Red tags begin to appear on homes in Fort Myers Beach

Seven properties on Fort Myers Beach have been marked with red tags, highlighting the homes’ failure to meet city codes.

Property owners have 60 days to respond to the claim of failing to meet city code compliances, as mailed notices have also been sent.

After surveying the area, WINK News discovered that city officials had tagged five homes and two businesses.

The alternative to appealing the claims would be for the property owners to demolish the homes, as Fort Myers Beach officials follow Cape Coral’s lead regarding the notices.

WINK News has reached out to the seven property owners for a statement regarding why their properties were tagged and their next course of action.

WINK News got ahold of most of the red-tagged properties. The reasons for delay and plans moving forward vary.

For Steve Boge’s property on Washington, the red tag may have helped his situation.

“We’ve been going through with insurance, back and forth with inspections constantly, so we finally did get approval just recently from the insurance carrier that their inspections are finalized, and we were authorized to tear the building down,” Boge said.

We also spoke to the Fort Myers Beach mayor, Dan Allers.

“Our safety is our biggest concern. We just want them either secured or taken down,” he said.

Because Mayor Dan Aller knows on those same streets, you see homes that have been rebuilt, and ahead of a predicted “extremely active hurricane season,” damaged property can become a weapon.

“You have to look at the property rights and the people on either side of these properties. They’ve worked very hard to get back into their homes and try to rebuild their lives,” Allers said.

Whatever the red tag means to those owners, for the city, it’s a green light to move toward a safer FMB ahead of hurricane season.

“It’s working, getting people to the table, and that’s all we’ve really been asking for is let us know what your plans are, make sure your property is safe,” Allers said.

Allers said that the properties with red tape are the ones having no communication with the city.

That will be a problem if a hurricane comes and damaged property becomes a weapon to neighbors who rebuilt.

Aller said these red tags won’t be the last.

“If we don’t hear anything from them on the 61st day, there’s gonna be a bulldozer there waiting to take it down, but usually when you start having to use the heavy hand of the law, people start paying attention, and they want to come in and take care of things the right way,” he said.

However much it costs to tear down those properties, they will be billed to the owner through their taxes.

The owners we made contact with all said in some way or another they are making steps and intend to be in compliance before that 60 days is up.