Cape Council passes mobility fee to fund transportation infrastructure

Sep 25, 2025 By MEGHAN BRADBURY 5 min read

A proposed “mobility fee” on new construction to pay for infrastructure was approved Thursday but in a modified form.

The proposal first failed 5-3, one vote shy of the super majority needed, but ultimately passed unanimously after Cape Coral City Council removed the “extraordinary circumstances” provision, setting the initial levy increase at 12.5% more than the city’s existing road impact fee, which it replaces.

“We can vote right now, 12.5% and a mobility fee and it will go into place Jan. 1,” Councilmember Rachel Kaduk said. “We are not going past the statutory limit. It is not necessary (to remove the extraordinary circumstance). We only need five votes, and we have five votes.”

She had also supported the failed motion.

Earlier in the meeting she said Council was at yet another meeting discussing the mobility fee because the city’s impact fee went 19 years untouched.

“We must do this tonight. We are giving the industries the time to plan. They can see exactly what is coming down the road. They will be courting the next council. I am going to represent the people and protect the people,” she said in support of the motion that would have implemented 12.5 % increases in each of the next four years and also declared the “extraordinary circumstances.”

The passed motion calls for a 12.5% increase each year for four years beginning Jan. 1. It does not include the provision for “extraordinary circumstances.”

“Extraordinary circumstances” are a statutory justification a local government needs to implement for impact or mobility fees increases that exceed the standard phase-in limitations outlined in the state’s Impact Fee Act.

The approved mobility fee, like the road impact fee it replaces, only applies to new construction.

The city had a target goal of $9,995 for each new residential single-family dwelling with other fee levels for other types of new construction, depending on location within the city. The city’s current and long-standing road impact fee is $3,347 per new home.

Thursday’s special meeting discussion remained largely unchanged among council members — the imposition of a mobility fee would be the right move to replace the city’s existing impact fee, but the amount of the new fee and how and how it should be phased in remained the sticking points.

City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn said the fee chart that was distributed to City Council this week differed from the previous two. He said the first was a fee chart that came out of the workshop that had the city matching the county for single-family residential and just above leading market for commercial.

This chart had the mobility fee increasing in a straight line to get to those numbers over four years.

The second, Ilczyszyn said, is the statutory minimum that increased by 12.5% fixed noncompound each year over the four years. The end of the four years, he said, does not exceed 50% at the rate at residential and commercial.

“The chart you all were given this week was a blend of those two. It would adopt the fee at the higher fee, but the implementation fee would be 12.5% straight lined, noncompounded over the four years, so at the end it does not exceed 50% in commercial or residential,” he said.

The first motion that was made included verbiage that would have City Council reviewing the mobility fee schedule prior to April 1, 2029, which gave pause to some, as year five would be up in the air to the increase in the fee.

Mayor John Gunter said if the future City Council did not make any modifications, there would automatically be a large spike in the fifth year.

“That is a concern for me. There is no guarantee on what the future council may or may not do. For that reason, I will probably still be a no vote tonight only because of the fifth year,” he said.

Kaduk said in four years there will be a new council.

“We have to trust the people. It’s up to them to elect the right people and make the right choice in four or five years,” she said.

Councilmember Jennifer Nelson-Lastra also had a hard time wrapping her head around the unknown of year five.

“I am much more comfortable with an incremental increase happening over a long period of time,” she said. “If we did a more structured approach in terms of a longer time period, I would feel much more comfortable. We would have a lot more time to plan, especially for the future developments we already have coming. I would just feel much more comfortable if we can spread it out longer than the five-year time frame.”

Kaduk again challenged the thought process, as the city has been the cheapest in the area as far as impact fees goes for the longest time and commercial is still not knocking on the city’s door.

The money raised will be used for transportation infrastructure needs which the city says could top $2 billion if every need, and projected need, were to be funded.

The mobility plan has four categories — roadways and improvements, transit and waterway, multimodal and mobility programs. Each of the categories have a list of projects and costs associated with each.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include more information from Thursday’s special meeting.

To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com