{"id":414301,"date":"2026-09-30T02:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T02:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/414301\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T02:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T02:08:09","slug":"cape-coral-residents-push-back-against-costly-utilities-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/414301\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Coral residents push back against costly utilities expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cape Coral residents push back against costly North 3 utilities expansion project<\/p>\n

\"Jaylen<\/a>CAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n

Northwest Cape Coral residents are voicing concerns about the city\u2019s North 3 utility extension project, which they say comes with unaffordable costs and could force some to make difficult financial decisions. <\/p>\n

A packed city council chamber saw passionate homeowners sharing their frustrations. Mike Stone, a northwest Cape Coral homeowner, received applause during public comments as he addressed the council about paying over $40,000 to connect to city water. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust south of here where they did North Two, that was $18,000, and now we’re up to $41,000. And so it’s just too much to bear if you think about it like this. If I finance that and the water bill that’s going to be over $500 a month, I pay for water, and that will be one of my largest bills,\u201d Stone said. <\/p>\n

The city council approved the utility expansion project<\/a> assessments during the meeting. Homeowners east of Burnt Store Road will face $35,264 in assessments, while those west of Burnt Store Road will pay $41,029. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, people don’t have that kind of money. I don’t have that kind of money,\u201d said Jennifer Alvarez Watta, another northwest Cape Coral resident. <\/p>\n

The city explained that the higher costs for residents west of Burnt Store Road are due to the Alternative 5 road improvements project, which includes new stormwater pipes, multi-use pathways, drainage functions, and other upgrades. <\/p>\n

Stone expressed frustration over the additional $5,765 fee tied to the road improvements. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe alternate five, which is really some sidewalks and some additional space for golf carts or bicycles, that are being paid by us in a utilities expansion. And instead, that was expected to be paid from the impact fees and the normal taxes that we pay in this growing area,\u201d Stone said. <\/p>\n

Residents at the meeting also questioned why the costs differ from previous utility expansion projects in North 1 and North 2. The city stated that pre-payment amounts for areas east and west of Burnt Store Road reflect differences in infrastructure requirements for each area.<\/p>\n

The city council will hold one final hearing and vote on the project next month.<\/p>\n

DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf 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 Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cape Coral residents push back against costly North 3 utilities expansion project CAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 Northwest Cape…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[164148,2954,164145,12044,209,211,210,3371,187,832,55916,33449,164153,164147,104,28,7055,33520,9047,164150,213,7453,164149,164146,164151,164152,163740,63575,94618,34075,164077,140531,143332,221,11987],"class_list":["post-414301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-alternative-5","tag-area","tag-assessment-costs","tag-burnt-store-road","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-cape-coral-resident","tag-city","tag-city-council","tag-city-council-chamber","tag-city-water","tag-costly-north","tag-drainage-upgrades","tag-entertainment","tag-florida","tag-frustration","tag-high-cost","tag-homeowners","tag-jennifer-alvarez-watta","tag-late-news","tag-meeting","tag-mike-stone","tag-multi-use-pathways","tag-north-1","tag-north-2","tag-north-3","tag-northwest-cape-coral","tag-stormwater-pipes","tag-utilities-expansion","tag-utility-expansion-project","tag-utility-extension","tag-water-connection","tag-weather","tag-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414301","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=414301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}