all right good morning I'm going to call to order uh the town of lock statue Grove special magistrate code enforcement hearing uh Verizon says it's nine o'clock it's Monday May 6th my name is AMD Barnard I'm going to be the special magistrate uh for this morning's hearing I think most of the uh cases on the agenda this morning are either uh violation or fine assessment hearings so uh the way that those will work is when you hear your case called uh the town Mr MOS is standing where he'll be standing he'll present his side of the case first he'll present any evidence any testimony call any witnesses that the town wishes to put on once the town is finished with its side you will then come to the same Podium where Mr Matos is standing uh give me any verbal testimony show me any documents cross-examine any of the town's Witnesses at the end of that I'll make a final ruling and you'll get a copy of that order uh in the mail first thing or second thing I'm to do after explaining that to you is swear everybody in who's here to testify on any items on today's agenda so if you're here to testify if you could stand and raise your right hands I'm going to swear you all in at the same time if you're here on any of the cases on the agenda stand up and raise your right hands if Madam Council you don't have to actually be sworn but thank you and him is there anybody on the computer okay very good uh with your all your hands raised do you all swear from to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do thank you very much you all may be seated and with that I'll turn it to the the town to call its first case thank you your honor we would like to do some housekeeping on the agenda before we start and we would like to add an stipulation agreement um for property 15427 San Diego Safari revocable trust um this agreement has been executed by um the town and the property owners uh they're not yet to be um they're not ready on on on the zoom but we're we're going to add them probably what's the case number on that one um 231 00002 okay and from the agenda we are going to remove uh case number from the violation hearing cases on the second page case number 23900 03 that has been rescheduled for June we pulled that one and we're also going to pull 243002 from from the violation hidden cases uh that one should have been in compliance but inspection has to be at a special time of the night so we we couldn't complete the inspection before the hearing when I pulled it okay any other changes that's all okay okay so we're going to go ahead start with the first case 2306 0011 and that's MK tropical um just recollect in the last hearing of the last order of your majestry on March 20th was that um the proppr owner was to um obtain the FDA before today's hearing of fines will start uring on April 24 I contacted the property owner who explain to me the difficulties that he was still having with the uh engineering company that has been uh very slow on uh resolving his uh case I then proceed to call the engineer on that company and explained to him that he needed to submit the um comments or the answer to the comments from our Engineers on that day or the day after so our Engineers will have time to review and approve the permit they I just got I got an email Friday night um that they call at 3:51 p.m. on Friday asking where to submit the the comments so waited for the last minute to submit um the responses to uh the comments on on their permit the prop own is here today uh we can hear what uh if you want so add end into that all right so let me so I guess based on the testimony there no permits have been issued by the town as of this morning is that correct that's correct okay what is what did how did you effectuate service for this morning um we posted the your last order and um mail it out u certifi mail it came back uh not delivered but we posted on sorry looking for my we posted on March I'm sorry yeah March 29 and what day did you mail the certified mail iiz but have the receive of the mailing out I have a a return letter but doesn't have a day on it okay either way you posted and I think that the respondent if I'm not mistaken was here at the pr hearing but I'll look at the case File when you hand it to me um so and you also said that they called on Friday at the end of the day to ask how to how to submit their comments did they submit comments or are they waiting for a response from you the the per Department instructed were to uh submit the responses and they said they will okay you know at this point I don't know if they actually were successful on submitting them but normally um we have to allow about two weeks for the reviewing engineer to um approve those or issue more comments if they need to so what's the town seeking today in terms of remedy well um since your owner said that uh we agree in the last hearing that this was the last um continents we're going to provide for this property and while we understand that it's not on the property owners it's not his fault but it's this engineering company has lack on on responding to um the the permit process uh the town is seeking to uh start fines today and agree to when the permits resolve bring it back for uh fire mitigation all right anything further from the town maor okay is a respondent present yes your honor Mr cor here okay come to the podium sir good morning how are you fine thank you uh I know who you are but St your name for the record my name is Muhammad Karim MK tropical fruit farm all right so you've heard what the town has said what's what's going on with your engineer well I talked to them I went there last Friday and talked to them they said they have submitted everything to this uh uh permit take off off and town of Lexi and the technician from the Lexi engineering office is the one taking time to issue a permit so I'm requesting if you can give me another two weeks to have the engineering office review this um comment and probably by then they will issue a permit my trouble Mr Kareem is what what day did you submit they submit April uh 25th 25th of what they submit the comments to the engineering office I have this uh copy of this letter they submitted to the engineering office all right show that to Mr Matos and that one and also they also submit it there's the file and there the one is reviewing it probably another another week or maybe two weeks they will issue appointment what's that document Mr MOS wh why is that document different from the email that I'm looking at here from your your engineer from Friday asking where to submit the documents does your Town attorney want to see that before I see it and these are also the blueprint they have subed to the engineering office so I don't think unless unless you have some strong uh need to have the plans I don't need to see the plans I just need to see when you submitted that's all I need I don't I don't look at the technical documents here in Code Enforcement so um I don't think you need to enter those into the record unless you um I don't think they're relevant to to at least the code enforcement portion they'll be dealt with in the permit review any yes any objection to that document you one well this is not necessar um to enter on on the rer but I'm looking at this plan dated 42624 plan review comments and the letter is dated 425 24 um I would like to know if the letter was actually submitted to the engineering department or was just written on the 25th because if the plans are dated the day after the the letter I don't see how that matches Mr Kareem your response I'm looking at the letter that you handed me this is not confirmation that you submitted to the town this is just a letter