well good afternoon everyone I apologize for the tardy start here we've got both variance and code enforcement matters today the first one on the agenda is the variance but if you're here for the code enforcement hearing you're in the right
place that'll be heard after the variance welcome to the city of Madera Beach special uh exception variance use special magistrate hearing my name is Bart Valdez and I'm the appointed special magistrate to hear today's cases I'm a practicing attorney and have been
a member of the Florida bar for over 20 years I've been appointed to this position in accordance and with the authority set forth under Florida law and the City of madira beach code of ordinances it is my role to fairly and objectively review the matters presented today in these variance requests 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 at this time I've read and reviewed the applications with all attachments any written submissions by anyone having an interest any timely submitted written objections and
materials provided by the city staff in all cases a hearing will be conducted in the following order first the city will present its case and staff report and the applicant or owner may ask questions of the city's repres representative the applicant will then present his or her case supported by Witnesses and evidence and the City May
cross-examine each witness public comment will then be solicited or reive from parties directly affected by the variance individuals testifying do not have the right to cross-examine the parties all public comment shall be limited to three minutes per person public participation will then be
closed I will deliberate and then make a decision to Grant or deny each variance requested in the application 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 my decision today I will issue an
order the order will be reduced to writing and the applicant will be provided with a copy by mail additionally your advised that I do not have the authority to Grant you a building permit you must still obtain a building permit for any work you intend to do on your property if you wish to present any information to me today it
is necessary that you swear affirm that you will tell the truth therefore in just a moment the City attorney will swear the oath or administer the oath and swear in any Witnesses if you expect to talk to me today during the hearing on your variance then you will need to rise and be sworn this includes any members of the public who are directly
affected by the variant and may wish to provide public comment Mr TR can you go ahead and swear everybody in I just want to bring to your attention first of all that there have been a bunch of cases that have been canceled from the agenda the first of which is the variance that was scheduled for today's meeting okay sorry about that Mr trash so if I could
just go through them um just so that you have them on your agenda you should have the agenda that was uh put on the day is today it's reflecting that in um item new business item 5A the variance has been cancelled and then three code cases
which are listed under 5e f and g those were cancelled as well those are going to be recited and uh set for next month so we do have the cases on the agenda today for code enforcement
items b c and d um and if you want me to swear in those Witnesses as I can or do you want to yeah let me go ahead and do the Preamble for the code enforcement all right we're switching to the city of madira code enforcement hearing again my name is Bart Valdez I am the appointed special magistrate to hear today's cases
I have been appointed to this position in accordance and with the authority set forth in chapter 162 Florida Statutes it is my role to fairly and objectively review the 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 effort will be made to hear all persons having relevant evidence argument or comments to offer related to the specific case it is being heard as you know just in a few minutes you will need to be sworn in by the City attorney in all cases since the city has the burden
of proof the city will present its case first the respondent or 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 isue an order the order will be reduced to writing and you'll be provided with a copy by mail Additionally you advised 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 at 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 airm that you will tell the truth therefore Mr
tras please swear in all the witnesses anyone's going to speak if you can stand up raise your right hand I'll swear you're under oath you swear the test we're about to give today is going to be the truth the whole truth and nothing but truth okay thank you excellent the first case I have on the agenda today is
case number CE 2476 this is for the property located at 13119 4th Street East is the city ready to proceed we are go ahead Mr TR thank you um the city would call uh
Grace Mills as the city's witness in this case Grace you've been sworn under oath um this particular property located at 13119 4th Street East is this a proactive case or was this a complaint that was received this was a complaint
that was received okay and who did you receive the complaint from and what was the what was the actual complaint let me get to that page um it was from an Andrew Anderson that lived at the address regarding someone living
in a tool shed in the rear of the property okay did you go out to the property to determine whether or not uh there was a violation of any code section of the city code yes okay what did you find when you went to the property um there is a living shed in
the back um that has not been permitted that will need to be permitted or removed okay so let's go back then since you found a violation we'll talk about the code section in a minute let's talk about the ownership of the property have you had the opportunity to determine who the owner of the property
is I have um that's reflected on page three for Kell Properties LLC okay and this is the print out from the penel County Property Appraiser's office that's correct okay and did it also uh does it also provide a mailing
address for uh that particular LLC it does um 2288 Edith drive and denan Florida okay did you also pull up the print out for the pelis County tax collector's office I did that starts on page six for the reflection um stating
the same owner for the address and that that's on page six and seven of the packet yes okay once you found out that it was a limited liability company did you go to sunbiz and find out the contact information listed at sunbiz I did that starts on page eight
um for Kell properties showing the registered agent and the Edith address in denan okay the registered agent list it is um St Louis cessie Esquire okay but at the same address
that was listed in the two previous that's correct yes they match okay all right um once you went out to the property what was the date that you arrived on the property to determine whether or not there was a violation me see what pages um it would have been
August 1st 2024 okay and when when you went to the property where you met there with the property owner or with any of the uh tenants at the property um no there were no tenants or Property Owners however from the property line you're able to see directly back um to where the shed
is okay so did you happen to take a photograph of the shed while you were out there that day um let's see um reflected on page 14 was from August 1st 2024 and that was actually one that was
submitted um from the tenant himself that put the complaint in all right well and looking at this Photograph can you explain what we're looking at in the photograph on page 14 so this is near the rear of the multif family dwelling um and the Tenant looks to have taken a
photo of the shed that's in the rear of the yard while he's underneath the actual multif family dwelling I'm sorry under the what the house there okay so he's under the house Eve looking into the backyard and this is a photograph of the shed that's what we're looking at
the door there yes okay all right once you saw the shed there how did you determine that um the shed was not allowed to be there or or was a code violation um let me go back up to the property appr
