Cape Coral business owner frustrated by sudden road closure

CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK)—An ice cream shop owner says unexpected road closures for utility work forced him to shut down and send staff home without making a single sale.

Chris Cohen has run Sidecar Treats in Cape Coral for nearly seven years. Being an ice cream shop in Southwest Florida means business gets busy, especially during tourist season.

"Tourist season can be a little crazy, especially in the evenings after dinner. That's our peak time," Cohen said.

But Cohen says Tuesday was different. He arrived at work and began his usual routine—uncovering the ice cream, setting up the register and cleaning from the night before.

"And lo and behold a bunch of trucks lined up; they put up barricades and blocked me off," Cohen said.

A road closure for an LCEC project underway by subcontractor Haugland blocked access to his business. Cohen says he sent home his staff and paid them despite zero sales.

Wednesday brought another closure. WINK News learned Cohen had to close up shop again as the road in front of his business would be shut down for work, though this time he was notified by both the City of Cape Coral and LCEC crews.

Cohen and two other nearby businesses say they were not notified about the initial work. The City of Cape Coral says their office did not receive notice of the construction by LCEC subcontractors until late Tuesday.

LCEC says the subcontracting team did inform businesses both Tuesday and Wednesday morning by knocking on their doors. But Cohen says his business cannot handle another closure.

"Every dollar counts, and everything that drives people away is hurtful, and you know, most of the people I spoke to, both at Cape Coral and LCEC really just said it's not their problem, which was even more frustrating," Cohen said.

LCEC says the work for this project is expected to continue for the next month and will move down the road so different areas may be impacted each day.