Amid elections, Council faces many issues in ’17
Bimini Basin, the Seven Islands, LCEC, the budget and charter schools. These will be among the issues the Cape Coral City Council will address in the coming year.
All are important and each will be heavily discussed, but with 2017 being an election year, especially with the mayor’s slot at stake, things could get a lot more politicized, officials say.
However, some issues are bigger than others, and that is in the eyes of the beholder. Here are what some on city council believes will be among the hot-button issues next year.
LCEC
An issue that has consumed City Council for the past two years, the LCEC franchise issue has seen its share of fits and stops. Negotiations that ground to a halt revved back up last week, with both sides saying the meeting was productive.
Councilmember Marilyn Stout said that if the issue isn’t resolved, it could become a huge campaign issue.
“I haven’t talked to anybody who wants the city to change providers and nobody wants the city to take on the utility itself,” Stout said. “The contract signed under Joe Mazurkewicz years ago said the city could be in violation of contract and that providing our own utility would cost more than from LCEC.”
Councilmember Rick Williams said Council is staying clear of the negotiations, allowing city staff to handle it, but that much of the negotiations have been made through the press. Even without a new agreement, it won’t affect residents, as the old agreement will continue in effect.
Mayor Marni Sawicki also believes that LCEC will become a big issue in an election year, which is why she believes that whatever comes out be factual.
Councilmember Richard Leon said he is confident that the city and LCEC will come to an agreement, saying both sides are interested in having a contract.
“We have a mutual understanding that we can grow the next 30 years together. The bottom line is if we can’t come to an agreement, the city will have to find an alternate route. I’m confident LCEC and the city will negotiate,” Leon said.
Bimini Basin and the Seven Islands
Many on the city council agree that Bimini Basin and the Seven Islands will be issues to consider. The problem is these are long-term items where little or nothing may be concluded.
Williams said the key is for the city to keep doing what it’s doing, but move Seven Islands (which is in his district) forward, since the land owned by the city and there are fewer moving parts.
“We have a vision of what we want there, though I don’t agree with it. That has to be sent out as an RFP and see if we can garner interest from a developer,” Williams said.
Sawicki believes that Bimini is much further along than Seven Islands, as it now has a project manager to move it along, while Seven Islands is going to have to be a P3, or public private partnership.
“We’ve already done the legwork, had meeting after meeting. Now that we’ve selected the project manager, it should move forward,” Sawicki said. “Seven Islands is going to have to be a public/private partnership if we don’t sell the land. You still have to name a project manager and still have the resident’s group.”
Sawicki added that nothing can be done with Seven Islands until an impact study is done with the Army Corps of Engineers, which has already occurred with Bimini.
Leon called Sawicki’s idea “delusional.” While both are great projects, the city owns Seven Islands and can negotiate the entire area, while Bimini Basin has many owners with the city owning but five acres already developed as a park
“I don’t see Bimini taking off. There are so many working parts. Seven Islands is land we can use right away because we’re the owners,” Leon said.
Pre-platted communities
Something that always seems to float under the radar in the eyes of residents is the city’s pre-platted nature. Slicing the city into small-parcels the way the Rosen Brothers did in the 1960s created long-term problems, such as the lack of large tracts of land to encourage commercial growth.
Councilmember Jim Burch sees the problem with having more than 90 percent of the tax base being residential, and hopes the state will do something about it.
Burch, who ran for office with pre-platted challenges on the top of his list, said he wants to look at the language regarding pre-platted communities from the legislature that will provide support to them.
The pre-platted structure of Cape Coral will be a big sticking point to other big projects Cape Coral plans to do, such as Bimini Basin and the Seven Islands.
“I hope the city council has a vision for our pre-platted city for future councils. That won’t happen in our term. They need to move the legislation that will move the funding and revenue stream,” Burch said. “It would help cities such as North Port, Lehigh Acres, Palm Bay. I hope we’re thinking in a more geographical sense.”
Burch also said he wants to lower the millage rate further, which the city has done the last two years, but everything comes back to the pre-platted cities.
“That will pay year in and year out for us and for all other pre-platted cities. Which is very unique,”
Charter Schools
Despite the controversy that wrapped up 2016, many believe the municipal charter school system is one of the crown jewels for the city.
But it has been going through some growing pains and, with the schools being put back in the forefront, it should be, among the issues to be addressed in 2017, Sawicki said.
“City Council needs to have a discussion on where it’s going to go regarding sustainability. It was never supposed to cost the taxpayers money other than the original $500,000. The capital needs far exceed what they have,” Sawicki said.
With 3,500 students, the system has gotten bigger and more successful. Sawicki said its governing board needs to be looked at to see if it has outgrown its current setup, which she said isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Sawicki said she doesn’t want Council to be the board as it is already also acts as the Community Revelopment Agency commission.
“As with any system that gets large, it almost has to be an elected body, as far as I’m concerned,” Sawicki said. “The school board for Lee County is elected and has oversight and liable for all of that. That isn’t happening here.”
The rest
Issues such as the Utility Expansion Project in North 2, road paving and the Economic Development Office are sure to be addressed at some point, as well as how to bring big businesses into the city.
“We’ve at least been trying to lay the groundwork for better paying jobs so those companies will come in. We’ve been putting together incentive packages for our desired target market,” Sawicki said.
Sawicki also said the removal of the Chiquita Lock will be a big issue, adding it will add value to the homes in the area once it occurs.
Leon said the future of the old Golf Course will be an issue, and whether D.R. Horton will be coming or not. That property (in Leon’s district) has been in the news for more than a decade following its closure. A development proposal for single-family homes was put on the table in 2016.
“I think we’ll have a good discussion in the community whether to allow this, how much open space we allow, and would D.R. Horton be good for the city,” Leon said. “People want to see it remain open space, but that’s space we have to pay for, and that’s a lot of money we don’t have.”
The elections
With 2017 being an election year, the issues only promise to be more magnified and politicized, especially by or for those running for office this year.
Last year, what was once a very cordial council became fractured somewhat on the heels of publicized issues regarding the mayor.
Sawick said those issues, including some personal in nature, have become political fodder.
At lease one council member agrees, citing the announcment of Councilmember Rana Erbrick that she intends to run for mayor.
“I’m hopeful that people keep it civil. We’ve had some problems on how Rana gave her comments, but it’s early. John Carioscia believes there will be five or six people up for every seat,” Stout said. “I think there will be people who will consider to run.”
“We need to keep things civil and vote for what we feel and not collect votes,” said Burch, whose seat is also up for voter consideration in 2017. “That’s very important in an election year.”
Sawicki said she believes everything will be politicized, saying she has pressure from all sides, even on her own board, which is unfortunate.
“At the end of the day, we’re all elected to do the best job we can for the city. If you do the job you’re supposed to, then you have no problem being reelected,” Sawicki said. “I don’t think you should pander, and I won’t.”