Interim Public Works Director Mike Ilczyszyn shows a map of the Cape Coral Yacht Club during a recent Town Hall meeting regarding the planned renovation of the park.

The city of Cape Coral will discuss Wednesday how it proposes to pay back money to be borrowed for its renovation of the Yacht Club facility and park — and how much it will cost to redeem the up to $60 million in revenue bonds the city plans to issue fund the project.

According to a city staff presentation to be made at the Cape Coral City Council’s 9 a.m. workshop, staff proposes to fund the entire project with revenue bonds and not use any of the funds previously earmarked as part of the city’s $60 million General Bond initiative approved by city voters in 2018.

Staff’s recommended funding model would redirect just shy of the $11 million budgeted for the Yacht Club project from the GO bond to other parks projects. The city would then borrow another $60 million by issuing revenue bonds. Using this scenario, the debt would be paid back over 20 years with revenues from the park — slip revenues at the Yacht Basin, parking fees, revenue from the restaurant lease — at rate of $3.8 million per year. The cost to pay back the money would be $79 million.

A second option also is included in the presentation.

The city still would redirect just shy of the $11 million earmarked for the Yacht Club project from the GO bond and would issue $60 million in revenue bonds for the Yacht Club renovation. Using this scenario, though, the debt would be paid back over 30 years with revenues from the park at rate of $3 million per year. The cost to pay back the money would be $94 million, 20 percent more over the additional 10 years.

Both proposals would require an adjustment of parking fees, which currently are free but would be paid when a parking garage is built, as well as rates for boat slips at the Yacht Basin.

The presentation does not state what those new rates would need to be.

Cape Coral City Council unanimously green-lighted the issuance of up to $60 million in revenue bonds to fund the project — which has seen its projected price tag rise from $12 million to more than $42 million as the scope of the project has evolved — on March 2.

City Manager Rob Hernandez told the elected board at that meeting that the resolution was an administrative step to allow the city to reimburse itself the costs of the Yacht Club project using debt proceeds.

Renovation components to be paid for through the bonds include, but will not be limited to, seawalls, boat slips, a boat ramp, a harbor master building, a 3-story parking garage, general site improvements and outdoor restroom facilities, all elements of the renovation project already approved by Council.

General obligation bonds, guaranteed by property tax revenue, require a referendum. Other types of bonds, such as revenue bonds and bonds issued for capital improvement projects such as the city’s utility expansion plan which secure repayment via assessments and utility rates, do not require voter approval.

The renovation, meanwhile, has been held up in permitting delays at the state and federal levels.

City officials have announced they have not yet received the permits the city has sought for the seawall and other water-involved tasks from the Army Corps of Engineers, the Southwest Water Management District or the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, with the former due to staff shortages and a resulting backlog of permits.

Until those permits come in, and until the city council approves the guaranteed maximum price, work cannot be started at the Yacht Club or on some unrelated projects, including the removal of the Chiquita Lock.

The city has not been provided a timetable as to when those permits might be issued.

One the permits are received, the public needs to be notified 60 days in advance of the planned near-total two-year closure of the Yacht Club so the work can be performed at the riverfront park in the southeast Cape.

The exception is the Boathouse Tiki Bar & Grill.

Major changes at the park include moving the public boat ramp from inside the canal to the yacht basin; renovations to the seawall, fencing, lighting, landscaping changes and the installation of artificial surfaces along the waterways to eliminate the need for fertilizer; expansion of the beach, and the construction of a three-story parking facility.

The Cape Coral Yacht Club is at 5819 Driftwood Parkway.

Cape Coral City Council meets in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1015 Cultural Park Boulevard. Workshop meetings are open to the public.

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