Alachua County Special Magistrate Hearing - Jun 04, 2026

to read first. Welcome to the June 2026 meeting of the Alachua County Code Enforcement Special Magistrate Hearing. The purpose of this hearing is to hear alleged code violations filed by the various departments of Alachua County, Florida. The Code Enforcement Special Magistrate was established by Florida Statutes Chapter 162 and Alachua County Ordinances to obtain compliance with various county ordinances and regulations. I have no authority to change the ordinances or any of the regulations we will be addressing today. That can only be done by the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners. I can determine if a violation has occurred, set a date for full compliance, and levy a fine for non-compliance. My decisions can only be appealed to the courts and not to the Board of County Commissioners. The procedure we'll follow today is that our secretary will call the case, county staff will present its case, the respondent shall have the opportunity to present its defense to the case, I will make a decision at a future date and the respondent will be notified by mail of that decision. All persons testifying today will do so under oath by a swearing or affirming that they will tell the truth. Any evidence in the form of documents or photographs must be submitted to the clerk for inclusion in the record if you want them to be in the record or use them. Okay, so can I have everybody who tends to testify today please stand and be sworn in. Stand and raise your right hand if you intend to testify. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in these cases today will be the truth and the whole truth? Thank you. Be seated. So I see our first case has been pulled so if you want to call the second case please. Case number 26-003300 Alachua County versus Compton Patricia A. Is Patricia Compton here? Yes, so you're going to be speaking from the podium over there, Ms. Compton. I'm going to let the county proceed first and then I'll let you respond. Good morning. Andrew Caniglio, Cedric Forrester, Alachua County. Case number 26-003300. The county received a complaint on April 10th, 2026 regarding a dead tree that is on the property line and in danger of falling and the county initiated a code enforcement proceedings and found there to be violation of the following section of Alachua County code 7429 prohibited structures. The respondent was provided with a reasonable time to correct the violations. A notice of violations was sent to respondent that included corrective actions. The respondent remains in violation of the Elachua County code section. There have been good service of notices and statement of violation to respondent sent by certified mail receipt or posting copies have been provided to the magistrate and then request they be entered into evidence. I have had contact with the respondent regarding the violations. The photographs be presented were taken by myself and accurately reflect the violations and I ask that be admitted into evidence. The county recommendation recommendation is that respondent be found in violation of said sections of the code. Order of the respondent to come into compliance within 30 days by complying with the corrective actions listed in the notice of violation and if not in compliance then pay a fine on the amount of $50 per day. For each day the violation may continue to pass the date set for compliance. So is that $50 a day you recommend? Yes and the county has incurred $350 in bringing this action to hearing. Okay and so what your county wants them to do is to bring it take it down? Yes. Take it down to the point where it's not up? Remove the tree to a point where it's safe. Safe okay. All right. Fentheim I guess. Okay Ms. Compton, the county basically wants you to move the dead tree. So tell me what you and they've suggested that you have I give you 30 days to get the tree down and so can what you tell me can do you think you can do that in 30 days? Yes sir. Okay and so if you think you can do that in 30 days then I don't know that I need anything more from you. Well the reason I'm here is because I tried to solve the problem. Okay. But I wasn't getting any cooperation either from county or from my neighbor where tree is also located. When I first got the notice of the violation and it said that we were both responsible I believe in taking action right away. I called several in fact around six tree companies and I had them come out I made appointments had them come out and give me estimates. Sure. I then made copies of the estimates and I sent them by certified mail to my neighbor where where the tree is located. So is the name is the tree on your neighbor's property on your property? Right now it's on her property but I was told that property line runs through the tree. Okay so you both own the tree in effect. Exactly. So unfortunately for I sent certified I sent copies which here's the copies if you'd like them. I'll take your word at it. Certified and I sent them on May 6th. Okay. And yesterday I got notice from the post office that it was the certified copies were sent back to me. So they refused to take it. Yes I guess the neighbor refused to sign for them. Okay. I tried to speak with the the county. I spoke with the arborist. I spoke with the county officer and I asked them if they could send me pictures or whatever it was that was making them decide that the property or the tree was on the property line. And I didn't get any cooperation. So I made a public request online. Mm-hmm. And they sent me a bunch of papers which the neighbor had apparently sent to them. And among one of those papers was a survey that was supposedly done in 2023. Mm-hmm. But the problem I had with that your honor is that I can read the survey but if I'm not looking at what it's telling me I can't decide where the limbs or the tree is actually located because I can't go on to the neighbor's property. Understood. Okay so let me stop you just there. So is the next case after this the same case in effect? It's a related case. It's a related case. It's the same tree. It's the same tree. It's the other. Okay but it's the other. It's the other property. Okay all right. So I if I would have had cooperation so I could see legally where the limbs and the tree was located I would have obviously you know done my part to get whatever was on my side taken down. Two and a half years ago the same tree there was limbs sitting on top of my roof and I had them removed. I paid $2,800 to have them removed. So I don't object to following the law but if I don't have it in front of me and I can't see what I'm reading it's hard for me to have anything done. So let me ask you you mentioned do you have a current survey or a valid survey? No I don't know when this is the first property I've ever owned in my life and when I first moved there I didn't know what property rights were or what surveys were so I just assumed you know where the fence was and whatever I was looking at was what I was buying. Okay. So I know I never had it done but apparently there was a survey done at some time and the neighbor had sent that survey to the county and then I got that request online and like I said I was reading it but I can't see what I'm reading. All right so let me ask the county have you received a survey? We have not received an updated survey. My understanding is there has been an updated survey done within the last month. Okay is that going to be the next case? That's going to be the next case. That property owner has an updated survey. I did go out there and look for old survey markers and found them on the property and the property the tree is in line with the survey markers. So from what you could tell it looks like it falls on the line. Exactly. Okay all right all right I'm going to hold decision on this case right now until we hear the next one okay because it relates to it. So you can go ahead have a seat and we'll call the next case up. Do you want the copies of the survey? By this point I don't think well in fact if we decide we need them I'll let you know and we'll ask you to provide it. All right let's go ahead and call case number three. Case number two six dash zero zero three two nine nine Alachua County versus Carabello, Kennedy, Kenny and Teresa. Is someone here representing the Carabellos? Do you want to go over and I'll have the county present their position and then I'll have to ask you to speak. Can I go ahead and proceed? All right, Andrew Connickle, Senior Forester, Clark County. In case number two six dash zero zero three two nine nine the county received a complaint on 4-10-2026 regarding a dead tree on the neighbor's yard. The owner of the property is Kenny and Teresa Carabello. Code of administration initiated enforcement proceeding and found there to be a violation of the following section of the College of County Code 74 to nine prohibited. The respondent was provided a reasonable time to correct the violation and notice the violation was sent and respondent that included corrective actions. We've been in contact with the respondent but they remain in violation. I have good service and notices and statement of violation to respond sent by certified mail receipt or posting copies have been provided to the magistrate and I request they be entered into evidence. Uh let's see their photographs being presented by me were taken by me and I'm requested they be entered into evidence. Okay, they've been there'll be evidence in both cases and uh the county is recommending that the respondent be found in violation of said sections of the code or to respond to coming to violation coming to compliance within 30 days by complying with the corrective actions listed in the notice of violation and if not in compliance then pay a fine in