Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres Tandem Communites Faced with similar Planning Issues

Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral- Tandem Communities Faced With Similar Planning Issues

The Challenges already being experienced in Cape Coral are a road map of what can be expected to occur in Lehigh Acres.

Lehigh Acres is a pre-platted community comprises approximately 96 square miles of land.

Population at build out estimate is 303,451.

Cape Coral, another pre-platted community comprises approximately 114 square miles of land.

Population at build out estimate is 413,000.

It is unfortunate, but the reality is that it must addressed now; both Cape Coral and Lehigh were planned with the idea that they would be bedroom communities. This led to a disproportionate amount of land uses meaning that sufficient lands for commercial, industrial, parks, school sites and environmental preservation were not set aside in sufficient amounts to meet the needs of future populations.

Residents of Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral, for the most part, need to travel outside their community for goods, services and employment opportunities. The volume of resident's leaving the city they live in to travel to work increases vehicle trips and trip lengths puts added loading on the county’s transportation network.

What does it mean...added cost of road improvements, traffic congestion, and an added burden on county finances.

One can only hope that the planners and County Officials have learned from The "Growth Engine" of SW Florida-Cape Coral, and create viable options for Lehigh Acres.

The leaders need to closely monitor population growth for both short and long term planning. In doing so the goal would be to avoid the potential for infrastructure to fail, due to the demands of population. If Cape Coral took the name the "Growth Engine" of SW Florida, then I've herard it said that Lehigh is the "Sleeping Giant" of Lee County.

Let's hope when the Giant Really Awakens that we're ready for it! The cost to “catch up” far exceeds the cost to accurately plan to meet the demands as they occur.