Magistrate takes under advisement four Fort Myers Beach enforcement cases tied to FEMA floodplain letter

At a Jan. 7, 2025 hearing, the Town of Fort Myers Beach presented four code enforcement cases alleging that shipping containers and similar modular units at island properties violate local floodplain rules and ASCE 24-14 after FEMA identified the town's permitting system as allowing temporary, noncompliant structures.

The cases stem from a July 19, 2024 FEMA letter and follow-up correspondence that directed the town to provide a plan to remove or bring noncompliant structures into compliance. The town asked the special magistrate to find violations of Fort Myers Beach land development code sections 6-501 and 6-525 and ASCE 24-14, set compliance dates, and authorize fines and abatement if owners did not comply.

Why it matters: FEMA told the town its post-Ian permitting allowed temporary structures in the coastal high-hazard (VE) zone; continued noncompliance risks the town's participation in the National Flood Insurance Program and, by the town's account, public safety during storm events.

Town case and evidence

Officer Thomas Yazzo, the town's code compliance officer and compliance and security manager, testified on each file and introduced photographs and notices of violation. "On September 19, 2024, I observed a shipping container on the subject property, which I determined to be a noncompliant structure," Yazzo told the magistrate while identifying the properties and evidence submitted with the hearing packet. Floodplain manager Carl Thomas repeatedly testified that the units were not elevated, not anchored and lacked flood openings or breakaway walls the town says are required under ASCE 24-14.

"In my opinion, similar displacement is possible with noncompliant structures," Carl Thomas testified, citing a photograph the town says shows a displaced…