TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. — Neighbors on Treasure Island packed city hall to discuss a months-long permit backlog. City leaders recently voted to change the process and get families back into their homes faster.
Treasure Island Mayor John Doctor said this is option 2 for FEMA permits.
“We're going to get contractors; they're going to come up and they're going to bring packets in and get the affidavits signed for putting their homes back together. Then you take a look at the price tag for that, then you take a look at what the appraisal value is for the structure,” Doctor said.
If it's over 50%, it's considered substantially damaged. If not, then homeowners can move forward with repairs without waiting for an assessment.
“We should've gone with option 2 in the first place. If we had done that we all would've been back in our homes and we wouldn't be having this meeting,” Tony Johnson, a local resident, said.
During Thanksgiving week, Johnson showed us his home. He said things still look the same because he's waiting on a substantial determination letter.
“I don't want to go in tomorrow, and they say, 'Well we're going under option 2 now, but we really need this determination done by the FEMA estimator which is an option 1 thing,' and nobody tonight has told me that that's not the case,” Johnson said.
The city said it's still working through this new change.
“Whether it's option 1 or option 2, a substantial damage determination is required,” City Manager Chuck Anderson said.
Treasure Island neighbors are left still concerned.
The city of Treasure Island said it's received more than 1400 permit applications since the back-to-back storms. It said code enforcement is actively patrolling neighborhoods looking for unpermitted work and will issue "stop work" orders.