Need for more commercial development cited as city of Cape Coral continues to grow
The message remains the same: Cape Coral needs more commercial space to meet the needs of the city as it continues to grow.
That message was made during the kickoff of the two-day budget workshop Wednesday morning.
According to a presentation at a Cape Coral City Council workshop Wednesday, the majority of the commercial parcels the city — 384 — are .5 acres. There are 20 parcels that have 20 acres or greater and 22 parcels that are 15 acres or greater.
David Farmer, with Metro Forecasting Models, said the city needs to evaluate the trip lengths and plan for minimal traffic congestion for commercial projects. He said there should be certain commercial services north of Pine Island Road.
In 2016, Farmer said the city had 57 feet of commercial space per capital, when it should be between 90 to 100 square feet per capita.
“Per capita fell from 57 to 52 — should be increasing the square foot on per capita basis. You get leakage where people leave your city and get goods and services from other locations. We would like to see you much closer to 70, 80 range as you step through time,” he said.
City Manager Mike Ilczyszyn said the idea and concept is that by creating a smart growth city, and utilizing their land use, and zoning, the city can reduce future expenditures on transportation needs, water and sewer, fire and parks and recreation needs.
“It should reduce the amount of taxation needed from rate payers, citizens, and businesses to build out the city with what we have left and where we need to go,” he said.
Farmer said in the planning world, vacant land is currency, as it allows change.
He said with 62% of revenue coming from ad valorem, the quicker they can get commercial in the better off it will be for taxation on the city.
Since 2016, Cape Coral has added more than 16,800 homes and about 7,000 homes since the 2020 census.
“The city has potential to add 67,000 housing units by buildout within city limits,” he said, which includes an additional 1,200 acres of commercial land beyond what they have now. “Seventy-five percent is going to be north of Pine Island by 2040 — 17,000 housing units and 46,000 permanent residents.”
The 2023 baseline data for Cape Coral includes 79,543 single family units and 20,646 multi-family units for a total of 100,189 units. In 2020, there were 93,900 units.
“When I first started this journey in 2007, we had 157,000 (people). Last year we were at 234,000. If you do simple numbers, that is about 400 to 500 people a year to come. We are literally going to build out in 2055, period. We are moving at a much faster pace than even in 2007,” Councilmember Dr. Derrick Donnell said.
The presentation also showed that there are 10.9 million square feet of commercial building area. There are 1,294 acres of occupied commercial land and 2,208 acres of vacant commercial land. As far as industrial, there is 414 acres of occupied and 317 acres of vacant industrial land.
At build out, Cape Coral will have 22.5 million square feet of commercial and 7.4 million square feet of industrial.
Ilczyszyn said they utilized the data that was presented in January last year to start putting together land use and zoning changes for the future. He said an adjustment internally with staff was made and they are moving forward with government services and assembling and condemning, as it is easier for them to do that than wait on the private sector to mass 15 acres of individual lots.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com