11-02-2025
‘One more layer of bureaucracy': Why is there a surge in open St. Pete code cases?
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — Homes and businesses were damaged by hurricanes; properties left in shambles.
Months later, another storm cloud is brewing in St. Petersburg, as code enforcement cases begin to rain down.
Even some people, who had little to no damage, are dealing with the fallout.
And some told us, they were never notified they were under investigation.
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You can see it typically ranges from 1,000-2,000, and then in January, that number skyrockets to nearly 11,000 open cases.
Here is a look at the number of open code cases in St. Petersburg broken down per month:
Rollo Christensen got a whiff of this, so he checked his own home and a few of his rental properties in Shore Acres.
'Disappointment, there's better ways of handling things,' said Christenson. '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.'
Matthew Weidner lives out in Eden Isles and heard about this being an issue out in Shore Acres, so he decided to check to see if his own home had an open code case, and it did.
Weidner said he's worried about the lack of transparency.
'To me, that's the biggest issue,' said Weidner. 'Apparently there are 11,000 active investigations and citizens don't know this.'
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So what is going on?
A city representative sent 8 On Your Side the following statement:
'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. This includes properties both in and outside of flood hazard areas that experienced storm damage. 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. Please note, an active codes case does not impact the ability for a property to be sold or transferred to a new owner and a violation notice would only be issued if work is completed at a property without first obtaining the required permits. If an owner is cited for work without permits, they would go through the enforcement process and cases would go before the Code Enforcement Board and Special Magistrate prior to any liens being placed against the property for non-compliance. At this stage in the process, 63 violation notices have been issued. All the violation notices are within their provided compliance time, so no enforcement action has been taken at this time. The City's goal is to help residents through this process, prevent properties from being rehabilitated without permits and sold to unsuspecting buyers, and ensure compliance with FEMA regulations. Codes cases are routinely initiated against properties to determine whether violations of city code exist. Notice to property owners is required once a violation is observed, and due process is then provided to the property owner to cure the violation prior to any enforcement action. The enforcement process is outlined in Chapter 162 of state statute. It is important to understand that these are codes cases, not violations, that have been entered into our case management system for monitoring purposes. Code violations have only been issued when work has been observed without approved permits. To ensure compliance with FEMA regulations and city code, these monitoring cases were established based on damage assessment inspections that occurred after Helene and Milton. Due to the volume of cases, and available resources, cases were scheduled across a four-week period to conduct the initial assessment. This plan was overviewed during a committee meeting held to review the 49% FEMA regulations. We have been conducting inspections for nearly two weeks and notifying residents as needed that they are in violation and must obtain permits for completed repairs. Properties that have permits do not have violations. We were intentional with this process and in any case that has an approved permit, those details are clearly documented in the case. The case type, which we use internally for reporting purposes, gets changed to a 'Post Disaster Permit Emergency Permit.' If the permit has all final inspections, the case is closed. If the permit inspections have not been completed yet, the status of the permit is checked every 30 days, and the case is closed once the permit receives all final inspections. All codes cases, and details within them, are available via the City's website. Thousands of cases get initiated every year when residents express concern about potential code violations in the city and our standard process is to initiate the case and verify if violations exist. If we do not find violations, the case is documented as such and closed out. At the time that we identify violations, we then initiate the process to notify the owner of the property. While in greater scale, the same process is being applied in this situation. The goal throughout this process is to be proactive and assist residents with taking the right steps to comply with these requirements, while also protecting current and future residents and the City's flood insurance discount. We understand that residents may have questions about this process and encourage them to contact us at codes@ or 727.893.7373.'
Shore Acres Civic Association President Kevin Batdorf said, 'This was a bit of an overreach, it's like Big Brother.'
Batdorf said it's a good idea, but poorly executed.
'Will we get through it?' he rhetorically asked. '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.
Click here to check to see if you're St. Pete home has an open code enforcement case.
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