More FEMA housing potentially coming to Cape Coral, Lee County

The city of Cape Coral owns seven parcel northwest of city hall that may house temporary units of 15-17 trailers, while Lee County’s government has identified three additional sites.

The county commissioners will vote on the sites — two in Fort Myers, and one in Bokeelia — at a meeting next week.

Meanwhile, Cape Coral City Council members approved the measure that would lease the city-owned properties in a 6-2 vote, with Mayor John Gunter and Robert Welsh voting against it.

Amy Yearsley, Cape Coral planning manager for development services, said there was a deficit of 1,000 units in Lee County, so FEMA is working with counties and local municipalities to address that need.

Hurricane Ian struck Southwest Florida on Sept. 28, 2022, damaging homes along the Gulf of Mexico coast, particularly slamming Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, and Pine islands, and Cape Coral.

As of late January, 1,985 households were approved for direct housing, 1,733 are owners and 259 are renters.

The properties at 608, 612 and 616 SE 9th Terrace, 929 and 935 SE 6th Court and 609 and 615 SE 10th Street will possibly be used for FEMA housing.

These owners had at least $12 per square foot of damage to their properties, and renters either had their dwellings destroyed or suffered major damage.

FEMA hopes to have the sites fully occupied and running before June.

“The timeline is fairly quick,” said Pamela Zawada, FEMA logistical group supervisor. “We hope to have all the sites we need constructed and occupied before June of this year, so we can get people the maximum period of time to be able to be in safe and secure housing so they can finish their construction on their homes or find new rental properties.”

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Direct housing is meant to last 18 months from the disaster declaration date, Sept. 29, 2022. The size of the unit depends on the needs of the eligible applicant and the manufacturer of the unit.

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An environmental assessment must be done and later approved by the city council.

Another representative said 119 Cape Coral households expressed a need for housing, 116 owners and three renters; and 42 are housed in the city, with 30 of them at Tranquility Lake.

Gunter said there’s a need for housing, especially in the wake of Hurricane Ian, in Lee County, but had some reservations about approval for the group site because of the surrounding residential area.

“I thought it was going to be too impactful for the residents in that vicinity,” Gunter said. “I’m going to make sure that we vetted all of our parcels in the city. I know it’s a need that we need to have. I just didn’t know if that specific location was the best choice.”

Welsh agreed with the mayor’s concerns.

Councilmember Patty Cummings, who voted to approve the measure, questioned why it’s taken so long to provide housing.

“If you ask me, the clock has been ticking for some time,” Cummings said.

“We did start the search for locations in all the effective counties immediately after the storm,” Zawada said.

She said FEMA got to the point where it realized that there were not enough resources and space for housing, so it started working with counties and individual landowners for group sites.

“It, unfortunately, takes a while,” Zawada said. “We have looked at over 500 sites in Lee County, talked to landowners and some of them were not suitable for various reasons.”

FEMA previously stated that issues with local, state, and federal regulations presented challenges like searching for land, keeping people impacted closer to their city, and making sure the land has utilities and could hold temporary housing.

Cummings also wants to see a possible extension for these new sites, so that residents can have a full 18 months of housing available for applicants.

FEMA has identified more land for FEMA trailer group sites in Lee County to be presented on February 21 to the Lee County Board of County Commissioners.

The locations are:

∎10940 Gladiolus Drive, Fort Myers

∎5361 Pine Island Rd, Bokeelia

∎Golden Journey Road, Fort Myers

Luis Zambrano is a Watchdog/Cape Coral reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. You can reach Luis at Lzambrano@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Lz2official.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Lee County, Cape Coral eye FEMA sites for Hurricane Ian displaced