Infrastructure not sufficient for the city’s growth boom
To the editor:
I get a little confused by the reports that the city appears to be running out of irrigation water for lawns during the dry season and that the Mid-Hawthorne Aquifer levels are continuing to drop and may force changes in the availability of lawn irrigation water.
These reports are quite confusing to homeowners who have spent thousands of dollars installing city Building Department mandated landscaping as part of a residential building permit.
As a 15-year resident I have observed the transition of the city from a laid-back, mostly retirement community into a frenetic building project where it appears that the goal is to build some type of structure on every available inch of buildable ground of the city. Along with this building boom has come uncontrolled traffic that would make Californians proud, increased property taxes that are threatening the availability of basic housing to many citizens, and the increasing feeling of many existing residents to consider fleeing this increasingly unaffordable community for more affordable areas.
I would suggest that the City Council discuss and decide what level of the city’s infrastructure actually supports that the citizens consider enjoyable living and does the city really want to continue to allow unrestrained building that the existing infrastructure can’t support, and will the city ignore the warning signs of overbuilding the area and risk the pain that comes with a real estate collapse caused by unrestrained overbuilding on a community.
I have personally lived through two real estate collapses in my lifetime and can assure city planners that it is not a pretty sight.
George Hoover
Cape Coral