the amount of fifty dollars for each day the violation continues past the date set for compliance. The county has incurred three hundred fifty dollars cost in bringing this action to hearing. All right, it's your opportunity to speak. Okay, your honor. Um, Patricia moved next door in about 89 or 90 and I was aware the tree was already on the property line. She would never believe me. So in 1995 I got my first survey. Mm-hmm. Is this the survey show the tree sits in the line? Um, that survey I don't have pictures of that. I do have pictures of the new survey that was just. All right, let's use that because that's obviously more current. So yeah, there'd been so much construction back there with the water lines, the telephone lines and everything that I told um the officer I didn't think that the survey stake was exactly where it used to be. They move around a little bit. Yeah, so I thought it was best to get another survey. Now, um, I've done three surveys now since she moved there and she won't believe any of my surveys, but she keeps bringing these accusations against me about the tree. But, and I thought it was the person who makes the accusations. They're the ones that it's supposed to prove, right? Well, she's never paid for a survey. I've been forced to pay for three surveys now. Well, the county has to respond to a complaint. Right. So she, she filed a complaint, I assume, or somebody did anyway. So that's why you're here because somebody filed a complaint. Right. Accusing me of having a dead tree, but my half of the tree has been gone since 2021. Okay. And when you say half, does that mean the piece that was leaning over towards your property? Because obviously there's still a tree there. And the trunk is, the trunk is all that's left on my side. Okay. So, but it is on your side in part. So, so trunk. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I can't take the trunk down until she takes her limb down. Well, in the process of taking the tree down because it's in a residential area, you're going to have to take a piecemeal down rather than be able to just drop the whole tree like you typically would in a woods or something like that. So that's that correct. So you're going to have to have somebody piecemeal drop the tree. The tree is dead now. It can't be climbed anymore. She let it die standing. Okay. What's, what's on her side of the property line. She's let that part of the tree die standing. So now it's very expensive. Right. Because they have to use the trains and bucket trucks and things like that to get it out now. Okay. But no, my portion of the tree has been gone for more than five years. Now, my question to both of you is going to be, you know, sometimes insurance will pay the kind of the tree taken down because of the potential liability, especially if it's going to threaten the structure. Is the tree a threat to either of the houses if it falls? She's left her side that way. Nothing can fall from my side because there's nothing left on my side. Okay. She was told in 2023 to take care of her portion of the tree. I have that in writing from Jessica Hong. She was the forestry officer. That's the document you gave the clerk? Yes. She was told to take care of her portion of the tree and she did not do that. My portion was already gone at that time. She let the tree die standing and now it's in danger of falling on her. Okay. Well, why don't you have a seat and let me have her come back up. It's obviously the same case in some degree. And she's brought seven cases against me now since 2012. Okay. I first asked her to, let's go together in 2011, take this tree down. She refused. She said she didn't have air conditioning and then she called it her shade tree. It was her shade tree. But within a year when it started dropping limbs, then she started turning me into codes. And I trimmed everything back off of my side on the tree very quickly. There was nothing left. Okay. And everything except for the trunk has been gone on my side since 2021. So does the tree appear to, the upper portion tree appear to be off of the one property and onto the other or? Well, the, Mrs. Carabella is correct that she has removed all portions that, um, of the, of the crown that are on her side. But, and the, uh, the rest of the trade does overhang Mrs. Compton's property. But as the, as the tree is on the property line, uh, the counter position is that the threat is that, you know, could break. It could break and go either way. Either way, really. If you have a windstorm, it could do, yeah. And there's, and that's where the, and so the, that's why the creative action was to at least bring the tree down to fence height to where, you know, cause you're gonna leave, I mean, that's habitat for wildlife and whatnot. So, but it's less, uh, of a hazard. The tree's been dead about how long now? A couple of years at least. Several years, I would say. Yeah. All right. Let me go ahead and have a seat. Let me have Ms. Compton. Ms. Compton, you want to come back up? And by the way, thank you for both for being here. Um, go ahead. So are you able to help take the tree down? Yes, sir. Okay. So I, like I said, I would have done it, but I can't tell the tree company, yes, move this limb and this limb because it's on my property line because I have no evidence. Okay. So, so what strikes me is that the both of you getting to get together despite the prior history and get a con, an estimate from a tree company because you're going to have to share in that cost because the trunk, which is coming down, still is on both of your properties. Yes, sir. And even though that the limbs are out on your side, that trunk is on your property and her property. We're still both responsible for it. Yes, sir. So what I'm going to say is I'm going to give you, is 30 days enough for you to get a custom, a tree estimate? I don't know where, how that works on the tree companies. Well, let you get, come up to the podium because I need you on the record. All right. Let's get on the microphone because we're on the record. I'll let you speak. Ms. Compton, let her speak, please. In 2023, I finished removing everything that was left on my portion of the tree. Well, let me back you up there. The trunk is partly on your property, so that's not quite true. Yeah, I can't remove the trunk because it's still holding up her limb. I understand. That's why I say both of you are going to have to get together because to be able to get the trunk down, you've got to get the stuff off the top. She continues to let the tree trimmers tear up my yard, and she put a brand new fence underneath of a dead tree. So now they have no access in her side of the property to get to the tree. They have to bring in all these bucket trucks and cranes and stuff and tear up my yard again. And in 2023, when she was told to remove her portion of the tree, I let the tree trimmers in my yard thinking that it was, she was going to take it down. But she didn't. All she did was trim some of it back and then let it die standing. So now it's a danger, but they also can't get to it on her side because she put up a new fence under a dead tree. Or you'd have to have a very large crane off the street. They said it's not possible to get the crane on the street. Right. Okay. All right. She just continues to turn me in. Since 2012, like I say, I have seven cases here, a few of them on her property, a few of them on my property. But every time the codes department comes out, I show them where the property line is and they close the case and tell her that she has to take care of the tree and then she doesn't. Okay. Well, they owe you now in front of me and you're going to get an order from me to be taken care of. And that means that you're probably going to have to get together or you are going to have to get together if you both own this tree. If it was on one person's property line, only one of you would be here. So even if it went over the line. Um, okay. She tears her yard up with my, with her pigs. She had pigs for a long time. That's no, we're not here for that. And I couldn't get codes to correct that because pigs, we're not allowed to have barnyard animals in a residential area. She had roosters for years. Okay. Well, that's, that's, that's not here before us. What's here before us is the tree. So, okay. But my point was my yard keeps getting torn up every time because she blocked the access for them to take care of the tree on her side. So do I get any compensation for tearing up my yard all the time? These, these trucks make a lot of mess. They leave ruts and holes in the yard. Most companies will put down pads and protect the yard if they're good. They didn't do that last time when I let her treat. I would suggest you get a company that understands that they have to protect the yard. And many of them have the ability to do it because they're septic tanks and things they have to worry about. So they're very good at that. So as long as you let them know about that. And this is a disaster of her making. I mean, she let the tree die standing and now she's charging me for it. Well, you own the tree too. It's on your property too. So that's the, unfortunately that's the way that works, the way the tree grew. So, okay. We've had enough testimony on that. I'm comfortable where we are. I will make a decision and we'll get that in the mail. Okay. Thank you for both being here. Sure. Go up to the microphone. Okay. So you all need to, you're obviously going to need to get together. So, and you can get your own estimates too, um, and then work something out. Why wasn't she required to pay half when I took all these limbs off of the tree for so many years? I've got thousands of dollars into that tree and she never paid half for me. I understand. Yeah. So, okay. That's enough. So. Thank you for being