Punta Gorda property owners seek to demolish their homes built in 1950 and 1951 on Chasteen Street, but one could be denied the request despite numerous flooding events due to its location within the city’s Historic District.
The approximately 50-acre Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places around 1991 “due to the area’s architectural significance, and the district remains on the National Register,” wrote Zoning Official Rachel Barry to City Council on Dec. 4.
The 1951 house at 111 Chasteen St. is within the Historic District, and it will be up to the Historic Preservation Advisory Board on Dec. 17 to recommend whether it should be delisted from the local register.
Barry recommended City Council deny the delisting request.
At an earlier meeting, Council withheld its decision pending the recommendation of the advisory board.
T.J. Thornberry, owner of Thornberry Custom Builders, will testify on behalf of the property owners at the advisory board meeting.
He said the owners of 111 Chasteen St. are seeking to have him build a new, custom home with a design that would complement the Historic District. The owners plan to invest about $1 million in the project.
“The intention of the owners is to demolish the existing structure as quickly as possible, rebuild to today’s elevated standards and to the new Florida Building Codes and ordinances of the city of Punta Gorda,” he wrote to the city Nov. 5.
Drumm Engineering provided a professional opinion letter that stated numerous flood events “have demonstrated signs of damage.”
“As you may determine from the accompanying photographs and engineer evaluation, the structural integrity of the home is compromised and will continue to be compromised due to frequent flooding. The original design and construction of the home was not intended to withstand flood loads on the walls or foundation,” Thornberry continued in his Nov. 5 letter.
Thornberry said if the home wasn’t located within the Historic District, it could be torn down since it sustained over 50% of damage from flooding. Homes on historic registers and within historic districts are exempt from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s 50% rule.
Damage to the home is apparent from photos Thornberry presented. He said the structure was flooded seven times in more than 14 months.
The 964 square foot home has two bedrooms and one bathroom, according to Zillow data.
The other home at 359 Chasteen St. is 792 square feet and has one bedroom and one bath. It was built in 1950 and is now dwarfed by surrounding homes built at later dates and at higher elevations.
In its professional report, Drumm Engineering stated the home was flooded multiple times during past hurricanes over the last several years and the building was never designed to handle such flooding events.
Thornberry said the home “is an eyesore. It’s rotting and growing mold.”
Unlike her recommendation for 111 Chasteen St., Barry said the city should delist the 359 Chasteen St. home from the Local Register.
Thornberry said when the homes were built in the early 1950s, the area did not experience current weather patterns, and each home should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Both of the single-family homes on Chasteen Street were built on slab-on-grade, a method in which a concrete foundation is poured onto the ground at grade level.
The Historic Preservation Advisory Board meeting starts at 9 a.m. Dec. 17 at the Military Heritage Museum, 300 Marion Ave. in Punta Gorda.
