Live in Kismet
Inland well-and-septic country between Santa Barbara and Chiquita boulevards, where 93% of parcels wait on City water dated 2030 or 2032, 41% of the lots are still empty, every canal is fresh, and the flood map leaves out every parcel.
Kismet is this site's name for seven of the Gulf American Corporation's plat units in the Northwest Cape, 3,844 acres between Santa Barbara and Chiquita boulevards from Tropicana Parkway north to the Gator Slough Canal, taken from Kismet Parkway, which crosses it; no public body draws or names it. The 2020 census counted 9,998 residents on 3,509 homes, and the city has grown about 22% since, while 4,104 of its 9,909 parcels are still vacant on the City's layer. City water reaches 723 parcels; the rest are in the North 5 and North 6 utility extension areas, which the City's map expects to finish in 2032 and 2030, with no assessment amount published for either. No parcel is in FEMA's special flood hazard area and no resident in Lee County's evacuation zones A or B.
High, dry and half built, with the water main still years away
No public body draws or names Cape Coral's neighborhoods, so this line is ours: the City of Cape Coral's Gulf American Corporation plat Units 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 (with its small 42-1 part) and 43 on the Department of Community Development's GAC Unit layer, unioned, 3,844 acres, all inside the City's current boundary. The name is taken from Kismet Parkway, which crosses the units east to west, and nothing official ends where this guide does. Traced against the City's Major Streets and Canals layers: Santa Barbara Boulevard North on the east; Tropicana Parkway West on the south, from Santa Barbara to Chiquita Boulevard; Chiquita Boulevard North on the west; and the Gator Slough Canal on the north. Diplomat Parkway West and Kismet Parkway West cross it, with Nelson Road and Wilmington Parkway. Diplomat is across Santa Barbara, Mariner across Tropicana and Coral Oaks across Chiquita; north of the canal is land on no guide. Every 2020 resident is in the City's northwest address quadrant, 6,977 in Council District 6 and 3,021 in District 7, and all in the Lee County School District.
Kismet is a name, not a line anyone official draws. No public body maps Cape Coral's neighborhoods, so this guide is seven of the Gulf American Corporation's plat units, 38 to 43, 3,844 acres between Santa Barbara and Chiquita boulevards, from Tropicana Parkway north to the Gator Slough Canal. The name is taken from Kismet Parkway, which crosses it. The 2020 census counted 9,998 residents on 3,509 homes; the city has grown about 22% since, fastest in the north, and the City's parcel layer still shows 4,104 of 9,909 parcels vacant, 41%.
The pipe is the decision. Cape Coral began, in the City's words, on septic tanks and shallow wells, and it has been assessing water and sewer lines in area by area since. In Kismet City water reaches only 723 parcels, 7%, which the City's records tie mostly to the earlier North Central Loop and North 2 projects. The other 9,185 are in the North 6 area, which the City's map expects to finish in 2030, and North 5, dated 2032. The Council moved North 6 forward five years in February 2025, citing a severe water shortage and low levels in the aquifer north Cape wells draw on, and in 2026 the City told North 5 and 6 owners that hearings and amounts would follow. No figure is published yet; the latest areas assessed, North 1 West and East, ran about $33,000 a standard lot up front.
Fresh water, and low exposure. All 1,705 canal lots are on freshwater canals, the Hermosa, Zanzibar and Frontier among them, so no dock here reaches the Gulf. FEMA's Lee County map of November 2022 puts no parcel in its special flood hazard area; the 6.9% of the ground it shades is mostly canal. Lee County's evacuation map puts 3,549 residents in zone C and 6,449 in zone D, none in A or B. Hurricane Ian came ashore on Cayo Costa on 28 September 2022, and the National Hurricane Center puts its maximum inundation in Cape Coral at 6 to 9 feet above ground; no public record found says how Kismet's streets fared. A homeowners policy still covers wind and not rising water.
Public ground is new. The City's Festival Park, paid for by the 2018 parks bond, was set to open on 14 August 2026 with soccer fields and festival grounds, beside the 13.5-acre Seahawk Airfield, where a radio-control club flies under an agreement with the City. There is no school, store or bus stop inside the line: Mariner High and Middle and the Northwest Regional Library are 3 to 3.5 km south-west in a straight line, and the nearest LeeTran stop, on Route 40, is 3.5 km away with no Sunday service.
No index follows the units. Zillow's typical value for ZIP code 33993 was $326,142 in August 2026, down 4.6%, but the ZIP holds Mariner and Coral Oaks too. Every City address pays thirteen levies, 15.3806 mills for 2025: at the ZIP figure about $4,380 a year with a homestead and $5,016 without, plus about $1,063 in City fire, stormwater and solid waste assessments for 2026-27, and later the extension installment. Save Our Homes resets at a sale. The arithmetic is on the Cape Coral page.
