BREAKING: Key West Planning Department Recommends Denial of Ramsingh After-the-Fact Variance Requests

In question are renovations made by the former Chief Building Officer while he held city office; Staff recommends denial and postponement to November meeting.

The house in question at 2827 Harris Avenue, left, and renderings. Ramsingh undertook renovations while he was in charge of the Key West Building Office.

City planning staff are recommending that the Key West Planning Board deny an after-the-fact variance request from Rajindhar M. “Raj” Ramsingh, the city’s indicted former Chief Building Official, whose personal property improvements — including an unpermitted swimming pool — have become a flashpoint in the city’s broader corruption probe.

The variance, originally scheduled for the October 16 Planning Board meeting, has been postponed to November 20, 2025, after staff requested additional time to review the case.

Acting Planning Director James Singelyn said the extra month will allow the department to complete its compliance review amid ongoing criminal and administrative investigations involving Ramsingh’s tenure.

In a five-page staff report, Singelyn concluded that Ramsingh’s request — which seeks to retroactively legalize an unpermitted ingress/egress addition that pushed total building coverage to 45.5%, well beyond the 35% limit allowed in the single-family zoning district — fails to meet five of seven standards required by city code.

“The applicant took the existing house and created a five-bedroom house creating the condition,” the report states. “The variance would confer special privileges and expand an existing nonconformity.”

Unpermitted Work Conducted While Ramsingh Held Office

City records and building-permit logs show that Ramsingh performed or oversaw substantial unpermitted construction at his property at 2827 Harris Avenue while serving as Chief Building Official, the city’s top enforcement authority for zoning, inspections, and compliance.

Among the features now under review is an unpermitted swimming pool, which city sources confirm could be subject to removal or demolition if the variance is denied. The same applies to an unauthorized wraparound porch expansion and second ingress/egress, which triggered the after-the-fact variance request.

The report makes clear that the work occurred without necessary permits or inspections — despite Ramsingh’s own responsibility for enforcing those requirements citywide.

Felony Charges and Preferential Permitting Allegations

Ramsingh, along with his brother, former City Attorney Ron Ramsingh and former Code Enforcement Director Jim Young, faces 21 felony charges following a sweeping Monroe County Grand Jury investigation that exposed preferential permitting practices and self-dealing within the city’s Building Department.

That investigation, conducted jointly with the FBI, remains active.

The grand jury’s findings led to a city-commissioned audit soon to be underway which will target numerous building permits issued or modified under Ramsingh’s oversight for developers, realtors, and contractors with personal or professional ties to him. Several of those same entities have been linked to politically connected projects fast-tracked during his administration.

Critics Question Ramsingh’s Sudden Appeal for Relief

The timing of Ramsingh’s variance request — and his sudden reliance on the very code he long flouted — has not gone unnoticed by city officials and residents.

Critics have questioned why the former top building official, who allegedly operated his private contracting and inspection business while drawing a city salary and approving his own department’s work, is now seeking relief under rules he spent years ignoring.

“If Ramsingh felt he was above the law when he was running his side business and signing off on permits for friends and allies,” one city watchdog said, “it’s hard to understand why he now expects the Planning Board to bail him out of a mess he created himself.”

Staff Findings: ‘Not in Compliance’

City planners found the application fails to satisfy the majority of variance standards outlined in Section 90-395 of the City Code:

• Special conditions: None demonstrated.

• Conditions not created by applicant: Hardship was self-inflicted.

• Special privileges: Approval would expand nonconformities.

• Hardship: None proven.

• Minimum variance: Not the minimum necessary for reasonable use.

Staff noted that while the variance would not directly harm public welfare, it conflicts with the Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations, which explicitly discourage retroactive legalization of unpermitted work — particularly by former officials who once enforced those same rules.

Next Steps: Hearing Delayed to November 20

The Planning Board is now expected to hear the case at its November 20 meeting at City Hall, 1300 White Street beginning at 5 p.m.. Staff have urged board members to deny the variance and maintain accountability as the city continues auditing permits issued under Ramsingh’s leadership.

If the board follows the recommendation, Ramsingh could be ordered to remove or demolish noncompliant additions — including the unpermitted swimming pool and porch expansion — to bring the property into full compliance with zoning and floodplain regulations.