##VIDEO ID:Qi4f8G-v1Jk## e all right good afternoon everyone welcome to the city of madira beach code enforcement hearing my name is Bart Valdez and I am the appointed special magistrate to hear today's cases I'm a practicing attorney and have been a member of the for of bar for over 20 years I've been appointed to this position in accordance and with the authorities set 4th in chapter 162 Florida Statutes it is my role to fairly and objectively review these matters presented as such I would like to advise you of certain matters related to today's proceedings today's matters will be heard in the order that they appear on the agenda every effort will be made to hear all persons having relevant evidence argument or comments to offer related to the specific case that is being heard if you wish to speak today it is necessary that you be sworn in by the City attorney in just a few moments in all cases since the city has the burden of proof the city will present its case case first respondent or property owner then will be given the opportunity to refute the city's allegations formal Rules of Evidence do not apply to this proceeding however I will exert every effort to ensure that fundamental fairness is afforded to all parties after hearing all relevant evidence I will issue an order the order will be reduced to writing and will be sent to the landowner Additionally you advise that I do not have the authority to Grant you a variance permit or special exception of any kind my role is solely to determine whether a city code has been violated and to provide you a reasonable time to correct the violation by whatever means is available to you please be advised that you may be subject to a fine and a lean may be recorded on your property if the violation is not corrected by the compliance deadline if you wish to present any information to me today it is necessary that you swear affirm that you will tell the truth therefore at this time I'll ask the City attorney swearing any Witnesses so anyone wants to talk to me today you need to uh rise and raise your right hand you can stand up raise your right hand swear the testimony you're about to give today is going to be the truth whole truth to nothing but the truth yes sir I do all right thank you all right the first matter before me today is case number 2024 3730 for the property located at 121 129th Avenue East is the city ready to proceed we are go ahead Mr TR City would call Grace Mills as our witness in this case Grace um if you could tell us what your occupation is and your job responsibilities here at the city of Mader Beach um I'm Code Compliance for the city of Madera Beach I deal with violations um lack of permits and also the permitting system for the building department okay are you familiar with this property that the special magistrate just read the address on 121 129th Avenue East I am yes and this is a code case that's being brought before the special magistrate was this a proactive case or was it complaint driven this was proactive okay and when did you first go out to the property scroll down to that first in January of this year okay and who's the owner of that property um per the property appraiser and tax Appraiser's website it appears to be an NJ Properties Inc okay and looking at page three of the packet three I guess it's three four and five maybe including six um this is the print out from the pelis County Property Appraisers website correct yes and it does reflect that the owner is NJ Properties Inc correct yes and you also printed out the uh print out from the website from the tax collector correct that's correct and what pages of the packet are that would be page seven okay and it does does it reflect the same owner yes and J Properties Inc okay and does it reflect the same property address yes it does okay so when you went out to uh the property in January what violation did you find at the property uh the sign on top of the business had been been replaced from what it priorly was uh and there was no permit for it okay so did you happen to take a photograph of the sign when you out at the property that day I did yes and that's reflected on page 10 all right so is this the page 10 that you're pulling up the photograph yes um the first sign with the ice cream on it is the one in question okay just it's attached to the roof line yes okay so how did you determine that that particular sign was not properly permitted I had gone back um let's see on page 12 that is the Google street view from January 2023 and it reflects a different electrical sign and since that had been changed no permits have been obtained did you check the permitting uh Department to determine whether a permit had been pulled yes okay so did you issue then a courtesy notice of code violation in January I did yes and who did you send that to that was to NJ Properties Inc and did you how did you send it to them by regular mail uh the first letter was regular mail yes all right and when it was sent did you get a response from the property owner we did not no all right so did you follow up then uh with a well first of all let's talk about the courtesy letter itself um it starts on page eight of the packet and if you could go through that letter and explain um the letter itself when did you actually sign it sure um it was sent January 31st 2024 um citing the ordinance 10246 for required um of the sign that had been changed and it was actually sent on January 31st 2024 and signed um this copy however does not reflect the signage however the sent one was signed okay and let's talk about the code section 10246 you've referenced sub paragraph C which provides no person shall construct maintain alter relocate demolish repair or paint or do any work upon a sign for which a permit has not been obtained are there any other code violations that were cited beside that particular one no that is the code section that was cited for this okay did you give the property owner a sufficient enough time to bring the property into compliance