{"id":261583,"date":"2026-05-07T03:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T03:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/261583\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T03:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T03:57:08","slug":"cape-coral-rowing-club-fights-for-survival-after-council-vote-fails-lee-county-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/261583\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Coral Rowing Club fights for survival after council vote fails | Lee County"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK)\u2014In a surprise move, City Council voted to consider Crystal Lake Park as a future home for the Cape Coral Rowing Club, as the group faces an uncertain future.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The issue wasn&#8217;t originally on the agenda for Wednesday&#8217;s meeting. But a steady stream of young rowers and parents pleaded with council members to take action.\u00a0The club also appeared at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.winknews.com\/news\/wink_listens\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WINK Listens<\/a>\u00a0in Matlacha to draw attention to the issue.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is our whole life,&#8221; said Teyahnye Love, a rower with the club. &#8220;And it&#8217;s just very disappointing and I think it&#8217;e very eye-opening for everyone here.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In April, council failed to approve an agreement that would allow the club to use Tropicana Park. Right now, it&#8217;s operating out of a temporary location along the Seven Islands in northwest Cape Coral. But a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winknews.com\/news\/lee\/cape-coral-development-last-chance-to-voice-opinions-on-seven-islands\/article_11c9d854-7155-4bac-a70d-b52a913f89b6.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">new development<\/a> will force the club find a new home.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The club said it expected that new home to be Tropicana Park, after the city paid outfit the location with a dock. The council vote in April ended in a tie, with four members voting in favor and four against, causing the motion to fail.<\/p>\n<p>Some neighbors voiced opposition to the move, citing concerns over safety. The Northwest Cape Coral Neighborhood Association led the charge, claiming Tropicana Park posed a threat to rowers who would have to navigate boat traffic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But parents argue Tropicana Park is actually the safest option, because it has a dock designed to launch boats onto the water. Launching and docking boats is the most dangerous part of rowing, according to Saundra Weston, the club&#8217;s president.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To yell, safety is kind of interesting,&#8221; said Saundra Weston, the club&#8217;s president. &#8220;If you&#8217;re truly concerned about our safety,\u00a0then why are you pushing us out of the safest location already built and paid for.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Council members have expressed support for keeping the rowing club alive, but disagree on where the club should be located.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The city wants the rowing club here. We just got to figure out the right thing long-term,&#8221; said Joe Kilraine, a council member.<\/p>\n<p>After some discussion, council directed staff to look into Crystal Lake Park as an alternative. Some council member previously suggested that location during April&#8217;s meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If the city doesn&#8217;t make a decision soon, Weston warned the club could have to shut down for the fall season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s scary, because, you know, if we don&#8217;t find a permanent home, I think the club will be dissolve,&#8221; said Love, the rower. &#8220;And I don&#8217;t know where I&#8217;ll go.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK)\u2014In a surprise move, City Council voted to consider Crystal Lake Park as a future&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,5219,211,210,98630,28],"class_list":["post-261583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-city-council","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-cape-coral-rowing-club","tag-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261583","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=261583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}