Rowers react to council agenda miscommunication on lease
The city of Cape Coral has a population of more than 204,000, yet it only has one competitive pool, which some say is at least three pools too few.
A local competitive swimming group made its argument to Cape Coral City Council Wednesday during a lengthy citizens input session.
Resident input took up nearly half the meeting, which also included comments from residents wanting to know the status of a lease for a local rowing club.
Swim Florida has only one place to swim, on the campus of Cape Coral High School, where the pool is only 25 meters and usable only for high school season and for the clubs.
Long-course pools are 50 meters and used in national and international meets, which is something Cape Coral does not have
Many of its swimmers are forced to go to other places, such as North Fort Myers High School or even Charlotte County, where there are two state-of-the-art swimming facilities that not only attract competitive swimmers but also open swimming and lessons for those who want to learn.
Ed Collins, head coach of Swim Florida and at Oasis High School, said the city has been able to put world-class swimmers in the water in spite of it all, which stuns many other swim clubs throughout the state.
“When we go to other pools and compete and are competitive, they cannot believe in a city the size of Cape Coral, we don’t have a 50-meter pool and are able to be competitive,” Collins said. “A 50-meter pool would give you 30 lanes in width. That would give each city high school six lanes and they could all train together instead of sending some out to Pine Island or North Fort Myers.”
Collins said he gets e-mails from parents who want to join the team, but when they see the pool, they say “Is this it? A 25-meter pool?”
Collins also said water safety is an issue as 2,000 children drown annually.
“Why are there no facilities to teach every single kid in high school and their teachers how to swim?” Collins said. “It’s the money the city is afraid of. We go up to Punta Gorda so our kids can swim in a pool that didn’t spare a dime.”
Council was sympathetic to the swimmers and said there needed to be another pool. Councilmember Dan Sheppard said he was amazed and disappointed there is almost nothing for swimmers.
“It’s embarrassing that we are a water wonderland and we have only one pool for competition. We need to invest in the children of this city. People move here if there are things that bring interest. This is a magnet,” Sheppard said.
In other business:
• Council heard a presentation on the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 202.
• Council approved two ordinances that changed the land use from commercial to residential.
The change would remove the potential for commercial development for the subject properties. There has been no commercial development or assemblage of these properties and these properties lack the assemblage opportunities and visibility to develop with commercially-viable uses, officials said.
To reach CHUCK BALLARO, please email news@breezenewspapers.com