A $131 million Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic is one step closer to opening in Cape Coral.
The Senate on September 30,2008 approved funding for the VA clinic. Now, the funding package goes to President George W. Bush for his signature.
With approval from both houses of Congress, the clinic seems likely to move forward. The VA has finished preliminary design of the project and is hoping to have the 200,000-square-foot facility built by 2011.
The clinic, set for an area near Diplomat Parkway and Corbett Road, will replace the 71,000-square-foot clinic on Winker Road in Fort Myers. The new facility will offer a broader array of services, such as minor surgery, advanced imaging, nuclear medicine and vascular Doppler ultrasound.
The clinic's placement in Cape Coral points to the city's growing prominence in the region.
"I think it certainly recognizes the amount of veterans we have here," said Cape Coral City Councilman Bill Deile, a retired Army colonel. "I think it recognizes the role that Cape Coral and the veterans that live in Cape Coral play in the community. There's a lag time between when you get there and when you get that recognition."
Two years ago, the federal government paid $10 million for 30 acres of property near Diplomat and Corbett.
Plans have been in place for five years.
"I'm very pleased that the Senate has acted on this important funding authorization bill. This new VA outpatient clinic is a critical project for Cape Coral and the rest of Southwest Florida," according to a statement from U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers.
Mack's district has the fourth-largest population of veterans in the country with 124,000 retired and active servicemen and women, Belch said. The VA shows 202,000 veterans in Southwest Florida. About 30,000 of them visit the Fort Myers clinic each year.
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