appraiser there are four units at the property that weree rentals um prior of the storm I don't believe it's being rented now but the property appraiser states that there's four living units um and one building there's also no history that the city has for permitting this um
it would need to be permitted to make sure that the zone that it's in that it's enough setback and that it's proper size as well okay so what is the actual violation of the city codes in it is 8652 um when required basically stating
the lack of permit for it okay so in your testimony earlier you had testified that there was actually somebody living in this unpermitted shed is that correct that was from the complaint yes okay but that's really not part of this code violation correct okay
the real code violation is is there was a shed built there and there was no permit for it yes okay all right um on August 1st did you issue a courtesy notice of violation for the property I did yes that's reflected starting on page 12 and what did this
courtesy notice provide to the property owner it gave them the ordinance what the violation detail was that there was an unpermitted accessory structure located on the property and the corrective action which would be to obtain a building permit if the permit cannot be obtained the structure needs to be removed um and I gave a follow-up
date of August 15 2024 all right did you get a response to the courtesy notice of code violation I did not okay but it was sent to an attorney correct I believe the property owner is well yes okay all right if you could turn to page
15 of the packet and explain what that is um it was while researching the property um there was a Zillow listing on the property that actually reflected the shed a little bit better than the photo we received so I added this to the violation as well just to reflect the
violation easier okay so this was attached to the courtesy violation okay so you did not get a response to that courtesy letter did you um send a notice of code violation then yes that
starts on page 16 um and that start it was sent August 19th 2024 to the same property owner um certified mail so this is basically exactly like the courtesy notice except to give additional time to come into compliance corg yes I gave it's the exact same
violation detailed exact same corrective action I gave until September 2nd for the follow-up date um we did not ever get the green card back but I did speak to in my rounds on the island while I'm doing inspections I was stopped by a man who I don't know if it was the homeowner
or a tenant there that said that they had received the violation and that they're going to get it permitted um so we had an in-person conversation however nothing came of that okay so if you could then turn to
um page 20 and 21 of the packet is this the green card that was attached to the notice of code violation that was sent that's correct and this is what you're saying you did not get a response you didn't get this green card back that's correct all right so that was in August and
September of last year now we're in February of 2025 what was the reason that there was a delay between those two notices and the statement of violation that was about to be issued in February of this year um I would say mostly the
Hurricanes that H the island were in September um so everything kind of came to a pause for that okay all right so let's talk about the statement of violation request for hearing then on page 22 what was the date that that was issued it's February 14th
2025 once this uh statement of violation was issued was this sent by regular mail and certified mail both yes okay did you get the regular mail back no did you get the green card back from the certified mailing we have not yet okay did it
apprise the property owner that of the same code violation 80 section 8652 a permit was required for the shed yes all right did you get a response to this statement of violation did not no okay did you issue a notice of hearing for today's hearing I did that's reflected
on page start on page 24 and did you send this by regular and certified mail yes and same questions the regular mail did not come back correct no it did not and we have not gotten the Green Card back on the certified mailing correct correct okay all right so let's if you could
turn to page 26 of the packet I want to talk to you about the Affidavit of service can you explain to the special magistrate uh what this is and what the purpose of it's for um yes so the Affidavit of service lays out in detail the days that certain letters were
either posted or sent out um it's reflecting that on the 14th of February I sent the notice of hearing by certified mail um and then by first class regular mail as well it also reflects that I posted the actual documents on the property um it gives
the property address and the parcel number with the 14th day of February and it also reflects at the bottom that I posted the same documents that were sent and posted out the property here at City Hall all right and did you received the
well did you send that by regular mail and certified mail the Affidavit of service yes okay did you get the green card back on that one no all right can you turn to page 30 and 31 and explain what those photographs are page 30 reflects um the actual
posting of the documents that I just spoke about being posted at the property on February 14th and 31 um just from the prop line it's a straight shoot back um there's kind of like an overhang from the units
you can see in the back there the front door of the shed um you kind of have to look a little bit but it was just to reflect that the shed was still there when I posted the property and it hasn't been removed okay and the photograph on page 32 that is the copies of the postings
that have been posted downstairs at City Hall okay is the property in compliance as of today no all right how much time do you think is a reasonable period of time for the property owner to bring the property into compliance by obtaining the building permit 45 days and what is the
daily fine you think is appropriate on this particular um code violation case for the daily fine should it not be in compliance within 45 days uh the city would find $200 a day um with it potentially being a life and health safety issue if someone is living in there okay thank you um I have no other
questions of Miss Mills I would tender into evidence uh Pages three through 32 of the packet to be received into evidence as the city's exhibit number one all right I'll go ahead and
receive into evidence Pages number three through page 32 of the agenda packet as exhibit number one to this hearing good afternoon ma'am again sorry I was late I appreciate you waiting um I take your here on behalf of the
respondent or the owner K properties okay what's your name cessie St Louis all right and ma'am I'm going to give you an opportunity to tell me everything you want about this violation in just a few minutes now is your opportunity to cross examine Miss Mills
over what she testified to do you have any cross-examination for Miss Mills yes your honor please proceed Miss Mills have you did you have contact with the complaintant when he came in to file the complaint yes okay and he told you someone was living in
the shed yes did you ever speak with anybody living in the shed no okay did the complaintant tell you who erected the shed no did you ever find out who erected the shed
nope correct me if I'm wrong you stated the violation date that you had gone around was August 1st of 201 24 yes that's the DAT that the violation letter was sent out sure and you went to the property that
day yes and there were no tenants or the property owner there there was no one there at the time that I stopped by no okay so at the time you were there you didn't see anyone living in the shed no it's in the rear of the property and then when you sent out that
notice of violation you did not get a green card back saying that the owner got that notice of violation the first letter is not a certified letter okay so did you ever get any certification back from anything that you sent the owner
that they actually received the um service on anything you sent no but the tracking numbers can be tracked if the magistrate would like okay but you never received any of
the green cards back the city did not know okay you stated earlier the property is not in compliance as of today that's correct okay and when's the last time you went to the property it would have been February 14th okay and so how do you know that the property is not in
