The owner of a house being called a "death trap" is fighting the Town of Fort Myers Beach on whether the building is considered "unsafe."
The house, which has been in shambles since Hurricane Ian, with ripped-up siding and electrical wires dangling like threads, is across from the Pink Shell Resort on Estero Boulevard.
A crumbled-up sailboat is on the front lawn, a staircase is hanging off the second story, and people who live nearby say they've seen squatters go in and out of the building.
"We had to stress with significant letters and phone calls to the owner just to get the fence put up," Bill Waichulis, the general manager at the Pink Shell, said, "It’s just not fair. I mean, it’s been two years now, and everyone has done their due diligence to fix their properties and, unfortunately, this gentleman is absent."
The Pink Shell owns land on both sides of the dilapidated house. The resort says the building is a safety concern and also a detriment to other businesses on the beach.
"It's not very eye-appealing," Diane Malec, a Fort Myers resident taking her grandkids on vacation to the beach, said, "If you own the property, no matter where you live, you need to come up to code with all the repairs."
In July, the town notified the owner that the building needed to be demolished or the town would take action to tear it down. Sergei Kaminsky is listed as the owner of the house. He lives in California.
Kaminsky's lawyer, Noel Davies, filed an appeal claiming the town failed to provide details on why the building is considered unsafe and argues the demolition notice wasn't properly posted.
NBC2 could not get hold of Kaminsky before the time of publishing. Davies declined to make a comment.
The town hasn't sent anything out to the owner since officials turned down his proposal to transform the damaged structure into a seven-story resort, with 12 multi-family units.
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