- Look the lot up on the City's Find Your Future Utilities Extension Area page to see whether it is in North 5 or North 6
- Have the well and septic tank inspected, and ask how the well has done in dry springs
- Read every non-ad valorem line on the seller's last tax bill: an older extension installment can still be running
- Check the lots around yours: four in ten parcels here are empty and may be built on
How Kismet got here
- 1957Leonard and Jack Rosen of Baltimore and a few partners buy a 103-square-mile tract on the peninsula across the Caloosahatchee from Fort Myers for $678,000; their Gulf American Land Corporation plats it into numbered units of lots.
- 1958Development begins at the south end of the peninsula, where the first four homes are finished in May on Riverside and Flamingo Drives.
- 1970Cape Coral incorporates as a city on 18 August.
- 2018The City's parks general obligation bond of 2018 is the money that later builds Festival Park beside the Seahawk radio-controlled airfield.
- 2020The census counts 9,998 residents and 3,509 homes in the seven units.
- 2022Hurricane Ian makes landfall on Cayo Costa, west of the city, on 28 September at 130 knots; the National Hurricane Center puts maximum inundation in Cape Coral at 6 to 9 feet above ground. FEMA's new Lee County flood maps take effect on 17 November.
- 2024Construction of Festival Park, inside the line on NW 11th Court, begins with a groundbreaking on 26 July.
- 2025In February the City Council moves the North 6 utility extension forward by five years and widens it, citing a severe water shortage in the northeast Cape and low levels in the aquifer that north Cape wells draw on; the City expects North 6 in full operation in 2030.
- 2026The City notifies owners in North 5 and North 6 that their area is in its current five-year plan, with hearings and assessment amounts to come; its map dates North 5 to 2032. Festival Park is set to open on 14 August.
A new City park and a model airfield, both inside
Festival Park, on NW 11th Court, adds multi-use sports fields, festival grounds, a concession and restroom building and the wiring for a future amphitheater. Beside it, the City's Seahawk Airfield has a landing strip for radio-controlled planes and helicopters, and its Gathering of the Giants draws spectators each March. The photographs here show the city from the air and the river, not these parks.
What the map does not show: how much of the new park is finished. The City's page called it 95% complete in July 2026; flying at Seahawk needs the club's fees and national model aviation membership.
Elsewhere in Cape Coral, not Kismet
21 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 21 places, nearest first.
Method: straight lines from the population-weighted center of Kismet's 2020 census blocks, in Unit 39 near Nelson Road, between Diplomat and Kismet parkways, times a road factor of 1.32, with a tiered speed model: honest ranges, not routed times.
Every gym within reach
Nothing to exercise in but the new park is inside the line. The City's Northwest Softball Complex is in Mariner, its Lake Kennedy and Austen centers about 6.5 km south, and no page read lists a year-round public pool in the city; Lee County's is in North Fort Myers.
- Northwest Softball Complex: about 3.5 km, five lighted fields
- Sun Splash Family Waterpark: about 7 km, seasonal
- North Fort Myers Community Pool: about 10 km, year-round, $3 for an adult
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Northwest Softball Complex open | The City's 15-acre complex in Mariner: five lighted softball fields for the men's, co-rec and church leagues, a playground and pavilions; no gym or pool. | 6–9 min |
| Lake Kennedy Center open | The City's center at 400 Santa Barbara Boulevard, open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays since 1990, with classes, workshops and trips aimed at active adults aged 50 and over; the City's page lists no fitness room. | 10–15 min |
| Wm Bill Austen Youth Center open | The City's 9,900-square-foot youth center at 315 SW 2nd Avenue, beside Eagle Skate Park: half basketball courts, after-school programs and day camps, 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays. | 9–14 min |
| Sun Splash Family Waterpark open | The City's seasonal water park on West Lake Kennedy Drive, open into mid-October in 2026; a season pass covering 2026 and 2027 was $49.99. It is not a lap pool, and no page read lists a year-round public pool inside the city. | 10–15 min |
| North Fort Myers Community Pool open | Lee County's pool at 5170 Orange Grove Boulevard, outside the city: open all year and heated in winter, $3 for an adult and $2 for seniors and children. | 11–17 min |
The free option is Festival Park's fields and grounds, inside the line.