from your engineer dated April 25th so this doesn't mean that you submitted or that your engineer submitted this to the town on April 25th do you have anything with you that suggests that I no that's the only thing they gave it to me and they told me that they electronically submitted all the documents are required from the uh engineering office they already submitted everything in the electronically and that's the copy they gave me that this one that's the proof that they have submitted everything to the engineering office all right Mr MOS can you show him this case File Mr Kareem Mr montos is going to show you the the evidentiary case File that the town would like to enter into the record that's the same case File that you reviewed previously it just has the newer documents on the top uh regarding notice for today's hearing an email correspondence received by the town that one I don't I don't have that one oh last time yeah that's the one I I see Mr K any objections to those documents being entered into the record no I don't have okay with that I'll enter in case 23611 the town's evidentiary Case Files composite exhibit one which also includes respondents uh exhibit which I'll denote as R1 which is the letter from DKK Consulting dated April 25th so Mr Kareem the the problem is that despite having a continuance in March you your engineer waited till the last second and you're still not in compliance so I know that's what I have been uh talking with them back and forth back and forth and they're the one is taking long time I don't know why and uh it's really giving me frustration because why they are taking so long time then the last moment they say okay we have submitted everything you know you just have to request for another couple of weeks to issue the permit that's what they told me so your violation order I I issued an order finding violation in July of 2023 I understand so we're almost a year now from that date exactly I've have been trying all my best to get these things resolved and back I was in Washington then I had to fly back here no I understand that but what I'm trying to get you to understand is that I've given you more than enough time to comply more than enough time yes I on I know that so today I'm going to start a fine running I don't have any choice the town can't wait forever so um what I'm hoping is that that order that starts a fine running will incentivize your engineer when you show to your engineer that there are daily fines now AC crewing because of their delays that that will help you give them the leverage that they need I guess to finish this project and and and get everything addressed with the town so that you can get permits issued um you know typically in Code Enforcement I have to give you a reasonable amount of time to comply certainly I've given you more than a reasonable amount of time to comply with the continuances since July of last year um I see that you're making progress but they're not getting any closer to getting the permits issued if there are still comments outstanding there's nothing to even suggest to me that you're in a place where you're imminently going to get the permits issued um I don't know if if is going to be the last set of comments but I know it will take weeks to review the comments so um unfortunately I've I've I've got to start the fine running as the code officer indicated and as is certainly true once you get complied you can request to find mitigation hearing and you can come back to me but you're going to need to show me that from today forward all of the efforts that you've done to make your engineer get this done as quickly as possible um and calling the town on the Friday of your compliance date your engineer calling the town on the Friday of the compliance date at 3:51 that is not a good faith effort to get complied um so you should communicate that back to your engineer that they're not doing you any favors in terms of getting getting complied and getting complied timely um that suggests to me that they're they don't really understand the gravity of this and that they're not working to get you complied as quickly as they should be um unfortunately the the the burden falls on you because you're the property owner so I understand you're relying on them but I'm hopeful that this order will will I understood that give you additional evidence to compel them to hurry up um and get through this process because there's no reason that it's that it's taking this long um four or five months maybe but almost a year in that that's a little too long they told me that this questioner the city issued on last time but they never received it by email but I had to go there and submit this to them and they told me that they never received it that's why they start working on this question here and that was in April the 4th I went there and I this and they told me they never receive it through email from the engineering office no I I understand them to start working uh this question here so from April 4th to until Friday they have been trying to but that's a month that's a whole another month yeah that that's what I told them not know why but but they said they have to communicate with the survey office and get the document from the survey office and you know back and forth no I understand that I I just I've given you as I said before I've given you more than a reasonable amount of time to comply so um I'm going to start the fine running today and again once you get complied you can come back and request the fine mitigation hearing you can come back to me and explain to me why the fine should be reduced but you've got to get through this process um and giving you continuances is not um where I'm not you're not getting any closer to compliance anything further you'd like me to hear Mr Kareem at least get two more weeks to have the engine no sir I'm going to start the fine running uh based on my previous order can you reduce the fine then that'll be something we discuss at the fine mitigation hearing I can't reduce the fine until you get into compliance the a fine it'll be a daily fine amount as set in my previous order which was probably $250 a day yes $250 a day that's there's lot of money uh your honor and you know for retired person like me you know 200 people per day and there is not my and not my negligence and somebody's negligence you know and and I should understand can you reduce the F in so you have to get into compliance first okay get into compliance and then you come back to me for fine mitigation hearing and we'll discuss that at that time okay but I I I want to send this a a signal to your engineers they they've got to get you know negotiating comments with the town doesn't shouldn't take this long um wait I don't know if it's just their workload or or what's going on but probably they work good but that's their problem and they're they're unfortunately they're creating a problem for you um so you need to communicate with them that that you don't have any more time here time is up um they need to get this done as quickly as they possibly can but they said they have submitted everything the engineering require requested so now is the engineering hand how long I understand that but but the problem sir is that you waited until the last day of the day that you were supposed to be in compliance to submit the documents to the town if in fact they got submitted on Friday you had two months from the last hearing for your engineer to to respond to comments and get the permits issued they waited till the the your actual compliance date to submit anything anything to the town so now you're standing here telling me that it's in the