here. We're done. You're done. I see case number four has been pulled. So let's call case number five. 26-001384 Alachua County versus McGee and David Marion J. Is there someone here representing Marion or David McGee? Again, someone here representing McGee's County, please proceed. Good morning. Andrew Kennedy, Senior County Forester. In case number 26-001384, the county received a complaint on February 13th, 2026 regarding a hazardous, uh, tree, uh, that has dropped limbs and, um, the complaint said it was partially dead. I, uh, the property is located at, um, 209 Southeast 50th street, Gainesville, Florida identified by parcel number 10872-026-000 owner listed as David and Marion J. McGee. The code administration initiated an enforcement proceeding and found there to be a violation of the following sections of Alachua County code 7 4.29 prohibited. The respondent was provided a reasonable time to correct the violation. A notice of violation was sent to respondent and included corrective actions. Uh, the property remains in violation, um, but the respondent has reached out to code administration and, um, said they are trying to contact trees companies to come and take out down the tree, but they, uh, have not been able to hire one yet. So, uh, we have good service of notices and statements of violation to the respondents sent by certified mail receipt or posting copies of provided to the ministry. And I request that they'd be admitted into evidence. What's the species of tree? It's a Laurel Oak. Okay. And it is, um, pretty good size. It's a pretty good size tree. It has got hollow cavities all the way down the trunk and previous branches have fallen. And, uh, while, so while the tree is not completely dead, I found that tree to be in enough deteriorated. One good storm. I mean, like I said, it's dropping limbs already. So, and it's right over their house. So it's, it's really a hazard. Um, so the photographs have been taken by, were taken by me and they actually reflect the, accurately reflect the violation. The county recommends that the respondent be found in violation of the said sections of the code, order the respondent to come into, uh, compliance within 30 days by complying with the corrective actions. Uh, and then if not coming to, if not in compliance, pay a fine in the amount of $50 for each day, the violation continues past the date set for compliance and the county has incurred $280 in bringing this. So it's the only structure that threatened the owner of the property rather than, or is there other things? The, the threat is to the neighbor who made the complaint. Okay. The, the, so there is an adjacent property. There is a adjacent property. It's, it's all in the adjacent property, Mr. or Mr. and Mrs. McGee's property, but, um, it's most, it's like right next to the fence. It's not, it's not on the line, but it's close. It's not on the line, but it's very close. Okay. And, uh, and the tree, yeah, threatens, it's not really a threat to the other properties. Okay. All right. That's what I need to know. Okay. Again, is anybody here representing the McGee's? Okay. Thank you. And you think 30 days is enough time for them to get an estimate and get it done? I do. Okay. I'm, I, I know some tree companies, we don't have any hurricane series, so they're not backed up probably. That's correct. Okay. Uh, let's call case number six, please. 26-002290 Alachua County versus Anderson, Albert, Altheo, Kelly, Hoyer. Is somebody here representing Anderson? All right. You want to have a seat over there by the podium, please? Seed. Case 26002290. The county received a complaint on March 13th regarding a storage container. Property is located at 2008 Southeast 49th Drive, Gainesville, in Alachua County. Identified by parcel number 16186035000. Owner of the property is Anderson Albert. Code Administration initiated enforcement proceedings and found there to be a violation of the following sections of Alachua County Code 402.140b. The improvement of property prior to issuance of a building permit, which is the storage container. The respondent was provided a reasonable time to correct the violations. Notice violation was sent to the respondent that included corrective actions. Ongoing inspections conducted to date have determined the respondent remains in violation of the said Alachua County Code section. My last inspection on the property was June 3rd. I had good service of notices and statements of violation to the respondent sent by certified mail receipt or postings. Copies are provided to the magistrate and a request be entered into evidence. I have had contact with the respondent regarding the violations, which was on May 13th. Photographs being presented were taken by myself and accurately reflect the violations and ask that they be admitted into evidence. County recommendation was the respondent be found in violation of the said section of the code. Or did the respondent come into compliance within 30 days by complying with the corrective actions listed in the notice of violation? And if not in compliance and pay a fine, the amount of $100 for each day, the violation continues past the date set for compliance. County has incurred $350 in cost in bringing the action to hearing. Okay. So the nature of the compliance would be what to either permit or remove the container? Yes, Your Honor. Okay. All right. Please state your name for the record. Uh, George Peoples. What can you tell me? Um, well, actually, uh, I put that container there temporarily because I was in the process of moving. Put my, uh, and do you own the property? No, my nephew do. Oh, your nephew does. Okay. So he told me I could set it there and put my stuff in until I found a place to, uh, to stay. So, uh, I didn't know I needed a permit when at the time that I, we, we'd done this. I put it back on the back of the slot. Uh, everything, all that stuff on the side is my fence, what I took down at my other residence. Um, so I've been trying to find out the procedure of getting a permit or what's the problem is getting a permit and I've been having run around. Uh, so I did go to the county, uh, uh, place where you get permit. The guy told me, well, we, we, I'd start the process. Well, he was telling me that as of like say January and Thursday, uh, uh, we're going to, was not going to, didn't require a permit if the container was less than $5,000 and it's less than 5,000. So, uh, but I did do the paperwork. So, uh, Uh, so you applied for the permit? Yes, I already did all that. Okay. So now, uh, where I'm at now is, uh, I have to get a contractor to come out and let me know how to anchor the trip, uh, the, the, the container down. Right. You know, I never seen or heard of that before, but that's where I'm at now. That's a hurricane. That's a building code hurricane code. So you, I mean, that's the, you know, I, it is what it is, but, uh, that's what, that's where I'm at now. Okay. Uh, I haven't seen the, I have, I've been looking around. I haven't seen, uh, container debt was anchored down, but if that's what it is, I have to get, now I got to get a contractor to come out and tell me how to anchor it down and what they require by anchoring it down. So that's, that's where I'm at right now. Okay. Do you think 30 days is enough time to get you, your permit completed? Uh, yes, I can, uh, uh, I'm waiting on a cut, waiting on a, uh, contractor now to get in contact with me to go out and assess that and whatever it entails of anchoring it. Yes. I mean, you know, I, and so he's applied for a permit. Um, so at this point, so, um, what you want to hear from him is then have a final permit. Correct. He needs to pay for the permit so it can be issued and then have his final inspection and then he would be in compliance. It sounds like he needs an engineering contract that I suspect that there's going to use hurricane anchors and strap it down, which is typical for storage shows. Yeah. Well, yeah, I haven't, I haven't, I haven't seen it, but once he can let me know, then I get it done. Okay. So you're comfortable the contract, you're comfortable the contractor is going to get back the reason. Yes. Yes. Because I don't want to have you come back in because you missed it by a day or something. Right, right, right, right, right. Okay. Because sometimes contractors are, yeah, honestly, but not. So, yeah, I, I, just the practical side of it. Right, right. Okay. All right. So I'm inclined just because you've applied for a permit and doing work is give you 45 days because instead of 30 because I want to make sure that you don't have to show back up. Okay. Because it seems to me you're making efforts to get. Yes, sir. Yeah, I've made effort, but. Can you have any problem with getting enough? No, Your Honor, we do not. Good. Thank you for being here. As you can tell, some people don't bother to show. Yeah, yeah. Thank you, sir. Well, I'll miss it and then what's going on. Appreciate you being here. Thank you. Mm-hmm. So you want to call case number seven, please? 26-003259 Alachua County versus Ribbonette, Lee and Helen. Somebody here representing the Ribbonettes? Somebody here representing the Ribbonettes? Okay. Please proceed. Excuse me, did you say case 2595 at the end? 25-003259. Quite a few pictures. I apologize in advance. That's all right. Case 26-003259. County received a complaint on April 10th regarding junk and debris. Property is located at 315 Southeast County Road 234 Gainesville in Alachua County. Identified by parcel number 1780500200. Owner of the property is Robinette, Lee and Helen. Code Administration initiated enforcement proceedings and found there to be a violation of the following sections of Alachua County Code. 74.20a accumulation and junk. 74.20b on service of vehicles. 