Cape Coral red tag hearings begin in wake of FEMA’s threatened removal of flood insurance discount

Author: Tiffany Rizzo, Sommer Senne Writer: Nicholas Karsen
Published: Updated:
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Cape Coral
Red tags are popping up on Cape Coral homes. CREDIT: WINK News

Residents of Cape Coral are experiencing confusion, frustration and possibly fines due to red tags popping up on buildings under construction.

The red letter states that the building under construction violates a city code, and they must appear before the Cape Coral Code Compliance Special Magistrate.

The hearings began at 9 a.m. on Tuesday and will continue through Friday at the City of Cape Coral Council Chambers (second floor) located at 1015 Cultural Park Blvd.

The red tags began appearing on homes in Cape Coral after FEMA threatened to remove the 25% discount on all flood insurance policies in Lee County, unincorporated Lee County, Bonita Springs, Estero and Fort Myers Beach due to the amount of reported undocumented work.

Those who received the red letter must report to the compliance hearing and prove that they are not in violation of city codes.

A spokesperson for the City of Cape Coral told WINK News, “Homeowners are expected to comply with the city’s code of ordinances and the Florida building code. Violations are on the notice of violations they received; it’s available in the Code of Ordinances located on the city’s website.”

When WINK News was at the hearing, the majority of homeowners did not have any work done on their home after Hurricane Ian, but FEMA still tagged them with unpermitted work.

One by one, people came before the city’s special magistrate to find out what they did wrong, if anything.

“Why did they cite me?” asked Patricia Flynn, a Cape Coral homeowner. “Why did FEMA choose my home?”

Flynn didn’t have any work done on her home after Hurricane Ian but was still called to the Code Compliance meeting.

Even after being found not guilty, she expressed her frustration.

“I feel like I’ve done something wrong when I’ve absolutely done nothing wrong,” she said.

Then there’s Amber Hamilton, who WINK News spoke to earlier this month about her garage door repairs.

FEMA and Cape Coral cited her for unpermitted work because she needed a permit for her garage door repairs.

At the time, she didn’t know a permit was needed, but once she knew, she filed the permit, filled out the paperwork and waited for inspectors to come.

“I was hoping that having had the inspectors here, they would say, ‘Okay, we can see everything is good. The permit will be issued. We’ll take you off the list,'” Hamilton said.

She wasn’t off the list and still had to come to Tuesday’s hearing.

She was told by the special magistrate that the city is still processing her permit.

“I would’ve liked to been totally done with it today, but at least I know that we’re heading in the right direction,” said Hamilton.

As long as the permit is cleared by the city, Hamilton will be in compliance.

“I was very relieved to walk out of there,” she said.

Some homeowners at the hearing had work done on their home and either didn’t file a permit and complete the FEMA packet, or did one but not the other.

Those homeowners are required to be in compliance by June 18th or potentially face fines.

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