compliance as of today as of my last date of the check it is not in compliance I have had no communication there are also no permits to remove or to approve a permit for a shed to be there okay so the last check was February 14th yes and there's no history
of a permit to allow for it to be there or to be removed okay I have no further questions thank you no read right all right does the city have any other Witnesses no other Witnesses all right very good all right
Miss St Louis this is the time of the hearing where you can tell me anything you want to tell me you can share any documents call any Witnesses on your own and just so you're aware as you formulate your presentation my understanding of the city's code
enforcement dispute here is has nothing to do with a tenant living there or not living there that was a Genesis of the dispute the issue that I'm being asked to determine is whether or not that shed was erected without a building permit and then the relief the city is
requesting today is to either tear down that shed or get an after Thea building permit for the shed so if that helps you understand my thought process as to what I'm considering today it has nothing to do with a tenant being in there it's only whether or not that shed as an accessory structure was permitted when
it was built and what the city's asking me to do is find that there's no evidence that it was permitted and give you 60 days to get a bu you know good after the fact building permit for it sure so anyway I that that's just give you an idea of what I'm hearing but this is your opportunity to provide any
information you want to me about this violation sure yes thank you it's minating that the structure in question was erected by a former tenant who did not have the permission or knowledge um from Kel properties to
erect such a structure this is a fourplex building um this building has been vacant since the Hurricanes um the structure that was on the property has since been torn down as requested by the city of madira
beach this was not a structure that Cel properties had knowledge of until sometime after or prior to the Hurricanes but um unfortunately your honor as I'm sure you're aware there were two hurricanes
that provided a ton of flooding to this area that included um records that Kel properties had possessed if there ever was a notice of violation in Kel properties um that C
Properties had it was potentially destroyed during these Hur this the flooding that happened um with saying that no notice of violation to my knowledge was ever seen to correct this to make corrective
actions here um but as I said the structure has since been taken down it was taken down on the 21st as requested by um the city of madira beach I do have pictures showing the that the structure is down she show this to Mr tras first
and see if he has any objection this property has been vacant for months and months since these two hurricanes there was a substantial damage letter it's my understanding there was a substantial damage that was sent by the city of madira beach um so
there's no tenants in this in this property so this property is sitting here vacant with a random shed that was erected by a tenant um that Cal properties had no knowledge of um Cal properties at no time was trying to rent out the shed or knew about the
shed um and then now with the devastation of the flooding the property is just sitting there so um what Kel properties was attempting to do was tear down the whole structure including the building but is waiting on
building permits um to do so so it was just going to take everything down at once that way it could save on costs and such to get crws down there two times but given this hearing it's now been taken down and we're waiting on building
permits for the actual building itself because there's the flood damage is now making it make it made it so that nobody can live in it um so that's where we're at today thank you okay I'll go ahead and accept into evidence with uh the
city does not object so exhibit two will be the photograph that shows a man standing on what appears to be the space where the old shed was located and exhibit three also appears to be demolition of the shed so I'll go ahead and accept that in as exhibit number two and
three and ma'am I I noted you're an attorney so are you a appear ing in Your Capacity today as Council for the LLC or you appearing as in the owner because I don't know if that affects Mr tr's ability to conduct cross-examination I
think if you're just here as an attorney I'm not sure but I know you're also a manager or member I am I am the I am the majority member of Kel properties all right so you're here in both capacities as Council for the LLC also as the actual owner owner's
representative correct yes okay Mr Trask in that case I'm going to go ahead and let you ask any questions of Miss St Louis in regard to her testimony today who is Phillip Phil St Louis sorry I'm sorry I interrupted you Philip St
Louis is my father okay and Kell properties is managed who what manage what are the who what are the names of the managers of Kell properties is it just you the day-to-day manager he he manages the day-to-day management operations of Kell properties
and then there's me who does more of admin and legal stuff if that comes up okay but Mr St Louis owned this property before your dad owns this property before it became owned by Kell Properties LLC
correct at some point correct yes um and you as the one of the managers of the property are are you representing to the special magistrate today that you have never seen this shed on the property until you got these
notices from the code enforcement staff that's correct I don't go to this property so you've never been to the property then correct I've been to the property that and when was the shed built I I have no idea when the shed was
built okay so you don't dispute though that the shed was there and there was no permit that was issued for that shed correct correct okay and you did not obtain or kill properties that not
obtain a building permit to demolish the shed either did you correct okay and you would not have an objection to City staff or the code enforcement department to come on this property and determine whether or not to see whether the shed still exists do you you don't
have any objection to that correct no objection okay all right I don't think I have any other questions of um of Miss St Louis okay uh Miss St Louis is there are there any other Witnesses you'd like to call or any other documents or evidence you'd
like to present to me today no your honor all right no problem um I may have some other questions because I'm going to have some questions for City for the city as to how to proceed here uh but let's I I think it's probably appropriate now to move on to public comment are there any members of the public here today that have direct
knowledge as to this code violation that wish to come forward and speak today okay seeing none I'll kick it back to you Mr tras in of the information that was provided by the owner here today and the pictures that are exhibit
two and three does that change or modify the request by the city as to how this property can be brought into compliance no I just think give give the city some time to go out there and inspect the property to determine whether or not that actually is the shed that was torn
down it wasn't some other portion of the the building that was torn down so it really doesn't change our recommendation um we can go out and do the inspection within the next couple of days so if we could have seven to 10 days to do that I'm just suggesting that you keep it at 45 days in case it's not the
shed um and it's something else that's been removed out there it will still give them some opportunity to pull that building permit um so that's our position and Miss Mills I do you with all that's going on I'm sure the city's been busy with building permits all over the place you think 45 days is enough
time for the city to get whatever information they need process the application and issue a decision one way or the other more than enough yep okay great all right um ma'am based on the pictures that that the city provided as well as Miss Mill's testimony I'm going
