- March 11, 2026
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Inside the “Half Moon House” are faux-weathered wooden light fixtures, light-colored fabrics and a driftwood centerpiece on the kitchen island. The interior is clean, bright and new, resembling an inviting, rental-ready beach house.
But outside, some of the pilings the house sit on are thinner at the bases, the paint on them weathered to reveal the wood underneath, and straps connecting them. A rebar-supported plastic orange fence surrounds the house, and the semi-circular seawall the house gets its name from sits crumbling, now resembling road barricades strewn haphazardly across the beach. A bright orange sticker has been placed on a beam next to the stairway up to the front door, the word “unsafe” typed in all caps as the header.
The 1,164-square-foot house built in 1973 faces the threat of demolition after damage from hurricanes in 2024 has gone unrepaired. Owner Donda Mullis said she was “really taken off guard” when she learned the town was taking steps to demolish the building she bought for $4 million in 2023.
“We had been in touch with the town over this past year, abiding by all the things and the proper process that had to be done to get this lower level in order again,” Mullis said. “I’m sure you know in Longboat nothing happens fast, especially after all the destruction here. My goal is to make this perfectly sound, the way it always was, and even more sound.”
To do so, the pilings the house are built on will likely need to be replaced. A pile assessment report performed by Foster Consulting, a marine structural engineering firm, recommended that the house be lifted and supported while concrete columns are poured to replace the weathered portion of the pilings.
“Overall, the majority (over 80%) of the piles have rot or splits between the current sand line and top of the pile cap/girder,” the report, published August 2025, states. “Also, some of the pile-to-pile-cap/girder bolted connections are in poor condition, as there is wood rot and splitting wood from corroded bolts.”
On June 30, 2025, the town sent a letter to Mullis notifying her that the building had been determined unsafe and unfit by the town’s building official. The letter claims that the building has moved, its support pilings are out of alignment, there has been significant degradation of structural components and “the structure is hazardous to neighboring properties and the public due to its likely collapse from marine environment, wave action and/or tropical storm events.”
Electric, water and sewer service were cut off.
The letter stated that repairs to the structure must be completed within 30 days from receipt of the letter. If not, the property would be subject to “abatement as provided for in Section 105.21 of Town Code.” That section of code describes the building official’s rights to order the condemnation, repair or demolition of unsafe structures.
More than eight months after that letter was sent, the town’s building official has begun the process of pursuing a condemnation and demolition order for the house, according to a February memo from Town Attorney Maggie Mooney. The town’s Fire Marshal also evaluated the structure and declared it unsafe and uninhabitable, according to the memo, an important thing to note as it gives the town the power to seek an emergency demolition.
Mooney explained that there are two pathways the town could take to condemn the structure. One pathway would allow the property owner to appeal the town’s decision to condemn the property in a quasi-judicial hearing in which the Town Commission would decide on whether to uphold the building official’s decision. The other avenue is if the building official and fire marshal enter into an emergency demolition process. In that instance, the case would be heard in Circuit Court.
Which pathway the town would take to seek demolition if the property is condemned is yet to be determined.
In both possibilities, the town would need to hire outside counsel as Mooney can only represent Town Commission, not town staff.
At Monday’s Town Commission meeting, commissioners gave approval to retain the law firm of Garcia Dell to represent town staff in any potential hearing. Garcia Dell will represent town staff at a rate of $375 per hour for attorneys and a $150 per hour paralegal rate, according to an engagement agreement letter from the lawfirm.
There was no discussion about the agenda item among commissioners. That comes after advice from Mooney to the Commission via email ahead of the meeting. In the email, Mooney said since there is a possibility commissioners would act as the decision makers in a hearing on the matter, it would be inappropriate to discuss individual properties ahead of that hearing.
“Whenever we have quasi-judicial hearings, hearings that involve a particular property owner in which their rights are going to determined by this board, I’ve frequently told Commission on numerous occasions that you should not be talking about this because you’re going to be serving as a judge,” Mooney said. “If you’re serving as a judge on something, you shouldn’t be weighing in or hearing outside ex parte influences outside the hearing in a matter in which you’re going to actually have ultimate decision making.”
Mullins, wanting to save the Half Moon house, is also retaining counsel.
“This is a really important and special dream property for me,” Mullis said. “We’ve now engaged attorneys.”
The 2024 hurricanes rattled almost every property owner on Longboat Key.
Mullis, who owns seven properties on Longboat Key, was left with four headaches after Helene and Milton’s devastating impacts. In one of those four resided her 92-year-old mother, that house grabbing Mullis’s most urgent attention in the immediate aftermath.
“She fell in the hurricane rubble, and she was hospitalized for six months,” Mullis said. “She was devastated that here she is at 92 years old, starting over again. Her other house had gotten destroyed by Hurricane Charley in Punta Gorda.”
As she has worked to repair four separate properties, the Half Moon House has led to the most delays. It’s anything but typical, plopped in the middle of the beach closer to the mean water line than any other Gulf-facing property on the 11-mile barrier island.
Parsons said the property is currently set back from the erosion control line about 55 to 60 feet. If the property were built today, it would need to be about 95 feet more inland.
During high tide, water would surround the seawall before it was damaged. Now it crashes against the house’s pilings.
Replacing the seawall comes with permitting requirements from the state that have taken time and can only be sought in the winter and spring. Town code prohibits construction during sea turtle nesting season, May 1 to Oct. 31.
The combination of managing repairs at four houses, the complexities of the Half Moon House, caring for an aging mother and working through various agencies for permitting has drawn out the process, but Mullis never gave up.
“It’s so many moving parts that were all in motion. It takes time,” she said. “It’s not just one property to deal with.”
Mullis said she feels that the town has singled her out. She points to the houses neighboring her as an example. Several of the houses neighboring her to the north lie in a dilapidated state.
“I just thought working as closely with the town as we have, the long email trail and the very friendly meetings with the powers that be, I just thought they would have had the courtesy and respect for everything they know I’ve gone through,” Mullis said.
