Cape Coral mulls construction guidelines near eagle nests

A proposed city ordinance would allow developers to move hundreds of feet closer to bald eagle nests in Cape Coral.

The current ordinance in Cape Coral bans building within 1,100 feet of an eagles nest, but the new ordinance would match the federal and state requirement of 660 feet.

“The key is they are producing babies, and this year in Cape Coral our baby production has not been very good. I’m not sure our eagles in Cape Coral would survive with that building going on,” said Pascha Donaldson, Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife Vice President.

Dr. Mike Lombardo, a Cape Coral broker at Old Glory Realty, supports changing the city’s rule for building near nests.

“Anytime you add extra restrictions to the building process, it makes it harder for someone to build a house or sell a house or to do business,” Lombardo said. “And each house we build it’s hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, money that comes back into our economy.”

But while Lombardo feels not passing the ordinance could hurt the local economy, Donaldson feels passing it will hurt the species.

“It’s pretty neat to look up in the sky and watch an eagle go by,” Donaldson said. “We hope that doesn’t disappear.”

The city council is expected to review the ordinance on Monday.