404.82.5 parking of trucks, recreational vehicles, and trailers. And 74.36 nuisance overgrowth, which is the landscaping. The respondent was provided a reasonable time to correct the violations. Notice of violation was sent to the respondent that included corrective actions. Ongoing inspections conducted to date have determined the respondent remains in violation of the said Alachua County Code sections. My last inspection on the property was June 3rd. I have good service of notices and statements of violation to the respondent sent by certified mail receipt or postings. Copies have been provided to the magistrate and a request to be entered into evidence. I have had contact with the respondent regarding the violations. Please note my contact was was with Fabian Waters who indicated to be one of the heirs to the property. Photographs being presented were taken by myself and accurately reflect the violations and asked they be admitted into evidence. County recommendation is the respondent be found in violation of the said section of the code. Order the respondent come into compliance within 30 days by complying with the corrective actions listed in the notice of violation and if not in compliance then pay a fine. The amount of $50 for each day the violation continues past the date set for compliance. County has incurred $350 in cost in bringing the action to hearing. Okay again is someone here representing the respondent? I did want to note just for the record your honor for for you the respondent did say that his landscaping was Florida friendly landscaping and so I was in contact with Rebecca Hoffman who's actually an environmental right but she's familiar with the Florida friendly landscaping so I asked her to contact the respondent to give him information how we can have a Florida friendly landscaping without violations. Okay all right good and you said that person contacted was an heir to the property. Yes your honor. So are the Robinettes deceased now do you think? I believe so. Okay so all right so we're dealing with an heir's property. Yes. Okay all right that explains a lot all right thank you. Let's call case number eight please. Two six dash zero zero two five nine five Alachua County versus Machette William Owen. Is Mr. Matchett here? Somebody representing Mr. Matchett? Okay please proceed. Case two six zero zero zero two five nine five. County received a complaint on March 20th regarding junk and debris. Property is located two zero nine one three southeast 162nd Avenue Hawthorne in Alachua County. identified by parcel number two zero zero eight zero zero zero zero zero zero owner of the property is William Owen Matchett. Code administration initiated enforcement proceedings and found there to be a violation of the following sections of Alachua County code seven four point two zero a accumulation of junk seven four point two zero b unservice of vehicles and seven four point three six nuisance overgrowth. The respondent was provided a reasonable time to correct the violations. Notice of violation was sent to the respondent that included corrective actions. Ongoing inspections conducted to date have determined the respondent remains in violation of the said Alachua County code section. My last inspection of the property was June 3rd. I have good service of notices and statements of violation to the respondent sent by certified mail receipt or postings. Copies have invited to the magistrate and requested to be entered into evidence. I have had no contact with the respondent regarding the violations. Photographs being presented were taken by myself and accurately reflect the violations and asked they be admitted into evidence. County recommendations respond to be found in violation of the said section of the code. Order the respondent come into compliance within 30 days by complying with the corrective actions listed in those violations and if not in compliance then pay a fine. The amount of $50 for each day the violation continues past date separate compliance. County has incurred $350 in cost and bringing the action to hearing. Thank you. All right again here's somebody here representing the matches. I see case nine has been pulled. Let's move on to case number 10 please. 26-000757 Alachua County versus Clay Lawrence, Nathasha Washington. Somebody here representing Lawrence Clay. Somebody here represents Lawrence Clay. County please proceed. My name is Nathasha Washington, code officer for Alachua County. The code enforcement case 626-000757. The Alachua County received the complaint on January 26, 2026. The property located at address 713 Northwest 95th Terrace and identified by the partial number of 06657-030-012. The owner of the property is Clay Lawrence. Code administration initiated an enforcement proceeding the following to be a violation of the following section of the Alachua County code ordinance 404.82.5 parking of trucks recreation vehicles and trailers and 74.20 a accumulation of junk. The respondent was provided a reasonable time to correct the violation. A notice of violation was sent to respondent that included corrective actions. Ongoing inspections conducted to the date have determined that the respondent remained in violation of the said Alachua County code section. My last inspection of the property was on May the 29th, 2026. I have good service of notice and statement of the violation to the respondent sent by certified mail receipt or posting. Copies have been provided to the magistrate and I request they be entered into evidence. I have had no contact with the respondent regarding the violation. The photos being presented were taken by myself and accurately reflects the violation and ask that they be admitted into evidence. The county recommends respondent be found then violation of the said section of the code. Order respondent come into compliance within 30 days by complying with the corrective actions listed in the notice of violation and if not comply by paying a fine in the amount of $150 for each day. The violation continues past the date set forth compliance. The county has occurred $350 cost and bringing this action to hearing. Okay thank you. Again is somebody here representing uh Lawrence Clay? Seeing none let's go on to case number 11 please. Case number 26-002653 Alachua County versus Blaise Gregory A and Heidi Jean uh Gerald Saab. So is somebody here representing the respondent? We have a seat right now if you want or stand whichever is we're most comfortable with. Please proceed. County. Gerald Saab, code officer for Electro County. In code enforcement case 2-5-0-0-0-6-7-6. The county received a complaint on 2-5-26 from building official Mark Banville regarding the property located at 1-6-7-0-4 northeast county road 1475 Gainesville Florida 3-2-6-0-9 in Electro County Florida and identified by parcel number 1-6-9-6-7-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-1-0-0-0. The owner of the property is Gregory and Heidi Blaise. Code administration initiated an enforcement proceeding and found there to be a violation of the following sections of Electro County code of ordinance 402.140B improvement of property prior to issuance of a building permit. The respondent was provided with a reasonable time to correct the violations. A notice of violations was sent to respondent that included corrective actions. Ongoing inspections conducted to date have determined that the respondent remains in violation of the said Electro County code sections. My last inspection of the property was on May 6, 26. Have good service of notice and statement of violations to respondent to respondent sent by certified mail receipt of posting copies have been provided to the magistrate and I request they be entered into evidence. I have hit contact with respondent regarding the violations. The photographs being presented were taken by Mark Vanville that reflect the violation and acts that they be admitted into evidence. The county recommendation that respondent be found in violation of the set of the sad sections of the code order responded to into compliance within 60 days by complying with the corrective actions listed in the notice of violations and if not comply then pay a fine in the amount of 100 for each day the violations continue past the date set for compliance. The county has incurred 210 in cost in breaking this action to hearing. Your opportunity to speak sir. Please state your name for the record. Gregory Blas. Good morning your honor. Uh when we received the um the cease work order immediately and the very next day called uh the building department the inspector and his supervisor came out that was the first time I realized that or was made aware that I needed to have a contractor because it's uh not my primary residence okay so I immediately hired a contractor the contractor then subsequently hired an engineer and an architect all that took about 30 days to get uh them out and begin to work on the drawings that would need to be rendered for the application process. Um the contractor himself had not worked in alachua county for the last two years so he had to reinstate his uh business license and confirm his insurance requirements in order to work in alachua county on may 26 my contractor submitted an application online that uh i have a receipt of that application being received by the county the the by the 20 by june 2nd there was a suspension on that application process because uh he initiated some things out of order on the same day the second my contractor responded to that issue and it was settled on june 3rd there was a subsequent request by alexis vita in reference to the the overall engineering portion of the process or of that project and again i have record of my contractor replying to that request as of this time we have an application on file um and we're hoping that that's resolved within the next two to three