ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — One piece of storm recovery legislation would help streamline the permitting process to help people return to normal after damaging storms.

Other Storm Related Bills Under Consideration

  • One bill would require Citizens Insurance to offer windstorm coverage to homeowners

  • Another would limit an insurance company's ability to drop coverage without paying an insurance claim

  • There is also a bill to increase the punishment for people who abandon their pets in a storm. "Trooper's Law" is named after the dog found tied to a post during Hurricane Milton. The dog was rescued by a state trooper

  • ABOVE: Watch the report by Spectrum Bay News 9's Jeff Van Sant

It has been an ongoing issue in the Bay area after hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The issue affects residents such as Sean Bryan, who is frustrated and fed up waiting to fix his St. Pete Beach home. 

"I just love the home and now it doesn’t even resemble a home," he said. "No walls, no ceiling."

He says the City of St. Pete Beach is overwhelmed with the workload of issuing permits, with wait times going from weeks to months.

"I understand that the city is not equipped to handle the volume that they currently have as far as the permits go," Bryan said. "But the volume is not going to get less. It is what it is. I know they’ve asked volunteers for help.

"I know that they are minimally staffed. The permitting office is only open from 9 to 1 every day – that’s four hours."

He says most of the homes in his neighborhood are exactly like his, gutted and waiting for a permit. The only step he has been able to take is having an electrician replace some of the wires that were destroyed.

Bryan said he wants local and state leaders to step up.

"I just want to hear what options are available for us to be able to move forward," he said. "We’re just handcuffed right now."

State Rep. Lindsay Cross is among those calling for change.

"We know that permitting has been difficult," she said. "I have had conversations with Kevin Guthrie, who is in the division of emergency management, he is the head of that agency. We talked about ways that maybe we can have a kind of a state-level led effort for permitting. It's really not realistic for every city or county to be staffed in their permitting and building department to deal with one of these massive storms."

She said one idea is having trained people at the state level who know the local business codes and who could move to different regions after a storm, depending on where the need is.

Bryan justs wants help and answers.

"I just want to be able to get my general contractor in, be able to get the work done, get the work done correctly, and have everything looked over with a fine tooth comb," he said.