Cape Coral Economic Development Newsletter Released

The Cape Coral Economic Development Office (EDO) published their quarterly Newsletter.  Check out the topics in the planning and construction stages.  Not all projects are for the Northwest Cape Coral, but it does show some of the plans and topics that the EDO are considering.

You can read the Newsletter on our website by clicking on the word "Newsletter" to the left.:

GO Bond Public Input Meetings

This is the time for you to give your personal opinion to the City

The City is hosting a series of meetings to gather community input on the designs of the seven new neighborhood parks that will be constructed throughout the city.

The new neighborhood parks include:

1. Crystal Lake Park
2. Cultural Park
3. Gator Circle Park
4. Lake Meade Park
5. Oasis Woods Park
6. Sands Park
7. Tropicana Neighborhood Park

The public input meetings are set for the following dates, times and locations:

Tuesday, Sept. 17: 6-8 p.m.
Oasis Middle (cafeteria)
3507 Oasis Blvd.Wednesday, Sept. 18: 6-8 p.m.
Diplomat Elementary (cafeteria)
1115 NE 16th Terr.Thursday, Sept. 19: 6-8 p.m.
Christa McAuliffe Elementary (cafeteria)
2817 SW 3rd Ln.

Important Note: There will be an opportunity to provide input on the design of the Community Parks (Yacht Club, Lake Kennedy Racquet Center, Yellow Fever Creek Preserve and Festival Park) at a later date. 

Senator Rubio's Staff in the Cape on Tuesday, August 26.

Announcement from Senator Marco Rubio

"...My staff will offer constituent services on items such as social security payments, issues with the IRS, federal disaster claims, and veterans benefits, as well as to listen to your concerns and suggestions.

Please note that I will not be in attendance, but my staff will be onsite to meet one-on-one and provide you with necessary assistance.
Where:

SWFL Military Museum
4820 Leonard St.
Cape Coral, FL 33904

When: 

Tuesday, August 27: 10:00am - 1:00pm EDT

If you cannot meet with my staff during this time but are in need of assistance, please call my office at 866-630-7106 and we will be glad to assist you.

My office and I are here to help. Thank you for the opportunity to serve you and to continue to work on behalf of Floridians."

Leadership Changes

Letter from the President of the NWNA

To the NWNA Members,

I would like to first express my sincerest gratitude for you allowing me to serve as your President for the past 20 months.

But due to a variety of Family issues up north that requires much of my focus, I find myself unable to commit an adequate amount of effort in managing the NWNA.

In the interim, past President John Bashaw has agreed to temporarily step up as President until my term ends in December. I am extremely grateful that he has volunteered to do so.

Sincerely,

John Jacobs -NWNA-President

Also, our Vice-President John Karcher has decided to retire from the NWNA to pursue other endeavors. Below is his letter to the Membership.

August 10, 2019

To whom it may concern:

Good Evening, John Karcher here Vice President of the Northwest Neighborhood Association:

I have belonged to the NWNA for nearly 11 years and have volunteered for the past 8. In that time I volunteered and served on numerous committees. I chaired the Marine Committee and now I am currently the V.P. and am into my 3rd 1 year term. I recently announced that I would not seek another term. It is now time for me to enjoy retirement.

Given the amount of issues and opportunities in play in Cape Coral and to best serve our members, the NWNA is taking different path. In order to clear the path and to allow others to become more active, I am stepping down as V.P. effective immediately.

While the past years of volunteering have been a large amount of work, they have been very rewarding and I have enjoyed taking part in representing our residents. Thank you to all of my supporters for your participation in our efforts.

Best Regards,

John Karcher - NWNA -Vice President

Important Meeting - September 26th

Important General Meeting - September 26, 2019 @ 7:00 PM - doors will open at 6:30 PM for networking.
Christa McAuliffe Charter Elementary School Cafeteria
2817 SW 3rd Lane, Cape Coral

Tentative Agenda Items:

1. 1. Meeting Sign-in and Networking
   • Participate in our 50/50 Drawing. Tickets are $1 each or seven for $5. Please bring the exact amount.
   • Pay your 2020 dues. Dues are $15 (annually) through December of the following year (2020). Please bring exact cash or a check (made payable to NWNA, Inc.).
   • Buy an NWNA T-shirt for $16. Please bring exact cash or a check (made payable to NWNA, Inc.).
   2. Opening Comments by Interim President John Bashaw
   3. Nomination and Voting processes for NWNA Board positions (in preparation for November elections)
   4. Vacant Positions:
   • Preident
   • Vice President
   • Membership Committee Chairperson
   5. Project Updates
   • UEP
   • 7 Islands Project
   • Myriad Luxury Motor Coach Resort
   6. Conclusion of Meeting

Cape Coral Boat Ramp Changes Requested

To all of the Northwest Cape Coral Property-Owners:

Recently the NWNA President, sent an email to our City Leaders requesting a policy change, regarding the fee structure for the Boat Ramps in Cape Coral.

