The Charter Review Commission has met for months to recommend changes in the city charter.

Wednesday during the Cape Coral City Council’s regular meeting at City Hall at 4:30 p.m., the council will hear what the CRC came up with in regards to the potential changes.

The CRC discussed issues such as single member districts vs. at-large voting, council size, a review of council terms, member replacement, form of government, partisan vs. non-partisan elections, and a right to clean water amendment, among other things.

In the end, the CRC came up with a recommendation to remove the language of a line-item veto by the mayor in three separate sections of the charter.

It will also recommend language be added to address the occurrence of three or more candidates qualifying for the vacancy.

“..unless three (3) or more candidates qualify for the vacancy, whereby a special primary election is required. The special primary election shall occur within the timeframe provided above, no sooner than ninety (90) days and not later than one hundred twenty (120) days following the occurrence of the vacancy, and the special general election shall be held within 45 days following certification of the special primary election results” the sentence reads.

The CRC also recommends that public safety be referenced in the Comprehensive Plan.

In other business

City Council will consider an ordinance amending the City of Cape Coral Comprehensive Plan by creating the Property Rights Element to fulfill a statutory mandate by the state.

In 2021, the Florida Legislature adopted House Bill 59 requiring local governments to adopt a Property Rights Element to their Comprehensive Plans.

No new Future Land Use Map amendments or Comprehensive Plan text amendments will be accepted for review by state agencies until this element is established by local government, according to the staff presentation.

This application was transmitted to state and regional agencies for their review in October. After agency review, the Department of Economic Opportunity identified language that needed to be removed. Planning staff made the required changes and streamlined the language.

The council will also hold a second and final public hearing on an ordinance to rezone from Professional (P) to Residential Multi-Family Low (RML) for 50 properties (12.71 acres) in central Cape Coral.

If adopted, the potential for professional office development for the area would be eliminated. Twenty-seven of the 50 properties are developed with multi-family structures, mostly duplexes. Therefore, the rezone would make the existing structures consistent with the future land use and zoning.

The area is the core of the City Centrum conceptual area, established in 2000-2002. The purpose of City Centrum was to attract office uses to the governmental center and create an employment center in central Cape Coral.

The property was changed to Commer-cial/Professional in 2003. Properties were rezoned to Professional in early 2009. However, by then, several duplexes were constructed in the area, which hurt land assemblage opportunities.

The council will also consider an ordinance that authorizes and directs the mayor to enter into an “Amended Master Lease Agreement for All Charter Schools and Facilities” with the Cape Coral Charter School Authority for the lease of property owned by the city.

The city and the Charter School Authority seek to amend the base rent charged by the city, and to reflect the changes in responsibilities of the city and the Charter School Authority since the city has become responsible for more of the services for the Charter School system.

Cape Coral City Hall is at 1015 Cultural Park Blvd.