Now it is time to take a look at the “rebuilding” ordinances in some of the local municipal codes. Hats off to Key West, Florida. They are enlightened and they know the destructive power of nature. Section 122-28 liberally allows most nonconformities to be rebuilt. Compare that to Fort Myers, Florida, a community on the mainland, which has a far more complicated system. Single family houses with nonconformities seem to be alright, but commercial structures with basically more than 50% destruction cannot be rebuilt under Section 98.4. As I said, the ordinance is much more complicated than this one sentence description. Yet, the important point is that the answer to the rebuilding question varies wildly from place to place. A small business person, hit by a hurricane, could not only have uninsurable damage, but also not be able to rebuild his business. Now that is a disaster.
