Cape Coral moves ahead with eight-story Seven Islands plan
Cape Coral City Council confirmed an intense development plan for the Seven Islands project despite protests from about a dozen residents.
Monday’s 6-2 vote from council – with Council members Rick Williams and Jessica Cosden opposed – confirmed a plan adopted on Nov. 7 to allow development on Seven Islands up to eight stories along with other features like a marina, parks and commercial properties. The intent is to turn the 48 acres comprising Seven Islands from little more than grass and trees into a destination for shopping, dining, entertainment on par with southeast Cape Coral.
Cape Coral opts for intense development, eight stories on Seven Islands
But at least a dozen residents stepped to the podium Monday evening to reiterate their belief that such development would damage the area’s environmental and aesthetic appeals, harm home values, increase traffic, noise, pollution, and prove that the council refused to listen to its residents on a crucial issue.
Emilio LeDonne, a resident, connected the city’s decision on Seven Islands to the recent presidential election.
“People were fed up with their government ignoring them and doing what they thought was best to the people instead of listening to them,” LeDonne said. “My position is Council is doing exactly that. The people in the Northwest really believe you’re ruining our neighborhood.”
Mayor Marni Sawicki said she believed making the Seven Islands a destination would become a benefit for not just northwest Cape Coral residents but the city as a whole.
“We hear you, we do,” Sawicki said. “The problem is we have 185,000 people in this city. When I am out talking to others, what I hear is we need a destination.”
Denis Catalano, president of the Northwest Neighborhood Association, said the city could meet its development needs while avoiding a downgrade of the area’s environmental and aesthetic situation with a development plan that capped at four stories. Both Williams and Cosden expressed support for that view and said the council should have looked more closely at a less intense development plan.
Jerry Owens said he thinks the city needs to broaden its tax base and a mixed-use development like Seven Islands would be the sort of thing to accomplish that goal.
Councilman John Carioscia said the city needed to recognize several prosperous developments like Tarpon Point and Cape Harbour had come despite objections from small groups of residents.
LCEC and Cape Coral breaking off negotiations
“Where would we be today if every time 50 or 100 people said they didn’t want something done, we didn’t do it?” Carioscia said. “Nothing would get done, nothing at all.”
One of the next big decisions for the city will be whether it decides to develop the Seven Islands itself, create the infrastructure and then turn it over to a developer, lease the property to a developer or install some kind of public-private partnership.
In other business, council voted 8-0 to reappoint Williams to another one-year term as mayor pro tem.