Cape Council to hold off-site workshop Wednesday
Cape Coral City Council will hold an off-site workshop meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village.
A major part of the meeting will be devoted to the city’s five-year strategic plan, including a presentation by the University of South Florida.
The presentation will serve as a kickoff to a project expected to take six months, which will, officials say, will include heavy participation from the community, stakeholders and employees.
“I think Wednesday will be the beginning process of the strategic plan. We touched base on the strategic plan in 2018. I really believe it’s time to update that plan,” Mayor John Gunter said. “The city has grown exponentially and not only do we need to make sure we keep up with that growth but establish what that vision is moving forward.”
Gunter said the city has made some mistakes over the past 20 years regarding how to bring more commercial into the city.
“If we want to enhance commercial development and our city, we have to make changes,” Gunter said. “The 92 (percent) to 8 (percent) residential to commercial ratio is unacceptable. Infrastructure is the first thing that comes to mind.”
The three-hour community forum will take place sometime late next month, with a three-hour employee forum coming about the same time. The finish of Phase 1 will conclude in May with a report to council. The final presentation to council will happen sometime in August.
In other business:
* Economic Development Manager Ricardo Noguera will introduce the potential of working with the Urban Land Institute to facilitate a visioning process, what one would consist of, and ultimately how the city should evolve over the next 50 years.
Tom Eitler, senior vice president of advisory services for ULI, will give the presentation.
* Mayor John Gunter will discuss a code of conduct for city council members, which would include new language in the council rules of procedure.
The resolution was presented before Council on Nov. 2, 2020 during the final meeting with the previous administration, but it failed because it was decided that the then-newly-elected Council should take up the matter.
“I think it’s a good policy moving forward. We have a level of expectations for the city manager, auditor, attorney and all the employees. I think we need to have one for the city council as well,” Gunter said. “We set policy, so we need to make sure we govern ourselves as well.”
* Council will get an update on the 2021 state legislative goals.
The workshop is open to the public. The Westin Cape Coral Resort is at Marina Village, 5951 Silver King Blvd.
To reach CHUCK BALLARO, please email news@breezenewspapers.com