to go ahead and find that there was a violation at some point I guess there's a question as to whether or not there exists a violation today um so what I'm going to do is certainly as of the date of the notice there appears to be a violation because the shed was built without a permit and there's no evidence
in the record before me that there was a permit for this accessory structure uh I'm going to go ahead and find that 45 days is a reasonable time to bring the property into compliance and you know if it's already demolished then I would encourage you to immediately get with the city and have them come out and do
an inspection and in the event that they determine typically what happens is in the event they determine that it's been demolished they'll do an Affidavit of compliance and whatnot and that will go in the file so because of the allegation and again although it's not part of my
decision today but because there are some allegations that somebody was living in there from someone purporting to be a tenant I do find that the sum of $200 a day is appropriate it doesn't sound like it's going to get to that because you've already demolished the structure but I'm going to go ahead and give you 45 days to be brought in
compliance and $200 a day fine after that ma'am if for whatever reason it's a situation where you need more time for compliance I'm here every 30 days in the same uh day date and time well sometimes it's 2:00 but I'm here every 30 days you
can always come back before me and ask for an extension of time to bring in the property into compliance but hopefully it sounds like that's already done so with that that concludes the hearing on uh c-24 d76 so thank you very much for your time today ma'am thank you um if I just
may clarify I know the first picture that was shown was like it looked like a black structure is that also a shed that needs to come down just so I'm clear the only shed I'm aware of that needs to come down is on page 19 of the
exhibit packet it's that one right there and I'm looking at page 19 yeah I think if you get Miss Mills page 19 there you go that's the one I'm that that I understand to be the the shed that needs to be permanent or come down if you can scroll up just to the
page before oh okay I thought you were pointing at the okay I see the the structure now totally fine got it thank you all right and again ma'am I would encourage you to get with Miss Mills or whoever else at the city as soon as possible and they
can work on the next steps for you great thank you all right the next case is C- or ce24 d63 for the property located at 435 South Bayshore Drive is the city ready to proceed yes and I believe Mr
Diaz is here on this case he's going to step forward okay great so but City's ready to proceed all right uh go ahead Mr TR thank you so um Grace on this particular case which is 435 South Bay Shore Drive are you
familiar with this case I am yes okay who's the owner of this property uh blasia P Tucker okay how do you know that um if you look at page 33 it reflects the property appraiser um showing the owner name okay and did you
also check to see who the owner is by way of the tax collector's office I did yes that's going to start on page 36 showing the same okay is this a proactive case or is this a complaint that you received it's proactive okay
when was your first time out of the property determined that there was a violation at the property June 27th is when it was first noticed of last year 204 yes sorry okay and when you went out to the property can you explain the special magistrate what what you found when you went out to the property um
upon going out to the property if you take a look it starts on page 40 um following down you can just see a state of disrepair of the sopit and fascia um not sure if anyone's living in the
property or not but it looks to be prop possibly vacant um just some exterior upkeeping that needs to happen at the property was noted okay and Page 41 oh you want me to go Page by Page yes um 41 is showing um some of the failing
s facial on the side um 42 is showing the same over the garage and kind of the front area of the house 43 um I don't know if the garage doors failed or not if that was just to keep water out um but also above the
garage you can see the failing wood that is starting to separate as well 44 is actually directly above the front door of the property um with a light fixture that has seem to be rotting away for some while 45 is actually one of the
side properties it's a fence that um is missing a few panels showing the vegetation debris on the side of the yard as well okay so when you went out to the property um in June of last year did you determine that there were code
violations yes and what code violations did you find when you went out there I I know you went through the photographs but what code sections the first is going to start with 14 1969 which is maintenance of the exterior premises saying that um private property and vacant Lots shall be kept free of all Hazard to the health safety and Weare of
persons on or nearby the premises um I stated that there was garbage tra Refuge debris um that's more in regards to the vegetation on the side of the property um and the sandbags as well that had been long standing at the
property in front of the garage door also three is overhanging or overhead objects which are loose and securely fastened um or otherwise constitute a danger of falling on Persons which is talking about the failing soften fascia and the overhang um lamp in front of the
front door okay 1470 is same general maintenance the exterior of every structure or accessory structure this also includes the fence shall be maintained in good repair um termite free all surfaces should be kept painted this goes for the fence that needs
repair as well as just the exterior of the property that needs General upkeep section 110 446 um this is the division that applies to all fenes Hedges walls um and that is going to
site number seven which is maintenance um and that's just simply stating that the fence that has missing panels um needs maintenance all right so you issued a notice of code violation in June of last year that's correct and it's on page 37
38 and well and continuing thereafter correct yes okay and this notice a code violation What was the corrective action that the property owner needed to take it was um either the property owner or licensed contractor will need to apply for and obtain a building permit if
required to make repairs modifications to comply if a permit cannot be obtained the structure or changes must be removed all right so did you get a response to this letter that you sent no and what time did you give the property owner two to comply on the original
letter let me go back up to it sorry uh July 11th of 2024 was my follow-up date so having gotten no response to that did you issue a not another notice of code violation on July 16th 2024 I did yes is this the same as the prior
one I just gave gives more time to come into compliance yes that follow up date of this letter was July 30th 2024 and that's in the packet starting at page 46 correct yes you send this by regular and certified mail both yes okay did you
get the regular mail back we did not get the green card or the regular mail back no we did not but we also did not receive the signed Green Card either okay so has anything happened since that last code violation notice permitting wise
no so wasn't this case set for hearing last month it was yes the city received a request for extension um the city manager granted an extension for 30 days during that time frame no permits were applied for so it was brought to this month's
hearing all right let's talk about then the statement of violation and request for hearing that's on page 57 did you issue this statement of violation request for hearing I did yes does it cite the same code sections that the previous notices it does yes okay and did you send this by regular mail and
certified mail correct did the regular mail come back no did the Green Card come back for the certified mail not yet okay and did you uh issue a notice of hearing for today's hearing that's correct yes on starts on page 60 okay and did you send that by regular
mail and certified mail as well yes did the regular mail come back on the notice of hearing no did you receive the Green Card back no all right so did you issue then a did you post the property yes okay and is
