FILE

By a consensus vote Wednesday, a majority of Cape Coral City Council members directed the city’s top administrator to stay on course with the planned demolition of the Cape Coral Yacht Club.

By a 5-2 vote, the elected board opted to continue with plans for a multi-million upgrade that was discussed at a Council retreat in January, paving the way for the Ballroom building that dates back to the city’s founding to come down.

Council members Tom Hayden and Bob Welsh dissented.

Mayor John Gunter said the building had a 40-year life expectancy and they are now at 60 years.

“At some point we have to make a decision for the best interest of the future. I am planning for the next 60 years,” Gunter said, adding that putting Band-Aids on the dated structure for the next 20 years is not the answer. “My decision has not changed.”

City staff had asked formal direction.

“Neither me, nor any of my staff, can be insubordinate and reverse course on what you all told us to do,” interim City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn said at Wednesday’s workshop. “It is a significant decision. It was a decision made in public. There was media in the room. Staff has followed through with that discussion.”

He said on Jan. 26 of this year there were several presentations given about plans for the city’s Yacht Club park.

“At the time, the condition assessment presented to council discussed all of the existing conditions of the site. In regards to the ballroom, structural components damaged. Pipes and plumbing are failing. Mismatched air condition units, HVAC units, they were undersized. Roofs beyond normal life,” he said. “The condition assessment has not changed. The existing condition that existed on Sept. 27 (the day before Hurricane Ian) is the same condition that exists today. All the pipes are still old. The roof still needs repaired. The windows and glazing still do not meet hurricane mitigation criteria. The foundation is still cracking. The electrical distribution system is still at 100 percent capacity. The space itself is still a one-reservation, one-function type of space.”

Ilczyszyn said he has been asked why the city can not restore power, fix and clean the building. To do those things would be contradictory of what he has been directed to do.

“We are moving forward with a different vision for the future,” he said.

Gloria Tate, a former Council member and a near 64-year resident, spoke during public comment. She urged council to save the building. She pointed to a resolution approved by city council in April of 1998 that declared “the Yacht Club Community Park as an historic and/or cultural resource as provided in the city of Cape Coral historic and cultural preservation ordinance.”

“I have spoken to the state and our resolution that we passed in ’98 is strong. It stands. I can do the application as an individual, (but it is) so much greater to have one, two, three, all eight of you to sign on and do the historical preservation. Restore this building. Before you use the word demolition, talk about refurbishment. Without history, we have nowhere to go. With one swoop and bulldozer you are going to wipe it out. Consider saving the Yacht Club. Save the Yacht Club ballroom,” she said.

Tate was not the only resident that spoke. Others shared how they have created a lifetime of memories at the Yacht Club. They all asked to keep the historic structure there.

The city has had discussions on how not to forget the past. How to include the memories the Yacht Club has brought to the community. Some of those ideas include incorporating the beams that exist in the interior of the structure into a new vision, incorporate the fireplace into a new building, creating videos, auctioning some of the items and providing the Historical Museum with the ability to collect artifacts.

“There is some value in this one structure at the park. We are looking for ways to continue to bring that past into the future, but to provide more flexibility and functionality in the next 100 years, 60 years,” Ilczyszyn said.

He said staff will come back in August with a revision and specifications for how and when to remove the buildings on site and preserve what they want to preserve.

We will “start off a new vision session with the community. What are the elements and amenities that we want for a doubling population that doesn’t exist today,” Ilczyszyn said. “There is no action that I am requesting of Council.”

Ilczyszyn said in January the series of presentations given included a possibility of renovating the existing ballroom and the elements that might go into that.

“A full condition assessment of the building was provided. Renovation was discussed. Consensus was given to staff how to proceed,” he said.

Public Works interim Deputy Director Damon Grant said in April 2022 Operation Sparkle took place to get information together regarding maintenance issues surrounding the parks. In April, he said they elected to do assessment to trend analysis to see the numbers and work orders that go through the size and age of the building.

The Yacht Club, built in 1962, is the oldest building in the city’s inventory.

In April an internal condition assessment was done where they talked about what he called deferred maintenance of the building. Necessary repairs included a price tag of $2,545,875 for electrical, exterior exposure, HVAC, interior construction, interior finishes, plumbing and roofing.

With the hurricane, the Yacht Club was red tagged and deemed unsafe, especially the mechanical and electrical room that provides power to the ballroom and the Tony Rotino Center.

