Cape Coral, FL Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

9 lays out building design standards specific to the SC and MXB districts, applying to residential, nonresidential, and compound uses alike unless superseded by a more specific rule. Every building facade facing a street, excluding alleys, must provide a public entrance oriented to that street, connected by a pedestrian walkway at least 4 feet wide that does not cross a parking area unless site constraints force it, in which case the walkway must be clearly delineated with different paving. A single tenant is not required to provide more than two public entrances even where the cumulative facade rules would otherwise demand more.

The transparency standard is the most numeric piece: on lots abutting a primary or secondary street, at least 50% of the first-story building wall facing that street must be transparent windows or doors, with non-residential upper stories needing 25% and residential or hotel upper stories needing 15%. Lots abutting local streets or dedicated city parking areas scale down to 25% for non-residential uses and 15% for residential and hotel uses, and buildings facing navigable waterways need 25% transparency regardless of use. Windows and doors must stay unshuttered at all times, except for un-walled dining areas or hurricane shutters, which must come down within a week of a tropical storm or hurricane watch or warning lifting, or within three months if an actual storm impacted the area.

Non-residential buildings with more than 35,000 square feet on a single first-story floor need either one public entrance per 75 feet of building frontage or liner buildings covering at least half the frontage. Architectural elements like awnings, colonnades, and arcades must shade at least 50% of the first-story facade length facing a street, with awnings projecting a 5-foot minimum and clearing 8 feet, and residential garage doors facing the front of the lot must sit at least 20 feet behind the building line.