that reflected on page 67 of the packet it is yes all right let's talk about page 67 for a minute there's a for sale sign in the front yard is that the for sale sign for this particular property that we want the code violations to be corrected on it would
appear so and how long has that for salale sign been sitting up front couldn't tell you exact date but a matter of months okay so in the last couple of months then no activity has occurred at all on this property to correct the problems not until recently
um there may have been inside debris that were was removed from water getting into the house but permit wise no there has been no activity all right so did you um besides posting the property did you
also post it at City Hall yes and that's shown on 6 on our bulletin board and did you do an Affidavit of service for this particular property I did yes and I sent it a regular mail and certified mail I did not get the regular mail back and I have
not gotten the Green Card back yet for those mailings okay all right so let's talk about an email that you received late Friday night on this property I'm going to go ahead and hand it to special Magistrate
all right while you're doing that Mr tras I assume you want me to accept an Evidence is exhibit number one Pages 33 through 68 of the agenda packet yes I would request that they be received into evidence all right go ahead and accept as exhibit number one
Pages 33 through 68 of the agenda packet tell me about these other documents you just handed me okay so I just want to have Grace prove them up so you received this email from Brenda Fernandez Friday night 6:30
p.m. this this came to your email address correct or to the building department email address it went to the building department and then was forwarded to me okay what is this all about um on Thursday the 20th I had a contractor come into the main lobby um
requesting that this property was not heard at the special magistrate as they had been waiting on a permit um I let them know that the magistrate hearing would still be happening and there was no approved permit of any kind um she had mentioned that the property owners
in or relation to the owner were going to be out of town I said you're able to send an email in to whatever you'd like to let the special magistrate know you can send it to the building department so she did um and it seems to State hello we are working on the property at 4:35 South Bay Shore madir Beach we're
doing the interior demo and we are and are waiting for the permit a few weeks there's a hearing on Monday but our client is out of town we spoke with the city of madir on Wednesday and they said that we should email this address to just make sure that they give them an extension until the department is
approved my name is Brenda Fernandez with spr construction okay so let's talk about the building permit that was they've been waiting for for a few weeks when did they file the application for the building permit February 19th of this
year okay so two days before the email they applied for a building permit yes okay does the building permit that's been applied for have anything at all to do with what we're here on these code violations today no the application that we received um has nothing in reference
to the violations okay what is the building permit application for that Miss Fernandez is talking about um the project description that was submitted to the city is for demo interior drywall cabinets and furniture removal okay the city did not site them for any of those
those matters as being code violations correct no so we're talking about fascia sawet fence hanging stuff by the light fixture Palm frons that type of thing on exterior repairs if there's cracking or anything yeah okay has the city received any other permit applications for this
property other than this one that Mrs Fernandez is talking about no okay so the property is still in violation as of today yes okay um how much time do you think would be an appropriate period of time for the property owner to bring the property into
compliance the Planning and Zoning um has to since we have received the first application on the property post storm and everything they have to make a substantial damage determination on the property um which we are requesting information off based off of this first permit with that being taken into
account I would say 60 days okay and with regard to the Daily fine should the property not come into compliance within 60 days how much do you think would be appropriate daily fine and the reasons why I believe the
city would find 250 a day um with life and health safety taken into consideration of the property owner itself and also neighboring um owners for the state of the property all right at this point I would tender into evidence the pieces of paper that I provided to the special
magistrate the email um which consists of one two three looks like three pages and then the permit application which it looks like four pages all right go ahead and accept into evidence is exhibit number two
the email from Brenda Fernandez to the city with attachments exhibit three will be what appears to be a permit plan review and inspection status report print out those will be exhibits two and three thank you I have no other
questions all right uh Miss Mills I don't if the what is the um legal significance of what the planning review commission is going to do in other words if they determine there is or is not a substantial damage
determination how does that impact what the owner would do next in regard to this property if the property is substantially damaged um it would either need to be brought into compliance by a number of options lifting full demolition new build such as that um or they are able to appeal
and give supporting documents to Planning and Zoning to overturn that if it's not substantially damaged they will issue permits as normal but if it is substantially damaged it could potentially take longer because we will not issue a permit until um a plan comes
in to take that property out of violation for substantial damage all right understood thank you all right sir are you here on behalf of the owner yes what is your name sir Blazer's brother all right and so what what is your name
John Diaz John Diaz and is that um d a z d a s d a s all right Mr you're the um owner the owner's brother I'm I have the power power attorney for my sister okay as she's
handicapp all right sir uh in just a moment I'm going to give you an opportunity to tell me anything at all you want to tell me about this violation present any evidence call any Witnesses and show me any documents but this is your opportunity during this proceeding to ask Miss Mills any questions about
what she just testified to you don't have to ask her any questions if you don't want to but you have that ability to cross-examine her yes sir do you have any questions you'd like to ask her I do have a few questions because uh first of all uh I live in Portugal with my wife
we both retired we are US citizens and as I was in Portugal I did not know anything about this property about the violations whatsoever and Sir again I'm I want you to tell me all of this but I
just want the record to be clear this is your chance to ask her questions okay as to what she testified to you don't have to ask her questions can just go right on to telling me what you want to tell me or you can ask her questions about what she just said are you with the deputy together do you work with the
deputy he works with the city yes so since November uh I've been trying to call the depuy's office and the CEO of Madera Beach and I have been explaining to them as to
because someone one of the neighbors told me that you know they has been a deputy back and forth and I think you have violations because as my sister is handicap M she was Miss she was uh what
we tried to do is to one of my friends who lives over here in close to in Pasadena I'm going object this is not a question I tell you it sounds like you want to share information with me which I very much want to he okay the only question I have is I did get back to
your Deputy couple of times and I didn't get any answers from him nor the city I left my name my email address as I was in Portugal and this was since November November and then I came to the in
