight, 7 PM to 6 AM, with at least one lane open each way. Once the new lanes open, parking is no longer allowed on either side of the Parkway, a permanent change the city says is meant to cut backups. Expect congestion until the project wraps, now anticipated in November. If you run a business on that stretch, tell your customers now.

The Weeks Ahead

Sixteen days to the election, and the outgoing Council still has two regular meetings.

Mon, Oct 19, 2 PM. Audit Committee. City Auditor's conference room, 815 Nicholas Pkwy E. Monthly audit status report. The North 3 homeowner open house set for that evening is cancelled.

Wed, Oct 21, 4 PM. Regular Council meeting. Bimini East final hearing, trash reconsiderations, the hospital incentives, feather banners.

Fri, Oct 23. Cape Coral Parkway East six-lane opening target; parking ends.

Wed, Oct 28. CRA at 9 AM, Committee of the Whole at 9:30 AM. Thu, Oct 29: proposals due for the North 6 and future UEP engineering contract.

Mon, Nov 2, 4 PM. Regular Council meeting. Repeal of the North 3 initial assessment resolutions, per staff.

Tue, Nov 3. General election. Wed, Nov 4, 9 AM: Planning and Zoning. Thu, Nov 5, 2 PM: Jaycee Park concession proposals due. The new Council is expected to be seated November 18, per the September 28 minutes.