To the editor:

The Cape Coral City Council acts like a bunch of drunken sailors, only they aren’t spending their own money, they are wildly spending ours. First, they want to spend $12 million to change the beautiful Jaycee Park into a less-than-beautiful Jaycee Park, over the strong objections of the local homeowners. Even the councilman for this district is against the homeowners.

Next, the council voted itself a roughly 100% raise to their salaries in the form of a stipend that circumvented the approval of the citizens of Cape Coral.

Now they are at it again with the latest plans for the Yacht Club Community Park.

I went to the public meeting on the redesign of the Yacht Club area held last Tuesday, April 2, to see the latest design plans and conceptual pictures of the Yacht Club area. I was disappointed with the new design and agreed to speak to WINK News. I spoke to them for maybe five minutes and the next day, I saw the news report on the meeting. My comments boiled down to “It’s a fiasco,” which it is, and the parking situation is awful. I would like to explain in more detail.

People mainly come to this area to go to the only beach in Cape Coral, enjoy looking at the river, swim in the river, and/or go to The Boathouse to eat and drink by the water’s edge. People will not go here to go to the beach and then pay to go to the “resort-style” pools proposed in the new design. People don’t have to go to this area to go to meetings in the community center. The proposed pools and the community center can be located anywhere else. The original Yacht Club and pool have essentially outlived their purpose.

The Yacht Club was originally built in the 1960s as a meeting place for the residents of this new development that was later incorporated, in part, as the City of Cape Coral. This development was originally a roughly two-square-mile piece of land south of Cape Coral Parkway and east of Coronado Parkway with the Caloosahatchee River forming the east and south sides of this area. The developers of this area constructed canals, the marina, the community pool and the Yacht Club building. The Yacht Club and pool were basically a sales pitch to entice people to buy tracts of land here. New homeowners did not have pools back then and the Yacht Club and pool was a place to come and socialize with other member residents.

While I loved the oldness and historical value of the Yacht Club, it is being demolished and I question the wisdom of the city council to build a new community center and pool in the Yacht Club area. A new community center and pool are not appropriate at this location.

In 2018, Cape Coral citizens passed a $60 million GO bond to fund development of several parks and improve existing parks. The Yacht Club area was earmarked for about $17 million of the $60 million bond. The Yacht Club and Tony Rotino Senior Center buildings and pool were never addressed in the GO bond plans. Two years ago, before Hurricane Ian hit, the city presented preliminary design plans for the Yacht Club area at an estimated cost of about $40 million. Again, these plans did not address the two buildings or the pool.

When Hurricane Ian hit, it was a convenient excuse for the city to want to raze both buildings, even though the city’s insurance company said that Ian did only $25,000 damage to the Yacht Club Ballroom and also said the city simply did not maintain the building.

The latest plans for this area presented at the public meeting last Tuesday now includes a community center that is about three times the square footage of BOTH buildings to be razed. The proposed two “resort-style” pools are about six times the area of the existing pool. Finally, the 3-story parking garage proposed two years ago is now a four-story garage with an expanded footprint effectively doubling the car parking capacity.

If two years ago, the cost of the redevelopment was around $40 million without addressing the two buildings and pool, then the new price tag will probably be closer to double that amount! How is the city going to pay for this? More aptly, how are the citizens of Cape Coral going to pay for it, and why would they?

Under the latest plan, the city will also basically force visitors to pay to park in the four-story parking garage. It will be very inconvenient to patrons of The Boathouse and to the new community center. There is no parking near The Boathouse under this design. There is no parking near the new community center either. Everyone will have to be dropped off at the restaurant or community center and then the driver will have to go back to the garage and pay for parking. The nearest part of the garage is about 1,000 feet from The Boathouse. If you park in the center of the garage, you are a quarter of a mile from The Boathouse.

The Yacht Club area DOES need another restaurant (or even two) with views of the river and marina. It is one of the main reasons for coming to this area. This Yacht Club area does not need the pools and the community center to be located here.

Here is what I think the city should do:

Cease their other bad idea to redevelop the beautiful Jaycee Park at a cost of $12 million and use that money to buy the 140-plus acre defunct golf course off of Palm Tree Boulevard. Turn the northern half of this golf course into a quality nine-hole executive course and the southern half into a park. Locate the community center and “resort-style” pools here. Add other amenities such as pickle ball and tennis courts and a restaurant.

The Yacht Club area should be stripped down to its basic amenities: the marina, the beach, the fishing pier, and restaurants with ground level parking convenient to each amenity. Patrons should NOT have to pay for parking. The road through this area should be similar to its location now, a big loop, but it should only be one-way traffic with angled parking wherever possible.

I sure hope that the Cape Coral City Council sobers up!

Ken Kendrick

Cape Coral