weeks that we have the necessary permits to begin again right so the counties off suggested i give you i'm having a problem with it give you 60 days and if you come in and get all that done within 60 days then this goes away essentially 60 days would be great just in the event that we run into any other engineering issues yeah i was going to say the other side if it if it's not your fault because of engineering or something please stay in touch with the county and let them know that where your progress is it sounds like you are because you're you're dealing with and respond your contractors responding timely to things but also let code enforcement know yes sir that you're going and and if you get it done sooner tell them don't yeah i've been in repeatedly with mr sap he's been outstanding in this process and working to comply good so because if you get it done in 30 days or 40 days let them know right away because then this goes away so yes sir okay thank you for being here thank you you have something county yes sir holly banner zoning administrator also supervising the building department and i was just reviewing the permitting i just wanted to notice that the violation is actually on the parcel across the street that they own it's 16967 all zeros not the 001 that's noted in the agenda that's just a correction for the record just a correction for the record yes sir and then just to point out to mr blas we do also still need permits for the accessory structure and the roof but their contractors working on that with us okay all right thank you thank you all right i see we have a zoom call or we have somebody on the zoom call yes okay so call the case please i want to confirm with josh and then they're on jason thomas is on yes ma'am thank you uh case number 25-009910 alachua county versus jason m thomas okay mr thomas i'm going to ask the clerk to swear you in because i can't we don't know if you did or not so if you did that's great but she's going to swear you in yes sir do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this this case today will be the truth and the whole truth yes ma'am all right thank you so what we're going to do is let the county proceed with the case and then i'll let you respond as you if you've been okay your honor can can everybody turn the volume up a bit all right jason can you do that can you hear me now i've yeah i can hear you but not very well but i i'm okay all right what's more important is that you hear the county's case side of it so yes go ahead and please proceed good morning my name is alante benjamin code officer for alachua county in code enforcement case two five zero zero nine nine one zero the county received a complaint on september 19th 2025 regarding the property that is located at address one five one one six southeast u.s highway 301 hawthorne florida alachua county florida and identified by parcel number two zero zero five zero dash zero zero three dash zero zero zero code administration initiated an enforcement proceeding and found there to be a violation of the following sections of alachua county code of ordinances four zero two dot one zero four b improvement to property prior to the issuance of a building permit four zero three point zero five single family residential zoning districts four zero three point zero seven single family residential standards the respondent was provided with a reasonable time to correct the violations a notice of violation was sent to respondent that included corrective actions ongoing inspections conducted today have determined that the respondent remains in violation of the set of alachua county code sections my last suspicion of the property was on june 3rd 2026. i have good service of notices and statements of violations to respondent sent by certified mail receipt or posting copies have been provided to the magistrate and i request they be entered into evidence they there has been contact with a respondent regarding the violations through email phone and on site on september 19th 2025. the photographs being presented were taken by myself and accurately reflect the violations and x they be admitted into evidence the county's recommendations that responded be found in violation of the set sections of the code order respondents to come to compliance within 30 days by complying with the corrective actions listed in the notice of violation and if not comply then pay a fine in amount of three hundred dollars but each day the violations continue past the date set for compliance the county has incurred two hundred eighty dollars cost and bring this action to hearing so what does he need to do to come into compliance so that question i will refer to uh miss banner due to the fact that these are all primarily zoning violations and she has more knowledge about those i want to be clear so i understand okay because this is hello again holly banner uh so just to clarify the as far as the accessory structure that's on the property currently the issue is that that is only allowed when it's accessory to a principal use and there's no residence on this property okay and so the the only way we could proceed with permitting an accessory structure would be if there is a residence up until this time over the last couple of years when we've been talking to mr thomas the only option in the r1a zoning district would have been a florida building code compliance structure so whatever size that is it would just need to meet the building code but the one change that would has just come up since um the violation probably started would be there is a new bill as of july 1st of this year that manufactured homes will be allowed in any zoning district so that is one additional option that would be available to mr thomas put a small manufactured home there correct but it is not agriculture zoning so we can't allow an rv or a non-code compliant tiny home as a living unit so the only options as of july 1st or forward would be either a manufactured home or some sort of site built or building code compliant structure then we could permit the accessories so this is a zoning issue it is okay all right all right mr thomas what can you tell me your honor this has been chinese arithmetic for me i bought this piece of property from from an older man that was uh was ill i bought the property uh when i when i bought the property it had a lot of trash a lot of garbage uh a lot of people told me that there was uh you know debris and stuff on it well i worked for florida power and light doing phase one uh cleanups of solar sites all over the state and all over the country for next era energy so when i bought the piece of property i had full intentions of building a home on it well i found out due to lot lines i couldn't do that so i did the next best thing i started cleaning up the lot cleaning up the property and probably negligence on my part i didn't realize that i needed a permit to clean the place up and one morning uh i was on the dock uh drinking coffee and i noticed that there was an oil sheen coming off of the property into the lake and i thought this is odd so i watched it for three or four more days we had another rain small oil sheen came out well i'm an environmental contractor i took my track co back there and called an older man that lived in the neighborhood who had lived there since the 40s and i said hey what would this be he said jason this was a this was a dump uh in a fish camp and this was the unloading dock for the oranges that came across from orange lake through uh across the lake and were loaded onto the rail and he said there was a building here and there was a fish camp here and this was there's probably a bunch of junk here well i took my track co small mini track co and i dug up a bunch of uh trash well i ran into uh oil cans uh the old old antique uh standard and union oil cans i ran into drums i ran into the old cardboard oil court cans a bicycle a bed uh several old boat boat uh metal tanks that were crushed a bunch of old beer cans um i may have said a bicycle uh garbage and i ran into the footprint of about 10 or 12 big creosote poles that were sticking down into the ground and i asked the older man i said what was this he said oh there was a big structure here at one time back in the 30s and the 40s and i said oh so i pulled all of the creosote poles because creosote is an f-listed waste which is which is very bad and i pulled those out and disposed of it i disposed of about 30 to 35 yards of garbage off of the lot and in my error i backfilled it and cleaned it up leveled it i put my poles back in the location of the old creosote poles and i got a violation uh because i put uh because of turbidity of the water going or the dirt going into the lake and it was my area i forgot to put up a silt fence well anyway the environmental nazi for for uh alachua county came out and she looked at it told me how to to review it and or how to repair it and i did exactly that and she said you need to fix this need to fix that well i explained the situation to him and i thought well well this whole time this is going on i'm going through a divorce and my attorney told me mr thomas you're going to lose your house in jacksonville and you don't have a place to stay so at the time i thought well what can i do when i had talked i had called called holly several several times and she was very nice and kind and told me basically what i couldn't do that's that's the problem that i have i've been very proactive in trying to understand what i need to do i spend 240 nights a year out of town in hotels for the last 32 years and i bought the place because the lake means a lot to me because my dad and i used to fish it many years ago but i bought this piece of property cleaned it up did did more than a phase one cleanup and then when i was cutting