City makes progress on yacht club design plans | News, Sports, Jobs

The Cape Coral Yacht Club was razed to the ground in April. PHOTO BY ROB BRAITLING

The Cape Coral City Council approved design plans for the yacht club and its pier on Wednesday.

The elected board passed two resolutions:

• Resolution 194-24 to authorize the preparation of final design and construction documents for the Yacht Club Community Center for an amount not to exceed $7,316,186.96.

• Approved by a vote of 224 to 24 for the final design, construction documents and construction services for the Yacht Club fishing pier in the maximum amount of $386,161.40.

The ongoing debate over the city’s decision to rebuild the park by replacing the historic mid-century building “Ballroom” with a new resort style “Goal” The complex was marked by numerous protests by local residents, including a memorial service held before the demolition.

The new complex will offer an island atmosphere anchored by a two-story community center and resort-style pool and amenities.

All of these factors were incorporated into the design work completed under an agreement with Kimley-Horne and Associates, which City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn said was the best-suited firm for public parks.

Ilczyszyn said when the city started the yacht club project, it was primarily concerned with a scope of work that included work on the riverfront beach, seawall and parking deck.

Then Hurricane Ian swept through the area and the scope of work was expanded because buildings were damaged.

“Since then we have had a hurricane,” said Ilczyszyn. “Now we had to deal with the ‘donut hole’ – the middle part that we never wanted to deal with.”

This resulted in some significant improvement requirements, including the demolition of buildings that the city had not originally planned to demolish.

“We held a number of public meetings and council meetings – what the community wanted to see,” he said. “All this led to the final selection of the architectural design.”

Ilczyszyn said the council had opted for a complete rebuild of the pier – which includes planning a new pier that takes into account areas such as wind loads and static loads. Due to the condition of the piles, they decided not to go ahead with the partial opening, he said.