Public meeting Wednesday for Jaycee Park redesign

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Cape Coral Jaycee Park

Jaycee Park is a hidden gem for many Cape Coral residents, so while some are excited about the proposed re-design, not everyone feels the same.

The Cape Coral City Council will hold a meeting on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m., which will mark the first public hearing regarding changes to the redesign of Jaycee Park since November.

Residents acknowledge the additions could be good in general but not at the cost of the nature already in the park.

Humans and animals alike are big fans of Jaycee Park.

One resident said, “My dogs and I really enjoy it.”

The beloved park could be one step closer to a major makeover, but not everyone is as gung-ho about the change.

“Honestly, we love the way it is, but you know, the city is the city. If they wanna make changes they will,” said Oscar Benitez, a Cape Coral resident.

The Cape Coral City Council released new plans to renovate the park. Those plans will be up for a vote during their meeting on Wednesday.

Some new features on the docket include:

  • Playground with full shade sails
  • Grills
  • Bike racks
  • Spaces for food trucks and more

Previous plans for Jaycee Park were more controversial with the initial design featuring a bar, which is no longer being included after push-back from the community.

Instead, the final concept plans show more of a snack shack in its place—one that is much smaller in size and doesn’t give off the image of a bar.

It’s a lot of new plans packed into one park.

“It would probably attract more people, and that’s always a nice thing,” said Cape Coral resident Christina Possiel.

WINK spoke to neighbors like Possiel who are concerned about losing trees and green space.

“Everything that they’re planning to do with the trees, especially removing them, I don’t like to see that. If they plan to put something in here, bigger playgrounds or stuff like that or planting more trees, I would like to see that,” said Possiel.

The city’s plans include scrapping the invasive Australian pine trees and planting hundreds of new trees, shrubs and ground cover in their place.

WINK showed Possiel the city’s new plans, and her opinion was positive.

“It looks nice, again if they keep it like it is and added to this nice area, it would be awesome,” she said.

As nice as the additions would be, Possiel said she would hate to see the current trees go.

“I’ve lived here for a few years now and what I miss about the area is the big old trees,” Possiel said.

Wednesday’s meeting is the first of two mandatory public hearings and kicks off at 4:30 p.m.

The plan is to present and move forward with the redesign of Jaycee Park.

The second meeting will be held on Aug. 7, then the city council will take it to a vote.

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