La Ola attorney Amy Thibaut has filed the restaurant’s final brief with the Lee County Circuit Court. The Town of Fort Myers Beach is trying to remove La Ola from its current location in Times Square.
The case started months ago when Florida Administrative Judge John Laningham, acting as a Special Magistrate for the town, ruled that La Ola was in violation and needed to be out of Times Square by March 1st or face daily fines of $250. Owner Thomas Houghton appealed the ruling on February 12th, ten days after Laningham’s ruling, to the Lee County Circuit Court and that started a back-and-forth of filings between the town and Houghton’s attorney Amy Thibaut. The filings ended with the most recent filing (READ IT HERE). The next step is for the court to set a hearing. The timing of when that will be set is unknown.
The race to chase La Ola from Times Square started when FEMA told town officials they wanted all containers, conex boxes and anything else that could fly around in a storm removed from the island. FEMA then proceeded to take away the town’s 25% discount in FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program. Mayor Dan Allers and the town staff have put the town on the path to get the discount back and Allers has made it clear he believes La Ola needs to go in order to make FEMA happy…