uh the debris in the trash from the driveway to uh the dock i found approximately 10 yards of transite asbestos tiles were used as roadbed under the grass so i did what you normally do i cleaned up all the transite tile because i'm an asbestos contractor i cleaned up everything bagged everything took everything to the dump everything was done everything was cleaning up in an interim i'm still going through this divorce so i tell my attorney what do i do she said well any improvements you make you to your property after the date of filing you won't have to submit half of it so i fixed the place up i moved my camper uh when i got done with everything i moved my camper to the to the to the spot and i live in that when i'm not on the road well the divorce is all over now and i lost one million dollars i lost all of my personal wealth um and i've been diagnosed with a possible terminal disease and when i put the when i capped everything with asphalt the environmental side of valachia county came out he's a very nice uh man by the name of chris and a couple of young ladies came out and looked at all the bugs and the the the vegetation there and i said look guys i'm not trying to be an ass i'm not trying to be overpowered i'm not trying to be anything help me tell me what to do i said i've turned this piece of property over when i'm not not here i've turned it over to a small veterans administer veterans group or a bunch of old guys that are retired ex-military come out in the fall of the year and they go out on the end of my dock and drink whiskey and tell lies and i capped everything with asphalt but he said well you it's minimal don't worry about it i said okay what do i do well that's the time when i met miss elante and i have no problems with anybody anything that anybody has done because chris has been helpful elante has been helpful and i told elante no i did not get these letters that she said that i sent because i'm never there and i told her i said honor i'm not trying to bs anybody i said just tell me what i need to do if i need to pay a fine i'll do it i said but right now financially um i can't do anything i can't do anything at all i was left with a devastated house she turned my wife turned it into a dog kennel and took a half a million dollar three-quarter of a million dollar home and turned it into a two hundred thousand dollar and i did attain it through the divorce and i'm in litigation right now against my attorney who who did an abusive process and collusion and so that's going on and i'm dealing with my health but that's no excuse i'm trying to take care of business i'm trying to do the right thing at the property i have no problem paying the fine but your honor financially it's going to take me a couple of years before i can build a small house and i have no problem building it i have no problem building it and everything that i did on that property is to code so i'm not trying to bs anybody i'm not trying to beat around the bush everybody there who is against me knows that i have told them i will do whatever i have to do but because i have this i have i have possible parkinson's and i cannot write with a uh ink pen and i have almost no use on a computer i hit the keys five and six times it's just it's been a nightmare but if i apply for disability your honor they're gonna i'm gonna lose my commercial driver's license and i'm gonna lose my business but i have no problem doing what i need to do but it's a financial thing it's a timing thing and i'm trying to deal with i'm trying to put everything together but it just takes so much time your honor understood county after uh speaking to since county manager mary daniels and his own administration straighter holly banner um i don't believe a couple years is a good time frame due to the state of the property and how long that you know the county has been working with mr thomas so we kind of got to get that time frame a lot shorter than can i say something your honor yes okay go ahead um i have here's the problem that would have been taken care of but you understand your honor i couldn't do anything financially in a divorce if i buy a microwave she's entitled to half of it right and i was misled by my attorney and saying no jason if you do anything to it pass the date of filing everything is yours well that was not the case i had to pay a hundred thousand dollars the half of the value of that piece of property to my ex-wife she's never seen it set foot on it or anything and as far as the timing thing i have made it perfectly clear to elante four or five times the situation and i feel this is where i this is where i feel that it's been a little bit malicious towards me i told everybody call me tell me what do i need to do help me get me somebody because i cannot write i can't use a computer tell me what i need to do is there a service that i can use is there somebody that can help me is there somebody is there a fine i can pay is there something i can do to pacify the county nothing ever gets done other than being told no you can't do it can't do anything all right let me you made a statement that you tried to build something on it and you were told that the plot lot was not suitable for that can the county yes sir when i bought the piece of property i have a i have it has nothing to do with the case but i have a neighbor that is uh extremely hostile he's pulled a gun on me and three or four different people in the neighborhood he's you know told he just told me uh eight weeks ago that he's going to kill me next time he sees me the sheriff's been called out he's complained about everything he's done this he's caused nothing but problems and i've been dealing with that too so when i first bought the piece of property he rolled over on his wheelchair and said you can't build anything on that property it's uh your lot lines aren't aren't permissible you can't do anything on it and i said no that's not the case so then i called and found out that i couldn't do it i couldn't do anything because of the lot lines but i could possibly and back then holly said i could possibly put maybe a mini home or something that was approved to put on the piece of property and i talked with holly three or four times and she was very very very helpful when i did talk to her but i've probably called 15 times and left messages with an individual by the name of torel and there was another individual that never turned returned my phone calls the only people that have been proactive with me are holly and elante and chris okay let me say that colleague you want to uh well what can he put on this property so um just oh the lot is about 60 by 175 okay which is really narrow they're small yeah 62 he's saying so okay yeah they're small but it's you know you could put a small structure the setbacks are five feet on the sides and you know the front and back they'd have to look at wetlands and flood zone and things like that so that does have to be accounted for that's where torel was involved early on he's no longer with the county um but i i would just wanted to add for some context that this started in 2022 and i explained to mr thomas at the time that we could give him power for a security light on his dock but that until he had a residence nothing else was allowed right um in 2023 uh application was submitted by a accessory building company to put a building on the property just a storage building we explained at the time that you can't have an accessory structure without a residence on the property and then here we are in 2026 and there are three accessory structures and an rv on the property none of which have been permitted so even though we've explained those things to mr thomas and i understand he's had some difficulties in that four-year period that have changed his circumstances this was explained very early on what the circumstances were and so what is allowed is either a site-built home a tiny home or modular home that meets the florida building code or as of july 1st now with the law change a manufactured home of some size and then at that time the structures do look to be probably you know hopefully code compliant they're newer structures but they are all unpermitted and we can't permit any of them until there is a residence on the property because we currently do not allow accessory structures on a vacant lot without a principal use which in this case would be a residence because it's a residentially zoned parcel your honor yes go ahead if i may i have no problem with anything that holly just said but understand i my divorce was filed in 2022 my divorce took three years and three months to complete like i said i lost a million dollars when i brought that camper in there it was the only place i had to stay now every time i see a neighbor every time i see a neighbor they thank me man you have really cleaned up this property this makes our neighborhood look good this really really really looks good i've had my other neighbor on the other side who's a world-renowned photographer he even puts it in some of his some of his uh photograph stuff i've had other neighbors come up say man this is the best looking spot man and the other guy that just bought the house from a deceased family he came down and he said man i'd rather have your place so your honor it's not that i'm i'm i took i took a i took a a rock and i made it into a gem and like i said i this is bureaucracy to me i'm not trying to steal i'm not trying to lie i'm not trying to do anything but i must i'm doing the best i can against uh uh a bureaucracy and i'm not trying to hide anything and i'll even often i'll pay a fine i'll pay a fine until i can get the money to build what i want to build there i have no credit because i don't i don't i don't borrow money i'm debt free and i want to do the right