December okay the notices were sent to the property owner off of the property appraiser address so that's why saying is I did manage I did call your city of Madera Beach City Hall over here to the deputy's office and I was told the
deputy is out on his rounds and no one knew anything about it they didn't know how to contact him I did not know who to contact but I did ma try to call the deputy a couple of times since last year okay okay thank you all right uh before
you tell me anything are there any other witnesses that the city would like to call Mr TR no other Witnesses thank you all right uh sir this is your opportunity during the hearing to tell me anything you want to tell me you can share documents photographs you can call other Witnesses or just tell me what you want to tell me that you think I need to
consider yes as I said before I'll repeat that again as me and my wife are retired we are US citizens and we live in Portugal I did don't know anything about these citations as my sister is
handicapped and because of the storms so let's go back so I've been explaining to as she's handicapped and the house is falling apart more or less we did put the house with the realtor to sell it
off so she was trying her best to sell the house and we did get offers but then all of a sudden they offer were pulled back and I tried to get in touch I had constant contact with this realtor and
she told me John yes there's another offer but unfortunately they pulled it back so when I came to the states which was end of as middle of November I came for two reasons one was
because of my daughter she fell down and she needed a surgery secondly to take care of my sister who's handicapped blazia Tucker I could not come over here to Madera Beach but one of the neighbors
who's uh sitting over here Brenda Fernandez she passed by the house and she called me and she said John are you uh as I put my sign for sale over there she saw the sign the my phone number and
she called me and she said your sister has a bunch of violations look like John so that's the first time I came to know that there have been violations scored violations from the city that the guy
who had expl called me before he did not know exactly if there were or if they were not he just said the police were stopping by so as Brenda informed me that there have been code violations I
got in touch with her immediately and I told her what can we do about this and she said the first thing we got to do is clean up the property inside out for that would be the first thing to do and secondly if you want to do any
renovations to the house the soft and all that we can take care of that after we get all this done but remember one thing that the city of Madera Beach right now it takes a long time for permits and all kinds of stuff because
there's been a lot of houses that have been damaged so I said okay let's get first things first done the reason I waited for so long because since I was from Portugal I had sent an email to
FEMA that I was told that FEMA has to First go into the property to check the property out and then I could start doing whatever necessary so I've been calling FEMA on and off on and off on and and off and they said
that they pull my application back for some reason I don't know for what reason December and they reinstated the application so I told Brenda her husband is a contractor I said to go ahead clean out the property because she sent me
pictures which from the hurricane damage also there was the neighbors put all the stuff from his property into my sister's property which was not there before so now she's working on the permits to
get the first things done first which would be clean out of the house inside where there's a lot of mold and uh clean out the exterior I was on the property last week so I did take a look and they're doing a really good
job about it so once once this stuff is cleaned out we're going to start doing the renovation of the house all right sir thank you I think I understand everything you said Mr TR do you have any questions for Mr Diaz yeah
I've got some questions for Mr D is this property vacant at the moment yes no one can live in it how long has it been vacant it's been vacant so during before the storm could
come my so let's go back last year I came over here to help my sister as I think last last year we had another storm so she was she could not put her
head up she was as she's handicapped I was trying to help her out for the last three months and running to doctors back and forth so I took her to India where she got medical uh help with
therapy and all that and then she was supposed to go back to for therapy so she came to the states I went to Portugal when she came back to the states she was staying with some friends
who were taking care of her and as she's handicapped she went back to the property but she could not live over there so since last year we've been trying to sell the house so it was a very simple question sir yes when was the last time the property
was occupied I have no idea about that at least a year it's been vacant you would say been a year okay and who is the management company that's been taking care of the property picking up the Palm fronts cutting the grass that type of thing so
one of our friends uh offered to help her with some company I have no idea who it was so they were coming and cleaning up in the front Okay so you don't really know then I have no idea because I don't live over
here so in the past year has anybody tried to repair the fence on the property I have no idea but in the past year has anybody picked up any of the Palm frons on the property I have no idea okay and these sandbags that are falling apart up
against the garage door they've been there more than a year correct yes okay so do you have possession of the notice now for this code case you know exactly what needs to be done to bring the
property into compliance so miss uh Fernandez is sitting over here this is the first time I came to know as to what needs to be done and uh she's helping me out with these
things so you don't you don't even know what needs to be I have no idea what okay and when you asked a month ago when you asked the city to continue the case for another month or so for you to get the property into compliance you haven't done anything in the past month have you
yes I did I got in touch with her and we are trying to clear the property out first and then once we get that done we're going to work on the exterior and the interior because the house is going to be renovated you understand that the interior of the house has nothing to do
with this code enforcement case corre I know but exor is going to be done all right at the same time so you've seen the pictures that um have been shown yes I just saw the pictures up there okay you don't dispute that
this is the way the property looks today I do not okay all right so the owner of the property is no longer in the states then the own of the property is in Sarasota right now in a nursing home in a nursing home so she's not coming back to the property I don't
believe so okay all right now that you know what needs to be done for these code M code enforcement matters the fascia the sopit the fence the yard cleanup how much time do you think it would take to get that
accomplished so as I spoke to miss Fernandez she said it's taking a long time to get permits you don't need a permit to pick up Palm FRS you don't need a permit to pick up already started can I show you some pictures I just need you to answer my questions how how much time do you think it'll
take to clean the property up fix the phasa fix the office you can't answer your questions you're going to need to answer them sir okay so if you don't know you can just tell us you don't know the I have no idea okay all right okay so the city is recommending 60 days to get the property cleaned up and the
fascia and the sfet fixed you think that that's sufficient enough time to get that done I would need a little bit more time how much time do you think it would take uh at least three months okay and because as I'm not living here can I give you an exam as to why the
reason sir you can hire contractors you don't need to live here um you can get the property cleaned up and you can hire contractors to do that you don't necessarily need to be to do that her husband is a contractor he's the one who will be doing the job for me okay all right so you think more than 60
