Cape Coral City Council rejected a special magistrate finding and upheld its denial of rezoning property on Country Club Boulevard Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The action leaves the zoning as professional, instead of the requested residential multi-family low, a zoning similar to when the properties were purchased.<\/p>\n
The rezoning request was to allow for the construction of four duplexes homes on Country Club Boulevard, two vacant parcels on 0.92 acres. According to city documents, the property was purchased in 2002 and the property was rezoned by the city in 2007 from multifamily residential to professional office.<\/p>\n
City Attorney Aleksandr Boksner said the rezoning request was originally brought before the council for property 1224 Country Club Blvd. and 1306 Country Club Blvd. on May 21, 2025, to rezone from professional office\/commercial to residential multi-family low. The rezoning had a unanimous denial from council. In response to the denial, the applicant evoked Florida Land Use Environmental Dispute Resolution Act, a nonbinding dispute resolution where the matter is brought before a special magistrate, he said.<\/p>\n
The written recommendation determined the zoning to be unreasonable and unfairly burdens the use of the property.<\/p>\n
The special magistrate\u2019s findings and recommendation, \u201calthough the property fronts a collector roadway, its shallow depth and adjacency to existing duplexes significantly limit its potential for viable commercial development. The property\u2019s configuration, parking requirements, and buffering standards make professional use impractical. Conversely, duplex development would be consistent with the neighborhood\u2019s existing pattern and the Comprehensive Plan\u2019s direction for small infill parcels under one acre.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are required to have it brought before City Council within a 30-day period of time,\u201d Boksner said, adding that the staff recommendation is to \u201creject the recommendation of the special magistrate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attorney Patrick Stevens, with Wolfe Stevens PLLC, who was retained, said the applicant filled out the application to rezone and went through the hearing examiner hearing, and that they met the rezoning requirements. <\/p>\n
The special magistrate determined the denial was unreasonable and an unfair burden, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe denial did unfairly burden the property,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cWe were asking the council to change their decision and follow the magistrate\u2019s recommendation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The property on Country Club Boulevard is vacant, he said, and is surrounded by duplexes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe size of the property is not viable for a commercial property,\u201d Stevens said.<\/p>\n
Council voted to reject the magistrate\u2019s ruling. <\/p>\n
Councilmember Bill Steinke was excused from the meeting, and Councilmember Dr. Derrick Donnell voted against the motion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very concerned to make sure we have enough professional commercial space. This fits the opportunity to continue on that path,\u201d said Councilmember Joe Kilraine, who voted with the majority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cape Coral City Council rejected a special magistrate finding and upheld its denial of rezoning property on Country…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-37575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37575","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=37575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}