Residents continue to protest plans for preserve
With the project one hearing away from likely approval, residents continued to express concerns Wednesday about the removal of 14 acres from the Yellow Fever Creek Regional Park to accommodate utility infrastructure.
Cape Coral City Council set the public hearing for Ordinance 85-24 for April 2.
Council also set another public hearing for April 2 for Ordinance 6-25, which amends the Florida Comprehensive Plan by amending the future land use from parks and recreation to public facilities. This would provide use for the 14.2 acres of the preserve to allow the construction of a water pumping and water storage facility for the continued development of the Utility Expansion Program.
Noelle Tolbert asked Council if any of its members had watched the zoning meeting, driven by the property at night or visited the southwest plant when it is all lit up.
“We asked you to do some homework, so you know where we are all coming from,” she said. “I hope after hearing our concerns at the zoning meeting and multiple Council meetings you would have reconsidered the project and relocate it to a more suitable location, preserving the land as it was originally intended.”
Tolbert said they have pleaded with Council to take their concerns into account, but said Council could not truly do so until they listened to all the speeches given at the zoning meeting, visited the preserve and saw firsthand the lighting and how it would impact nearby homes and the preserve itself.
“Many of you have claimed that Yellow Fever Creek Preserve Park has been in planning for years, but we have heard nothing about it since 2020,” she said. “The 2020 site map online does not even show this project. There was no public indication that it was moving forward. Homeowners were left in the dark while the city spent thousands without their input only to be told now that it is too late to make a change.”
Tolbert said they do not accept that the position that it is too late.
“Why were residents in the area not informed of a project that directly impacts their home value? You are proposing to construct four 40-foot towers behind our residences, yet you expect us to believe that this industrial development will have no impact on our home values or the wildlife or preserve,” she said. “At what point in the planning project did anyone believe we would accept this project?”
Tolbert asked why only the residents 500 feet from the center of the preserve were notified and not 500 feet from the center of the project.
Jason Pim also spoke before the Council.
He said although the preserve is not his backyard, he grew up here and had the opportunity to enjoy the real Florida and the natural resources.
“Before it ever gets open to the public it keeps getting distorted from that vision,” Pim said of the preserve providing promised amenities such as primitive camping sites.
He said the application makes a mockery out of the future land use map for protecting these specific undisturbed native land habitats. During review, he said the planning staff pointed out this action would permanently remove part of the upland ecological community – habitat – and the response was simply to look at the endangered species survey.
“It appears no one is doing anything to preserve these outstanding natural resources,” Pim said. “Park staff likely would, but they also value their jobs.”
He said if Council still wants to approve the land use change, he asks that the city uphold the intent of the planning documents by preserving 14 acres or more of undisturbed land elsewhere in the city.
“If no such comparable acreage exists then it would be very telling about how worthy preservation (of) this land is, especially since it is already part of a much larger area,” Pim said.
Councilmember Jennifer Nelson-Lastra said it might be a good compromise to add additional property to the preserve – adding what they are taking away.
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