thing but to be honest with you your honor i'm thinking about selling it because i'm tired i am tired i have worked for 35 years and done a lot of things for this country and i tell you what this is just bureaucracy at its best and people hiding in their cubicles nobody tells me how to fix the problem but everybody tells me what i can't do well let me but that's that's i i appreciate where you're standing and stuff and so just off the top of my head and let me have the county ask answer this you know if you were able to bring in a small um modular home even and place it on the site um i want the county to address this with that okay there's a problem there your honor to answer your question my lot is too small to put a septic tank in all right let me need it i have went to a septic tank contractor and i said look where can i put the septic tank he said you can't put one because you have one your adjacent neighbor has a big one your other neighbor has one you can't you there's no way to do it so i asked i asked a i when holly says modular i mean does that mean trailer trailer home or well yeah you can single wide you could get a single wide okay okay but i do not have the ability to put a septic tank so i asked because on some of my construction trailers they put 100 gallon sewage tanks underneath the skirting of the of our office trailers right when i do these big site deals and they have a portable service that comes out i currently which i'm in violation i currently have a portal that's built into a very nice old style uh antique looking uh outhouse and i have a service come once a week that vacuums out that portalette so when the old uh when the old uh veterans are there they have a bathroom they have the key to it and i i pay 50 bucks a month to have it serviced so my question was if i put a modular home there which i have no problem i want to but i cannot put a septic tank there that gets into more bureaucracy i said well can i put a hundred gallon can i put a hundred gallon uh dump tank there oh that's not county that's not county approved i said well you got to work with me on some of this you know i took i took this property that was a hazardous site with transite tile oil leaking into the lake but i didn't get a pat on the back for any of that all i did was when i asked for help somebody swoops in and i'm low-hanging fruit for a violation boom but nobody goes up and down the lake and looks at the boats sunk in the water boathouses blown over garbage in in on on some of these lots nobody looks at any of that let me stop right there let me ask the county can he put a septic tank on this property no that's something i think we would need to verify with the health department i mean typically with historic lots of record they're eligible as far as a lot size issue i don't know if there is a logistical issue that's preventing it based on what mr thomas is saying that's something we can check with the health department they're the authority for permitting the septic systems yeah so i'm not sure if a septic contractor was saying that's not a county agency correct the the gentleman i asked your honor i said look don't bs me just tell me the truth he said jason you're not going to be here it's not going to be your primary residence you're not going to be doing anything you know you're not going to have live here all the time you're going to be here three four days at a time a dump tank suits you fine i said but i can't do that i said i'm already in violation of that that the the best outhouse in the southeast i said right there it's it's it's in violation so let me ask you well may i ask a question right quick mr uh thomas when you're referring to an outhouse or a dump tape structure are you able to see the photos that i have placed here or is it the brown um structure here that i'm pointing to that that that that that little brown building is an i built i skinned out yes ma'am yes ma'am that is the portal that that is that i have serviced once a week right okay thank you for pointing that out okay yeah so yeah so and that that other thing is a ada that other little milk put your finger on the yeah put your finger there elante no no no that one no no the other one the other picture one after it yes ma'am put yeah that where your finger put your finger back there that right there is an ada uh modular uh ada bathroom for those old guys that i bought because they they they they have wheelchairs and they want to be able to use that bathroom so i said well what the hell i can get it off of a job for almost nothing and i brought it there but that has a dump tank also your honor everything has a dump tank in all of the remote areas i work for next era in in south florida and all these citrus farms and all over the country every time we put an office trailer we're not permitted by we're not permitted by um to to put septic tanks on these properties so we put dump tanks some of these dump tanks are 500 gallons right and you don't even see them because they fit underneath the trailer and you don't even know they're there and then when the when the when the service comes they just they just open a little port and stick the hose in there and suck it out and they leave in 10 minutes right i understand i'm familiar with them so let me it's county so how do we deal with the if he wants to try to come compliance but what he's saying is that health department won't let him put a septic tank in i would want to confirm with the health department what the options are um that could have been it sounds like perhaps that was advised by a septic contractor possibly yes ma'am it was so have you talked mr thomas did you talk to the the health department staff directly at any point about that no because i because holly honestly i just didn't want to get involved in any more bureaucratic bs because they're just going to tell me what i cannot do so i went to two contractors okay so the county's going to check on that so what i'm going to do is i'm going to continue this case until the county can come back with an answer on that because if you cannot build on it then that's going to change the scope of the things here um but if you can actually put a septic tank or if or if you can come up with a septic system that meets their criteria like a dump tank system um because they're all are also our composting toilets and stuff that have no discharge at all that exist on stuff i don't know how the county rules sit on that in health department right it's more state rules than ours in that case i would just prefer to have my little commercial outhouse there your honor i've even had people come and take videos of that portal that right all right so we're going to what i'm going to do is we'll continue the case the county's going to research that issue on you and then we'll bring it back up at the next here july you want to bring it back for july if the county can get the answer by then we'll have a july yeah we'll be sure to have that and if you can communicate that to him in advance rather than wait until july yes your honor any i'll be communicating by email phone and in person so any way he suggests we'll communicate i would like to just have somebody at the county that can help me remedially help me do this and the only other concern that i have is that it's a financial problem when a man loses a million dollars it's pretty pretty devastating and i'm i'm i'm i'm trying to do the right thing but logistically i can't it's it's it's almost i get these zoom calls all the time but i'm in remote areas where i don't have in these these citrus farms i don't have uh uh wi-fi and all of this stuff so i have to use the phone people have to call me i try i'm trying to be proactive but it's getting so frustrating because i feel like i'm just fighting bureaucracy and nobody will actually help me that's my problem other than that i can handle everything else okay all right so uh county will research this issue and we'll get back to it in july yes sir okay and hey your honor i want to say thank you to elante and to holly banner because those are the only two that have been proactive in talking to me and they've both been very very very kind so i think they've done a hell of a job in this and and i understand they've got other chickens to cook but uh i thank them for for for for doing what they can okay you're welcome mr thomas okay so i appreciate you being on the phone or on zoom um but we will continue this in july and hopefully you can get you a positive answer out of this out of the state yes sir thank you very much you're welcome thank you hope you have a good rest of your day all right i think this is case number 13 is that coming up okay please call it case number two six dash zero zero three three three three one alachua county versus solomon simmons enterprises llc someone here representing solomon simmons enterprises llc again someone here representing the respondent okay please proceed all righty my name is elante benjamin code officer for alachua county in code enforcement case two six dash zero zero three three three one the county received a complaint on march 13th 2026 regarding the property located at address four two two southwest 69th street apartment a in gamesville florida i'm excuse me april 13th in alachua county florida and identified by parcel number zero six six five five dash zero seven zero dash zero zero nine code administration initiated an enforcement proceeding and found there to be a violation of the following sections of alachua county code of ordinances ipmc the international property maintenance code penalty three three two dot zero two international property maintenance code one one one dot one dot three structure unfit for human occupancy property maintenance code three zero nine point one infestation four zero