If this issue concerns you, please contact your City Leaders with your opinions. The email sent is as follows:

 Mayor, Council Members and City Manager,

 During the recent Snow-Bird season, I heard many complaints from our membership that there was no room to park their vehicles and trailers at the Burnt Store Boat Ramp.

 Apparently, these Boat Ramps are primarily being used by non-Cape residents, leaving no parking spaces for our property-owning, tax-paying residents.

As a resolution, we are requesting that the City Leadership consider changing its policies, whereby Cape Coral Property-Owners will be issued a free yearly pass to all Cape Coral Boat Ramps.

The charges to others could be increased to compensate for the loss of revenue. This would give preference to the Cape residents who are the tax-paying owners and maintenance supporters of these properties.

Please seriously consider this proposal.

John Jacobs

President

NW Cape Coral Neighborhood Assoc. Inc.

Please send your opinions to the following City Leaders:

Mayor

• Joe Coviello, Email: jcoviello@capecoral.net

City Manager:

• John Szerlag, Email: jszerlag@capecoral.net

City Council Members

• One email to all council members "Council Email"

-   OR individual emails to one or more of the following council members

• District 1 - John Gunter; Email:  jgunter@capecoral.net
• District 2 - John Carioscia; Email: jcarioscia@capecoral.net
• District 3 - Marilyn Stout; Email: mstout@capecoral.net
• District 4 - Jennifer Nelson; Email: jinelson@capecoral.net
• District 5 - Dave Stokes; Email: dstokes@capecoral.net
• District 6 - Rick Williams; Email: rwilliam@capecoral.net
• District 7 - Jessica Cosden; Email: jcosden@capecoral.net

Happy Birthday to the NWNA

We enter our 15th year still working hard to keep our members informed by monitoring our city leaders so we can bring transparency, information and facts so you will always be knowledgeable and able to make informed decisions that directly impact your family.

For more information, refer to Constant Contact NWNA Bulletin 28-19-W, emailed to members today (July 3, 2019 around 8:01 AM).

Rezoning City Owned Property!

Please join us and learn about the proposed Future Zoning changes in Northwest Cape Coral.  These meetings will be on July 22 and August 5 at 4:30 pm in Cape Coral City Council Chambers.  They will be voting on changing the zoning for over 9,000 acres of property in our City.

The City has invested several years of efforts into this future Zoning revision which will simplify what types of future developments can be expected on all vacant land within the city.  Overall, the City’s proposed changes will allow for a larger commercial base to assist with the tax burden on the residents.  However, we had particular concerns with 4 properties in the Northwest and after sharing our concerns with the City Leaders, they now appear to be aligned with our members' preferences.

The agenda and supporting documents will be on line the Thursday before each meeting. 

Does it affect your neighborhood? 

Use the Interactive Map to view the proposed Future Zoning Map. Type your address into the search bar. Find what you are looking for, right click on the property and it will show you the current zoning and the future zoning (note - may take a few minutes to completely load).

Interactive Map

Red, White and Boom!

Come out with your family and friends to enjoy an evening of celebration and fun! THURSDAY, JULY 4Event Time - 5 to 10:00pm The City of Cape Coral Parks and Recreation Department is proud to bring you the largest single day event in Southwest Florida.

Join us for the 2019 Red, White, and Boom. Over 30,000 people come to the heart of Cape Coral and see Southwest Florida's best fireworks display. 

Where?: The event takes place on Cape Coral Parkway at the foot of Cape Coral Bridge.

The venue will be more people-friendly and provide the largest fireworks viewing area in the history at this location.

Free Musical Entertainment

 5:00 pm – NEON SUMMER*

6:30 pm - Hailey and Michaels8:00 pm – LOCASH

*Neon Summer is a local country band that plays throughout SW Florida and in Nashville, including many appearances at Blake Shelton’s Ole Red Tavern.

For more details on all that Cape Boom has to offer,please visit the website by clicking on -->: Cape Boom

Parks GO Bond Update

On June 17, 2019, at a special meeting, the Cape Coral City Council approved Resolution 135-19 for professional design services for the "Neighborhood Park" project, in an amount of ~$3M with AECOM Technical Services, Inc.  The funding will come from the parks $60M "GO Bond" approved by voters in 2018.

There are two (2) "Neighborhood Parks" that are part of the City Parks Plan located in the Northwest Cape:

1. Tropicana Neighborhood Park which is allocated at ~$2.9M
2. Crystal Lake Park which is allocated ~$3.2M. 

These amounts include costs for the master plan, design and permitting, and construction of/at each park, per City documents which are available to view on the Cape Coral Parks & Recreation website. 

