Rick and Amy Loughery. FILE PHOTO

What a difference three months make. Back in August, Rick Loughery went on the roof of his Estero Boulevard garage for more than five days to protest the opinions of town and state officials that he believed would have left him with no choice but to tear down his garage to rebuild it to meet the new floodplain codes after it survived Hurricane Ian.

With their Fort Myers Beach home demolished by Hurricane Ian, Rick and Amy Loughery were faced with the prospect of seeing a garage they spent more than $100,000 to build, being needlessly destroyed. Rick believed he was facing a bureaucracy following new floodplain maps to deprive him of the right to keep his property.

On Monday, the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council unanimously approved a variance for the garage, which will allow the Lougherys to build their new home and keep their garage.

“We broke ground today on our new home,” Amy said.

An administrative decision by town and state officials that concluded the garage was laterally attached to their home, despite the fact that the garage survived Hurricane Ian intact and the home was destroyed almost cost them their garage. Town and state officials had originally concluded that since the structure was considered connected to the destroyed home, more than 50% of the value was damaged and had to be built to new FEMA codes with a higher foundation, a second floor and breakaway walls.

After a meeting between town officials, the Florida Department of Emergency Management’s Office of Floodplain Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency in August, the town received an email from the state floodplain manager which revised the initial assessment and provided the town with alternative option without negatively impacting the town’s national flood insurance program rating.

“We would like to thank the Local Planning Agency and council for their support and approval,” Amy said.