Cape Coral council pauses proposed $600 rental registration fee after hours of public opposition

Dozens of residents, Realtors and members of the Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association urged Cape Coral City Council on May 28 to abandon or substantially rewrite two proposed ordinances that would raise the city's rental-registration fee and create an associated tourism development fund. Speakers said the measure, which would raise the current $35 fee to $600 annually and include enforcement mechanisms, would burden small landlords and renters and risk constitutional and public-safety problems.

Supporters of the change have said the fee would fund enforcement and tourism programs. Councilmember Kevin Long, who introduced the measure, told colleagues he intended it to target short-term rentals and that any enforcement provision could be changed to civil citations. "This is my ordinance," Long said, speaking at the start of the council's discussion, and then clarified his intent was to focus on short-term rental registration rather than annual rentals.

The proposal drew sustained public opposition. Adrienne Bray, a Cape Coral resident and realtor, told the council she had researched state law and…