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Pinellas County Commissioner lets out frustration over lengthy wait for permits

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OLDSMAR, Fla. — Franja Eastling faces a frustrating reality daily.

“It’s absurd,” said the Oldsmar woman. “And crazy.”

She’s living in an RV parked outside the home she can no longer live in — at least for now. What’s worse is she’s not only paying a mortgage on that home but also monthly rent for the trailer.

Eastling’s Oldsmar home flooded during Hurricane Helene, and like so many others, her life is still in limbo more than three months later. She’s still fighting to prove her home is not substantially damaged and can be repaired. If she wins that fight, getting permits to repair the home will likely take months.

“We need help,” said Eastling, who works for the school district. “I can maybe muddle through, but a lot of my neighbors cannot.”

The frustration is not just evident in her neighborhood. It was also evident in a Thursday work session of the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners

Commissioner Kathleen Peters said she is still waiting on permits to fix her damaged home, so she understands what many of her constituents are currently facing.

“I’m letting my frustration out,” Peters said. “I’ve been holding it in for months, and I’m not holding it in anymore.”

According to Peters, the wait for permits has been so long that her mortgage company is questioning her for insurance fraud because work has yet to start on repairing her home.

“You cannot imagine how incredibly difficult and frustrating this is, and there’s absolutely no excuse that almost four months later, people still are waiting for a permit,” she said. “We need to get permits expedited.”

Pinellas County’s Administrator said his staffers are doing everything they can, but there are only so many of them, and they have to follow rules from both FEMA and the state.

However, commissioners like Peters think more can and should be done to get people back in their homes faster.

"This is the biggest government overreach I personally have experienced. They literally are taking away people's property rights. This should not be taking so long. It should be much easier. I should be able to take the letter on the Property Appraiser's website, demonstrate I can be under the [substantial damage] threshold, and get a permit," Peters told ABC Action News via text message.

Eastling agrees.

“They need to alleviate a lot of guidelines here,” she said.

For now, she will keep paying for two homes and keep fighting a frustrating fight daily.

Those ABC Action News talked to who do have permits said persistence is key.

Pinellas County commissioners will get a bigger briefing about permits and recovery during a meeting next Tuesday.

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