\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSoutheast Cape Coral neighbors say they\u2019re bracing for major changes on their block and for traffic they believe could get much worse, if the city council approves a rezoning request Wednesday afternoon.The owners of 1620 SE 46th St. are asking the city to rezone the property to \u201cDowntown Mixed\u201d so it matches the lot next door, that’s currently being demolished. If approved, both parcels could be merged and sold together as a larger development site.Neighbors fear that change could open the door to taller buildings, even six-story condos, and make traffic problems worse for homeowners off Orchid Boulevard and Del Prado.\u201cThe odds are very high that it’ll be a high-rise condo building,\u201d said neighbor Dave Luczak, who has lived off Orchid Boulevard for nearly five years. “You have Monarcas with the restaurant and their patrons parking on 46th Street, it’s always very crowded. I think it could become an absolute safety hazard for any biking or walking individuals.”Neighbors argue the properties were left to fall apart over time, and now that deterioration is being used as leverage for a zoning change. Some neighbors say they\u2019re not against new development … As long as it\u2019s done responsibly.”I wouldn’t mind, you know, maybe a duplex or a low-density type of building where they could pull cars and it wouldn’t clog up the neighborhood,” said Frank Callari, another neighbor off Orchid Boulevard.But the owners\u2019 attorney, Scott Hertz, says fears of a six-story condo tower are exaggerated. While \u201cDowntown Mixed\u201d zoning allows for more height, Hertz says the lots simply aren\u2019t big enough to support the kind of high-rise neighbors are imagining.\u201cYou couldn\u2019t build something like The Cove,\u201d he told Gulf Coast News. \u201cYou don\u2019t have the physical space. I think you could build a, probably, a two or three-story building, but not much more.\u201dHertz says the owners aren\u2019t proposing a specific building at all. They only want both properties aligned under the same zoning before putting them on the market, and many of the surrounding lots are already zoned for \u201cDowntown Mixed.”Still, neighbors say once the zoning changes, what gets built here becomes fully up to a future developer.The Cape Coral City Council is scheduled to vote on the rezoning on Wednesday at 4 p.m., and neighbors say they plan to show up to voice their concerns.DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app\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 to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tCAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Southeast Cape Coral neighbors say they\u2019re bracing for major changes on their block and for traffic they believe could get much worse, if the city council approves a rezoning request Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The owners of 1620 SE 46th St. are asking the city to rezone the property to \u201cDowntown Mixed\u201d so it matches the lot next door, that’s currently being demolished. If approved, both parcels could be merged and sold together as a larger development site.<\/p>\n
Neighbors fear that change could open the door to taller buildings, even six-story condos, and make traffic problems worse for homeowners off Orchid Boulevard and Del Prado.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe odds are very high that it’ll be a high-rise condo building,\u201d said neighbor Dave Luczak, who has lived off Orchid Boulevard for nearly five years. “You have Monarcas with the restaurant and their patrons parking on 46th Street, it’s always very crowded. I think it could become an absolute safety hazard for any biking or walking individuals.”<\/p>\n
Neighbors argue the properties were left to fall apart over time, and now that deterioration is being used as leverage for a zoning change. Some neighbors say they\u2019re not against new development … As long as it\u2019s done responsibly.<\/p>\n
“I wouldn’t mind, you know, maybe a duplex or a low-density type of building where they could pull cars and it wouldn’t clog up the neighborhood,” said Frank Callari, another neighbor off Orchid Boulevard.<\/p>\n
But the owners\u2019 attorney, Scott Hertz, says fears of a six-story condo tower are exaggerated. While \u201cDowntown Mixed\u201d zoning allows for more height, Hertz says the lots simply aren\u2019t big enough to support the kind of high-rise neighbors are imagining.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou couldn\u2019t build something like The Cove,\u201d he told Gulf Coast News. \u201cYou don\u2019t have the physical space. I think you could build a, probably, a two or three-story building, but not much more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hertz says the owners aren\u2019t proposing a specific building at all. They only want both properties aligned under the same zoning before putting them on the market, and many of the surrounding lots are already zoned for \u201cDowntown Mixed.”<\/p>\n
Still, neighbors say once the zoning changes, what gets built here becomes fully up to a future developer.<\/p>\n
The Cape Coral City Council is scheduled to vote on the rezoning on Wednesday at 4 p.m., and neighbors say they plan to show up to voice their concerns.<\/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":"Southeast Cape Coral neighbors say they\u2019re bracing for major changes on their block and for traffic they believe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,2390,33046,104,4329,213,1736,267,33043,8075,481,29908,33044,33047,33048,33045],"class_list":["post-52490","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-door","tag-downtown-mixed","tag-entertainment","tag-gulf-coast-news","tag-late-news","tag-lot","tag-neighbor","tag-orchid-boulevard","tag-owner","tag-property","tag-rezoning","tag-scott-hertz","tag-se-cape-coral-neighbor","tag-six-story-condo","tag-zoning-change"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52490","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=52490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}