The city of Cape Coral may remove 14 acres from the Yellow Fever Creek Regional Park for an infrastructure project – water storage and water pumping station for the Utility Expansion Program.
The ordinance to be considered Wednesday, 85-24, is city-initiated and would reduce the size of the park area as designated by the Comprehensive Plan. The plan designates 200 acres as Yellow Fever Creek Regional Park.
According to agenda documents, public works staff identified the project as crucial for the future development of the UEP.
Another ordinance, 6-25, would amend the Future Land Use Map from Parks and Recreation to Public Facilities land use for the water pumping and water storage facility at Yellow Fever Creek Regional Park.
The proposal has been controversial with nearby property owners and environmentalists asking Cape Coral City Council to reject the change.
Judy Mitchell, president of Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife, said the organization understands that the utilities department has been told by many, since 2017, that Yellow Fever Creek was not the place to build this water tower/pumping station. She said city-owned and at Kismet and Del Prado, which the city sees as potential commercial, is much better suited for the utility project.
“The entire project could probably fit into a 6-acre parcel at that location,” she said. “We are supportive of the towers to support water necessary for the growth in the northeast area of Cape Coral. But using precious open space at Yellow Fever Creek Preserve, some of the last treed land in the city, is not the space. Construction will literally take years which will continually disrupt homeowners, primitive campers, and wildlife alike.”
The introductions portion of the council agenda also includes ordinance 11-25, which would rename Seahawk Park to Seahawk Airfield Festival Park.
The meeting will begin at 5 p.m. in City Council chambers, 1015 Cultural Park Blvd. The meeting is open to the public.