What’s next for red-tagged properties on Fort Myers Beach?

Monday is a make-or-break day for families who have struggled fixing their homes the last two years after Hurricane Ian.

In July, seven properties on Fort Myers Beach were smacked with red tag notices and given 60 days to comply.

WINK News Reporter Sommer Senne drove by the seven properties to look at their progress.

Two homes have been demolished and reduced to vacant lots.

One home has an active demolition permit.

Although demolition does not appear to have started, an excavator was seen parked outside the front of the home.

One business has filed a repair permit that remains under review, and another has a permit under review to demolish one of its structures.

One home is listed as a washout area, and a permit has been filed to fill part of the area with clean dirt.

One home has been listed as abandoned.

The remaining four properties also did not appear to have started any demolition, and if they didn’t start the process, the Town of Fort Myers Beach said it would move forward on its own.

Mayor Dan Allers told WINK News that the properties were tagged because the owners had not told the town their plans for them.

WINK News spoke with Steve Boge when he received the red tag notice.

He is one of the landowners and a former resident of Washington Avenue, and he said it’s taken more than a year to get the insurance company’s approval to tear down the building.

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

Boge did tear down the building. The home on Washington Avenue is one of two demolished in 60 days.

Now that it’s 60 days later, what will happen to properties that have been abandoned?

In July, Mayor Dan Allers told WINK News the town would knock the properties down and have the owners pay for the demolition in their taxes over the next few years.

WINK News is contacting the Town of Fort Myers Beach to see if and when they’ll take action.