{"id":12986,"date":"2025-10-20T22:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T22:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/12986\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T22:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T22:01:09","slug":"a-year-after-jaycee-park-closed-neighbors-are-frustrated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/12986\/","title":{"rendered":"A year after Jaycee Park closed, neighbors are frustrated"},"content":{"rendered":"

CAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 One year after Cape Coral closed Jaycee Park for an $18 million renovation, neighbors are frustrated with the changes taking shape behind construction fencing.<\/p>\n

FOX 4’s Bella Line shows us what it looks like behind the fence: <\/p>\n

One year after its closure, Cape Coral neighbors upset about $18 million Jaycee Park renovation<\/p>\n

The iconic trees that once lined the waterfront are gone. For residents who bought their homes specifically for the park’s natural beauty, the transformation has been difficult to accept.<\/p>\n

“It was a waste of time, a waste of money,” Tony Karp said.<\/p>\n

Karp and fellow neighbor Maria Love have both spoken against the changes at city hall meetings, but their advocacy efforts have not swayed the city’s plans.<\/p>\n

“We all miss it,” Karp said.<\/p>\n

The renovation’s impact has been so significant that Love says she temporarily relocated.<\/p>\n

“I went up north for five months because that’s how upset I was,” Love said.<\/p>\n

The final design includes a boardwalk, band shell and food truck area. Click here for more information about the renovation. <\/a><\/p>\n

“Now we’ve been out without a park for over a year, it seems like, and you know, now we’re going to get like, a food court here,” Karp said.<\/p>\n

For Love, who purchased her condo specifically because of the park, the changes represent a permanent loss.<\/p>\n

“I’m done crying. It is what it is, and I can’t do anything about it. I can come and go now instead of staying here, and truly, I bought the condo for the park. If it wasn’t for the park, I would not be here,” Love said.<\/p>\n

“We need like a sanctuary, place where people can go in nature and just relax and give you know, have a peace of mind,” Love said.<\/p>\n

While signs at the construction site indicate the park will open in 2025, the city’s website shows the expected completion date as April 2026 or early next year.<\/p>\n

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 One year after Cape Coral closed Jaycee Park for an $18 million renovation, neighbors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[3862,209,263,211,210,1127,264,11682,11683,11684,11685,11686,4294],"class_list":{"0":"post-12986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-coral","8":"tag-bella-line","9":"tag-cape-coral","10":"tag-cape-coral-florida","11":"tag-cape-coral-headlines","12":"tag-cape-coral-news","13":"tag-construction","14":"tag-fox-4","15":"tag-jaycee-park","16":"tag-parks-and-rec","17":"tag-pennoni","18":"tag-renovation","19":"tag-tax-payers","20":"tag-wftx"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}