Cape Coral City Council to hold public hearing over Jaycee Park redesign

Published: Updated:
People gathered to speak against future changes to Jaycee Park in Cape Coral City Council meeting (CREDIT: WINK News)

The Cape Coral City Council will hold a meeting regarding Jaycee Park next week.

The meeting will be held Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. and will mark the first public hearing regarding changes to the redesign of Jaycee Park in November.

Some Cape Coral residents have opposed the park’s redesign and formed the Cape Coral Preservation PAC to stop the renovation of Jaycee Park.

The PAC collected 8,000 signatures within 90 days, which fell short of the 28,000 needed to get a referendum on the ballot to halt the renovation of Jaycee Park.

William Ulrich is a businessman who was present for the meeting last October. He has spoken at every hearing regarding Jaycee Park, but he doesn’t think the city is listening.

“I’ve said everything I could possibly say, and they don’t care,” Ulrich said.

Connie Barron is the Assistant City Manager for the City of Cape Coral, and she is trying to address the concerns of the parkgoers.

“We did listen to public feedback we had heard,” she said. “Doing nothing was not considered an option. We looked for ways to make modifications in the design that would address the concerns that we heard.”

The concept for Jaycee Park is at 75% completion and includes:

  • A playground with full-shade sails
  • Six available spaces for food trucks
  • Grills
  • Six bike racks
  • Misting stations for people and dogs

There is now a plan for a building in the park called The Reef. It will be about 1,000 square feet.

The Reef will feature a snack bar, and the building will have an oversized roof to provide shade for those walking up for service.

After the meeting on Wednesday, another public meeting has been set for Aug. 7.

To read more about the redesign, click here.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said the proposal included a bistro-style restaurant. This story has since been updated to reflect that a restaurant is not part of the proposal.

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