town's you know essentially the ball's in the town's court and they need to review well that's true but if you would have submitted more timely perhaps you would have been through this process before today I do understand so I again I've given you since July this has been being kicked further and further down the road um so I'm I'm gonna as I said I'm going to start the fine today um or in accordance with the previous order which required compliance honor before May 3d I think not OPP to get and the ball is on the engineering Cod and how how long it will take to issue a perment that's what my question is and and the clock is taking 120 uh uh $250 you saying ma'am $250 a day that's right $250 per day that's a lot of money for poor poor farmer like me I don't have any income from the farm I'm spending all this money and and and now this you know permit things costing me so much I already spent $7,000 to pay them now I pay $3,000 to the city and poor person like me how I'm going to afford it well I don't have any other choice to sell the farm then well that you're as I told you you can come back and request to find mitigation but your focus every day should be on talking to your engineer that's what I've been doing ma'am I've been doing effortlessly and they're the one is not doing their job right and I'm the one getting you know penalized you know all of these things I understand that and I've given you I I've tried to accommodate the time that you need and I've done that for months and months and months and months and months so I'm I I can't continue this again you need to get you know I presume the town will review as expediently as they can but if I were in your shoes I would call the town in by the end of this week and ask them for a status on your the submittal of the comments but first I would confirm that the comments were actually submitted to the town so what Mr Matos is telling you is that your engineers are not being truth with you the town does not have responses to the comments in its system as of today so when you leave this hearing I would call your engineer and explain to them that the town still doesn't have their responses so ask them why they haven't been submitted that's that's really frustrating me that's really frustrating me um your honor in for Mr kareim U uh peace of mind we're going to continue help him through the process just like we call his Engineers before we're going to call now our Consultants to make sure that we follow up on on his permit process make sure that uh his company actually submits the the comments to our engineers and they can be reviewed and we will work with you on on a f mitigation once you are in compliance okay all right anything further Mr Kareem anything further from the town no your honor are there administrative costs for today's hearing yes your in the amount of 2345 and we just got confirmation that there's not submitted from DKK okay it might be a technical issue for them but we'll we'll follow up on that and has the town received there were uh administrative costs in the July order has the towned payment for those I don't have that confirmation do you recall paying for the uh administrative cost before no do I do with 30 days after they um assessed okay all right in case 2306 0011 I've entered the town's case File I've entered respondents exhibit R1 which is the DKK letter I'll find based on the Affidavit of posting that the town had good service for this morning's hearing uh as well as the actual service of Mr Kareem who was present at the March hearing I'll find based on the testimony of the town's code officer that that the respondent remains in violation of section 05- 040 A and B 17510 175 170 and 1 175 240 uh the previous order gring continuance required the respondent to comply honor before May 3rd or face a fine of $250 a day the testimony this morning is that that the respondent remains in violation of those sections so I'm going to assess a find in the amount of $750 and continuing at $250 per day until compli is achieved I'm going to assess $234 in administrative cost for today's hearing payable within 30 days and I'm going to reaffirm the administrative hearing uh administrative costs rather for the July 24th 2023 hearing also in the amount of 23405 so Mr Kem I would um I would recommend that you call your engineer as soon as you leave this hearing this morning and explain that the town is not in receipt of any any uh comment responses I would also let them know that you're being fined $250 per day uh and that they need to get on uh getting these comments to the town so that these permits can get issued okay and you'll get an order that reflects that in the mail sir okay $250 can you do it for $150 per day no sir that is my order uh and you can come back to me for fine mitigation once you're in compliance and I'm certainly willing to uh significantly mitigate the fines uh at that time but I need you to to demonstrate from today forward what you've done to get into compliance okay thank you sir thank you yor I think we are ready for the uh Zoom call okay yeah sure so your honor we've got um the next case is the add-on to the docket it is case number 231 002 town of block aah hatchee Groves versus Safar irrevocable trust um we've got a stipulation and agreed final order special magistrate this this particular case um has two um different violations that were alleged as to the stipulation and agreed order that we're sign handing up and requesting you to sign it is a dismissal of that particular count um so it's just an agreed order that the respondent is not in violation at this point in time and we've submitted the stip and agreed order Allin one document and it's a little bit different than how we normally handle things um so and I also know that it's your preference not to sign things other than on the record so at this point i' I'd ask that I'd be able to approach with the document just before you do um Mr Mr bar I I think I know who you are but your your full name just so the record is clear you may have to you may have to translate to him thank you yeah she asked for your full name Oh Thomas J Jones Foster representing sarar and has he seen the documents uh those are joint and he's in full agreement with the documents that you're intending to present to me yes ma'am can you make sure he confirms that to me can you confirm that Mr beard that you've seen the documents I my client has signed them okay very good okay very good you can approach with the documents please thank you thank you e all right so I've read um both the stipulation and agreed final order as well as the agreed order that the town is requesting me to execute this morning um I don't have any objection to either I guess as it relates to Service uh for this being on an agenda um can you ask Mr bar if he stipulating to any service uh here today I presume that that's not going to be an issue but I just want him to uh communicate that verbally for the record yes ma'am so Mr be the the magistrate indicated that she has read uh the stipulation and proposed agreed order that she has no objection to it but she wanted to confirm that you uh wave any defects with respect to service for today's matter because it was an add-on and we didn't go out and serve your client in the traditional manner pursuant to chapter 162 Florida Statutes did I say anything wrong magistrate no that's exactly right just make sure that he's in agreement with that okay go ahead Mr beard wa service will stipulate that we did receive service via Miss fly's email to me okay thank you uh Mr Barett for that uh and for the record I have signed the agreed order I've dated it today May 6 2024 