Houseboat Residents Told They Must Go

KEY WEST, Fla. —  Residents of Key West’s controversial Houseboat Row, battling for their community’s survival even before they were battered by Hurricane Georges last month, were told by state officials Friday that they have five days to move their homes and personal property.

The notices sparked fury among the 26 houseboat owners who have waged a long battle with city and state officials to remain docked in state-owned waters along a Key West sea wall.

Most have vowed to rebuild their homes, which were torn, tossed and partially submerged by Georges’ 100-mph winds and 5-foot storm surge Sept. 25.

Residents who attempted to rebuild uninhabitable boats were threatened with arrest in an Oct. 8 news release from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

“Nobody’s telling any other neighborhood that was injured or destroyed that they can’t rebuild. Why should we be singled out?” said Peter Anderson, owner of the Casa del Sol y Luna, which was damaged by the storm.

State and city officials have decried the floating neighborhood, a vestige of the island’s Bohemian past, as an eyesore, an environmental danger and a weather calamity waiting to happen.

The 11 homes that remained inhabitable after Georges will be allowed to stay until Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles and his Cabinet decide their fate, said John Costigan, a lawyer for the environment department.

But beginning next week, homes that were splintered or destroyed will be removed from the waters by city workers and officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Before Georges struck, Chiles and his Cabinet were due to decide once and for all whether the controversial floating neighborhood should stay or go. But the state says its legal position is clear.

“They have no legal entitlement to be there,” Costigan said.

Anderson said he could not understand why the people whose boats were damaged by Georges should have different rights from those whose homes were still inhabitable.