| It’s no secret that Cape
Coral is booming, and now a federal report shows that the
Cape is one of the 10 fastest-growing cities in the nation.
Cape Coral, which is growing at about 5 percent per year,
was ranked the ninth fastest-growing of cities with populations
more than 100,000 for the period July 1, 2001, to July 1,
2002, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures released Wednesday.
“I thought we’d be higher (on the list),”
Cape Coral Councilman A.J. Boyd said.
The Census Bureau ranking puts Cape Coral behind seven cities
from western states and Joliet, Ill. Gilbert, Ariz., was the
fastest growing with a 10.3 percent increase.
The government report didn’t include counties or their
unincorporated areas. That’s why hot spots such as south
Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres were not reported.
Lee County, however, is growing at a rapid 4.1 percent, said
Frank D’Alessandro, a real estate agent for RE/MAX Realty
Group who writes a real estate column for The News-Press.
That figure is bolstered by the Cape’s nearly 5 percent
annual growth but still shows that other areas in the county
are “growing very fast,” D’Alessandro said.
Among smaller cities with populations more than 10,000, the
Cape ranks 15th in Florida followed by Fort Myers at 42nd,
Naples at 129th and Bonita Springs at 150th out of 152 cities.
Bonita Springs actually showed a net population loss of 157
people.
That got Bonita officials wondering.
“I would have very, very serious doubts that the population
went down,” Bonita Springs Mayor Paul Pass said. “That
doesn’t pass the straight-face test.”
The Census Bureau’s study is based mainly on building
permits, said Greg Harper, a demographer with the Census Bureau
in Maryland. He said that the bureau has no direct record
of Bonita’s permits. Bonita Springs does not have a
building department such as Cape Coral and Fort Myers. The
county handles all of Bonita’s building permits, and
that’s where the information came from, Harper said.
Fort Myers grew 2.3 percent and now has 49,960 people, according
to the report. Naples added only 24 residents from July 1,
2001, to July 1, 2002.
Parkland (population 17,577), on the edge of the Everglades
in Broward County, leads the state with an 11.8 percent jump
in population.
But if all the people added to Cape Coral since the 2000 Census
moved to one place, it would create a city bigger than Parkland.
City officials
|
estimate that the Cape has grown
to nearly 120,000.
Official Census Bureau figures show that the Cape’s
population grew 4.8 percent from July 1, 2001, to July 1,
2002, for a population 112,899. Just 13 years ago, the Cape’s
population was about 75,000.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” said Cape Coral
City Manager Terry Stewart, who is former assistant city manager
in Pembroke Pines – the fastest-growing city in Florida
in the 1990s. “We still have plenty of home sites here.”
Community leaders and real estate developers agreed that the
growth has been incredible, but more in on the way.
“There’s a lot of momentum here,” said Bob
Hensley, president of Gross Point Development Co., the developer
of Tarpon Point Marina in Cape Coral. “There’s
still a lot of affordable
waterfront. That’s what’s driving it.”
Gary Aubuchon, president of Aubuchon Homes in Cape Coral,
agreed.
“Unlike previous growth spurts, this one is going to
be larger and last longer,” he said. “Naples and
Bonita won’t see much growth while we still have a stockpile
of pre-platted properties.”
D’Alessandro said that all of Lee County will benefit
from the 70 million baby boomers who will be retiring in the
next 15 years.
“About 21 percent of them will be retiring to Florida,”
he said.
Others said controversial moves Cape Coral made in the 1980s
and 1990s are paying off now.
Wayne Kirkwood, owner of Kirkwood Electric and Cape Coral
native, pointed to the fights over putting up a reverse osmosis
water treatment plant and the dual-water system for providing
irrigation water as examples. Now, communities such as Bonita
Springs and Tampa are looking at the Cape as an example of
things done right.
“The Cape was willing to take some chances back then,”
he said. “We were on the cutting edge. It’s paying
off now.”
With nearly 85,000 vacant home sites, 400 miles of canals,
3,236 miles of paved streets and the second-lowest crime rate
in the state for cities of more than 100,000 people, the Cape
is poised for continued growth.
In fact, population expert Paul Van Buskirk likened Cape Coral’s
current growth stage to that of Miami’s in the 1960s.
He also estimated that the city will pass 200,000 in population
within the next 13 years.
“All the indicators say the growth rate will continue,”
Stewart said. |
