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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
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:
- Tropicana Park which is allocated at ~$2.9M
- Crystal 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.
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 CommissionersAt 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 18th 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.
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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 sidewalksFeedback 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.
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, PresidentNorthwest Cape Coral Neighborhood Association, Inc.
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
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.
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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
Come out with your family and friends to enjoy an evening of celebration and fun! THURSDAY, JULY 4 Event 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