yes our follow-up date on this letter was February 14th before the certified letter was sent okay and attached to that letter uh was what um attached to the letter the photos that reflected the signage is that what you're asking yes okay so on page 10 then it shows the photograph that you just mentioned a few minutes ago yes on the roof line for the front and what does page 11 reflect the back of the signage and that you can see on the roof line okay as well just the front and back and then on page 12 of the packet yes that reflects the um sign that was there January 2023 via Google images and is that the sign that says the Sand Bar that's that's correct yes in the same place on the roof line okay so did you um hear from the property owner before February 14th the compliance date from the property owner yes not before the compliance date no okay did you hear from anybody else um before February 14th uh there are current renters that are in the property that made communication with us yes okay and did um did they follow up then and obtain a building permit they applied for an app um the application is still pending as of today's date has not been completed and when was that application filed approximately it was approximately March of this year and what is remaining for the building permit to be um issued as of right now a few documents the building official needs signed and sealed plans from a contractor would be the first start reflecting the sign Edge change okay so there were it was pulled by the property owner is not a from the tenant who is not a contractor correct and were there any plans submitted with the with the application there were not okay so did you issue then a notice of code violation I did yes on March 5th which is reflected on page 13 okay it's very similar to the courtesy letter that you had sent previously in February or January yes it's the exact same the follow-up date was just moved to March 19th as a second followup okay as of today though there's been no building permit that's been issued for this sign correct not obtained and issued no okay and this uh letter that we're talking about now was it sent by regular maale and certified mail the second one yes regular and certified okay on page 19 of the packet it shows a green card that's been unexecuted is that when you first mailed it that's yes that's correct did you get the green card back we never got the signed card back no okay did you hear from the property owners after this letter was issued yes they did make contact letting us know that they informed the tenants that what would need to be fixed and that it would be addressed okay have you heard from them since that time not the property owners no okay so did you then issue a notice of hearing for today and also a statement of violation and request for hearing yes that's started to reflect on page 20 which was since September 13th of this year here all right so let's talk about page 20 that's the Affidavit of service correct and that reflects that you sent a copy of the notice of hearing by certified mail by first class mail that you posted it at the property and that you also posted it at the municipal government offices at 300 Municipal Drive that's City Hall correct that's correct okay and then the notice of hearing followed up on page 22 and 23 that was what was sent by those uh ways that I had just mentioned yes the regular mail certified mail and posted at both properties all right let's talk about the statement of violation which is on page uh 24 of the packet that statement of violation reflects the same code section that we had been talking about earlier in in your testimony that's correct there's nothing that is changed on the property since that original uh courtesy notice has happened correct correct no other violations are being cited correct okay and that also was showing that um in the packet the green card on page 26 that's the one that you actually mailed have you received that's the one you actually mailed correct yes that's correct okay have you received the Green Card back we have not received it back okay have you heard from the property owner since you had sent this uh the not the notice of hearing the statement of violation the property owner no okay all right um I'd like you to turn to page 28 of the packet and if you can explain to me what this picture deps this is from the date that the property was posted which was September 13th of this year if you look in the middle column that reflects the actual posting which was certified mailed regular mailed and posted at the property and City Hall that's just proof that it was posted that day so it looks like a piece of paper tape with red tape yes okay all right um and then on page 29 of the packet what does that photograph reflect that reflects um the actual documents that we spoke about earlier being posted at City Hall on September 13th of this year okay and on page 30 and 31 of the packet can you explain what those photographs depict 30 is reflecting the back of the signage and 31 is reflecting the frontage which was taken um updated September 13th of this year just to reflect it's still standing okay um this last two photographs reflect some type of lighting that has now been attached to the top of the sign do you see that in 31 I do yes okay is that solar lighting or is that electric now that has been added to the sign after they were told that they needed a building permit I can't speak to that I'm not sure okay so as of today the property is not in compliance correct okay how much time do you think it would well first of all what would it take to bring the property into compliance what are the options for the property owner and the Tenant um they can keep the current sign as signage as is if we get the required um documents into the permit and it's approved and active they can keep it or they can remove it um they would not need a demo permit to remove removal of the sign would take care of the violation okay how much time do you think