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Residents press committee over unpermitted canopy structures on pilings; staff says units must be removed
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Summary
Residents told the Punta Gorda Isles Canal Advisory Committee that new canopy/tenting structures attached to pilings along canals appeared without permits; city canal maintenance staff said the installations violate code, homeowners and manufacturers were notified, and fines and removal procedures are pending.
Chair Harry Wolberg called the Punta Gorda Isles Canal Advisory Committee to order on April 20. During public comment, a resident identified himself as Dan Bridal, president of the Tarpon Cove Condo Association, and urged the committee for guidance after “new tenting covers” began appearing on pilings along the canals without building permits.
Bridal said association members have asked what jurisdiction the committee or city has over pilings and docks, and whether pilings belong to homeowners or to the city. He asked what residents should tell neighbors who are installing the covers without permits.
Mark Storm, Canal Maintenance with Public Works, responded that staff documented several such units on the northern sector and that neither homeowners nor contractors had pulled building permits. “Those are code violations,” Storm said, explaining that the permitted mooring systems must be mechanical and stored at or below the seawall cap and that “nothing can be framed or in the canal system that way.” He told the committee the city photographed units, routed them into code enforcement and canal maintenance channels, and notified manufacturers and homeowners that the structures must be removed.
Storm said the city will not remove private equipment for owners but that code processes and fines will escalate for noncompliance; he added that homeowners are responsible for contracting removals. “They can’t,” Storm said when asked whether residents may keep the framed structures.
Bridal and a follow-up commenter noted the installations will have to be removed “down the road,” and Storm said staff are tracking the locations and preparing notices for the board and for owners. Staff also said some of the identified units were already being handled through seawall assessments that began after Hurricane Ian.
The committee did not take a formal vote on the issue; staff said they would continue enforcement and provide updates at the next meeting.
