Rebuilding Process 'Moving Along' for One Lacey Couple

In December, you could catch the breeze from within the Sandy-battered home at 1304 Molokai Drive. The force of the supersotrm separated a wall, leaving a crack with daylight seeping through. Now all that stands is a frame to a new home, a sign of progress.

“It’s moving along,” LeeAnn Rooney said.

She and her husband Timothy Rooney were the first to go before the Board of Adjustment seeking to rebuild their home after Sandy decimated it and all their belongs inside.

The former one-story dwelling is being replaced with a two-story home on 35-foot pilings.

“Losing the house was stressful,” LeeAnn Rooney said of the demolition. “It was something I couldn’t watch. It was rough seeing flat land. But you get past that.”

The couple had hoped to begin building in early February but was held up as they waited for FEMA to introduce their Advisory Base Flood Elevation maps, which would dictate how high the Rooney’s should go. If they had to build even higher, the Rooney’s would have needed to return to the zoning board for another variance. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

So filling was brought in, then the pilings, then lumber for the frame — a post-Sandy house in the making.

All local businesses were used in the process from Borel Docks and Topcoat Paving, Inc. to McGuire Partners, Corp.

The Rooney’s received $20,000 from their insurance and have filed to receive funds through Increased Cost of Compliance. Even if they receive an additional $30,000 through ICC, it’s not enough to cover the $250,000 plus in rebuilding their home.

“What do you build with $50,000?” LeeAnn Rooney said. “The more you wait for help, the less you get done. We borrowed money. That’s what you’ve got to do or else I don’t have a home.”

It has been a long, drawn out process since the storm struck that last week of October and the Rooney’s hope to be in their new home by the July 4 weekend.

But even past the initial shock of Sandy, challenges continue. Originally 30-foot pilings were brought in when 35-foot pilings were needed. The Rooney’s still have more to do — picking siding, floors, furniture, installing air conditioning and heating, etc.

“It doesn’t scare me anymore when they tell me I need another $5,000,” Timothy Rooney said. “Eventually, when it’s over and done with, it’ll be a good thing.”

And the view is “beautiful” from 35 feet up, he said.

“I should’ve done it 10 years ago,” he said.