A sign at the entrance of Yellow Fever Creek Preserve in 2018 showcased what the city of Cape Coral told residents were its plans for the preserve. FILE<\/p>\n
A proposal to add a preservation parcel to mitigate the removal of a 14.2-acre portion of Yellow Fever Creek Park last year failed Wednesday for lack of enough Cape Coral City Council buy-in.<\/p>\n
Cape Coral City Councilmember Jennifer Nelson-Lastra first brought the idea forward in March last year. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have projects going on for five, six years, and finally it comes to a vote. The original residents are gone, or still there, and new residents are coming in,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
They are asking how the city could take preservation land away for a utility infrastructure. <\/p>\n
\u201cI talked about a potential compromise \u2013 maybe a way to give that back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A potential property at 815 Durden Parkway was discussed.<\/p>\n
Assistant City Manager Connie Barron said the 15-acre parcel is in the northeast corner of city limits that currently has utilities and monitoring wells. The site is zoned as an institutional land use with a public facility land zoning.<\/p>\n
The public facility land use zone would allow the city to overlay a preservation zoning on the parcel, Barron said. The city would have to subdivide the parcel to segregate the preservation property from the western portion leaving 13.1 acres for preservation.<\/p>\n
The property would not have a permanent conservation easement on it, leaving the ability for change if the property were to be needed in the future.<\/p>\n
Councilmembers Nelson-Lastra, Rachel Kaduk, and Keith Long were in support with the remaining four members of the eight-member board saying they could not set a precedence- and without it the effort was meaningless.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we wouldn\u2019t be making this change in perpetuity and can change it again in the future, what are we really accomplishing other than a feel good moment if we are not truly making it a conservation land?\u201d Councilmember Bill Steinke said.<\/p>\n
Barron said should some other use for that property become critical or vital, then staff did not want to tie the city\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat property is in a pretty remote area and the condition it is in right now is not ideal for any type of development,\u201d Barron said. \u201cThere is limited access up there right now. You can\u2019t get there easily.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nelson-Lastra agreed that the conservation should be in perpetuity.<\/p>\n
Barron said that Yellow Fever Creek is also not in perpetuity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shocks me, actually, that Yellow Creek was not preservation in perpetuity. Green space for future generations, it starts here. Maybe Yellow Fever should be done in perpetuity,\u201d Nelson-Lastra said.<\/p>\n