They can raise the house. But where do the stairs go?

REDINGTON SHORES — Nearly two years after hurricanes Helene and Milton, property owners trying to elevate storm-damaged homes are coming up against an unexpected obstacle: Where do the stairs go when there's no room for them?

That question has surfaced in this coastal beach town of 2,000, where two property owners preparing to raise their homes above the floodplain found they couldn't legally build the exterior stairways needed to reach them without zoning variances.

In one case, owner Danny Pownall said he spent months working with engineers, contractors and town staff to elevate his waterfront triplex at 135 175th Terrace Dr. E., only to learn the project required four variances.

Those variances were needed, he was told, because the new stairways needed to reach the elevated living area extended into required setbacks — the minimum required distance between a building and a property line.

Unlike a single-family home, an elevated duplex or triplex must provide code-compliant access to each dwelling unit, often requiring multiple exterior stairways.

"I followed every guideline with everyone here on what to do," Pownall told town commissioners on July 8, after a special magistrate denied his variance request.

A second variance requested by Michael and Marisa Barnas, owners of a duplex at 165 Coral Ave. E., involved similar challenges but was ultimately approved. Their contractor told the special magistrate the home's existing interior staircase no longer met modern building and fire codes and argued an exterior staircase was needed to provide safer access for residents and emergency responders.

Town officials now are reconsidering decades-old setback regulations that are colliding with the realities of post-hurricane rebuilding.

"It's not fair to be expecting people to lift their homes and yet they can't get a variance to put a staircase to get into that lifted home," Town Manager Margaret Carey told commissioners after they heard Pownall describe his predicament.

The problem isn't limited to Redington Shores.

Neighboring Redington Beach earlier this year amended its zoning code to allow stairways serving elevated homes to extend farther into required setbacks. The change is intended to reduce the need for homeowners to seek variances, which under Florida law must be based on hardships related to the property rather than the structure.

Redington Shores is considering similar changes. These include expanding allowable stair encroachments for elevated homes and creating an administrative approval process for minor encroachments that now require formal variance hearings.

Planning staff recommended denying Pownall's request, concluding the proposed stairways did not satisfy the legal standards required for a variance. Staff made a similar recommendation in the Barnas case.

But after taking both applications under advisement, Special Magistrate Jorge Martin reached different conclusions. In a June 30 order, he granted the Barnases' request based on unique conditions at their property, while finding Pownall had not demonstrated the hardship required for a variance.

Pownall disagreed with that conclusion.

"I will tell you, my tenant almost drowned," he told commissioners. "My neighbor, three doors down, did drown. So how am I not in a hardship?"

Town Attorney Nancy Meyer said Florida's variance standards leave little room to consider the unique challenges facing homeowners elevating older structures after the hurricanes.

Variances generally must be based on hardships associated with the land itself, such as an unusually shaped lot, rather than a building’s design or an owner's personal circumstances.

Commissioners directed Meyer and town planner David Dixon to begin drafting possible ordinance changes.

One idea would allow stairways serving elevated homes to project farther into required setbacks. Another would create an administrative review process for minor encroachments that currently require formal variance hearings.

The proposals are expected to be discussed at a future workshop before any ordinance is drafted.

Commissioner C.J. Hoyt told colleagues the issue became personal after attending last month’s variance hearing.

"I had tears in my eyes. I was literally crying for this family . . . because we're making it impossible," Hoyt said. "We are forcing them to adhere to floodplain guidelines . . . and not allowing them to be able to access. I mean, we can't do that."

The town's regulations were written long before anyone imagined the widespread home elevations now taking place after the 2024 hurricanes, Hoyt said.

The town manager agreed.

"Now is the time for us to improve as a town and be ready should something like this happen again," Carey said.