Tropicana Park decision may sink Cape rowing club

Apr 16, 2026 By MEGHAN BRADBURY 8 min read

With a tie vote on a license agreement that would have allowed the Cape Coral Rowing Club to use Tropicana Park as its base, the club will soon have no home.

Those who voted in favor of the resolution, which called for a 10-year agreement with the option to renew for three additional five-year periods, were council members Rachel Kaduk, Jennifer Nelson-Lastra, Dr. Derrick Donnell and Bill Steinke.

Mayor John Gunter and council members Keith Long, Laurie Lehmann and Joe Kilraine voted against.

The agreement would have gone into effect July 1.

Without it, officials with the long-standing nonprofit said they will have to dissolve as an alternative location suggested by those who dissented, Crystal Lake Park, would not work.

The club, which trains both adult and youth rowers, was founded in 2007.

“Essentially what you have done by suggesting something that is not viable – that we can’t make happen – is you have truncated the future of those kids. We are basically looking at a liquidation situation,” Cape Coral Rowing Club President Saundra Weston said during citizen’s input after the vote was taken. “Here is the thing that saddens me greatly. My kids are not naïve – they are incredibly intelligent. It saddens me to work with them and teach them about integrity and honor and bring them into this room, so they can see promises broken and dreams shattered and it is all at the hands of our city council.” 

She said she was at a loss, as she hates for them to be faced with no future.

“We are also taxpayers and residents. We did pay for that dock and many other things,” Weston said of the $500,000 floating dock that was constructed at Tropicana Park specifically for the club. “It is a sad day when my kids have to witness this at the same time, they see their future gone.”

She said it was a political mission to force the Cape Coral Rowing Club out of Tropicana Park, as the group wanted faster movement to open water.

“It’s called sharing the waterway,” Weston said.

The club currently is using a site on the so-called Seven Islands but needs to move because the city has sold the land to a developer. That location was approved by council on June 15, 2022.

The city closed on the sale of the property on Feb. 11, the same day Council gave the city administration direction to move forward with a license agreement that would allow the rowing club to move to Tropicana Park.

Current discussion concerned what type of barrier the club would need to construct to allow them to store equipment at the park, also on the North Spreader abutting Seven Islands.

That later turned into a suggestion to change the location to Crystal Lake Park, which also has access to the spreader and is further north. The newly opened park has no dock whereas the dock at Tropicana is built and ready to go.

Kaduk supported executing the agreement for Tropicana Park, the original location approved.

“We have received a lot of emails,” Kaduk said. “I have absolutely zero ties to the Rowing Club – no ties to the sport. I sit in this chair and try to think logically.”

She began her remarks by acknowledging concerns expressed about the appearance of equipment being stored at Tropicana Park.

She shared photographs showing storage containers for sports-related equipment at other city parks.

Kaduk said that storage was visible and accepted. She argued the standard should be applied fairly across the board for all nonprofits.

According to the resolution, the Cape Coral Rowing Club would have had to install an 8-foot chain link fence surrounded by a continuous hedge around the area’s perimeter for storing boats, rigging, boat racks and other equipment necessary to conduct its programs. 

“This park remains public. The docks are public. The water is public. Nothing about this agreement removes access to the public,” Kaduk said.

She also addressed the concern about safety.

“I asked the police department. No safety incidents – none. No evidence this location is unsafe – only speculation,” Kaduk said.

She said the city invested hundreds of thousands of dollars for the floating dock, which also is for public use.

“For the past few years, we have had very public conversations about activating the waterfront. Now we have a waterfront park – we are making it harder and not easier for our young people to use it,” Kaduk said. “We say we want them engaged in something meaningful – this is exactly that. This is a public park and that is exactly what public use should look like.”

Steinke said when thinking about where to put the city’s facilities – soccer fields, baseball fields, football fields – and access for citizens, they are not stuck on the outer corners of the city where it would get in people’s way. He said locating the Cape Coral Rowing Club at Tropicana Park would be putting the club where kids can see those enjoying the sport and ask questions.

“We put them in easy access,” he said. “Part of the plan, when it originated six years ago – a lot of thought went into it and preparation. Safety has not gotten worse since six years ago.”

Steinke said there is no foundation to make a change at the final hour instead of fulfilling the plan in place.

Lehmann, who voted among the nays, said moving the smaller, existing dock at the club’s temporary home, was a viable solution.

“I have looked at both sides of this. I took it a step further to see what we can do about getting you the docks you need at Crystal Lake. I have got that worked out,” she said.

Lehmann said she realized that the city built the docks and paid for them at Tropicana Park, but she had spoken to a few people that were willing to volunteer and move the floating dock and ramp from Seven Islands in a two- to three-month time frame.

“The people I have spoken to said at no cost to the rowing club and taxpayers and (they will) also help with the fencing and landscaping to have them up at Crystal Lake,” she said, which also is a public park.

Lehmann said the location would be at the top of the North Spreader, which would give the rowing club a longer run, as well as less congestion with motorized boats. 

“I want to see you guys continue,” she said. “However, you are talking maybe 40 people with the rowing club, yet we are talking about 1,500 people that have complained that they don’t want to see the rowing club at Tropicana Park. I think we need to look at the majority.”

The rowing club, and its members, got their say after the vote as council has moved citizen input time to the end of its meetings.

After many shared their stories of what the Cape Coral Rowing Club has done for them, Kaduk said she knows the council vote means the club cannot store anything at the park.

But there is still a dock at a public park, she pointed out.

“Just do it. Just use it. It’s public. Go for it,” she said.

Nelson-Lastra agreed.

“It’s a public park. Use it. Do it. Use the park,” she said.

Nelson-Lastra also said moving the small dock at the Seven Islands location to Crystal Park, as some have suggested, by contractors not approved by the city is a liability, one she would not take.

In the workshop last week, Weston said the issue was safety, specifically the route to get boats to the water.

Weston said through email correspondence with The Breeze for that reason, the Crystal Lake location was not viable.

“Crystal Lake Park, we would be asked to launch children into the water directly across from an active boat ramp. I don’t know how much activity that new boat ramp will get, but it certainly causes one to raise eyebrows,” Weston said. “There are also mangroves along the entire run of shoreline that would have to be mitigated. The real issue for us right now is time. You can throw money at any location on the waterway and make a world-class rowing facility. What I don’t have the luxury of is time at the current location.”

Lehmann also weighed back in after citizen’s input, saying it was a shame if the attitude was – “If we can’t have what we want, we will disband the club.”

 “I have already talked to a few people and contractors to work with the rowing club to do this up at Crystal Lake to make it what you want. I have tried to work with you all. You can’t be in Crystal Lake. It’s a nonmotorized lake and you have your safety boats, which is why the top of the North Spreader down would work. It’s unfortunate you don’t want to compromise. I am trying,” she said. 

Kilraine said they had to look at the long-term condition that they are creating by having them at a location.

“The long-term safe position will be in the location at Crystal Park. As a result of that I am going to support Crystal Park. I will not be supporting the lease for Tropicana Park at this point in time,” he said adding that the city “being able to accommodate an improved slope and taking some of the rip raft walkway there is at a minimum cost.”

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