NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — New Smyrna Beach Zone 2 Commissioner Lisa Martin is two weeks into her new job and she is already trying to help residents that were impacted by Hurricanes Ian and Nicole.

“We are a community,” explained Martin. “We are in this together and we are going to figure this out together.”

On Tuesday night she met to discuss the coastal impacts and beach erosion, Wednesday’s focus was the Central Beach neighborhood.

“I will be working with city staff on answers that we can put out immediately, answers as they come up. We all know that what occurred in Volusia County alone will take years to fix. We don’t like that answer but it is the truth,” added Martin.

John Overchuck lives off of 16th street in New Smyrna Beach and walked into Tuesday night’s meeting hoping to get some answers about rebuilding, but instead, he walked out frustrated.

“There was no answers to any of our questions. I respect they tried but this is all under the county’s regime, so the county has to answer the questions,” said Overchuck. “They are not even here. No one here from the county showed up, no one from the DEP showed up, and the turtle people who actually believe it or not stop everything they never showed up.”

He said with Ian there was a lot of rain and Nicole just came in and wiped everything away and all he wants to do is protect his property and try to save it, but he says the only answer he is getting is “no”.

“This is our family’s hard-earned money for our homes, I want to pass on to my daughter one day, and all of a sudden, I am seeing it getting destroyed. We were literally feet from the entire thing falling into the water. We just want to be able to protect it,” explained the coastal resident.

While Commissioner Martin is working on getting answers for her constituents, those looking to meet with state and county officials can do so on Thursday and get a head start on permitting to begin rebuilding along the coast.

She said some of the questions that people have could hopefully be answered at that meeting. Many residents have voiced concerns and frustrations with various meetings happening throughout the week. Martin reiterates that the process can take a while.

“We are still trying to recover from 2017 with Irma. So, as we get answers as we get direction, I’ll be able to roll it out. I believe in accurate information, not I want, I wish or I hope. This is what is actually happening,” added the commissioner.

Permits are something that was also the focal point of a recent meeting for Wilbur by the Sea residents, who were told the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is the agency to sign off on the next steps for rebuilding.

Thursday’s meeting will include officials from New Smyrna Beach and other cities impacted along the coast as well as Volusia County and Florida Department of Environmental Protection officials.

That state agency is key in the permitting process, as many home and business owners look to rebuild after Hurricane Nicole.