La Ola appealing administrative law judge’s decision, owner vows to stay open
Fort Myers Beach, under FEMA's urging, pursued restaurant for operating mobile trailer at Times Square
“God save La Ola,” said Chris Primeau, owner of the Times Square property that houses La Ola Surfside Restaurant.
When Hurricane Ian roared down on Fort Myers Beach in 2022, it took many good buildings and people with it.
The town’s tourist heartland at Times Square was decimated with every building on its beachside row destroyed. The only buildings that survived were the ones facing Estero Boulevard.
Among the lost were the buildings housing La Ola Surfside Restaurant and The Sandal Factory, owned by Primeau.
Yet La Ola owner Tom Houghton wasn’t ready to give up on Fort Myers Beach without a fight. A week after the hurricane, Houghton had purchased a trailer for a food truck and by November was serving food to contractors and cleaning crews on the island. He was one of the first businesses to be up and operating in a limited capacity.
Now he is facing the loss of his business on Fort Myers Beach due to code enforcement being waged by the town at the behest of FEMA to enforce special flood hazard area and coastal high hazard area protections in the town by eliminating commercial trailers.
An order from an administrative law judge last week requires Houghton and Primeau to remove the trailer and container by March 1 or face fines of $250 per day in order to comply with the town’s local development code barring the structure in the flood hazard area. Houghton and Primeau are appealing the decision. Houghton said he will continue operating La Ola during the appeal.
“We’re trying to mastermind a solution that will allow Tom to stay there in the short-term and create an opportunity to stay there in the long term,” Primeau said.
“We’re still waiting on an answer on what we can do. There is a lot of what we can’t do, not what you can do,” Primeau said. “I think they should give us a little leniency.”
Several weeks after Hurricane Ian, the town council approved temporary use mobile trailer permits and food trucks for businesses which had lost their shell buildings to Hurricane Ian. Houghton bought a shipping container bar and was back in business.
La Ola’s business was revived with its outside tables a draw for visitors with one of the only beach views for restaurants on the island at the time. Primeau funded a new mural on the property to replace the elevator shaft, drawing more attention to the Times Square property.
The subsequently-elected council the next year amended the resolution to allow expanded uses.
La Ola was one of the most festive locations on the island the following New Year’s Eve with islanders and visitors packing onto the property to enjoy the fireworks and live music. The restaurant is known for its regular live music.
Primeau, who owns the property that Houghton rents space from, said the expectation was that the updated permit issued by the town council in 2023 would be valid through September of 2025. That changed after the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council passed a resolution last year to revoke the temporary permits for commercial trailers and containers, issuing dozens of violations to local businesses as well as most of the town’s condo buildings.
The town had been under pressure from FEMA last year to remove non-compliant shipping containers and temporary structures in the special flood hazard area and coastal high hazard areas. FEMA rejected an appeal by the town council from an order by FEMA to remove the structures. The town council eventually approved a special magistrate process with the state through an administrative law judge to handle the enforcement of its code violations for the trailers and containers.
Meanwhile, FEMA took away the town’s 25% discount through the National Flood Insurance Program by placing it on probation for a range of issues relating to alleged permitless work after Hurricane Ian and other code-related issues.
While the town says the majority of violators have complied with the order, La Ola has opposed the measure. Its operator and property owner are looking for more time and are pleading their case that they are not a flood hazard due to the mobile equipment they use. That equipment allows them to pick up and leave at a moment’s notice if a hurricane is on the way – the way they did before Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
Houghton hopes to be celebrating La Ola’s 15th anniversary on the island this July. The restaurant has a food truck where burritos and tacos are sold, and specializes in serving locally-caught shrimp. They serve shrimp tacos, peel-and-eat shrimp and fried shrimp baskets along with drinks. They also serve breakfast. After Hurricane Ian, Houghton opened up a new location for La Ola in Fort Myers at Bell Tower which offers more of the expanded menu that was offered by the restaurant before Hurricane Ian.
Houghton said business at the Fort Myers Beach restaurant was slow in January due to the cold weather but said business has recently picked up.
Houghton said the trailer and container is a “common sense solution” in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian to the flood zone issue FEMA has raised.
Primeau said that the mobile trailers that Houghton uses, allows him to get all his equipment off the island quickly when an impending hurricane is on the way.
“If a storm is coming, you can move it. You only have to lose everything once to know you don’t want to lose it,” Primeau said. “You don’t want to spend millions.”
“I hope FEMA will agree and get the town off probation,” Houghton said. Houghton said if he is able to win his appeal over the FEMA and town enforcement, he will submit plans to rebuild La Ola with a higher-elevated container and decks with a synthetic tiki hut roof.
“Our location is a unique property that can’t be replicated,” Houghton said.
“Tom is just trying to pay his employees,” Primeau said.
Getting Times Square back to what it once was has been a slow process. At first, property owners were working together on a solution to build a new Times Square that would look more of like a waterfront mall. Then the town, to the surprise of some owners, developed their own plan. Primeau said that impacted rebuilding plans and then two Times Square property owners died. One of the larger parcels sold last year as plans continue to evolve for what will happen to the tourist center next to Lynn Hall Memorial Park and the town’s most heavily visited beach.
Meanwhile, repairs on the Fort Myers Beach Pier at the center of Times Square and one of the island’s main attractions, is not expected to be completed until 2028.
“There doesn’t need to be a hurry to do things the wrong way,” Primeau said of the enforcement sought by the town and FEMA against La Ola. “I think there needs to be some patience and common sense.”
Primeau said the Times Square property has been in his family’s hands for 50 years. If he were to lose La Ola as a tenant, it would be difficult to replace him. “If he gets out because of all this business, do you know how hard it is to find somebody to replace him? It forces us to sell,” Primeau said.
“We want to be part of the rebuild,” Primeau said.
“I look forward to a positive outcome for the Town and La Ola,” Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers said.
Primeau said that if La Ola has to close, “it will crush this corner of the island.”