PASS-A-GRILLE, Fla. — Hurricane season started June 1, and so many people in the Tampa Bay region are still cleaning up from the 2024 season, especially on the coast.
ABC Action News Anchor Lauren St. Germain went down to Pass-a-Grille to follow through on the recovery. She listened to people who are still putting their homes back together and learned a certain designation is helping them get the process done.
Pass-a-Grille is Amy Loughery’s home.
WATCH NOW: Historic designation helps Pass-A-Grille residents recover from last hurricane season
“Why did you want to do business here on the beach?” asked St. Germain.
“I’ve always lived here. My first apartment in 1974 was right across the street, so this is my hood,” said Loughery.
Last year, back-to-back hurricanes made her home unrecognizable from her store to her house.
“Three and a half feet in there, it [water] came up to the doorknobs. You can see the waves coming through,” said Loughery as she explained the damage to her stores.
“It was at the doorknob right here, which we never had water before, so it was a surprise. You can still see some of it here,” said Loughery as she showed us the damage to her home.
Many people in the Tampa Bay region are at the mercy of FEMA’s 50% rule when rebuilding after storms; however, Amy Loughery is one of several who are not.
“It’s a cypress cottage, probably built in the 30s. It was built, I believe as like a fishing cabin,” said Loughery.
She continued, “I was able to get my work done without being subject to the 50% rebuild because I was a designated historic structure, that opened the door for me to go ahead and not have to comply with the 50%."
Bill Loughery is Amy’s brother. He’s also on the St. Pete Beach Historic Preservation Board.
“So, a lot of the homes around here have historic designations?” asked St. Germain.
“Absolutely, almost probably two-thirds to three-quarters of them qualify to be historically designated, that’s something you have to voluntarily do. There’s probably 80 homes or so right now that are historically designated and another 150-200 that could be if they wanted to be,” said Bill Loughery.
He continued, “So many of these homes, the value of the structure is not great, especially the old houses. Isn’t very high, and so the 50% threshold to be considered substantially damaged is pretty low. So many of these homes, the old homes, they are faced with, do I demolish it or raise it in the air, or do I try to get a FEMA variance by being historically designated?”
“And what will that allow them to do, that FEMA variance?” asked St. Germain.
“You’re not considered substantially damaged, so you don’t have to knock your house down, you don’t have to flood-proof it. You don’t have to raise it another story. You can replace it the way it is, keeping it historic,” said Bill Loughery.
He explained that some people go this route to rebuild after a storm, while others choose to demolish their homes.
“It’s good living. It’s simply living, but good living,” said Amy Loughery.
For Amy, it’s all about keeping the historic charm that makes Pass-a-Grille so special and rebuilding the neighborhood she loves.
“I thought, oh my God, my shops are wiped out, and now my house, how am I going to do this, ya know? It’s crazy, you know you don’t think you have it in you, but you find it, you find your strength,” said Amy Loughery.
For more information on historic property incentives in St. Pete Beach click here.
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