In October 2022, a Synergy and TetraTech assessment was done, followed by Sedgwich inspections starting in November.

Planner Wyatt Daltry explained the substantial improvements and substantial damage as it relates to the FEMA 50 percent rule. He said it is the market value of improvements and damage verse the market value of the structure.

Daltry said there are two ways to bring a structure back up to compliance: either raise the building by elevating it, which is base flood elevation plus 1 foot, or raze the building and rebuild it at the base. The third option is dry floodproofing the building, which would require floodproof material at the base flood elevation plus 2 feet.

“Commercial has ability to keep the site building as is through dry proofing,” Daltry said.

Ilczyszyn said the finish floor elevation, which is at 7.83 feet, needs to be at 9.0 feet.

“This building is below finish flood elevation for floodplain,” he said.

Daltry said whether the building is elevated, or torn down, it has to be rebuilt at 9 feet. He said if they were to use the floodproof option, it would be up to 10 feet.

“If we wanted to make the improvements to the building we would have to incur the $2.5 million, floodproof the building, do that up to 10 feet. The building sits less than 8. Flood proof that basically half way up the front door around the whole building. That would be a cost on top of the deferred maintenance,” Ilczyszyn said.

He said with consensus to move forward with demolition in January, they have not looked at anything other than that direction.

There was an estimated $1.5 to $2 million of floodproofing up to 10 feet.

“I don’t believe we could get that work done for $2.5 million. We are still at $4 million, not including the inflation cost,” Ilczyszyn said.

The building did not flood during Ian, a near Category 5 hurricane that inundated numerous homes along and near the riverfront. Interior water damage stuffered came mostly from windows that broke during the Sept. 28 storm.

There was some opposition from the council.

Councilmember Tom Hayden said the Yacht Club is the last remaining historic iconic place in the city. He said he would like to see the city look at the possibility of another restaurant, extending the parking garage around the tennis courts and branching off the current existing Yacht Club building into smaller event space.

“That is more of where I am at now. Certainly not in a place where we need to demolish the building,” Hayden said, adding the city should look at making all the improvements and the possibility of variance and floodproofing.

He said to renovate it would still be less than what it would be to build a new building.

“We need to look at every possible scenario that does not include demolishing the building. I love the rest of the plans for that space and complex,” Hayden said.

There were suggestions from some regarding how to create a replica of the ballroom with the chandelier and fireplace, or putting together the history and showcasing that.

Gunter said the best interest is to move forward and build a new structure.

“If we can incorporate some of the features and its not too costly, I am OK with that,” he said.

Ilczyszyn said the area is still an active construction site with vessel recovery, boat crushing, contractors repairing channel markings, as well with no electric on site, no restrooms and various trees and landscaping still down. He said the Boat House restaurant is still being repaired and the fuel pumps are still not working. The harbor master building is destroyed.

“We are taking members of Council to have a first hand feel and look at what the existing conditions,” Ilczyszyn said. “The restoration of the property has to be methodological. The path forward (will have) a plan that lays that out. We will bring that back for discussion to make sure everyone is comfortable making the steps.”

Gunter said the Boat House should be opening soon, in the next 30 to 45 days.

“In the short term I would like to see us take the necessary steps to get the beach open,” he said. “We can do the appropriate cleaning of the area to make sure it is safe. Sonar where the swimmers are, pier area to make sure there is no debris under the water.”

On Thursday, Tate submitted a packet to the Florida Department of State for its consideration, a first step to having the Yacht Club Ballroom building designated as an historic site on the national level.

The packet has been added to the agency’s review queue and will be considered on Tuesday, according to a response from Dr. Kyra Lucas, an historic preservationist with the Florida Department of State. A response then will take two weeks.

Submission of a Preliminary Site Information Questionnaire for state consideration is a first step for a listing on the National Register of Historic Places, “the official list of our country’s historic buildings, districts, sties, structures and objects worthy of preservation, the GSA website states.

The registry was established in 1966 as part of the National Historic Preservation Act and is overseen by the National Parks Service.

“It is only building in the city, the only original building, that has not been torn down,” Dr. Lucas said in a telephone interview.

Dr. Lucas quoted Richard Moe, of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

“‘Preservation is simply having the good sense to hold on to things that are well designed, that link us with our past in a meaningful way, and that have plenty of good use left in them.'”