After a tough hurricane season, homes are literally being lifted out of flood-prone areas. While home lifting isn't new, it's becoming more common in the Tampa Bay area due to rising flood risks. But one St. Petersburg woman found the paperwork can be more complicated than the lift itself. Nancy Biddle has owned a home in Shore Acres for 20 years. She had just spent more than $50,000 renovating it before last year's hurricane season. "It was so beautiful," she said. Nancy was ready to take things a step further to protect her investment when she noticed the house next door getting a lift. "He told me what they were doing and why they were doing it. And this house that I can't rent, can't sell, needs a solution and this sounds like a solution to me. So I contracted with them. This house will be lifted," she explained. Albert Jasuwan and Jeff Trosclair own JAS Construction. They had everything ready to go to lift Nancy's home last spring, except a permit. Nancy found herself waiting. "The permit took, unfortunately, 8 months, so in that next 8-month period we got two more hurricanes, which both hit this house in this neighborhood," she said. Trosclair says it's taking longer to get permits. "The permit process used to be 30 days, now it's around 60 days before we hear back from them, sometimes more than that. Just because of the demand that we have right now with all the storms," he explained. Trosclair says Nancy's home was even more complicated. It was built in the 50's and grandfathered into the older setback requirements. So when she wanted to lift the home as-is, in the same spot, they had to take the extra step of requesting a variance. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/weather/hurricane/home-repair-permit-hurricane-st-pete-florida/67-619bd6e9-2796-44ca-b267-6fec1ba217b1