days you just don't know really how much I really yes exactly okay all right I have no other questions for Mr Diaz appreciate him appearing today all right so sir I don't have any questions for you are there any other Witnesses or any other information you'd like to share
with me today yes sir uh as my sister is handicapped uh since last year I've been struggling to get her back on her feet you know because of her
condition uh as I've been also sick uh I have a a slight problem as to that's the reason I asked him for some more time so when I came to the states I was taking care of my daughter and in while doing
that I myself was admitted to the hospital so I was in the hospital for six days and they've been trying to put a heart monitor on me and doing a few tests and all that so I'm not asking for
more time because just for the name sake but because also because of my sickness I know I can hire any contractor contractors are all over the place it all depends what type of a contract as I
uh have faith in one contractor who has started the job already and it is taking some time for the city to issue permits uh because I want to do a good job renovating the inside the outside making
the property look really nice and I as I said before my sister she is just before the storms I did send money to uh this facility over
here uh the Barkley in Pasadena it's a living senior living facility and what they did was they transferred her to Sarasota because of the storms coming this way from Sarasota they transferred
her to West Palm Beach because the storm was going to hit Sarasota now they brought her back to Sarasota so I'm dealing with a lot of issues with her because they raised the prices she was supposed to come back to Pasadena after
they fixed the place over here but now they keep telling me that uh they're not going to be it's going to be longer because the property has more damages over here in Pasadena so they're going to keep her in Sarasota or we would have
to find another home for her somewhere else so I've been looking for a home in Clear Water and in St Pete and in Orlando because my kids live in Orlando but it's not so easy for me with
to do all these things because of my health reasons all the reason I'm telling you all this is because uh I wanted to give you a small idea that I have been going through my health
issues I know that the city of Madera needs this property to be cleaned out up to the standards and all that which I will try to do my best to their compliances all right sir thank you so much for saying that and I appreciate
you saying that uh all right are there any members of the public who have direct knowledge as to this code violation that would like to come forward and be heard today all right come on up I'm not sure that she's been sworn in in fact I don't think Mr Diaz was sworn
in either okay why don't you both go ahead and raise your hands and uh let's be sworn in today you swear the testimony you're about to give is going to be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes okay all right ma'am what is your name Brenda Fernandez Brenda Brenda yeah Fernandez yes all
right uh misss Fernandez uh what is it that you'd like to share today during public comment I'm a neighbor in the community on um a neighbor from Jon's sister's um house I was walking by and I saw the property and I saw the the sign
that it was in front of the property that it was going to it was going to be a hearing so I called the for sale number that it was by owner so I thought the owner put the the sign but it was it was John he explained that he was pretty much the person in charge of the sister
I explained it to him that he was going to have a hearing and that was I called him on Friday and the hearing was Monday it was it was only like a two day or something like that he didn't have much time so that sorry that was Thursday so I came on Friday I spoke with Robin the
city um manager explain the whole situation they moved the hearing for him um I have experien I have worked in Meda City before with the whole compliance and viol my husband is a contractor um
so I pretty much I went through all the codes and I offer J help he said immediately yes let's work on it we started working on the putting everything together for him I went we walked the house um he was also a little bit concerned about the FEMA situation
that's why he didn't want to touch the house because they don't have insurance and insurance need pictures of the conditions of the house so there was a little bit of miscommunication between fim and him and the sister so it took it took him like a week or so to pretty much clarify that he can remove all the
items and he only needed pictures so we help him with that we took pictures of the property of the way that it was before as in now the only code violation that the house is having at this moment is just a soft fit and facial everything else is being removed from the property
all the Palms all the debris everything through the entire backyard front yard all that is being removed and the reason why the fascia and S is Ste in place is because it's more like structural and then they need to get a private appraisal to see if you know they can
move forward with the renovation of the property um to see if the city is going to allow them to rebuild a home um we offer him and we advised him to remove all the interial because it was mold growing inside of the property and the property adjusters the insurance
adjuster wouldn't be able to walk in the house even to see the damage there was so much debris there was um um Furniture everywhere so they couldn't walk so we are helping him pretty much remove all the furniture all the debris the property is already clean the only thing
up to this point that is not being touched is a sofit and facial and it's pretty much for the insurance purposes and to see you know if the the property going to be able to be you know s stable for the future if not it's going to be a
total Demo and it's pointless to fix something that we're going to eventually maybe have to tear it down all right thank you Mr Fernandez I appreciate that all right thank you all very much that'll close public comment Mr tras I'll give you the last word is there anything else you'd like
to tell me on this one I think it's U clear that the code violations have been proven that they're they have not been disputed we're asking that you find a violation of the cited code sections um give the property owner 60 days to come into compliance or um a $250 a day fine
for every day that the property remains in non-compliance after the 60 days is run all right thank you very much uh based upon the evidence provided to me I do find that all the violations set forth in the notice have been proven by the city uh based upon the you know the
testimony I'm going to split the difference I'm going to give the owner 75 days to come into compliance so the city asked for 60 the owner asked for 90 I'm going to do 75 I do believe that $250 a day is an appropriate fine amount
given the health safety and Welfare issues and you know sir I'm very much Guided by section 14-7 14-6 of the code which you know talks about the the city's Declaration of policy and the policy of this city is
to make sure that there aren't dilapidated structures out there that could be considered a blight and so I'm Guided by what the elected officials of this city have told me I should do when I'm interpreting this code so I'm going to go ahead and find there's a violation
we give you 75 days to bring it into compliance 250 day fine after that and that concludes the hearing on Ce 2463 for the property located 435 South Bayshore Drive all right let's move on to the I believe now this is going to be
the last one on the agenda today I have a question sir okay sir your hearing is concluded but I'll try to answer it quickly if it's a simple question uh what the city uh also issue a permit uh because uh
what if we don't get a permit to do this you know because everything needs a permit let let me answer that as you may have heard my intro maybe you came in after I did not have the power to Grant a building permit I'm here solely to determine whether or not city code has been like to ask the you know why don't
you do this sir we've got one more matter that I've got to go through on the agenda I would encourage you to sit here through that one and then you can talk to Miss Mill or Mr TR if he has time to talk to you today or they can direct you to who you might need to direct your inquiry to at the city okay right thank you so much okay let's move
