Cape Coral Public Works Weekly Update - September 25, 2023

By Ralph Huber
By Ralph Huber
This past year saw the City of Cape Coral make considerable progress of the Utility Expansion Program (UEP). Unfortunately, Hurricane Ian has slowed progress and the UEP has taken a backseat to repairing other critical infrastructure needs within the City. Rest assured, the project is moving forward.
Work recently completed to date includes the following:
A map detailing the utility areas and anticipated service dates, as presented in the Master Plan, is as follows:
Each of the above-completed tasks is discussed briefly below.
Completion of North 2
While there are still some minor items to be repaired, the installation of utilities in North 2 was essentially completed in 2022. Water, sewer, and reclaimed water lines were brought to all residential and commercial properties within North 2. Roads have been reconstructed, landscaping repaired, and currently, there has been a good response from homeowners required to hook up to the new utilities. For practical purposes, we are calling North 2 complete.
Completion of Design and Award of Construction for About Half of North 1
The City used much of what was learned in the design and construction of North 2 and incorporated pertinent items into the design of North 1. North 1 will be broken into 11 different construction contracts, all of which will be considerably smaller than those of North 2. North 1 east will have 5 construction contracts and North 1 west will have 6. The 6 construction contracts of North 1 west have been bid and the total construction cost for the area is approximately $203 million. Construction of the 5 contracts in North 1 east will be bid and commence in late 2023 or early 2024.
The City will use the same methodology to assess UEP costs to homeowners as has been previously used. Unfortunately, due to current economic conditions in southern Florida and across the country, the assessment cost to the typical homeowner in the North 1 west area will average approximately $33,500. While this amount may seem very high, it is in line with other area costs when adjusted to 2023 dollars. Also, all homeowners will have the option of paying the assessment in a single lump sum or paying it off over 20, 25 or 30 years.
Please keep in mind that North 1 is completely in the NE section of Cape Coral.
UEP Master Plan
The UEP Master Plan is necessary to prioritize future areas for utility expansion, to identify existing infrastructure needs necessary to accommodate future expansion, to establish realistic schedules, and to establish preliminary cost estimates. Please note that the dates presented below are from the UEP Master Plan and will likely be adjusted due to Hurricane Ian's impacts.
The following is brief summary of the findings and recommended improvements within future service areas.
Design of North 3
The City is in the process of hiring an engineer to design utilities in the North 3 area. This effort is approximately 5 months behind schedule due to Hurricane Ian. The design is expected to be complete in approximately 1 year with construction commencing in 2024. Assessment costs for North 3 will likely be in line with those for North 1 west but will be refined as the design progresses.
The City is progressing well on the UEP, although recent weather impacts have certainly impacted the planned schedule. If you have comments or questions on work completed or on planned work, please contact me at publicworks@nwcape.com.
Don Freeman, P.E.
NWNA Public Works Committee
This past year saw the City of Cape Coral make considerable progress of the Utility Expansion Program (UEP). Unfortunately, Hurricane Ian has slowed progress and the UEP has taken a backseat to repairing other critical infrastructure needs within the City. Rest assured; the project will move forward.
Work completed in 2022 included the following:
A map detailing the utility areas is as follows:
Each of the above completed tasks is discussed briefly below.
While there are still some minor items to be repaired, installation of utilities in North 2 was essentially completed in 2022. Water, sewer and reclaimed water lines were brought to all residential and commercial properties within North 2. Roads have been reconstructed, landscaping repaired, and currently there has been a good response from homeowners required to hook up to the new utilities. For practical purposes, we are calling North 2 complete.
The City used much of what was learned in design and construction of North 2 and incorporated much of that into the design of North 1. North 1 will be broken into 12 different construction contracts, all of which will be considerably smaller than those of North 2. To date several construction contracts in North 1 have already been bid and the remaining ones will be shortly after the new year. Construction in North 1 can be expected to be in full force in 2023. Please keep in mind that North 1 is completely in the NE section of Cape Coral.
The UEP Master Plan is necessary to prioritize future areas for utility expansion, to identify existing infrastructure needs necessary to accommodate future expansion, to establish realistic schedules, and to establish preliminary cost estimate. Please note that dates presented below are from the UEP Master Plan and will likely be adjusted due to Hurricane Ian impacts.
The following is brief summary of the findings and recommended improvements within future service areas.
The City is progressing well on the UEP, although recent weather impacts have certainly impacted the planned schedule. If you have comments or questions on work completed or on planned work, please contact me at publicworks@NWNA.com.
Don Freeman, P.E.
NWNA Public Works Committee
On May 25, 2022 the City Council was given an update on all major Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) and Public Works projects currently ongoing in the City. Attached is that presentation.
This presentation touches on the project status of the Utilities Expansion Project; Parks Go Bond; Police, Fire and Fleet training and Maintenance Facilities; Road, Trail and Sidewalk programs; water quality projects, utility projects, and several other miscellaneous projects. We thought this was a thorough, albeit brief, update and worth sharing. The presentation is also available on the City's website.
On February 23, 2022 City Council was updated by the Cape Coral Utilities Director on the final results of the ongoing Utility Expansion Project (UEP) Master Plan. If you remember from the November 2021 NWNA update on the UEP, City Council and the Mayor had requested that the engineers re-evaluate sequencing and scheduling of some of the areas planned for utility expansion. This re-evaluation is now complete and the Master Plan is being finalized. This memo gives you a summary of this Master Plan which will be the guidance document that the City uses for the entire UEP going forward.
All service areas are presented in the graphic below along with anticipated operational dates. The second graphic depicts all projects expected to be complete by 2027. Following the graphics is a brief summary of the Master Plan:
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Last Call for May 9, 2023 – General Meeting – (All are Welcome) 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Meeting Location: NW Cape Library, 519 Chiquita Blvd., Cape Coral, FL 33993 – Room A