New parking rules start at Rotino Center
New rules for parking at the Tony Rotino Center at the Cape Coral Yacht Club went into effect Tuesday, drawing inquiries from park users.
Several patrons of the racquetball courts adjacent to the Rotino parking lot were turned away by a park ranger who asked them to park in the boat trailer lot on the opposite side of the courts about 50 feet away.
“There’s a group of 15 or 20 guys who have been playing on the racquetball courts for years,” said Erik Hoffer. “I’ve been playing there for 14 years, but some of us have been there 25 years or more and never parked anywhere else but right there.”
According to city public information officer Connie Barron, the new rule is the city’s effort to accommodate seniors taking classes at the Rotino Center and having to walk long distances when the lot fills up with park users who are not members of the Rotino Center.
Members pay an annual fee of $40.
“It was decided that during the busier months of March and April parking will be restricted in that lot between 9 and 11 a.m.,” Barron said. “It’s just for two months.”
A similar parking issue arose last year when the Ford’s Boathouse Tiki Bar & Grill opened at the fishing pier and the city allowed them to reserve an area by the Yacht Club for valet parking. After a few months, the Boathouse agreed to move its valet parking area farther away from the restaurant to the overflow lot across the street from the Rotino Center.
“Everybody knows there is not enough parking at the Yacht Club and it’s been that way for many years,” said Barron.