The Cape Coral City Council voted to rezone more than an acre of land near Gator Circle in northeast Cape Coral, changing the property’s designation from Single-Family Residential to Commercial.
Council members unanimously approved the changes during its meeting Dec. 11.
Prior to the vote, Councilmember Derrick Donnell raised concerns about the rezoning. He questioned whether adding a commercial zone in a mostly residential area amounted to “spot zoning.” Donnell pointed out that the surrounding area includes a park and is largely residential.
“This just doesn’t make sense to me to put a commercial in the middle of all this residential,” Donnell said. “Someone make that make sense.”
Why the city needs more commercial in residential areas
While the rezoning might appear as spot zoning, it aligns with the city’s long-term plan for the area, which had initially designated the entire area as residential due to the lack of water and sewer infrastructure in 1989, said consultant and former mayor Joe Mazurkiewicz.