The Fort Myers Beach Town Council has approved a resolution revoking temporary use permits issued following Hurricane Ian. It was determined that this affects 11 property owners. If you are living in a trailer on your property while you rebuild this change does not impact you.
Before Monday’s Town Council meeting it was unclear if the ordinance change meant residents living in trailers would have to remove them. Town staff clarified that it does not include those RV’s. This all goes back to the FEMA warning letters that highlighted structures such as connex boxes and shipping containers that FEMA said never should have been allowed in the flood zone. Town Manager Andy Hyatt said, “FEMA has told us that if something can be hooked up to a pickup truck and hauled away it’s not in violation.”
This is one of the many harsher steps the town is taking to try to get back in the good graces of FEMA after losing its 25% discount in the National Flood Insurance Program. If you have not received a notice of violation from the town as of today you will not be receiving one according to the Town Attorney. However if you do have a temporary use permit it will be revoked. All violations have been issued and if those that did receive violations do not come into compliance they will go before a state administrative judge starting on January 7th. As of today property owner Chris Primeau who owns the property La Ola is renting in Times Square, is the only item on the state administrator’s docket.
The state administrative judge can rule that the structures have to be removed immediately or give the violator a certain amount of days to remove them. The town attorney said Monday the town will be asking for immediate removal. The judges ruling can be appealed to the circuit court.
The original target list included 50 properties. Many of the property owners that received violations have now come into compliance. Here is the remaining 11 properties on the town’s target list:
Since losing the 25% NFIP discount, Mayor Allers has said repeatedly on his Sunday show that the town was going to crack down and get stricter. The goal is to get the discount back as soon as possible. Residents in the program will be without the discount for at least 2 years.
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