No school inside, and a lottery for every seat
Every address is in the Lee County School District, which assigns no school by address: families rank the schools of their zone and a lottery places children. The reference point is in elementary Zone A, middle Zone AA and high school subzone West 2, and none of those schools is within two miles of it, so a child placed at one of them qualifies for a district bus. The nearest are in Mariner: Mariner Middle, B for 2026, and Mariner High, C for three years.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Hector A. Cafferata Jr. K-8 School | Lee County School District (The School District of Lee County) | 250 Santa Barbara Boulevard North, in Mariner, 3.6 km from the reference point; no school of any level is inside the line. Lee County assigns no school by address: families rank the schools of their proximity zone in open enrollment (20 January to 27 February for 2026-27) and a lottery places children, with preference for siblings and then for a school within two miles, which brings no bus. The district's locator puts the reference point in elementary Zone A, whose schools are Cafferata (B for 2026), Trafalgar (A), Patriot (C) and Skyline (C), all farther than two miles from it. |
| Mariner Middle School | Lee County School District (The School District of Lee County) | 425 Chiquita Boulevard North, in Mariner. The reference point is in middle school proximity Zone AA, whose schools are Challenger Middle (A for 2026, 2025 and 2024), Hector A. Cafferata Jr. K-8 and Mariner Middle (B for 2026 after two Cs). The district told Cape Coral families in January 2026 that the boundary between Zones AA and CC had changed, so confirm your own address's zone. |
| Mariner High School | Lee County School District (The School District of Lee County) | 701 Chiquita Boulevard North, in Mariner. The reference point is in High School West Zone 2, whose schools are Cape Coral (B for 2026), Ida S. Baker (B), Island Coast (C), Mariner (C) and North Fort Myers (A) highs; a family ranks them and the lottery decides. The grades are the state's, as CBS12 republished them, because fldoe.org refused requests. |
| Oasis Charter Schools | City of Cape Coral municipal charter schools | The City runs its own tuition-free charter schools, Oasis Elementary North and South, Oasis Middle and Oasis High, open only to children who live in Cape Coral and outside the district's zones; all four were graded A for 2026, 2025 and 2024. Admission is by the City's own application. |
Run your own address on the district's SchoolSite Locator: the line between middle Zones AA and CC moved for 2026-27. The grades are the state's, as CBS12 republished them. The City's Oasis charter schools take Cape Coral children by their own application.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Highs near 24 °C and lows near 12 °C on the 1991 to 2020 normal at Fort Myers Page Field, about 17 km south-east, a station whose temperature normals NOAA flags as representative rather than complete
- The Cape Coral Art Festival fills Cape Coral Parkway downtown on 9 and 10 January 2027, about 14 km south
- About 45 mm of rain on the normal, the least of the year with November
- Highs near 26 °C and lows near 14 °C
- 1 March is the deadline to file for the homestead exemption, and for portability of a Save Our Homes benefit, with the Lee County Property Appraiser
- The Seahawk Airfield's Gathering of the Giants, a yearly March fly-in of large radio-controlled aircraft, is inside the line
- Highs near 30 °C and about 62 mm of rain
- Ask the seller about the well: the City moved North 6 forward in 2025 over low levels in the aquifer north Cape wells draw on
- About 16 days reach 32 °C on the normal, and rain climbs to about 88 mm
- Ask the City which utility extension area your lot is in before a closing, not after the assessment notice arrives
- The Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November
- The wet season begins: about 245 mm of rain, most of it in afternoon thunderstorms, and 22 days reaching 32 °C
- Highs near 33 °C and lows near 24 °C, with about 25 days reaching 32 °C
- About 238 mm of rain, most of it in afternoon thunderstorms
- The Lee County Property Appraiser mails the TRIM notice of proposed taxes in mid-August; a petition to the Value Adjustment Board is due within 25 days of the mailing
- The wettest month on the normal, about 265 mm
- The Atlantic season peaks around 10 September; Lee County's map puts 3,549 of Kismet's residents in evacuation zone C and 6,449 in zone D, none in A or B
- 28 September is the anniversary of Ian's landfall in 2022
- The City's 2026-27 assessments, set on 26 August, come on the November bill: fire service at $515.43 on the City's average house, stormwater at $163 and solid waste at about $384
- Sun Splash stays open daily into mid-October; about 78 mm of rain as the wet season ends
- Lee County's tax bills go out in November, ad valorem taxes and the City's assessments on one bill
- Hurricane season ends on 30 November; about 45 mm of rain as the dry season sets in
- The City's Holiday Boat-a-Long at Four Freedoms Park on the Bimini Basin is on 19 December 2026, 4 to 9 p.m., about 14 km south
- Highs near 25 °C and about 48 mm of rain
2 more photographs of Cape Coral and the region
Drawn from the site's shared, freely licensed Cape Coral photo library, not photographs of Kismet itself. Filter by category.
Showing 1–2 of 2 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images from the site's shared Cape Coral library, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. None of them is presented as a photograph of Kismet.