×
×
homepage logo
STORE

Waterways, water activities take center stage at annual Capeopoly

By Staff

The city of Cape Coral Ice Rink Complex would be built next to Sun Splash Family Waterpark in the near future, according to speakers at the sixth annual Capeopoly event, hosted Thursday night by the Cape Coral Council for Progress.
Bob Goodman said the complex would be located next to Sun Splash due to the rink creating a ton of hot water, which would be pumped into the waterpark to keep its doors open throughout more of the year.
The rink would be geared toward hosting hockey tournaments. There would be three rinks, two of which would be ice rinks, and the other would be a roller hockey rink. The facility would also house bleachers, along with a restaurant above the ice.
Goodman said the rink would bring a ton of revenue into the city, due to the traveling teams.
A national hotel chain would also be next to the rink, which would have 100 rooms, a restaurant and meeting rooms, he said.
Steve Pohlman, city of Cape Coral Parks and Recreation director, said Cape Coral has more than 40,000 waterfront homes, with more than 51 percent of those lots developed.
He said the Cape Coral Yacht Club is where all the water activities began in the Cape many years ago.
Pohlman said that over the years, the city has utilized all of its water accesses to produce fun and active events. Some include the Jaycee Park antique car show and the Cardboard Boat Regatta races.
He said many people do not know about Four Mile Cove, which has picnic shelters floating in the middle of the cove.
“The more people who hear about unique things going on in Cape Coral, the more participants we will have,” Pohlman said.
Jeff Mielke, executive director of the Lee County Sports Authority, addressed the economics of water during Capeopoly.
He explained that the Lee County Sports Authority is 100 percent funded by the hotel bed tax, which budgets approximately $700,000 for the program a year. Mielke said the goal of his organization is to “generate tourism through sports events.”
He also explained that its goal is to fill hotel rooms for the night with sporting teams that come to the area for events to produce more revenue for the city.