is a reasonable period of time to bring the property into compliance I would say 30 days to bring it into compliance um and if it's not brought into compliance within that 30-day period of time what are you asking the special magistrate to order as to the Daily fine the city would ask for $150 a day if not brought into compliance okay all right I have no other questions for Miss Mills I would tender into evidence though uh page 3 through 31 of the packet ask that they be received all right we'll go ahead and accept into evidences exhibit number one to this hearing Pages 3 through 31 is there anyone here today on behalf of NJ properties you hear on behal NJ property sir not exactly all righty okay um Mr tras I'm going to defer to you on whether this the tenant would be entitled to cross-examine I don't have an OB C okay sir why don't you come on up here give me your name and uh your address and relationship to the property um Dustin Griffin 121 129th Avenue East all right and what's your relationship to the property or the owner my Corporation is a tenant okay all right uh sir this yeah I'm going to give you an opportunity to tell me whatever you want to tell me um if you want to to ask Miss Mills any questions this is your opportunity to cross-examine her you saw what Mr tras did you don't have to ask her any questions and again I'm going to give you a full opportunity to tell me anything you want to tell me but do you have any questions for Miss Mills not that I haven't already talked to about all right great don't go far you might be up next uh Mr TR does the city have anyone else we have no other Witnesses today in this case all right uh Mr Griffin what is it you'd like to tell me about this violation this is your opportunity to provide me any photographs call any Witnesses or just tell me your thoughts on this viation I was just going to tell you my thoughts um Grace posted notice on the building back in the earlier part of the year because I didn't get any of those certified letters because they were going to the landlord so we weren't aware of the violation cuz we uh did that work this is 2024 so that would have been early 2023 the spring of 23 around April May that time frame so we found out about this the early part of this year uh when it was posted and I put my wife in charge of getting a hold of Grace and figuring out what needed to be done to bring it into compliance and I guess Grace had requested some stuff Chrissy had sent it to her and we just didn't hear any more back apparently there was an email sent that didn't get looked at or went into spam or whatever so I I hadn't heard anything saw thought whatever Chrissy had provided was good enough it was taken care of hadn't heard anything thing until Grace um a week or so ago posted that second notice and that's like whoa this hadn't been taken care of so what do we need to do so Chrissy's been in touch with grace to find out what we need to do uh to bring it into compliance and even though that you know the um notice said um no person shall erect construct maintain alter or relocate or demolish I haven't touched it since because I didn't want to demolish it without permission but right below it it does say to bring the property in compliance by applying for and obtaining it after the fact building permit or removing unpermitted work well was unpermitted I didn't want to go mess with it until I had permission from you or yourself to touch it but I could go have that taken down pretty quick I just didn't want to do it and caus any further problems okay but we did reach out to two sign companies extreme signage over here in um seol was one of them I'd reached out to them last year and never heard back from them they said they were going to come out they haven't been out yet I don't know if they're coming and another St Pete um Sign Company who gave us a pretty high estimate to come out and obtain a permit get what we need to get this thing permitted as is uh but we they haven't showed up yet but I am prepared to go take the sign down and make this go away until we're able to obtain a correct permit and get reput back up all right Mr TR do you have any questions for this witness just a few questions yes sir so you don't disagree that a permit has not been obtained correct sir okay and you don't disagree that some type of lighting was added to the sign after the original notices went out saying you need a permit for that sign correct lighting was added to the sign I'm not sure when that lighting got added added but I was the one that added it but just don't remember when I added it okay so I can't speak to that because of my memory I just don't remember when it was done but again we had that long period of Silence where I thought everything had been taken care of okay so now that I know that it's not I'm here so is that um Rectify that thank you is that solar lighting or is it electric that is plugged into electrical outen okay and so did you obtain a permit for the electrical work that was done on the sign there was no electrical work done other than plugging it in okay meaning it's the kind you plug in not the kind you have wired and there is already a plug there that we simply just plugged it into okay how much time do you think it'll take for you to take the sign down to bring in compliance I'm sorry once I start a day a day okay so if the special magistrate gave you a 30-day time frame you would absolutely have it completely removed from the property correct absolutely okay and I can even notify Grace when it's done cuz she wants to come out and take pictures and um that bit but I did want to add what I told grace before we started was that when I signed the lease the existing tenant was still in the in the premises and had four signs uh you saw at least two of them the one that was this one replaced the big giant billboard a mural on the side and an electrical sign on the back well once I moved in I realized all those signs had been removed and this one in question had a big