uh I'll ask it the town um somebody in the room I presume is a notar that has witnessed me signing this I presume actually that's a this is just a certified copy stamp so disregard that uh so I have signed that uh for the record okay thank you thank you Mr be than you Mr bear the magistrate has signed the order um sure go ahead your honor there is a second violation that is uh related to the same it's the same case and that violation has to do with construction well home was built in 1958 without permits um and that's been on your docket for a while and Miss early does not know this because I just received this over the weekend from my client but almost a year ago [Music] exactly uh he had submitted through his architect um plans uh to the building official that were in review and then other things happened and that all got put on hold so what I'm requesting is currently you have scheduled a hearing on this item for June I'm respectfully requesting that you remove that from the docket so that the town and and I can look at this uh the status of this plan I know the the building permit has expired because it's been more than six months but I'd like to go back and see U with the town realistic time frame for compliance assuming we were to you know go to a hearing and be found in uh in violation but I'm hopeful because I've discussed this with the town previously that we can simply move oh I wrote on that corre that violation make a copy so so that's that's fine Mr bar because that other item is not uh technically on my agenda this morning I'm going to leave it to you and Miss early to to deal with that outside of this hearing process um given what you said I may or may not see you at June at the June hearing or at a subsequent hearing but um I'm not going to make any ruling on that here this morning because I don't have anything uh before me uh but I'd encourage you to continue talking with Miss early uh and hopefully you can deal with it in the same manner that you've dealt with this this portion of the case did you hear the magistrate Mr be I did that's great okay um so we'll certainly be in touch with you and we'll we'll um reach an agreement and a stipulation as to as far as what date that matter will be reset to okay and I will these plans that I have so you'll know what I'm talking thank you sir you're welcome thank you Mr bar a you too thank you your honor okay go ahead sir thank you J next case is uh case number 23093 iine investment 3570 B Road so this property was um B in violation I'm sorry this case will start in um September 2023 for um FDA and they started working on on their permit and it was pulled from rotation and we brought it back into rotation to um establish uh violation a fundament violation today um they uh just applied I believe last week um for their FDA permit they submitted an application last week and the property owner um agent is here in response to this case we posted the property on April 4th at the main gate and we also mail the new noov no uh also on April 4th we reissue that notice of hearing because uh the case was pull so it's not a notice of violation a notice of hearing it's just a notice of hearing well no it's both notice of hearing notice of violation was um has the property been found in violation not yet okay so this is a violation hearing not a status hearing correct okay um I guess before you bring me that do you need that if this is if this is a violation hearing I need all of anything you want are going to put on the record as it relates to the violation correct that the original notice of violation was issued by um armenti okay and this property was um cited pre previously last year and the case was dismissed and um an inspection was done by um our consultant engineer uh with armenti uh the property and they agreed with the agent uh on what needed to be resolved and so that the new um noov was issued in September uh with the details of the violation uh they added um uh stalls to to their a barn area on the north side of the property and increase increase their imp previous area on the property I believe that part of the inspection determined that they needed to uh build a small burm around the property and that's where that um violation comes from um the agents had sent us a letter um hold on are we on the are we on I thought we were on the B Road case is that not yes it is a b this is not the right case f then this is collecting Canal Road my B sorry I thought I was having a Twilight Zone moment like what he's saying is not matching what I'm hearing here okay thank you so that letter is from the agent that is here present today she was not going to be present um and we had requested a letter um of them showing the their position and requesting um how much time they'll think they need to uh obtain the permit e so did you do did you do another site visit to the property no I have not I have not been in the property there was a visit from an engineer and a report issued by our engineer it should be there recently uh last year this case is from September last year okay they were to submit to have submitted at the end of last year and I believe that's the reason why this was not brought back um to hearing because AR was waiting for their U permit to be applied for that's why we reissue the notice of violation notice of hearing based on that report so what are you seeking here today then to find them in violation and allow them 60 days to obtain the permit is why we have agreed with the agent you that's the agreement between you and the agent yes the agent is here too okay e the the town's engineer there's a report in here from Ingenuity is that the town's engineer that's correct e all right who's here from this property can you come to the podium ma'am good morning your your name please Angela what was your last name ker K in and what's your relation to Island Investments property manager property manager okay okay and this letter came from E by all I guess they're one of the officers of the U that's the owner of the property okay so Mr machos has indicated that you're in agreement um with the 60-day timeline for compliance is that correct we submitted the permit to the town last week but the town says it takes up to 30 days for a comment to come back from the town's engineer So based on the comments I mean we're hoping to get all that done within 60 days okay but if it is but if it does continue you know I'm asking for you know additional time based on timelines from the town because the way that the the current engineers in our area everybody is backlogged and it takes a while to when you submit to the engineer for comments to work on these files yeah the I I understand that but I guess the difficulty is that you all have known about this for quite some time if this is from September of last year right I understand so hopefully your engineer has been working behind the scenes on this I mean we want to get it done as soon as possible but I'm just stating the facts that when you we submitted to the engineer last year and it took them months to get their report back to us okay I guess let me ask this question of the Town attorney the letter dated May 2nd indicates that the property is Bonafide at um and subject to the Right to Farm Act is the town aware of that and does the town have a response to that yes is the FDA is not Same by Bonafide um agricultural uh classification but don't you also have this cited for 05040 A and B yeah is it's part of the the the packet because the permit has to be obtain on on the FDA so that's that's Cod to the FDA that's related to the FDA too so no Standalone building permit application so you don't dispute that