St. Pete Beach staff report near 4,500 post‑storm permit applications; residents urge faster permits, fee relief and more resiliency funding

Community Development Director Laura Canary told the City Commission on June 10 that recovery work from last year’s storms is continuing and that staff are shifting some focus to hurricane preparedness.

"Through June 1, we've received just under 4,500 applications," Canary said during the briefing, adding that staff are averaging about 54 permit issuances a day and about 103 inspections a day as the office works toward a 60 permits‑per‑day goal. Canary said city staff had issued 3,385 permits, had 300 submissions that needed additional information and were still processing appeals and outstanding assessments.

The presentation summarized the city’s substantial‑damage (SD) determinations and appeals process. Canary said the city had completed 3,520 SD assessments and mailed a final batch; of the SD letters described in the briefing, 1,693 properties were determined ‘‘not substantially damaged’’ and 826 were determined ‘‘substantially damaged.’’ She said the city had received 948 appeals by the stated cutoff date; 761 appeals had been approved and 187 were in progress.

City Attorney Ralph described the county and state appeal routes for building‑official determinations. He said appeals of a building official’s final decision go to the Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board and that filing is currently $100. On floodplain determinations, Canary said the city is awaiting additional technical guidance from the Florida Division of Emergency…