Future of Cape Coral’s Chiquita Lock on hold

CAPE CORAL, Fla.- Little progress has been made since Cape Coral city leaders voted to remove the Chiquita Lock last year.

In March, the proposal to remove the lock was supposed to be submitted, but city officials are now saying it likely won’t be turned in until December.

Public Works engineer Oliver Clark says the delay is in part due to the city working with a very tight window to collect water quality data before the wet season in 2015 ended.

“We moved on that quickly, but it didn’t turn out to work because we had some equipment failures that occurred and didn’t have backup equipment,” Clark said. “We’ve got to have the science or we’re just wasting our time.”

But local boaters are ready to see the change.

Just this past week, Mike Necci, who lives near the lock, says he had to wait an hour to go through.

“I think that would be great for the businesses, for just all the community,” Necci said, saying he’s in favor of the lock’s removal.

The city hired an engineering firm to help with the permit application. It will then head to the state and the Army Corps of Engineers.