{"id":375643,"date":"2026-08-19T14:34:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T14:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/375643\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T14:34:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T14:34:17","slug":"cape-coral-starts-seven-islands-mangrove-restoration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/375643\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Coral starts Seven Islands mangrove restoration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cape Coral begins restoration after mangroves at Seven Islands site were removed without permits<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gulfcoastnewsnow.com\/news-team\/ddf9d00f-3599-4647-a458-7e1fc2f02f60\" aria-label=\"Bernie Mont\u00e1s profile page\" class=\"css-15eikfp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ddf9d00f-3599-4647-a458-7e1fc2f02f60_1786129089.file.png\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" alt=\"Bernie Mont\u00e1s\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/a>CAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"0\">Crews surveyed the Seven Islands property in Cape Coral on Tuesday as part of a project to restore and stabilize the shoreline after construction crews mistakenly removed mangroves in June without permits.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"1\">\u201cThe problem with the mangroves that disappeared, it affects the ecosystem quite, quite a good bit,\u201d said Michael Cook, a Cape Coral resident who has lived in the city for about four years.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"2\">Cook said he is excited to see the Seven Islands project completed despite the controversy surrounding the removal of the mangroves.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"3\">\u201cThe Seven Islands project is a little bit controversial, I know, but it may really add a nice boost here&#8230; in northwest Cape Coral,\u201d Cook said.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"4\">The Cape Coral City Council approved the purchase of the 48-acre site in February. The project will include a hotel, retail space, condos and a harbor.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"5\">The city issued a permit to remove invasive plant species, not mangroves.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"6\">Residents expressed mixed feelings about the project, with some eager to see it completed soon.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"7\">\u201cI hear about the slowdowns and problems with the mangroves, but I consider that just a normal cost of doing business every once in a while. So, hopefully everything will turn out right and be done earlier than expected,\u201d said Danny Lavergne, another Cape Coral resident.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"8\">Cook added, \u201cWe\u2019ve been waiting for a lot of these projects to come and get built.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"9\">The developer expects to complete the preparation work around mid-September. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"10\">Afterward, the South Florida Water Management District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must approve the mangrove restoration plan before planting can begin.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"11\">DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/qrco.de\/gcnapp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.verylocal.com\/wbbh-ft-myers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment, and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cape Coral begins restoration after mangroves at Seven Islands site were removed without permits CAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,187,3582,104,213,19522,151408,908,15043,5204,7834,62895,56078,197,221],"class_list":["post-375643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-city","tag-crew","tag-entertainment","tag-late-news","tag-mangrove","tag-michael-cook","tag-permit","tag-problem","tag-project","tag-restoration","tag-retail-space","tag-seven-islands","tag-sport","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375643","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=375643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}