piece of wood that was hanging from the sign when they removed it they just left it hanging the board and the frame that was holding up that previous sign had fallen and the neighbors had told me yeah you can replace that cuz it's rotten wood and is a danger to um a danger to people so I replaced the rotten wood but I went an extra step beyond that in replacing just the frame and put up that piece of plywood there and then I put that vinyl banner over top of the plywood and sometime more recently since then I I I lit it so it would show up at night I have no other questions thank you so that's why we did it because I didn't think it needed a permit but that was my mistake all right well thank you sir that's all I have uh you can go ahead and have a seat thank you sir all right this is is the time in this hearing where if there's any members of the public that would like to provide comment they may come up Let the record reflect there are no members of the public here so we will go ahead and move on anything else Mr tras I would just like to provide you with the actual code the entire code section 10246 ask you take judicial notice of that code section um and also a print out from the website from sunbiz ask that you take judicial notice of that as well reflecting the um address of the property owner NG Properties Inc through sunbiz all right I will go ahead and take judicial notice of both the code section as well as the sun Biz printout do you want me to attach them as exhibits to the hearing as well I think that that would be a good idea to go ahead and do that okay we'll do exhibit number two will be the section 10246 and exhibit three will be the sunbiz print out that shows the current registered agent and mailing address for the owner thank you okay based upon the testimony that was provided to me as well as the admission by the tenant that the violation does indeed exist I'm going to go ahead and find the property is in violation sounds like 30 days is a sufficient time for the respondent to come into compliance thereafter that'll be $150 a day fine if the property is not brought in compliance sir once you get that signed down please uh let M Mills know so she can go ahead and file the appropriate paperwork otherwise uh there will be a fine that starts occurring after 30 days sir all right let's move on to the next case which is case number 2024 3738 for the proper located 14268 North Bayshore Drive is the city ready to proceed we are go ahead Mr D the city would call Grace Mills Grace what is your occupation and your job responsibilities here at the city of Mader Beach I am code compliance officer for the city Mader Beach I deal with permitting um lack of permits and the permit process for the building department are you familiar with this property at 14268 North Bayshore Drive here at Mader Beach I am yes okay and is this a proactive case or was it a a result of a complaint proactive okay and is was this um something that you found as a violation or was it brought to your attention by someone else in the city it was brought to my attention from our building official Frank santis okay and what did Mr D santis uh provide to you as a basis for you to go out to the property to review it let me um photographs which are reflected on page 40 and 41 in the packet um 40 reflects as of December 2022 what the exterior wall looked like and Mr DeSantis had noticed which was reflected on page 41 on February 19th of this year um electrical that had been added and there was no permit for the address okay so did you go out to the property to take a look at it I did yes okay and did those two photographs accurately depict what you saw when you went out to the property at least the electrical portion of bit this the newer photograph yes okay and so who is the property owner me get back up to that page and how do you know that um we'll start on page 32 of the packet um reflects Anthony Caris carass um as the property owner and that is from the property appraiser and if you go follow down in the packet to page 36 this is the tax collector for pelis County reflecting the same address and the same homeowner all right so after you went out to the property um to see the electrical work that's been done did you issue a courtesy notice of code violation to the property owner I did and that's was dated February 19th of this year would that have been around about the time that you actually went to the property yes okay and when you issued the courtesy notice of code violation to Mr Caris what what were the ordinances that were being violated with Section 8652 when required is the ordinance that was violated and what does that particular code section require um that requires permits for work um within the code that would be electrical over a certain amount of money um which both were um so it reflects the need for the permit for the work okay when you sent this letter courtesy notice did you send it by regular mail and certified or just regular mail this first courtesy notice was regular mail okay and does it reflect a follow-up date or a date of compliance it does on March 4th of 2024 um in addition to the compliance date did you also attach photographs of the property I did yes that was reflected on page 40 and 41 okay and how did you uh how did you get the photograph on that is shown on page 40 that was from Google Images which was um dated December 2022 of the property okay and then the photograph on page 41 you mentioned that this is what it looked like when you went out to the property yes and that was February 19th of this year that was um what was seen at the property was the property brought into compliance by March 4th was not okay did you issue a notice of code violation then I did on March 5th of this year was our code violation that was sent by regular and certified mail and is that reflected starting on page 42 of the package that's correct okay when you um prepared this notice of code violation did it include the same photographs as the pre previous