St. Pete City Council to receive updated report on thousands of open code enforcement cases

Yahoo

13-02-2025

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., (WFLA) – St. Petersburg City Council will get an updated report from code enforcement on storm-damaged properties.
This comes a few days after some people found out they had open code enforcement cases at their homes but were never notified.
Normally, the number of open code cases is around 1,000-2,000. In January, that number went up to almost 11,000.
This news left a lot of homeowners shocked when they checked their homes or rental properties.
'To me, that's the biggest issue. Apparently, there are 11,000 active investigations and citizens don't know this,' Matt Weidner said.
'This was a bit of an overreach; it's like big brother,' said Kevin Batdorf, President of the Shore Acres Civic Association.
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There are thousands of open cases all over, including homes in Eden Isles and Shore Acres.
'Disappointment, there's better ways of handling things,' said homeowner, Rollo Christensen.
A city representative sent 8 On Your Side a statement about the open code cases:
'The City's Codes Compliance Assistance Department has initiated codes cases at properties that were identified through damage assessments after Hurricanes Helene and Milton to monitor compliance with city code and FEMA regulations. These cases are being initiated to ensure compliance with city and FEMA requirements by ensuring permits are obtained for necessary repairs, verify permits are closed out with all required inspections to ensure compliance with Florida Building Code, and protect potential buyers from purchasing a property that has been repaired without the required permits and/or inspections being completed.'
St. Pete city representative
All of these open cases have left some residents feeling uneasy.
'A ghost chase or a witch hunt or however you want to put it, it just doesn't seem like it's a productive way to make sure people are pulling permits for the houses that were damaged by the flood,' Christensen said.
'Will we get through it? I think there's going to be some issues down the road, but you know we just keep plugging on. It's just one more layer of bureaucracy on top of everything else these people are going through,' Batdorf said.
The meeting will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 13, at City Hall.
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