ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — Homeowners and business owners in St. Pete Beach showed their frustrations as they waited for the city to issue permits after back-to-back hurricanes.
Over 100 people gathered outside St. Pete City Hall on Tuesday night before a council meeting. They urged city leaders to speed up the permitting process so they may begin repairs on their homes or businesses.
Jill Mederos is renting a place after her home was flooded by the hurricane.
"I live on the island. I'm faced with the fact that I can't rebuild my home," she said. "I'm paying for a rental and a mortgage."
She needs to replace the electrical inside her flooded home and rip out the drywall. She is waiting on a permit from the city to begin repairs.
"We may have a rental or whatever, but we're not home," Mederos said. "It's not our place and we're paying double just to try and live. It's financially ridiculous."
Matt Vario owns several bars and restaurants, including the Toasted Monkey. He is also waiting on permits.
"The community comes together and just is asking for help for permits to be processed as quickly as possible," he said. "I have four businesses all throughout the beaches. I have over 200 employees right now and more than half of them are not working. Many of them lost their homes or business. Many of my customers are part of a family. They don't have homes to live in right now."
Marc Portugal, a city spokesperson, said the city of St. Pete Beach has seen a massive increase in the number of permit requests. He added the city is working very hard to address this and has taken a number of steps to respond to the unique demand for inspection and permitting services.
Portugal said the city has 16 staff working on the permitting process; 10 of them are through a state contractor, and six are in-house employees.
He added that on Oct. 18, the city requested 18 additional staff members to assist with this work from the state of Florida as a "mission request" through the Emergency Operations Center. The city requested additional plan examiners, building inspectors, permit technicians, and code enforcement officers to work on the inspection and permitting process through March 2025. To date, 11 of the 18 requested staff members have arrived or been accounted for.
"We know it's a frustrating time, but we are truly doing our best and are fully aware of the ramifications that people are facing trying to get back into their homes," Portugal said.
Homeowners, including Mederos, said the city has to do more.
"Nothing is moving. We're so frozen between the 50% rule with FEMA and the lack of permits," Mederos said. "It doesn't make any sense to me why they don't want their residents to move forward and get back to a normal life."
Florida unlicensed contractor faces a bond normally reserved for murderers and violent criminals.
