Council tables discussion of new codes
The Cape Coral City Council spent most of Monday afternoon talking about proposed changes to the city’s land development code.
However, there were dozens who showed up for the Committee of the Whole meeting with one particular code change in mind.
Residents lined up for “mic time” to voice their displeasure over a proposed change that could bring micro-cottages (tiny homes) to the city, which was eventually met with agreement from city leaders.
Residents said the micro-cottages, which would be between 600 and 1,100 square feet and sit on a minimum of three-acre villages, said the homes would decrease property values, lower tax values for the city, and bring an increase in crime and make these villages noting more than trailer park or HUD housing.
John Jacobs, president of the Northwest Cape Neighborhood Association, echoed these sentiments in his presentation to City Council, adding these villages would disproportionately impact the northern part of the city, since much of the south is developed.
“This specific change to the land development code is not needed, nor wanted by the vast majority of your property tax payers,” Jacobs said. “We strongly recommend that the proposed code changes be removed from this package of changes.”
Overall, the vast majority of what city staff had proposed was worthy of consideration, especially when you figure that much of the city’s old codes date back to when Cape Coral became a municipality in 1970.
In that time, City Manager John Szerlag said, the city has gone from a rural community to an urban one, from a city with just more than 10,000 people to one with 183,000, and from 4,700 homes to more than 86,000 today.
In 2012, Szerlag tasked Zucker and Associates to look at the development process the city was using.
“They were given only one direction. To give us an outcome that was fair, fast and predictable for the users of the development code,” Szerlag said. “We got 243 recommendations and we’ve implemented 92 percent of them.”
Among the things they recommended was an entire zoning ordinance rewrite because the idea was to restrict and control development, rather than promote growth.
The outcomes sought with the new code are to expedite the development process, encourage development, clarify regulations and allocate community values.
This means to make the zoning classifications and city codes simpler and less redundant. Similar single-family and multi-family districts will be combined, with seldom used districts eliminated.
There were some items the City Council wants to look at closer. They tabled the micro-cottages and guest house provisions, parking on the grass, what can be advertised on SUVs and vans, food trucks and the parking of RVs and boats.
Mayor Joe Coviello said regarding the micro-cottages, it appeared they weren’t going to be as affordable as they made themselves out to be.
“There weren’t a lot of taxes on the value of the homes, even though they would be using city services. It persuaded council to shy away from it,” Coviello said.
Coviello said he didn’t want that issue to slow down the good codes that have come from this process, which he said was the vast majority of the document.
As for the other concerns, they need more discussion and won’t impede the progress too much as long as they are discussed and solved through common sense.
“We pulled some thing out for discussion that will, which will allow the rest of the LUDR to move forward and that’s a plus,” Coviello said. “Residents are asking us to make these decisions on their behalf. I didn’t see anyone who was a fan of the micro-cottages.”