portion of this land is is Bonafide EG I don't okay but your contention is that the that doesn't get them around the FDA permit requirement that's correct okay okay thank you Mr Matos so did you understand that ma'am did that make sense okay your property owner alleged that that I guess maybe a portion or all on the property right so that that but that doesn't have any bearing on the FDA permit requirement under the town C I understand that okay so you submitted last week is that what you said okay does the town have record of receiving that permit application okay all right has there been any additional work on the property since September of last year no okay so everything looks the same today as it did back then um and to um let you know so the back property 3556 BR Road the report that um the town's engineer stated there has been additional work to 3556 BR road so it's a little bit different as far as last year compared to today's but that that shouldn't affect 3570 are you getting the the permit for both no it so on the engineers report they said there was a breach in the burm and that 3570 B Road was flooding on to 3556 okay 357 road is not flooding on to 3556 B Road it's in the engineer report she had put um documentation and photos and I guess yeah that gets into a little bit more of the tech I presume that all that will be handled during the permit process all right Mr MOS let me ask you to show her this case File he's going to show you the evidentiary case File the town is intending to enter take a look at it and let me know if you have any objection to the documents oh no no objection no all right with that in case 23093 I'll enter the towns evidentiary Case Files composite exhibit one without objection anything further you'd like me to hear ma'am don't just want to let you know everything's been submitted but the timeline for the engineering I mean we're going to try our best we want to be in compliance and get the permit but the engineer situation is kind of out of our control so and and you heard um you heard the previous case I'm I'm going to set you for for status fine assessment in July at the July 17th hearing if if you don't have the permit issued come to that hearing with a chronology from today to July 17th showing me what you did to to get your engineer yeah correct okay right so just come painting a picture to me that you did everything you could between today's hearing and and that that date and time um to get into compliance and as you heard me say to the prior gentleman if you submit the application on the 16th of July no or comment you know what I mean that's not that I have I have a a little bit more of a difficult time giving you more time if if you wait till the last minute to to submit stuff so my hope is you're not going to do that and you're going to you know keep on your engineer I understand that they're backlog so I certainly will take that in consideration as long as I see that you are moving in in good faith toward compliance I'm happy to give you uh as I told the film in a reasonable time um I don't think that benefits anybody so it's in everybody's best interest to get this resolved as as quickly as you can yes um so but I will set it for status just in case you you need some additional time in July it's already um on my calendar to do followup in 30 days and that's the stuff you would bring to me all your emails all your records of phone calls that you called your engineer every week for the entire two-month period that I'm going to give you and then I'll at that hearing I'll yeah obviously take all that into consideration okay I appreciate that are ad hearing Mr MOS yes your onor 23405 all right anything further you'd like me to hear Miss Kinser okay anything further from the town surea viation that the remain subsection that very good that I thought that first one was a building permit okay I appreciate that uh clarification and I would ask um just so the comment is on the record for not only this case but any case going forward um that are based on these older uh photographs that you bring me updated photographs on the day of hearing um the respondents testified that no additional work has been done but my worry for you as the town is you're going to get a permit submitt uh and evaluate that based on what's there now and that may or may not be the same thing as what was there based on your photograph so uh that may ultimately I'm not suggesting in this case but in future cases that may create a problem uh given the lapse in time on photos so in the future just bring me some current photos as well if you could all right with that in case 23093 I've entered the towns evidentiary case File I'll find uh sufficient and legal service based on the affidavit posting for this morning's hearing I'll find based on the photographs uh testimony of the town's code officer as well as testimony of the respondent that the respondents in violation of sections 175 1110 175 170 and 175 240 for the uh construction activities that were done on the property without an FDA permit I'll require the respondent to comply honor before July 12th or appear at the July 17th status fine assessment Hearing in the event of non-compliance a fine of up to $250 per day will be assessed um and I because I have found you in violation I have to award the town its administrative cost for today's hearing so that amount is 23405 for today's hearing and that's payable within 30 days so again the goal should be to get the permit issued honor before July 12th if that doesn't happen you'll be set for the July uh 17th fine assessment hearing it'll be a status fine assessment hearing so make sure you come to that hearing if you need more time and the permit hasn't been issued and bring me any evidence uh with the evidence as long as we're on top of the file as long as there's a good faith effort and and you know what I don't want to see is the town gave you comments on June 1st and you come to me on July 17th and you haven't responded to the comments right if you if they give you comments on June 1st and you responded on June 5th and now you're in another round of comment review I I'll certainly give you more time um again code enforcement is not intended to be punitive I don't view it that way um my job here is to keep you moving moving toward compliance so as long as you come to that hearing and you show me what you've done between today and then and you need more time I'm happy to give it to you okay thank you thank you yor our next case is 23434 sence Natalia Maria U and sence ju Juan Manuel U 12915 collecting can thank you on case 23434 um the history of this property um there is a continuance granted for a case under the previous owner from October 27 2021 permit Rel letter was SD 22002 7 that was in the review process with comments from June 28th 2022 the property was sold in July 20122 to the current owner a new case was open to the new owner for the same violation on April 25th 2023 and it was sent certifi mail to the address on record at the time of the notice and it was post at the property on April 25th 2023 the magistr found this property violation on May 22nd 2023 the order was posted at the property on May 24 2023 an applications was submitted on May 16 2023 commment were provided on August 9th 2023 officer sh status on 2624 there was not resum as per our engineer communication from a um property owner um the brers cul says that a contractor change happened in an effort to bring all cases back in rotation a new notice of hearing uh was issued on 43 2024 scheduling this matter for today's hearing on May 6 we sent certifi mail on April 4th and post out the property on April 8th