Local business people complainof dilemmas to legislators at forum

LAKEWOOD RANCH — It was a litany of bureaucratic nightmares Friday as local business people described their daily struggles with government red tape.

Everything from complaints about how eviction laws work to what fire marshals can require of an already-permitted construction project was grist for a panel of legislators whose forum addressed the dilemmas of red tape.

The session, sponsored by the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange, took place at State College of Florida’s Lakewood Ranch campus.

Serving on the panel were incoming Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos, state Sens. Mike Bennett and Nancy Detert; and state Reps. Keith Fitzgerald, Doug Holder and Ken Roberson.

The session began with Martin Faust, who operates Insurance by Design in Sarasota, who told the panel he rents housing and is “overrun” with tenants with drug issues.

However, to evict them and get better tenants, Faust has to comply with state eviction laws, which drag the whole process out much longer than it needs to be, he said.

Faust also complained that fees for hiring process servers to notify tenants of their eviction had jumped from $100 to $300, adding, “we’re awash in fees.”

Kim Binkley-Seyer, of The Seyer Group of Sarasota, complained that after a permit is issued for residential construction, fire marshals can “create a whole new host of regulations.”

She noted, however, she had not seen the problem occur in Sarasota and Manatee counties, but added, that elsewhere, the system seems “very unreasonable.”

Peter Kiziu, a business services representative for Suncoast Workforce Board Inc., of Sarasota, told the panel that Sarasota County requires a percentage of its construction project jobs to be reserved for local residents.

It has helped to keep the local economy going, and he urged the panel to apply the idea on a broader scale.

Detert replied, “We’re working toward that.”

Paul Blackketter, representing Benderson Development Co., complained that Florida’s planning and permitting process is rife with duplication unlike many other states, where his company also does business.

“It’s about redundancy,” he said. “We gotta send a sign we’re open for business, it’s easy to come down here and work.”