Condos in Daytona Beach Shores damaged by Ian and Nicole could face millions in repairs

Mike Jeffers is one of many condominium residents in Volusia County trying to navigate a complex and costly storm recovery process ― and, like others, he said coastal property owners need help.

Jeffers is the treasurer of Sherwin Condominiums condo association in Daytona Beach Shores. The property sustained over $1.5 million in damage from Tropical Storm Ian and an undetermined amount of damage in Tropical Storm Nicole, he said. Officials have been hauling in sand at $530 a truckload, with probably about 800 truckloads needed to repair the property.

"There's not enough sand available at $530," he said. "I'm sure we're going to run out of the $530 sand and then have to start paying higher prices as these other pits open up."

About 45 people including Jeffers from multiple condos along the coast met Monday at the south tower of the Dimucci Twin Towers in Daytona Beach Shores to discuss hurricane recovery efforts. The meeting also included comments from Daytona Beach Shores Councilman Richard Bryan, Daytona Beach Shores City Manager Kurt Swartzlander and Volusia County Growth and Resource Management Director Clay Ervin.

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James Sandidge, another Sherwin resident who spoke with The News-Journal alongside Jeffers, said that combining efforts among coastal property owners would help.

"Right now we're working independently, so we're all fighting for the same resources," Sandidge said.

"Each condo's got their own engineer, their own seawall constructor, their own exfiltration person, their own pool person," Jeffers added.

"Figuring out the rules themselves, you know, instead of collectively having someone say, 'There's five steps involved,'" Sandidge said.

Jeffers said another key need is financial help.

"All these costs have to be passed onto our residents. ... A lot of them are on a fixed income," he said.

Robin White, president of the Dimucci Twin Towers condo association echoed some of those concerns. She said the association has created a disaster recovery team focusing on finding funding resources and dealing with government and media relations.

"We all need to work together in order to get the message out there in trying figure out how we can put back our properties, find some funding resources (and) work with governmental agencies maybe on a partnership basis or grant basis to figure out how we can pay for it so that all the financial stress and burden isn't just on our homeowners ― because, again, the way we kind of looked at it, we may be looking at about $4 million that 136 owners are going to have to end up paying for."

White said $4 million is not a final estimate for Dimucci Twin Towers repairs.

People still have a lot of unanswered questions, from how tall their seawalls should be, how much repairs will cost and whether turtle season will hinder their recovery efforts. Officials tried to answer some of those questions.

Turtle nesting season begins May 1. Ervin said normally that would interrupt beach construction, but county officials are working on finding ways to allow coastal repairs to continue during turtle nesting season, he said.

State lawmakers could provide more hurricane relief to residents. Filed this month, disaster relief measures Senate Bill 4A and House Bill 3A would, among other things, create the Hurricane Restoration Reimbursement Grant Program. The program would provide up to $150,000 to reimburse construction costs for projects related to Tropical Storms Ian or Nicole. Eligible projects would include sand placement and temporary or permanent armoring. Condo owners could apply.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has made it easier to get a seawall in Volusia County. FDEP, which controls seawall permitting, now considers coastal structures to be vulnerable if they are between reference monuments R51 to R143 (Amsden Road in Ormond Beach south to Inlet Harbor Road in Ponce Inlet) and R161 to R194 (Sapphire Avenue south to the Sandpiper Condominiums in New Smyrna Beach), according to the county. Getting that designation had been a obstacle for some people in getting a seawall.

The Small Business Administration will waive interest and extend the initial payment deferment period to one year for all loans approved for a disaster declared on or after Sept. 21, 2022, and until Sept. 30, 2023. This covers loans available for Tropical Storm Ian. For information, people can go to disasterloanassistance.sba.gov/ela/s/ or call 800-659-2955.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia, Florida condo owners face millions in hurricane recover costs