the most recent communication with the owner Council uh shows documentation being submitted in response to the October comments uh the town is requesting that fine start today until compliance is achieved good morning good morning Susan Taylor on behalf of the property owner thank you ma'am just give me a minute to look at the file and then you'll get an opportunity to do the same e e seems to be the thing with USPS anymore all these I get are moving through the network so whatever that means you think four years after Co they would be back to normal but all right this is all of the original order is what I'm looking for here here we go all right and I see in here is an engineer report from DKK dated April 30th is that yes that's correct okay all right let's um let me have him show you the case File and let's get whatever documents need to get in and then you can explain to me sounds like given that report there's been some movement but go ahead and take a look at the case File first and that again is the whole case File the new stuff is on the front so but take as much time as you need to review and let me know if you have any objection e e I have no objection thank you no objection to those documents being entered all right with that in case 23434 I'll enter the town's uh composite exhibit excuse me the town's evidentiary case as composite exhibit one without objection so Miss Taylor what's uh what's the status in in from your eyes well um Mario Mr M Matos summarized you know what happened um there was a change in ownership of the property and the original application kind of just got pushed aside um and then they had to Ren notice the the current owner um at that point I I believe I went back and said can we take a look at what we submitted previously um for review and we had a change in engineers at the Town also um what time just so I understand I don't mean to interrupt what timeline are we talking about um this was I think back in August okay so a good bit ago okay um and so the the town did take a look at the the prior file and then the Town's new engineer engenuity issued the letter in August of 2023 so from that point on I attempted to go back to our original engineer who did the drainage plan for the prior owner um numerous attempts to try to contact him and then ultimately he said I'm not taking on any more work so we had to go in search of a new engineering firm um for the client uh and we had to obtain an updated survey um and both of those things were done shortly after that letter um I'm just looking through my file to see if I can submit some information for you to okay um to supplement um what I've just explained if I may submit correspondence for the file um between myself and the surveyor which came in August um of 2023 to get the updated survey to show that we were you know attempting to make progress there as well as um email correspondents with the prior engineer indicating that he was not taking any work any longer so let me ask you a couple questions when did you get DKK involved uh that was in I believe the proposal was signed in January we had attempted to get um proposals from various firms um I do also have correspondence from October uh where we had contacted stormwater J engineering um to try to attempt to get them on board um my client felt that their proposal was a little excessive in terms of price um so we went and searched for other Engineers uh and finally landed on DKK have they given you any indication of of how long they expect it to take to get through the permit process uh they have not um we did as you see in the file we did submit um responses and the the from my understanding the reason it took so long for them is that they really had to do a complete redo of the plan they couldn't use the prior Engineers plans so they had to start from scratch and um the prior engineer just basically had a one- sheet drainage plan as you can see from the file they've DKK has done a pretty extensive job in um providing um cross-sections and complete dra AG plans and addressing how they're going to to deal with the issue so I feel like it's comprehensive it's um it it's responsive to the town's comments and hopefully you know they the town can review promptly and and we can get back with any comments that they may have so in your in your mind you have a full submitt in to the town yes for review so there's nothing nothing in terms of documentation that's outstanding not to my knowledge no I mean of course I'm not an engineer but I I feel like in looking at it and having but you have a complete you have a complete application into you you redid the application with the new owner all of that yes the town accepted the actually accepted the PRI application okay perfect uh did the town have any objection to issue to admittance of these additional documents okay with that I'll admit um Can the town keep these for the case File yes absolutely excuse me I'll label these as composite exhibit R1 and I'll add them in the town into the case File and I'll ask that they be kept as part of the case File and I'll admit them without objection e I guess let me ask the town why why was this not on the July 2023 agenda if you had an order finding violation that's this for f assessment hearing why wasn't it why Why didn't it track that way um at that point I was not that involved with code enforcement or Code Compliance um but one of the practices uh at that point was that when the applications were submitted or there was progress on the on the permits um you know there could be the situation where the officer agreed to um allow more time and pull the case from from the agenda and there was a list of cases that we're waiting for the permits to be completed in the same situation and that's why we're bringing them back um uh through reissuing the the um notice of hearing all right what probably will happen with most likely will happen with this case Okay does the town have an estimate in terms of what's been received by the town in terms of how long it'll take to have the permit issued I would have to ask our engineer what the review reviewing um time will be for for the submit up that happened last week uh I do have to say that and and conso um uh Taylor probably can confirm this but when this property was a transfer to the new owner I believe they they knew of the violation uh during the transaction so this has taken a while uh uh to to process and we had numerous complaints from Neighbors uh that initiated this this case um I guess in 2022 2021 I'm sorry um being flooded by this property so I you want I want your honor to take that in consideration yeah I I I I understand that and I hear that my my difficulty is that that for whatever reason this was pulled from the July 2023 agenda and now you're asking me to find her but the signal from the town has been that this is not an issue and that you're working with her because she's making progress and now you're here asking for a fine I do appreciate the amount of time that's gone by um but I also appreciate the fact that you had her in this process and you could have had a fine running as of July 2023 if you had kept that on the compliance schedule um or on the excuse me on the hearing schedule I guess what is the typical review time for the town's engineer once you have a full submitt I believe it'll be between two to four weeks okay okay anything further from you Miss Taylor uh the only thing we would ask your honor is just you know even if we come back in a month and give another status update um provided that we've received some comments back from the from the town or regardless of whether or not we've received them I'm happy