A bid to reconsider the city of Cape Coral’s recently passed boat canopy ordinance failed Wednesday.

Members of Cape Coral City Council who voted to bring back the ordinance were Mayor John Gunter, Council member Keith Long and newly elected council members Jennifer Nelson and and Rachel Kaduk.

Gunter brought the motion to reconsider Ordinance 56-24 during the first Council meeting after the five members were sworn into office. He said the ordinance originally was scheduled to come back on Dec. 4 for council discussion and that he was not happy it was voted on before that.

“That particular item was advertised and was supposed to have a Dec. 4 date where this new council would have had that discussion and voted on it. I was asked by the city manager to have a special meeting, and I refused to have the special meeting,” Gunter said. “My personal opinion is that was done because (they) didn’t want the new council to hear this particular ordinance.”

A Council majority agreed to the special meeting, which was then scheduled.

Councilmember Bill Steinke, who has been a strong proponent of modifying the existing ordinance to allow boat owners to build back better in the wake of Hurricane Ian, said he was absolutely offended that the presumption was made that the some did not want the ordinance heard post-election.

“What I will tell you – the reason why it was done – a citizen initiated the effort that I had been working on for almost a year as people tried to recover from Ian and reset boats at a level to keep them out of harms way,” he said.

Steinke said he wanted to get it done so residents can finish their reconstruction or, for those building new homes and putting in their docks and lifts for the first time, would only have to do it once.

“We have kicked the can down the road so many times,” he said, adding that he received consensus to ask for a special meeting to get it enacted to protect residents’ watercraft.

City Manager Mike Ilczyszyn said if the motion for reconsideration passed Wednesday, it would bring the city back to the point in time immediately before the ordinance was originally passed. He said he would have to direct his staff to immediately cease processing permits “double canopies,” a component of the ordinance, until it was resolved.