A historic River Park home will become Naples’ first house to be elevated as part of a state grant that will make it more resilient and protect it from flooding.
The 63-year-old family home of Jackie Dean, 68, a retired school district bus driver, will be elevated 4.76 feet. The $268,750 cost will be covered by Collier Community Foundation’s Collier Resiliency Project, which elevates or replaces homes vulnerable to flooding. It’s funded by a $4.8 million state grant that Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, helped to secure.
“Money is going to be tighter,” Foundation CEO Eileen Connolly-Keesler told Naples City Council on May 7, warning residents not to approach the foundation now because grant funds have dwindled. “We really don’t know what money is going to be left.”
Home elevations are complex projects that require permitting, demolition, the installation of new septic systems and electrical connections, foundation and staircase construction and pilings that will lift homes more than eight feet up, away from the water line.
Work started a year ago and city permit approvals took longer than other governments, but the foundation is hoping the state will grant a one-year extension and the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency will contribute in the future.
“We really see this as a pilot for that area and when we get one done, there will be many more who want [it],” Connolly-Keesler said. “… Let’s get through one. Let’s see what it looks like. I think they’re going to be thrilled with it because I’ve seen this [project] in Everglades City. It’s spectacular when it’s lifted. It’s beautiful.”
The foundation elevated three homes in the Plantation Island-Chokoloskee area, including a Plantation Island home owned by Terri Rementeria and her mother Joan Griffin. Their house had been in their family for four generations, was flooded by two hurricanes and was replaced by a new home that stands 10 feet above ground. Also lifted were two homes in Everglades City, where two more are pending. At Enchanting Shores Co-Op mobile home park near Lely, three homes were replaced and one was elevated.
River Park is a historically Black, low-income city neighborhood developed in the 1960s for Black workers, but it’s since become very diverse. Dean’s home at 508 13th Street N. required council approval because it was built in 1962 and is about two feet short of a 25-foot required front yard setback, making it a lawful non-conforming use. Records show the only changes made were adding hurricane awnings in 1984 and minor alterations in 1990.
“In order to raise the elevation of the house, it is considered an expansion of that nonconformity,” City Planner Erica Martin told council, adding it needs a front door landing and external stairway that further encroach into the setback.
No residents within 1,000 feet objected, she said, and the city Planning Advisory Board unanimously recommended approval, but suggested reworking the landing. That wasn’t possible, she said, and the PAB recommended the elevation.
‘Sitting in a bowl’
Penny Taylor, a former city vice mayor and county commissioner, is now the coordinator of the foundation’s disaster relief program. She told council River Park needs to be addressed.
“The president of River Park Association calls it sitting in a bowl,” Taylor said of flooding.
She went to 35 homes, but many wanted to see a neighbor to do it first. After securing funding, she said, Dean was the only interested homeowner, telling her it’s important because it was her mother’s home and she’d worked two jobs to raise her three children there. Taylor said River Park Association President James Whittaker also is interested.
The more homes elevated in the city, the lower the cost, Taylor said, noting the elevation process alone takes five days.
Work will be done by Texas-based Brizo Construction LLC, which has offices in Punta Gorda, and specializes in federal grant work and elevations. Tim Hart, Brizo’s general manager, told council it’s important to raise the home so Dean isn’t standing in five feet of water after a hurricane.
“Instead of just tearing down these houses that have character and history to build a brand-new house, you can take that old house and lift it straight up,” Hart said. “… This would be a great thing for the whole neighborhood, too.”
Citing the permitting delays, Councilman Ray Christman urged council and city officials to make code changes so the permitting process is quicker and easier for minor changes such as this. Council unanimously approved the non-conforming use, and work is expected to be completed in August once a staging area is approved.
This story was published in The Naples Press on May 30.