to appear 45 days would be so what I'm I'm inclined to give for a little bit more time I I it I'm not sure that it's Equitable for me to start finding based on the fact that this never went to appearing when it should have I would have been happy to assessive fine at that time um but I I think it it um in terms of messaging it's it's a little inconsistent to to take her off of a hearing schedule and then be ready to to ask me to drop the hammer so I know the town won't be happy with this but um um this one has been going on so long and I I please at the next hearing come to me I know you're always very diligent but come to me with when you got the comments to the town what how many times they were called between then and the next he you know between today and the next hearing um this is another one that I think it's in everybody's best interest just to get the permits issued and move on um I'm not going to give you an additional continuance at the next hearing so please come unless there's unless the reason for the delay is the towns and then I'll certainly you know consider that um but come to that hearing armed with whatever has happened between today and and that next hearing so that I understand um because this is another one where where the submitt was pretty close in time to hearing so it's not reasonable for the town to have reviewed it by now by today um by the next hearing or the hearing I'm going to set you for which is June 19th there should be some some additional back and forth um just I do want you to appreciate and to Ray to your client that this has been going on for a long time um just as I told the previous respondent it doesn't serve anybody when these go on for this long so while I try to work with you and and give you the time necessary there's there's a balance there and there's a point at which to scales tip in the direction that progress doesn't get made and this one hopefully you'll get the permit by the next um hearing but In fairness to you client I I am going to give you a little bit more additional time um and then if the permit's not issued at that time I'll likely start a fine running and then you can as I told the previous respondent you can come back to me for fine mitigation uh once there is compliance but um my hope is based on the fact that you have an Engineers report in hopefully you're getting close to the end here and and this will all be a a moot point down the line um but I again I think it's in everybody's best interest to get this one uh the permits issued and it closed out all right anything further for me no we appreciate it thank you okay anything further from the town on this one all right in case 23434 I've entered both the towns and uh respondents composite exhibits without objection I'll find based on the Affidavit of posting that the town had good service for this morning's hearing I'll find based on the testimony of the code officer as well as the uh documents in the case File that the respondent remains in violation of section 05- 040 a through b 175 1110 175 170 and 175 240 I'll require respondents to comply I'm going to issue a continuance order requiring respondents to comply honored before June 17th or appear at the fine assessment here ing on June 19th I'll maintain the previous fine amount should it be necessary which is I think 250 but let me find the order here it is yes $250 per day and I'll Reserve administrative costs for today's hearing so again miss tayl I appreciate you being here this morning um hopefully the permit gets issued by June 17th but if it doesn't I'll see you on the 19th then just bring back to me everything that's happened from today uh so I understand what's going on in that in that next amount of time okay we thanks thank you your honor since the other two cases were removed our last case is 24211 the March 4th we pulled this case to ensure um service because um our previous um notice of violation notice of heting was posted on a fence that is between the two properties and was pulled from there so we went ahead and reissue a notice of violation notice of hearing and poster with a stake of the property also say via uh certifi mail and what dates did you do all that we posted again on April 4th 2024 um we s by m also on April 4th all right since since you Ren noticed this this is essentially a a first hearing of this so what's the violation as for FDA the property was U uh fill uh and gred completely uh this is a small lot located in Los Angeles this community are lots that are less than half an acre uh this property was I believe prepared to be built um we have plenty of pictures here showing um all the the amount of uh field that was brought into the property and graded so it was brought in and it was graded yes okay you also have cited 0540 A and B was there building done or Construction done it's not done but it includes the the the work done with the with the Earth movement okay this one will apply and this one is not um bonify agricultural property okay and you have photos in the case File yes ma'am and the proper your honor what's the town seeking today to find them in violation and allow them 60 days for compliance and we're seeking $250 a day if uh permit is not obtained so from same same July dates July 15th or appearance at July 17th fine hearing sounds great I think that's what I did on that the 12th I'll actually do the 12th give you a little bit more time to review your files before the hearing thank youor and do you have administrative cost for today's hearing yes will be our minimum establish is 23405 and you're going to get me one of those sheets going forward for each hearing is that right Mr Matos yes your honor thank you sir anything further Mr MOS are youor you gentlemen I presume are here for this one you know the property owner just told me that he doesn't speak English so he's going to have uh Miss FR um speak for him okay that's fine and I don't believe I think one of you swore yourselves in but I don't believe you did did you raise your right hand was him he did yeah but I need you to do it because you're going to translate your right hand your other hand do you swear from him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes thank you um can you ask him to tell me his name and have him come up next to you please thank you his name's Daniel Sosa and your name sir nesto on your last name is a l NSO okay so the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to have the code enforcement officer hand you this case File this is the case File that the town would like to enter into the record so ask uh once he gets this ask him to review the the documents and let me know if he has any objection to the documents being entered into the record okay for person so what do we have to do cuz right now he's living on our place and he's building the house so he hasn't built anything so he doesn't have an ad now perfect for spee special magistrate I think they need we need to be translating every comment so what he's saying is that when he found the notice he didn't found it where I where I plac it he found one of the notices by the fence and that's how he found about the the mailing he he moved from his previous address and now he's leaving at the different address and he's going to give us the new address where he wants to be sered Ju Just make sure he understands that you you're not legally required to send it to that address that he's going to give you you're still going to continue to send it to the address that's on file with the property appraiser and the tax collector make sure can you can you one of you communicate that back to him it takes what hold on before you keep going