Lee County approves modified scope for Cape Coral CDBG‑DR rec center after debate over shelter elevations

The Lee County Board of County Commissioners voted May 19 to approve a scope modification for a $30 million Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery (CDBG‑DR) project in Cape Coral, allowing the 70,000‑square‑foot recreation center to proceed as a federally funded facility that meets HUD/FEMA flood requirements but will not be built to the higher elevation needed for formal evacuation‑shelter designation.

Staff member (speaker 13) told commissioners the project team discovered during design that meeting the statewide evacuation‑shelter standard would require elevating the structure roughly 10–11 feet above current ground level—an adjustment staff described as making the project “infeasible from a funding standpoint.” The applicant therefore requested a scope revision to deliver the rec center and a dedicated resilience‑hub wing while designating the building as a “refuge of last resort” rather than a formal evacuation shelter.

Nicole Turner (speaker 16), who has worked on the amendment with the city, said the state’s SLOSH modeling and shelter‑designation rules left planners little flexibility and that raising a 70,000‑sq‑ft building 10 feet would be “astronomical” compared with the project’s original budget. Staff offered to secure an engineer’s opinion of probable cost for both the original shelter design and the lower‑elevation alternative, but noted a true construction bid cannot be produced until full design is complete.

Several commissioners pressed for more precise cost data before finalizing the change. Commissioner Mullica (speaker 3) said the project had been the largest single award in the original competition and urged caution about “doing less work for the same money.” He moved to defer the item to the board’s June meeting for a broader funding discussion; after the motion failed to secure an immediate second, commissioners continued the debate and one second was ultimately withdrawn, killing the deferral motion. Opponents of delay argued that HUD’s recent grant extension removed immediate timeline risk and that approving the scope revision now would allow the project to advance in engineering and bidding.

Staff advised that approving the scope revision would not legally prevent the city from later pricing the full evacuation‑shelter option if it chose to do so, but practically the city would design and bid to the revised standard. The board voted to approve the modified scope; the transcript does not record a roll‑call tally by name.

The action allows the subrecipient to proceed with design and engineering under the revised scope. Staff said the project would only return to the board if the subrecipient encountered a funding shortfall it could not bridge. Commissioners stressed continued oversight and the option to revisit funding if bids reveal substantial cost overruns.

Next steps: staff will work with the city to obtain additional cost estimations and proceed with the revised design; if bids show a significant shortfall relative to Lee County’s allocation, the board said it would require the matter to be returned for decision.