CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK) – Northwest Cape Coral homeowners are demanding answers after learning a roadway improvement they say was previously described as non-assessed is now included in the cost of the city\u2019s North 3 Utilities Extension Project.<\/p>\n
North 3 will bring city water, wastewater and irrigation to about 5,100 parcels in northwest Cape Coral. For a one-equivalent-parcel property, roughly the size of a typical 10,000-square-foot residential lot, the city estimates assessments of $35,264 east of Burnt Store Road and $41,029 west of Burnt Store Road.<\/p>\n
The $5,765 difference for properties west of Burnt Store Road is tied to what the city calls the Alternative 5 roadway improvement, which includes additional roadway, drainage and multimodal features.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I was appalled, like a lot of the residents who live west of Burnt Store Road,\u201d homeowner John Bashaw told WINK News.<\/p>\n
Residents say their frustration stems from what they heard during an earlier city discussion.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
During a March 2025 meeting, city staff said, \u201cAnd just to point out, these are non-assessed transportation costs as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
But during the city\u2019s September assessment discussion, staff said, \u201cAnd the Alternative 5 is funded through the assessment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is very cut and dry. This isn\u2019t a misinterpretation,\u201d Bashaw said. \u201cAt one point, the city said it\u2019s not assessed, and at another point, they said it\u2019s assessed.\u201d<\/p>\n
It remains unclear whether the transportation costs referenced in the March 2025 meeting covered exactly the same work now included in the Alternative 5 assessment.<\/p>\n
Mayor John Gunter told residents Wednesday he went back and reviewed the earlier meeting and believes the city had promised those roadway improvements would be non-assessed. Gunter said he could not explain why they were later included in the assessment and said the issue will factor into his position when it returns to council.<\/p>\n
WINK News asked the city to explain the apparent change. The city said Alternative 5 will be discussed in detail at the Oct. 14 Committee of the Whole meeting.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The debate comes after residents packed City Hall for a Sept. 28 special meeting over the broader cost of North 3. City Council moved the assessment process forward, with a final assessment hearing scheduled for Nov. 2.<\/p>\n
Cape Coral mayoral candidate Lisa Cohen-Adkinson told WINK News she plans to file a lawsuit Thursday seeking to delay that final vote until after the Nov. 3 election.<\/p>\n
The city has also scheduled a North 3 homeowner information meeting for Oct. 19, where property owners can review their individual assessments and payment options with city staff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK) – Northwest Cape Coral homeowners are demanding answers after learning a roadway improvement they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,325,115],"class_list":["post-421901","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-lee","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421901","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=421901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}