what did you just tell him told him that as a courtesy we're going to send it to the address that he's going to provide us through this through the letter okay but as long this address is the one showing on the official record we're going to keep serving that address and also posting at the property very good thank you go ahead sir um to um if he Chang address during this week how long it takes to um I don't know that anybody sitting in this room can can answer that you have to do that through the Property Appraiser's office so if this is going to be a lengthy transitional period here he may want to tr he may want to change his address officially with the property appraiser in the short term because code enforcement may not not be the only people sending him official mail if you will so if he's not going to be there for at at whatever address is on file with the property appraiser he may want to switch that um but usually the property appraiser it is government so I'd expect it's probably four to six weeks um I I can't swear to that but just as a ballpark you can call them um they may be able to give you a a more um accurate answer but I I can't imagine it's that quick um but again you'll need to call them to figure that out directly okay so ask can you ask him what what is he doing is he building a house on the lot yes we're trying to build the house we have all the permits uh sent already we use was waiting for approval so you're saying you submitted all the permits to the town so what did he just say back um recollecting what I got from my permit department and for what he just said uh what they had submitted or tried to submit before was not sufficient he was informed that he needs an engineer to prepare the permit and now he's going to be in that process so we don't have a full application file yet okay yeah that's so let's go back to the documents that are still there did he have any objection to that case File being entered into the record so no objection to the case File being entered no objection okay with that I'll enter the towns evidentiary Case Files composite exhibit one without objection so Mr Matos when when did the town receive um whatever's been submitted I believe it was about a week ago um that they intend to they try to submit an application maybe two weeks you remember he saying he started the pro he started the process started in communication with the per Department about a month ago but they have been giving him uh responses on what else he need and the last thing that he uh showed me was uh D explaining to him that he needed a a full plan from engineering uh to be submitted okay can you ask him if he has an engineer hired the cont [Music] uh he's being in contact with one that um just came back from vacation he should should be meeting with them today or tomorrow but it's not under the contract yet okay all right so let me let me tell his translator so can you communicate to him that what the town is asking um for me to do is is find him in violation and then give him until July 12th to come into compliance can you communicate that to him and compliance means having the required permits issued by the town so what did you just tell him Mr Matos so I just um explained what you just said to them the the town is um asking that they found in violation and that we will allow 60 days for there to obtain the permits and at those 60 days or the next hearing they can come and show what their efforts on obtaining the permit and at that point it will be determined if they can be granted more time given that they had make every effort to obtain the permit okay ask him if he agrees with that okay so what I'm going to do and explain to this or you can explain sir U Mr Alonzo explain to him that I'm going to set the the fine assessment hearing will be July 17th I'm going to set it as a status fine assessment hearing okay that means that if if from today until July 17th you all have done everything you can to get the permits issued and you've sent emails you've responded to the comments you know within a day or two after you get them from the town and you've been diligent in moving forward I may give you more time at that hearing and I I don't know if you were listening to the other people but if you come to me on July 17th and you submitted your most recent submittal to the town the day before I'm not going to give you more time to get the permit so explain to him that he needs to to make every effort he can from today until July 12th is going to be the compliance date to get the permits issued okay explain that to him please you understand that sir okay all right anything further that you would like me to hear here's a good question um yeah I think everything is good got to move on with the permit and everything and and what you need to do make sure he understands that you need to retain the engineer yesterday so if he needs to meet with them today or tomorrow and get that process moving because otherwise you you won't be done um you need to start that very quickly to make sure that you're through the process okay yes the the thing that happened was that we we got that dirt like really really cheap and then we try to put it there before we lost that deal and that's why it happened just make sure he understands he needs to to pull the trigger there get an engineer on board because otherwise you you don't have any kind of Prayer of getting complied by the timeline I'm giving you um so make sure he knows that um anything else anything else from the town okay in case number 24211 and if you can sort of translate this as I say it to him okay I'm going to pause and then you can translate to him okay okay um I've entered the uh case file into the record I'm going to find based on the Affidavit of posting that the town had good service for today's hearing explain that to him evidence yes and then I found based on the affidavit posting that the town had good service for today's hearing based on the evidence in the case File as well as the testimony this morning I'm gonna find respondent in violation of section 05- Z4 a through b 17510 175 d170 and 175 d240 I'm going to require respondent to comply with those sections honor before July 12th 2024 J or appear at the status fine assessment on July 17th 2024 in the event of non-compliance I'll assess a fine in the amount of 20 50 per day for each day that the violation continues after July 12th no there not an option what did he say he asked me if uh he if he doesn't get the permit on time if he can remove the the dirt that's not an option for uh correction is what I spend time okay and also tell him that because I've said it as status fine assessment he can come to the hearing on July 17th and and explain to me what's happened between today and that time assment and then let him know that because I found him in violation I have to award the town it's administrative cost for today in the amount of 23405 payable within 30 days does he understand all that you understand that can you have him ask him if he understand it very good okay and tell him that he'll get an order that reflects all that in the mail what did he say he asked me if if we know how long it would take to act um update the the address if they do it today but what he's talking about is the address that they want us to also serve as a courtesy and we can send that immediately if they send you could email them the order right if as a courtesy yeah we we'll establish more contact with them and expl that to them very good thank you thank you both thank you anything further for the magistrate no you honor thank you all right with that I'll adjourn the hearing at 10:41 thank you honor