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July 19, 2026 · The Sunday Brief No. 009 · Cape Coral, FL
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FREE EDITION
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What's being built · What it means
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5.1988
Consensus not-to-exceed millage rate Council will vote on July 22, with a stated goal of adopting 5.1471 mills at final hearings in September.
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$12.9M
Combined Police and Fire program modification requests staff outlined for FY 2027, none of which are included in the current service level base budget.
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100%
Share of Q3 building permit applications the city reviewed within its statutory deadline, per the Development Services Q3 FY 2026 update.
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City Hall · FY 2027 Budget · From the Room
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Council agrees to walk into July 22 with a 5.1988 mill cap and a 5.1471 mill goal. That combination sets the ceiling for every FY 2027 decision that follows.
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The July 15 Special Budget Workshop closed with a straw poll that told staff exactly what to build the tentative budget around. Seven Council members signaled they will vote next week to set the not-to-exceed rate at 5.1988 mills, the rolled-back rate under the new state formula, while directing staff to work toward adopting 5.1471 mills, the current rate, at the September final hearings. Council Member Donnell was the lone voice for a higher ceiling, at 5.7187 mills, and made his case at length before standing down.
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What "not to exceed" actually locks in on July 22
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Deputy Financial Services Director Nicole Raitler walked Council through the mechanics: whatever number Council approves on July 22 is the number that goes out on TRIM notices in August. Council can move down from there at either the September 10 tentative hearing or the September 24 final hearing. It cannot move up. That is the practical significance of the workshop's straw poll. By choosing 5.1988 as the cap, Council preserves the option of adopting the current 5.1471 rate in September while leaving itself room to add police or fire program modifications back into the budget if events between now and then justify it.
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The $12.9 million public safety question was set aside, not resolved
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Staff presented Council with three options: fund the base current service level budget only, add $12.9 million in Police and Fire program modifications and pay for them through revenue increases (a higher millage, a higher Fire Service Assessment recovery rate, or a higher Public Service Tax), or add the program modifications and pay for them through expenditure reprioritization. The reprioritization scenario staff prepared included eliminating the 311 call center, dissolving the Communications division down to a Public Information Officer and webmaster, cutting the Environmental Recreation program, and reducing Code Compliance staffing by roughly half. No motion was made to advance any of those cuts. Mayor Gunter framed the reasoning directly: with a state constitutional homestead exemption expansion on the November ballot, and staff already forecasting FY 2028 general fund deficits between $42 million and $46 million if that measure passes, the prudent posture is to hold at current service level, keep the ceiling low, and see how the referendum lands before compounding the pressure on next year's Council.
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Where the $1.6 million gap actually gets closed
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Holding the millage at 5.1471 rather than the rolled-back 5.1988 opens a roughly $1.6 million revenue gap that has to be closed before September adoption. Staff presented two illustrative paths. The reduction path drew scrutiny from the dais: the version staff put on screen included cutting five positions and $312,000 from Code Compliance, plus additional operating reductions across the City Attorney, City Auditor, City Manager, and Parks and Recreation. Mayor Gunter and Council Member Cadute pushed back, arguing the list should first work through vacant positions the city has been unable to fill for six months or more before it touches occupied ones. Council Member Steinke asked staff to explicitly flag which line items represent vacancies and which represent layoffs on any future reduction list. Financial Services Director Krista Spees committed to bringing that list back with vacancies applied first. The revenue path staff outlined would take a smaller adjustment: roughly a two percent Fire Service Assessment recovery increase covers the gap on its own, or roughly a one percent Public Service Tax increase, though the PST option would only realize half its annual value in FY 2027 due to a mandatory six-month notice period. No path was formally adopted. Council also gave Financial Services direction to bring back a proposed number for a modest, non-recurring budgeted amount of interest income to help close the gap, following a request from Council Member Lasco.
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July 15 straw poll on July 22 not-to-exceed millage
5.1988 mills (rolled-back), with a stated goal of 5.1471 at final adoption: Mayor Gunter, Council Members Cadute, Kilraine, Lasco, Lehman, Long, and Steinke. ·
5.7187 mills (roughly 110 percent of rolled-back): Council Member Donnell. ·
Fire Service Assessment recovery rate: hold at 81 percent. ·
Public Service Tax: hold at 7 percent. ·
A straw poll is direction to staff, not a formal vote. The actual not-to-exceed rate will be adopted by roll call vote on July 22.
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Sources: Special City Council Budget Workshop, July 15, 2026, video transcript and staff presentation slides; Cape Coral 2026-07-15 Final Action Summary; state legislation reference: CS/SB 4F, effective July 1, 2026. Vote tallies described here reflect the July 15 workshop straw poll and are subject to change at the July 22 roll call vote.
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Coming Wednesday · Council Regular Meeting
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Both CDD petitions come back for public hearings on July 22, on the same night Council sets its millage ceiling.