on to the last hearing which is CE 24- 53 for the property located at 1363 boaa Avenue is the city ready to proceed yes we are go ahead Mr tras call Grace Mills Grace is this a proactive
case or was it a result of a complaint it's proactive okay who is the owner of this proper uh located 13 13063 Bas Avenue um from the property appraiser on page starting on page 69 uh Michael David
fortunado okay and did you also find uh the owner of the property of the tax collector's records as well yes starting on page 72 it would reflect the same okay what was the date that you went out to this property and found the
violation June 11th of last year 2020 before okay and what was the violation you found at the property um there were two separate issues the dock at the property was failing and coming into the water um and also that there were an abundance
of what is the word I'm trying to say um floating docks on the property that were not in a dock permit okay when you were out at the property that day did you take a photograph to to
show the special magistrate what was actually there yes on 77 um you can see the end of the dock that has started to fail and go into the water also the jet skis and the jet ski floating docks which need to be permitted um do not have a permit for
them so did you take this photograph from a boat I did okay so is the city now using a boat to go in to the canals and so forth to find code violations we are okay and what's the purpose of the city doing that versus um finding the
violations from the street side for example there are a lot of violations that you can't see from the street um so if it comes into health safety of failing docks or seaw walls that have fallen in we found a lot after the storms um just things that we're not able to see from the street view um
backs of houses sheds stuff like that okay so you didn't get in the boat to go check this property out you were doing the Citywide review of the basa Bay that's correct okay and you came up on this one yes found this violation okay
yes I just want to make sure that you know we're not picking this one out out of all the rest of them this is one of many right yes we occasionally go out and just do um A View From the boat to see if there's anything outstanding from backs of houses no one in particular
okay all right so when you went out there in Jun of 2024 and you found these violations we now know who the property owner is you just mentioned that from the property raiser tax collector's office did you issue a courtesy notice of code violation yes um June 25th of
2024 okay I want you to go to page 75 of the packet let's talk about that one first oh yes sorry June 11th 2024 okay so in this courtesy notice of code violation What code section was cited as being the violation
14164 um mentions the dock falling into disrepair that needs to be fixed 14186 um is basically saying that you the jet ski um the jet ski floating docks need to be within a dock permit so they need to be included they need to be permitted they
are not permitted okay so when you sent out this courtesy notice did you give a compliance date um June 25th 2024 and in this copy on page 76 um my signature is missing just because it's a uh saved off the computer
but the one that was sent did have my signature okay did you get a response to that letter no did you send it by regular mail uh the first one yes okay let's go to the notice of code violation on page 78 of the packet is this the same
notice yep same ordinances it was sent June 25th 2024 certified mail um and I gave a follow-up date of July 9th but everything else is the same did you also send it by regular mail yes did you get the regular mail back on either the courtesy notice or this notice of code
violation so for the second notice of code violation I did and it's reflected on 81 and 82 um oh I'm so sorry on 83 and 84 is reflecting um that it was refused unable to forward and to Return to
Sender that was the Green Card the the the register certified mail but the regular mail did not come back right they did not no okay and the address that you used for the purposes of sending that notice of code violation is that the exact same address that's listed in the property
appraiser and tax collector's office yes okay but the property owner refused it according to the sticker yes okay all right and the following 84 and 85 um after it came back refused I sen it
certified again and we did not get it back we did not get a green card back either okay so did you issue a um statement of violation in this on this property I did yes starting on page
86 is going to be the Affidavit of service um that was sent February 14th of this year okay my question was statement of violation that's on page 91 of the packet yeah I think this one's a little bit backwards yes kind a little bit
order in the packet okay so the statement of uh violation request for hearing that was sent by regular mail and certified mail correct the regular mail didn't come back no okay we didn't get the green card back yet either though not yet no okay okay and then you issued a notice of hearing that's on page
89 yes okay so a question on page 8 9 it's reflecting in the notice of hearing um and the statement of violation is a different spelling of Mr for's last name can you tell me which is the correct
spelling h the correct spelling is what was in the violations um it's with a t not a D in the last name that was my error on the notices okay so it's just a typo yes okay and then you had started out with your Affidavit of service on page
86 this is a document that reflects that you spent the statement of violation and the notice of hearing by well at least it's saying here the notice of hearing by regular male certified mail you posted the property and you also posted at City Hall that's correct okay and let's talk about the
last couple of pages in your packet um if you could turn to page 95 sure this is taken on February 7th 2025 we were doing um just start our regular rounds of the island um and the
dock is in worst disrepair um it's to the left of the boat it's the main house in the center of the photo um the dock has continued to follow in fall into the water um and there still are jet ski docks there okay and Page 96 is what
uh that is the property being posted for the magistrate documents that we had spoke about earlier on February 14th of this year okay and Page 97 that is the postings at City Hall okay so to bring the property into
compliance the property owner just needs to get a fix the dock or remove it and if he wants the jet ski floating docks he has to get a permit for that correct that's it yes right so how much time do you think would be reasonable period of
time to accomplish those two tasks 30 days and what dollar amount of fine would you think would be appropriate should he not bring it into compliance within 30 days I would say 150 a day just with the failing dock issue okay don't have any other questions at this point I would tender
into evidence page 69 through I guess 97 it it is yeah 97 ask it be received into evidence all right I'll go ahead and accept in evidence is exhibit number one Pages 69 through 97 of the exhibit p
packet all right is there anyone here on behalf of the owner Mr fortunado anyone here on behalf of the owner all right let the record reflect there is no one in the audience and no one coming to the podium all right are there any members
of the public who are directly affected or have direct knowledge of this code enforcement proceeding that would like to come forward again let the record reflect there is no one in the audience and no one coming forward all right Mr tras anything else on this one no thank you all right based upon the evidence provided to me I do find the property is
in violation is set forth in the notice of violation going to go ahead and find that 30 days is the appropriate time to bring the property into compliance thereafter there'll be $150 a day fine all right Mr tras are those all of the code enforcement matters before me today
they are to this is it well the the other ones um they'll be coming back next month okay very good again my apologies for not getting here on time today I appreciate everyone 's patience so have a great day everybody all right thank you