FEMA’s regulations against Rick on the Roof

A man is protesting FEMA by sitting on his roof.

FEMA’s regulations are determining whether Rick Loughery’s garage should be considered an independent structure or laterally attached.

Rick believes he represents homeowners all across Southwest Florida for people fighting to rebuild their lives.

“It’s not just me and my problem. I’m up here for everybody,” Rick said.

Hurricane Ian washed away Rick’s home. But the garage, which he added in 2019, stood strong. Rick said the garage is and always has been an independent structure built up against his home. FEMA says otherwise.

“FEMA is insisting upon that garage being either torn down or given breakaway walls, which is basically cost prohibitive,” said Jim Atterholt, Vice Mayor of Fort Myers Beach. “And they have more authority than the town does to overrule them.”

Because the house is gone, FEMA insists the garage must be demolished because the garage was built as an addition to the home. FEMA said that it’s not an independent structure.

On Thursday, the town sent paperwork outlining Rick’s three options:

1. Build a new home, but the surviving garage must be brought up to current standards.
2. Convert the garage into a standalone accessory, and build a new detached home.
3. Demolish the garage and rebuild a new home and garage as new construction, meeting current standards.

Rick does not agree with the three options.

Rick and his wife Amy’s team of architects and engineers tell them it’ll cost around $225,000 to get just the garage up to code. They’d still need to build a house. At that point, it’s cheaper to just tear it down.

But even then….

“To tear down is another $15,000 to have it hulled away, which we could have had FEMA do for free if they told us back in November,” Amy said.

The town said the situation could impact the entire town because Fort Myers Beach must follow floodplain regulations and building codes.

This is due to Fort Myers Beach agreeing to participate in the National Flood Insurance program in order to cut flood insurance costs for everyone who lives there and, “maintaining the town’s good standing also impacts post-disaster FEMA funding.”

On Thursday, Rick came down to listen to FEMA representatives, but he didn’t like whatever he heard, because he went right back up.

So, Rick intends on staying on the roof until he gets an answer his contractors can agree with.