um courtesy notice it did yes so it's basically the same it was just an updated compliance State correct correct so what was the compliance that you gave him the property owner um in your notice of code violation March 19th of 2024 okay and did was that you said that was sent by certified mail correct and is that that green card that's reflected on pages 46 and 47 is that the green card that went with the letter the notice yes have you received that green card back we did not no okay have you heard from the property owner since either the courtesy notice was sent or the notice of code violation was sent from a property owner himself no okay who did you hear from somebody else um I have not directly however Holden Pinkard um has spoken to the brother his name is Larry carass as of this year or excuse me as of the 13th of this month he has had communication with the brother okay and what was the substance of the conversation with the brother um the Brother related the owner has health related personal matters um that he's not able to take care of this at this moment and um Mr Pinker explain the issues of the violation and what was needed to bring it into compliance so did the brother understand then that he needed to get a building permit to have this done correct yes okay and and um has the brother then obtained the building permit for Mr Caris we have had no further updates um since Mr Pinkard relayed the information um we have had no application submitted either okay so did you issue then a statement of violation and request for hearing I did yes and on um page 48 it is reflected of the statement of violation request for hearing it's two pages long it looks like no the notice of hearing is on pages 50 and 51 you agree that those what depict what what those documents are that I just mentioned that's correct yes okay and you also have an Affidavit of service on pages 52 and 53 correct so that Affidavit of Service reflects that you sent the notice of code violation by certified male regular mail you posted the property and you also posted it at the municipal government offices at 300 Municipal Drive that City Hall again correct yes okay have you got the Green Card back for that we have not received that one either no okay but the green card that was sent was on pages 54 and 55 of the packet correct yes that's correct all right what does page 56 reflect page 56 reflects that on September 13th of this year the property was posted with those documents we had just gone over okay and then on page 57 what does that photo reflect that is the posting at City Hall um um as mentioned in the Affidavit of service and the the photograph on page 58 page 58 was the 17th of this month reflecting that the electrical work is still in place at the property okay as of today the property is not in compliance correct correct okay how much time do you think that it would take to bring this property into compliance 30 days what would it take to bring it into compliance what are the options either removal of the electrical work whatever the extent may be that was done um or properly permitting with an active and issued permit okay and how much time do you think is a reasonable period of time 30 days one question I failed to ask you when you were talking about the brother did he contact the city as a direct result of receiving one of the notices from the city I believe from the property being posted yes oh the property being posted okay all right so 30 days to come into compliance and and what is the dollar amount of the fine that you're seeking from the special magistrate the city would ask for $250 a day if it does not come into compliance and what is the reason for the uh $250 a day fine with it not being permitted an electrical work the city would see for life and health safety issues okay all right thank you I don't have any other question questions of Miss Mills I would like to Tender into evidence Pages um 32 through 58 of the packet um and also like to provide um a copy of the entire code section 86-52 and ask that it be uh you take judicial notice of that code section and I have no other Witnesses okay we'll go ahead and accept into evidences exhibit number one Pages 32 through 58 of the agenda also go ahead and Mark as exhibit two the code provision dealing with this particular violation this would be the part of the hearing where the respondent or anybody on behalf of the property owner could appear uh don't see anyone if there's anyone here that can hear my voice that wants to come in on behalf of the property owner for the property located 14268 North Bayshore Drive please step forward okay seeing none I'll go ahead and move on to public comment again let the record reflect there are no members of the public in the chambers today uh therefore I'll send it back to you Mr tras is there anything else you want to tell me in regard to this particular violation no I just think that it's it's obvious from the photographs that there have been has been electrical work done on the property as reflected in the photographs um there is no building permit that has been obtained um the property can be brought into compliance by either removing the electrical work on the building or obtaining a building permit um the city is requesting that you provide the property owner 30 days that come into compliance um and if not in compliance by 30 days to issue a fine of $250 a day for each day thereafter that the property remains in non-compliance all right based on the so evidence before me I do find that the property and the owner in violation of section 86-52 therefore I'm going to go ahead and determine that days is any reasonable time for the respondent or owner to bring the property into compliance if the property is not brought into compliance within 30 days of today's hearing then there will be a fine of $250 per day that occurs on the property all right Mr tras anything else before me today no that's it for today thank you all right thank you that concludes today's hearing