There are five (5) other Neighborhood Parks and three (3) "Community Parks" planned by the City in other city locations.

A total of ~$46.7M is planned to be spent by the City on Neighborhood and Community Parks. Another ~$5.8M will be spent on upgrading existing parks and another $5.8M is allocated for an Environmental Park at Yellow Fever Creek and a Sports Park. (Total ~$58.3M net of $60M "GO Bond")

City officials will bring up funding professional design services for "Community Parks" at the next available Council meeting for approval.

According to the City Manager, AECOM Technical Services, Inc., will go from park "concept to design" and AECOM will hold community meetings to "take input" from the community. 

Nearby property owners will also be notified of the meetings. According to the City Manager, the same process will be followed for Community Parks.

Burnt Store Road Lighting Expedited

On April 16th 2019, at the Lee County Commissioners' meeting, the Northwest Cape Coral Neighborhood Association (NWNA) petitioned the Commissioners to expedite the installation of lights on the newly constructed Burnt Store Rd and to enhance the lighting plan for that construction.  The NWNA felt that the increased lighting would help to alleviate numerous safety issues.

Watch President John Jacobs Address the Commissioners

At that time, the Commissioners moved to have the county staff bring the details and cost back for consideration.

The NWNA was subsequently invited back to speak at their June 18^th meeting, where, during 3 minutes of public Input, we explained the dangers of the dark highway, sidewalks, crosswalks and multiuse paths that directly impact our residents.. 

The commissioners unanimously approved to adopt the County staff's recommendations, which include:

• Moving the lighting installation date from late 2020 to September 2019.
• Installing 132 lights on the North and Central sections from Van Buren to Tropicana.
• Approval of lighting budget of $1,707,359 for the enhanced lighting, which will be funded by the Bridge Toll Fund.

A very warm thank you to the Board of Lee County Commissioners and the County Staff for taking action in this matter.  They have been exceptional in working in partnership with our Association.

Cape Coral's Surplus Land For Sale

Cape Coral's Surplus Land for Sale The city has numerous properties to sell for which they no longer have a need. Twenty-Seven (27) WATER FRONT PROPERTIES IN THE N.W., ARE NOW ON THE MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE. Another 70+ properties will follow (per Ordinance 73.18). We expect to see more to follow as they are identified as surplus across the city . Clink on the link 'City Surplus Property Listings' and it will bring you directly to the property listings on the MLS. Be sure to save it to your web browser so you can check it for updates as more properties get listed. The link is provided by our city broker Dawn Andrews.  You may use your own realtor or deal directly with the city. Pursuant to requirements within the City’s Code of Ordinances and the Charter, any sale is subject to City Council approval via the ordinance process. Contracts will be presented to City Council at the next available City Council meeting after a 30-day listing period. If more than one contract is received, the highest and best offer will be recommended for approval. For more details, please reach out to: Stephanie Rei at: (239) 574-0541 or at Srei@capecoral.net Please be advised if you are not working with a Realtor already, I can work directly with you. If you have a Realtor, they can contact my office.  FOR THE RECORD: The NWNA is not being compensated for providing this information; Our goal is to see these properties sold and back on the tax rolls as soon as possible . John Karcher, Vice President Northwest Cape Coral Neighborhood Association, Inc.

Lighting and Sidewalks in NW Cape

At the Cape Coral City Council meeting on May x, John Jacobs spoke regarding the issue of inadequate street lighting and sidewalks in the Northwest Cape area.

President John Jacobs speaks to Cape Coral City Council regarding inufficient lighting and sidewalks

Feedback that we have received from the City Leaders indicates that several positive plans are being developed by the City Management to improve budgeting, for street lighting and sidewalks in the Northwest Cape area.

NWNA President's Letter to School Board Members

Dear School Board Members,

Hello, my name is John Jacobs and I am the President of the Northwest Cape Coral Neighborhood Association. I represent over 1200 members who are the taxpayers of the Northwest Cape area.

Considering recent events in the Cape regarding the safety of our school children, there are many changes being examined to improve their safety, including additional sidewalks, additional street lighting and adding benches at the school bus stops. These changes are currently being considered by the City of Cape Coral, which I commend them for.

Expecting Children to walk to the bus stops during pre-dawn times, in the streets with flashlights, is a complete disregard for their safety.

In the opinion of many of the Northwest Cape residents, there also needs to be changes adopted by the Lee County School Board.

The first change that we recommend is reducing the School of Choice offerings for the following reasons:

• It has created a logistics nightmare.
• It has created an unnecessary amount of school bus traffic.
• It has created an unnecessary amount of school bus stops. It has caused the schools to schedule pick-ups during pre-dawn times.
• It has created enormous budgetary costs for the School District of which could be better allocated to Teacher’s salaries.
• Some of the School offerings from the NW Cape area are a 13-15 mile bus trip each way.
• Offering 2-3 schools which are geographically closest to a student’s home, is more than reasonable.

