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Hurricane victims still waiting for permits
FOX 13's Kailey Tracy reports on hurricane victims in Madeira Beach still waiting for permits from the city and Pinellas County to start rebuilding their homes.
MADIERA BEACH, Fla. - Rebuilding Yarisi Valero’s Madeira Beach home has been at a standstill for over a month.
"I have a lot of good memories in this home, and the joy of being at the beach kind of gets overshadowed by this," Valero’ said, looking at the studs throughout her home.
Hurricane Helene flooded her home of eight years with more than three feet of water. While Valero was able to cut 45 inches of drywall throughout the house, she has been waiting on a permit to start rebuilding.
Yarisi Valero showing damage to her Madeira Beach home caused by Hurricane Helene.
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"By us not having a timeline on when we’re going to get those [substantial damage determination] letters, how can we prepare financially for what is coming? We don’t know. We’re just waiting," Valero said.
Madeira Beach Mayor Anne-Marie Brooks said the extent of the storms' damage means they’ll have to issue permits to more than 65% of the city.
Since the end of Sept. 1st,171 permits have been submitted, 355 have been issued, but 816 are under review. Brooks says FEMA red tape, the sheer volume of permits requested, and the fact that outside help they’ve requested from the state hasn’t arrived yet are delaying things.
Graphic showing how many permits Madeira Beach has received since Hurricane Helene.
FEMA requires an inspection to determine how substantial the damage is. The contractor hired by the state to analyze the information and put it through a quality control process is dealing with thousands of properties, many across beach communities in Pinellas County.
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The contractor then sends the information to city officials, who make the final substantial damage determination and send a letter to the property owners. The property owners need that letter to submit for a permit.
"The substantial damage letter will let people know to what extent their residence or their business has been damaged," Marc Portugal, Public Information Officer for St. Pete Beach, said.
Portugal describes what having a certain percentage of damage means for each resident.
"If it's under 30%, they do not have to fill out a substantial damage packet to go with their permits. They can go straight to permitting and go straight into repairs," Portugal said. "If it's above 30%, they do have to fill out a substantial damage packet."
Portugal said, "We would tell people to please be as patient and understanding as possible. We process permits on a rolling basis as they are received."
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"Even if a permit is pushed back because it requires more information, it doesn't mean it goes to the back of the line; it just means it will be on hold until we receive additional information," Portugal finished.
Property owners can apply for a minimal repair permit option in St. Pete Beach while waiting for the substantial damage letter.
"A minimal repair permit will help somebody get back into their home before they know whether or not they've been substantially damaged or not," Portugal said.
Portugal said they will need that substantial damage letter to pull a permit for the complete repairs to their home, though.
Since Oct.1st, St. Pete Beach staff has issued 181 permits, reviewed 316 applications, and submitted 1,145. About 16 state employees have arrived so far to help.
Graphic showing how many permits St. Pete Beach has received since Hurricane Helene.
St. Pete Beach also hired ten contracted workers starting next week to help with the process, similar to Treasure Island.
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"The permitting process is a slow go," Treasure Island Mayor John Doctor said. "We did bring in additional help. We have in our department about six or seven people, and we handle, over a year, about 1,300 permits."
Doctor said the amount of permits the city receives is making it hard to process them quickly.
"We've seen about 1,200 permits in the last three weeks. So, it's awfully tough. But yes, we did bring in professional staff. They started last week. They're back here this week. And we have a few additional folks with us this week," Doctor said.
Doctor tried reassuring residents that the city was doing everything possible to process permit requests quickly.
"So, yeah, it's going to take some time, but we're doing everything we can, and we're moving as quickly as we can," Doctor said.
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As of Dec. 2, 1,159 applications for permits had been submitted in Treasure Island. There are 592 under review, and staff has issued 203.
Flooding that was caused on the streets of Madeira Beach by Hurricane Helene.
Brooks said they also plan on hiring outside, contracted help, and city leaders will discuss it at their Dec. 11 commission meeting.
Brooks said city staff have been working tirelessly seven days a week. She believes they’ve gotten faster in the daily process and will only continue to speed up with outside help.
Residents hope help arrives soon.
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"We understand Mother Nature happens, but we need help and more action to get us back into our homes to rebuild our lives too," Valero said.
Each municipality has different hours for its permitting offices. Check with your municipality for those hours and information about the permitting process.
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