In a 5-page ruling filed Tuesday, State Administrative Judge John Lanningham ruled that the Sun-N-Fun shipping containers on the old Liki Tiki restaurant property on Estero Blvd must be removed by March 1st. The owner of the business, Steve Larson says he plans to appeal that decision.
According to the court filing, if the containers are not removed by March 1st, Lanningham says the town can start issuing fines of $250 per day and then remove the structures on the property and charge the owners. Larson does not own the property. It’s owned by the former Liki Tiki Restaurant owner Gordon Stojkoski who has said he plans to rebuild but there have not yet been any plans filed for 1821 Estero Blvd.
The town issued Stojkoski a Temporary Use Permit on August 16, 2023 to allow Larson to operate his business. The permit was set to expire in September of 2025. In the Summer of 2024 the town started to get the message from FEMA that all of these types of structures needed to go and should never have been approved. In September of 2024 the town issued Larson a code violation claiming his structures, which they approved for a permit over a year earlier “failed to meet elevation, anchoring and flood-resistant requirements.” In December of 2024, the town revoked all Temporary Use Permits.
Lanningham’s ruling can be appealed to the Lee County Circuit Court which Larson says he will most likely do. Larson also told us this week that the town said he could stay if he obtained an engineering report that showed he could move the containers.
With FEMA breathing down the town’s neck to remove all non-compliant structures or face being kicked out of the National Flood Insurance Program for good, so far, the town has not lost a single case. The town is paying the state to hear all of these cases. Hearings are held once every month. The case everyone is waiting to see a ruling on is La Ola in Times Square which is expected to come any day now.