The second change is figuring out how to stop the pre-dawn school bus pick-ups.

In the Cape, with a lack of sidewalks and streetlights, your scheduling methods are a major contribution to these unsafe conditions to our children.

Please seriously consider these recommendations from our Residents.

Sincerely,

John Jacobs, President
Northwest Cape Coral Neighborhood Association, Inc.

Urgent Care Facility Needed

Urgent Care Facility Needed

The following letter was sent on your behalf to Lee County Healthcare, to address the lack of Urgent Care Access in the Northwest Cape.

Ms. Everly and Ms. Clarke,

As Lee Health Board Members we urgently need your help! As President of the NWNA, I have received many complaints about the Urgent Care services that Lee Health has been providing to our community, especially during the past 15 months. The complaints greatly increase during the Snow-Bird season every year.

Cape Coral's population will soon be over 200,000 residents and that's not factoring in the influx of Snow-Birds and vacationers.

The largest amount of complaints that I've received are the wait times at the Cape Coral hospital.

Many are complaining that they've had to wait over 8 hours and that includes those with heart issues. 

Many have also complained, that the hospital does not have the qualified staff for many health issues and they are sent to another hospital in Fort Myers. The time has come for something to be done!

One of the fastest growing areas in Cape Coral is the Northwest area. We need an Urgent Care Center in the Northwest immediately!!

We are aware that Lee Health owns the property at 1200 Burnt Store Rd. on the Northwest corner of Yucatan Pkwy.

This location would be ideal for Lee Health to immediately build a much needed Urgent Care Center.

Our Northwest Cape Coral population deserves better service from the Lee Health organization.

Please feel free to express your preferences or concerns directly to them if you feel the same and want to have access to timely Urgent Care in our area. Their emails are:

Ms Everly - therese.everly@leehealth.org

Ms Clark - donna.clarke@leehealth.org

Overburdened by the City with UEP Charges

The City Finance Director Victoria Bateman, City Manager John Szerlag, the Past Mayor and the past City Council (including Rick Williams) adopted a Utilities Expansion Financial plan that grossly overburdens the Northwest Cape Property Owners.

• For those Property Owners that could not afford to pre-pay, a Penalty Tax of $1344. was added to the Line Assessment charges and an additional Penalty Tax of $1350. was added to the CFEC charges. These additional Taxes total $2694.00
• Also, for those Property Owners unable to pre-pay, the City is charging 5% interest per year. This 5% charge will be used to pay the 1% interest being charged by the State SRF Loans.
• To add insult to injury, the City Finance Dept. is also charging a Collection Fee.
• The residents that couldn’t pay were unable to do so because of their finances. They do not deserve to be additionally burdened.
• There are approximately 7000 Property Owners that could not pre-pay. Based on the data that I secured from the City, those Owners will pay the City over $900,000 dollars in interest and collection charges per year.
• Overall, the City will collect from these 7000 Property owners, over $17.4 million per year in Assessments, Interest and Collection Charges.
• Additionally, before the end of the year all UEP area homeowners will be required to pay approximately $2000. to a Plumber, to connect to the City Utilities.

This project has become a City revenue generating scheme, with the blessing of the City Councils past and present. They chose to not question any details with regards to the UEP Project. We are not being fairly represented and they continue to overburden the Property Owners with additional TAXES!!!

Latest List of Audit Questions

What Can You Do?

The Mayor and City Council needs to make the following changes to the UEP Financial Plan.

• Eliminate the Penalty Taxes of $2694.00
• Reduce the Interest Rate to the exact rate charged by the State.
• Eliminate the Collection fees charged by the City Finance Dept.
• Change the CFEC payback timetable from 6 years to 20 years.

Call and Write all the Council Members, the Mayor and the City Mgr. with your concerns, regarding these UEP costs. To those that are not in the UEP areas, these costs will affect you in the future, with greater construction costs.

•   
  

  Position: Name	Email	Telephone #
  Mayor: Joe Coviello	jcoviell@capecoral.net	239-574-0436
  District 1: John Gunter	jgunter@capecoral.net	239-574-0436
  District 2: John Carioscia	jcarioscia@capecoral.net	239-242-3288
  District 3: Marilyn Stout	mstout@capecoral.net	239-242-3288
  District 4: Jennifer Nelson	jinelson@capecoral.net	239-242-3288
  District 5: Dave Stokes	dstokes@capecoral.net	239-574-0437
  District 6: Rick Williams	rwilliam@capecoral.net	239-574-0437
  District 7: Jessica Cosden	jcosden@capecoral.net	239-574-0437
  City Mgr: John Szerlag	jszerlag@capecoral.net	(239) 574-0451