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The July 22 Regular Meeting agenda pairs three high-stakes items in a single evening. Ordinance 34-26, the 7 Islands Community Development District petition, and Ordinance 35-26, the Star Farms at Cape Coral Community Development District petition, both come up for their scheduled public hearings after being introduced at the July 15 meeting. The Digest covered the substance of both petitions in Issue No. 008. Then, in the same session, Council will adopt the not-to-exceed millage rate for FY 2027 and the not-to-exceed Fire Service Assessment rate, both of which drive the TRIM notices that hit mailboxes in August.
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The public hearing structure for the CDD petitions is worth understanding in advance. Under Chapter 190 of the Florida Statutes, Council's role at the hearing is not to approve or reject the projects themselves. It is to determine whether the petitions meet the six statutory factors for establishing a special district: whether the statements in the petition are complete and accurate, whether the proposed district is inconsistent with any applicable element of the local comprehensive plan, whether the area is amenable to separate special district government, whether the district is the best alternative for delivering the services, whether the services will be incompatible with the capacity of existing services, and whether the area is amenable to being served by the district. Public comment is invited and read into the record.
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Also on the July 22 agenda: a public hearing on Ordinance 32-26, a small-scale future land use map amendment covering approximately 1.02 acres in the Southwest Cape, and the consent agenda's carryover items from July 15 that require formal ratification. The Digest will be in the room and will have the outcomes in Issue No. 010.
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July 22 Regular Meeting details
Wednesday, July 22, 2026, 4:30 p.m. ·
Council Chambers, 1015 Cultural Park Boulevard ·
Livestream and archive: CapeTV and the city website ·
Public comment: three minutes per speaker on any agenda item, with sign-up cards at the door.
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Sources: City of Cape Coral Regular Meeting Agenda Full Package, July 22, 2026; Florida Statutes Chapter 190; Cape Coral Digest Issue No. 008, July 12, 2026.
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Zoning · Affordable Housing · Thursday
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The Affordable Housing Advisory Committee meets July 23 to work through the five Land Development Code incentives that shape what density is even legal to build here.
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Thursday's meeting takes up incentives C, E, F, G, and H of the eleven state-required incentives for the city's Affordable Housing Incentive Plan: flexibility of density, accessory dwelling units, reduced parking and setback requirements, flexible lot configurations, and modification of street requirements. The full plan must be adopted by December 31, 2026, and the Committee's recommendations feed directly to City Council. Housing Coordinator Millie Babic will present.
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What is actually legal at the top end of the code
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The staff presentation lays out the current density ceilings by zoning district: the majority of Cape Coral is subdivided into 10,000 square foot lots with an underlying base density of 4.4 dwelling units per acre. Residential Multi-Family Low is 16 du/acre. Residential Multi-Family Medium and Corridor Commercial are 25 du/acre. Mixed Use Business and South Cape zoning both allow up to 125 du/acre. Two recent projects illustrate the extremes on the ground: Madison Square, at 817 Miramar Street in the South Cape Downtown District, is proposed at 82 units on 1.05 acres, or 78.1 units per acre, with a seven story building over first floor parking. Aspire, at SW 17th Avenue and Chiquita Boulevard, delivers 319 units on 19.99 acres, or 16 units per acre, in a garden-style multi-family configuration. Both were funded in part through the Florida Housing Finance Corporation and the Live Local Act. Staff notes there is currently no density incentive specifically for affordable housing in the Cape Coral Land Development Code.
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Where the April 9 meeting ended and where this one begins
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At the Committee's last meeting on April 9, the group voted 5-1 to accept staff's policy-based incentive recommendations, with Committee Member Harrigan casting the sole no vote. Meeting minutes reflect a lengthy discussion of practical constraints on affordable production in the Cape: the pre-platted nature of the community, utility capacity, transportation gaps to Fort Myers job centers, and the observation from staff that no single incentive alone will draw developers. April's discussion also flagged that of sixteen city properties identified as suitable for affordable housing, fourteen have been donated to Habitat for Humanity, with two held up on title issues. Thursday's meeting picks up the harder half of the incentive review, the Land Development Code half, which is where any regulatory change would need to be implemented.
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AHAC meeting details
Thursday, July 23, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ·
Conference Room 220A, City Hall, 1015 Cultural Park Boulevard ·
Agenda: incentives C (density), E (ADUs), F (parking and setbacks), G (lot configuration), H (street modifications) ·
Public comment: three minutes per speaker ·
Next meeting: October 1, 2026, Council Chambers, to review the full Incentive Plan before recommendation to Council.
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Sources: Affordable Housing Advisory Committee Agenda Full Package, July 23, 2026, including staff presentation slides and April 9, 2026 meeting minutes; Florida Statutes Section 166.0451.
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Permits · Q3 FY 2026 Data
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Single-family permits are down 12 percent year over year, but June was the first month in more than a year to run above 2025. Here is what the Q3 data shows.
