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Mayor addresses building permit applications

Mayor addresses building permit applications

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Anna Maria, Community News.

ANNA MARIA – The city has implemented a new process that helps address recent social media comments questioning its ability to review and issue hurricane-related building permits in a timely manner.

On March 13, Mayor Mark Short spoke to The Sun about the permitting efforts that now include direct correspondence with property owners.

“My broad statement about anything on social media is that a significant amount of the time, it’s not factually correct, or it’s factually incomplete,” he said.

“When a permit is applied for in this city, it typically comes from a contractor. Any correspondence from that point forward from our building department goes to the applicant (the contractor) and the property owner is not part of that process.”

When that happens, the home­owner/property owner may not be aware that the permit application was incomplete and delayed because the building department requested additional information.

“You need to correct that before we will process your permit and my guess is the contractors are not telling the property owners what’s really going on. So, this week, we implemented a new step in our permitting process: Every homeowner seeking a permit will get a copy of our correspondence with their contractor,” Short said.

Short said including homeowners in the permit-related communications process is something the city’s been considering for some time now and it had been discussed internally in the past.

Short said the city received a large number of permit applications in February: “I suspect that’s in part due to property owners finally getting commitments from contractors that are becoming available.”

Short feels the city is processing building permits in a timely manner.

“We now have four permit techs here at city hall working to process those applications, and statistically, 40% of the permits applied for get denied initially because of incomplete paperwork,” he said.

In accordance with a new contract that took effect in February, all of Anna Maria’s building department functions are now outsourced to Joe Payne Inc., a firm that’s assisted the city in the past.

“There’s no longer any employees of the city of Anna Maria that are part of the building department,” Short said.

As for who approves a permit, Short said, “The project dictates who has to sign off on the permit. In some cases, it could be one person and other cases it could be three or four. I think we are processing permits at a good speed. Can it be better? Absolutely, and that’s why we have four people here now. We’re doing this chronologically as they come in. If your permit is applied for today, it may be a few days before we get to it.”

 Vacation rentals

Regarding the city’s annual vacation rental registration inspections, Short said, “Our vacation rental inspec­tion process will start in April and people are registering now. If I was a vacation rental owner, I would have eyes on my property to make sure I’m going to pass that inspection. I better make sure my pool’s enclosed and my pool alarm’s working. I would encourage our vacation rental owners to be proactively doing their own evaluation of what might need to be done to their properties. If they don’t pass the inspection, their registration will not be approved,” Short said.

Short said the third-party-con­tracted vacation rental inspections conducted by a different company have no impact on the building de­partment’s ability to process building permits.

County commissioner addresses building permit delays

County commissioner addresses building permit delays

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Manatee County.

HOLMES BEACH – The Manatee County Development Services department has received more than 11,000 building permit applications in recent months, many of them hurricane-related.

The ongoing delays in obtaining county-issued building permits were discussed during District 3 Manatee County Commissioner Tal Siddique’s town hall meeting held on Feb. 13 at the Island Branch Library in Holmes Beach. During his opening remarks, Siddique briefly addressed the county’s struggle to keep up with the current permitting demands.

“We are very behind. Permits have been a big topic for me,” he said. “We can’t hire enough people. I keep telling the board (of county commissioners) to find some solu­tions. We need to get people back in their homes, get their roofs fixed, get their houses fixed and get back on track.”

According to the FEMA website, “Every part of a building – from roofs, walls and siding to plumbing, septic systems and heating/air conditioning systems – may require a permit before you start to rebuild. A permit may also be needed for demolition.”

After Siddique’s opening remarks, Flamingo Cay resident Darren Horesh initiated a longer discus­sion about the county’s permitting challenges.

“Those of us who had our homes affected are being tortured by the insurance companies, by the mort­gage companies and then by the county who won’t give us permits. They won’t let us fix our homes,” Horesh said.

