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Port Richey, FL
The Mallet Neighborhood
Substantial Damage ReversalFEMA ComplianceEntire Neighborhood
“The city told an entire neighborhood they were going to lose their homes. We told them otherwise.”
After a major storm event, the city of New Port Richey conducted substantial damage assessments across a flood-prone neighborhood. Based on those assessments — performed from the exterior only — the city determined that nearly every home in the Mallet neighborhood met or exceeded the FEMA 50% threshold. That meant mandatory elevation or demolition.
⚠What We Walked Into
- An entire neighborhood of homeowners who had been told their homes were substantially damaged — based on exterior-only assessments that didn't account for actual interior conditions.
- City notices had already gone out. Residents were in shock. Some had already started calling demolition contractors.
- Each determination, if left unchallenged, would require the homeowners to either elevate their structures at significant cost or tear them down.
- There was no coordinated response from the neighborhood, and individual homeowners had no idea they could appeal.
⚙How We Solved It
- We filed a public records request with the city to obtain the underlying assessment data and methodology.
- Our team coordinated access to every property in the neighborhood and performed full interior inspections to document actual conditions.
- Our licensed engineer prepared formal affidavits and damage calculations for each property, using market value data and actual repair cost documentation.
- We submitted appeals for every home, backed by engineer-stamped documentation that accurately reflected interior conditions the city's exterior-only review had missed.
- We worked through the appeals process systematically, property by property, until every determination had been reviewed.
✓The Result
- Every substantial damage determination in the neighborhood was reversed.
- 100% permit pass rate across all affected properties.
- No homeowner was required to elevate or demolish their home.
- All properties returned to full FEMA compliance without major structural intervention.
The city said the neighborhood was lost. Every single home was saved.
Got a Similar Situation?
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Whether it's a code violation, an after-the-fact permit, or a FEMA compliance issue — call us before you start guessing what to do next.