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Development Services released its Q3 FY 2026 Building and Permitting Update this week, covering April through June. The headline: 1,304 single family home permits have been issued fiscal year to date, down 380 units, or 11.9 percent, from the same nine-month window in FY 2025. Monthly volumes tell a more nuanced story. April 2026 came in at 139 permits, May at 100 (the year's low), and June at 193, which was actually 16 permits ahead of June 2025 and the first month since March 2025 to beat the prior year. Whether that reflects a durable turn or a one-month pop from applicants racing to file ahead of House Bill 803's July 1 changes will not be clear until the July numbers are in.
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New commercial construction permits are on a different trajectory: 30 issued fiscal year to date, down 37 from FY 2025's pace. Certificate of Occupancy valuation for the trailing twelve months totaled roughly $1.09 billion for single family and $357 million for commercial, which is the metric that actually captures dollars flowing into the city's tax base from work reaching completion.
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House Bill 803 and the 600 percent problem
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HB 803 took effect July 1 and mandates what the city's report describes as a 600 percent service level increase for single family dwelling permits valued under $15,000. Development Services is absorbing the change through staff reallocation, third-party plan reviewers, and by rolling out two new push-button permits, one for residential irrigation and one for residential fences, that route through the online system without a human plan review step. Owner-Builder permitting also went fully online July 1. For homeowners planning a fence, an irrigation upgrade, or a small accessory project, these are the changes to know before pulling next permit. The city's Q3 report also notes it met its statutory permit review deadlines on 100 percent of applications from April through June.
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Q3 FY 2026 permitting at a glance
Single family permits issued, October 2025 through June 2026: 1,304 (down 11.9% YoY) ·
Commercial permits issued FYTD: 30 ·
Permit applications processed FYTD: 20,992 ·
Building inspections completed FYTD: 54,536 ·
Trailing 12 months CO valuation: $1.095 billion single family, $356.8 million commercial ·
Statutory review deadlines met in Q3: 100 percent ·
IPCC call center answer rate: 99.7 percent (9,576 of 9,607 inbound calls).
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Source: City of Cape Coral Development Services Department, Q3 FY 2026 Building and Permitting Update.
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Q3 EBDO market snapshot: retail vacancy at 2.4 percent, office at 2.3 percent, and an industrial pipeline that just got noticeable.
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The Economic and Business Development Office released its own Q3 report this week, drawing on CoStar data through July 10. Cape Coral's retail vacancy of 2.4 percent is the lowest of any Florida market benchmarked in the report; Miami came in at 3.0 percent, Tampa at 3.8 percent, and Fort Lauderdale at 4.1 percent. Office vacancy sits at 2.3 percent. Industrial vacancy is 4.6 percent, but 211.9 thousand square feet is now under construction, with the largest active projects at 2616 Ceitus Parkway (100,000 SF), 1607 Del Prado Boulevard (50,000 SF), and 27,900 SF at Ceitus Cove. That represents more industrial square footage under construction than has been delivered in the past eight quarters combined.
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Also worth noting from the EBDO update: retail leasing momentum shows only 260,000 SF of available space across a 10.1 million SF base, and the proposed forward pipeline includes a 78,000 SF Floor and Decor and a 70,000 SF project on Burnt Store Road. On the incentive side, three Business Infrastructure Grants have been approved fiscal year to date against $6.89 million in project investment, and two Enhanced Value Recapture grants have been approved against $56.4 million in project investment. On the projects side, EBDO reports that the 7 Islands / Gulf Gateway Resort site was sold on February 11, 2026, with civil permits targeted for submission by October 2026 and Phase 1 development, including median improvements to Old Burnt Store Road and initial commercial and residential frontage, scheduled through 2031.
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The Digest will be at the July 22 Regular Meeting and the July 23 Affordable Housing Advisory Committee meeting, with coverage in Issue No. 010 next Sunday.
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Source: City of Cape Coral Economic and Business Development Office, Q3 FY 2026 Quarterly Report (April through June 2026); CoStar Group data referenced by EBDO as of July 10, 2026.
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Editor's Pick · Local Business
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La Fondita Restaurant
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North Fort Myers, FL
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Family-run authentic Mexican just across the bridge on North Cleveland Avenue. Fresh made tacos, burritos, enchiladas, fajitas, and tamales built from traditional recipes, with a full bar and margaritas worth the trip. A short drive from the Cape for a proper sit-down meal, or worth the takeout order on a night when the plan is a movie at home. Open daily; hours run into the evening.
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13121 N Cleveland Ave, North Fort Myers, FL 33903 · (239) 257-1151
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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. 009. A budget consensus that puts a hard ceiling on July 22, two CDD hearings on the same night, an Affordable Housing incentive review that decides what tomorrow's projects can look like, and permit data that says the market found a bottom in May and started climbing again in June. Big week ahead.
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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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