County commissioner addresses building permit delays
More than 30 people attended the town hall meeting. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

The Flamingo Cay community is located along Manatee Avenue in unincorporated Manatee County, near Anna Maria Island. Unincor­porated areas are those located outside the city limits of one of the six Manatee County municipalities. Hurricane repairs made to proper­ties located in unincorporated areas are permitted and inspected by county staff. The properties in Cortez, Sunny Shores and along Cortez Road west of 75th Street West are all in unincorporated Manatee County.

“We’re all sitting pretending like we’re all fine and we’re building back and we’re not,” Horesh said.

He said the county only has two employees working on permit applications. He later clarified that he was referring specifically to permits needed for hurricane-related repairs, including flood damage – a claim the county later addressed.

“It just goes on day after day. Nothing’s happening. No permits are being issued, so what are we going to do?” Horesh said.

“It’s getting hot out. All these homes you’re not letting us fix are going to fill with mold in the next few months. Is the county go to pay to remediate that? The citizens of the county are suffering and noth­ing’s happened,” he said.

Siddique said he doesn’t get involved in the day-to-day opera­tions of the building department but he has been contacted by a dozen county residents regarding their permitting delays. He said he asked the department directors to submit proposed budget amendments seek­ing funds for additional staffing. He noted Manatee County is currently competing with several other coun­ties, from Sarasota to Naples, in its efforts to hire more staff. Siddique, who was elected in November, said the county lost 1,100 employees during the past four years.

Horesh asked why Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state aren’t providing more assistance.

“This is a national disaster. This is an emergency. We’re not some third-world country. We deserve to get back in our homes. We deserve to not be worried about having our homes red-tagged and us being penalized for fixing our own home. Do something and stop acting like everything’s fine. It’s not,” Horesh said.

After noting that hurricanes are not new to this area, Susanne Arbanas said, “Why weren’t we prepared for something like this? We were not ready. You don’t get ready after it happens, you get ready before it occurs. It wasn’t done appropriately beforehand and now we’re suffering. I’m a renter, but I lost everything I own. Why weren’t people in place to take care of a situation like this? Who was responsible? Who can we talk to about that?”

Siddique said the blame ultimately falls on himself and the other county commissioners.

“I’m putting real public pressure on staff to get after that problem,” Siddique said, noting he’s also reached out to State Sen. Jim Boyd and State Rep. Will Robinson Jr. for assistance.

County response

On Feb. 14, The Sun emailed Information Outreach Manager Bill Logan, County Administrator Charlie Bishop and County Com­mission Chair George Kruse seeking clarification on some of the state­ments and assertions made at the town hall meeting.

In his email response, Logan wrote, “We have approximately 11,000 properties that received sub­stantial damage and this is directly contributing to the increased levels in permit applications we receive. In October and November, we saw a 50% increase in permit applications compared to pre-storms – approxi­mately 6,200 compared to 4,000. In January, we saw another increase with over 6,500 applications.”

According to Logan, the county currently has approximately 12 permitting technicians, ap­proximately four floodplain review specialists, 20 additional permitting employees contracted from the Florida Department of Emergency Management, approximately five plan review officers and the contractual services of two private companies assisting the county with plan reviews and floodplain reviews and approximately 29 building inspection officers.

According to state law, only one person per county or city can be designated as the building official. Logan said Matthew Rush is currently serving as the county’s interim building official.

When asked when and why former Manatee County Building Official Bill Palmer recently vacated that position, Logan referred The Sun to the county’s human resource department. Kruse confirmed Palmer’s recent departure, but he didn’t know Palmer’s departure date or the reason for his departure.

On Feb. 14, Bradenton Beach Commissioners approved hiring Palmer to serve as the city’s new city-employed building official and former county employee Sandy Tudor to serve as the city’s flood­plain manager.

Palmer will replace former third-party-contracted building official Darin Cushing, who was suspended in late January and later terminated.

The town hall meeting video can be viewed on YouTube at “Tal Siddique Town Hall @ Island Branch Library.” The county permitting discussion began early in the meeting.