three point four process ventilation property maintenance code six zero three dot one mechanical equipment and appliances six zero three point five property maintenance code combustion air property maintenance code four zero seven zero four point six point one smoke detectors the respondent was provided with a reasonable time to correct the violations and notice the violation was sent to respondent that included corrective actions ongoing inspections conducted today have determined that the respondent remains in violation of the set of alachua county code ordinances my last inspection on the property was on march 29 2026 the reason why i haven't done a recent inspection due to the rat infestation in the home feces and urine throughout the the unit and i deemed it unsafe for myself and the tenant to re-enter the unit and she also has a small daughter but she was able to relocate with her grandmother until the issues are fixed i have good service of notices and statements of violations to respondent sent by certified mail receipt or posting copies have been provided to the magistrate and i request they be entered into evidence there has been contact with the respondent regarding violations by phone and email the photographs being presented were taken by myself and accurately reflect the violations and acts they be admitted into evidence the county's recommendations that respondent be found in violation of the set sections of the code order respondent coming to compliance within 10 days by complying with the corrective actions listed in a notice of violation and if not complied then pay a fine the amount of 600 for each day the violations continue past the date set for compliance the county has incurred 280 cost for prosecution and a one-time fine of 500 for maintenance neglect and bringing this action to hearing remember hearing correctly the tenants no longer in the space uh she does that decided to vacate because of the the rat feces and urine and so she relocated with her grandma in the meantime yes sir all right have any you said you have contact have they making any efforts to uh the last time i spoke to the owner he stated that it is hard to get rid of rats in a building and he doesn't seem to know how to do so and as far as i know of today he hasn't tried okay all right all right again is there someone here representing respondent see none i see case number 14 was pulled i see case 15 is a zoom call also yes do we have the zoom person on the phone or on the line yes okay so go ahead and call the case all right case number two six dash zero zero one nine two four alachua county versus thomas philip h and juliet so who is on the line i believe his name is alan thomas hello hello can you hear me yes i can hear you now so would you state your name please um it's very hard to hear you guys i'm on my cell phone just at work so i'm having to wait through all this and then just like i say you only have a cell phone speaker so it's not very loud so state your name please alan thomas and and are you the owner of the property it's my mom died in 2015 and it's it's still and like a family one lot one lot is still uh considered family even though they don't pay any taxes on it they left me with everything to do and they do nothing okay so let me ask you let me get you sworn in because uh go ahead do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this case today will be the truth and the whole truth yes but can you speak up yeah are you close to the microphone yeah do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this case today will be the truth and the whole truth yes okay so what we're going to do is let the county present its case and then i'll let you speak to the case okay yes go ahead county please case two six zero zero one nine two four county received a complaint on march 3rd regarding junk and debris property is located at 21007 northeast 101 first avenue erlington and alachua county identified by parcel number one eight five zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero owner of the property is philip and juliet thomas code administration initiated enforcement proceedings and found there to be a violation of the following sections of alachua county code code seven seven four point two zero a accumulation and junk and seven four point two zero b unserviceable vehicles the respondent was provided a reasonable time to correct the violations notice the violation was sent to the respondent that included corrective actions ongoing inspections conducted to date have determined the respondent remains in violation of the set alachua county code sections my last inspection on the property was june 3rd i have good service of notices and statements of violation to the respondent sent by certified mail receipt or postings copies have provided to the magistrate and i request they be entered into evidence i have had contact with the respondent regarding the violations which was on april 22nd photographs being presented were taken by myself and accurately reflect the violations and asked that they be admitted into evidence county recommendation is the respondent be found in violation of the said section of the code order the respondent come into compliance within 30 days by complying with the corrective actions listed in those violation and if not in compliance and pay a fine amount of fifty dollars for each day the violation continues past the date set for compliance county has incurred four hundred and ninety dollars in cost and bringing the action to hearing okay mr tom what can you tell me about uh being able to get the property into compliance yeah i gotta i'm in my uh work truck sitting here in the parking lot i've got people i gotta put the window up they're making noise uh actually part of what she's saying is incorrect and can i see the pictures again i think i didn't get to see all the pictures what you're taking pictures of and okay is that all you okay is that all the pictures yes yes sir okay all right um first of all um there's two lots there and your complaint is is only on one lot technically your your lot number here and the name um far as the uh there's not there's only uh you know they say uncircle vehicles and they don't say how many and they don't say how they know if they're uncircle or if they're unregistered tell me that who complained who's saying they are okay do you have a as far as the lots go we discussed that on the phone sir so this violation was sent to the property your your parents or you own both the lots the junk and debris and unserviced vehicles are spread between the two lots so only one lot was cited but you are aware of both lots as far as the unserviced vehicles we talked about the recreational vehicle or mobile home that you have on the property you said that you're working on it well currently it is not in service so it's an unserviced vehicle meaning that you cannot drive it on the road currently and i did mention to you if the cars are not unserviceable you just need to give us verification of that but you didn't answer my question you went around my question sorry i was i did forget your question as far as um requesting to see who um actually complained about the case you would need to do a records request i don't have that information on me but if you contact our office they will instruct you on how to do that you can obtain that information that way okay i'm just saying you you're you're making claims and stuff before i even told you anything i was just being nice because i'm not trying to be rude and i'm being respectful uh but you're not saying how you know they're that they're unservable or unregistered uh before i even told you that i was already going to move the camper uh and the other the other camper there this don't have a camper on it um other than that the other all the other stuff is registered you see that tarp there by the lawnmower uh with just the wheel off which is a good lawnmower okay uh that under that tarp is a registered motorcycle and if you don't believe me you can check with the state of florida that jet ski is a registered jet ski it's been registered for years uh that forerunner is registered there's other than that uh when you say it has been mowed the lot has been mowed and it's been mowed at least three times uh front and back uh and i think i'm just being picked on because i have uh neighbors it's just because they have a better house than me so they're picking on me uh and but what's funny is i haven't filed no complaints on them and they have stuff that's a violation on their lots uh and if i took pictures of it you would be shocked uh you probably get a laugh out of it but i haven't complained about it at all but i believe that's really what's going on and uh actually i used to mow all the way up the road all the way up to the highway they weren't doing nothing as far as and mowing i mowed the movers i'm mowing a lot of a county's side of the pavement there on the on the edges of the pavement the county wasn't taking care of it nor have they took care of the uh the dish it was put in it's all broken that was never taken care of they haven't taken care of the weeds or the trash in it but they're complaining about me uh i've done all i can i had a i've had multiple surgeries i still need more surgeries i have health problems so i can't do i can't go crazy on stuff i got money problems because my job was illegally taken from me my career i i wasn't only a job a career will pay and career uh planned on building two new houses there so i was going to take down the old buildings and and build uh and build one nice new house uh everything new and it would be very nice uh but i was my job my career job was illegally my certification without going into much detail because this is i don't want to go into too much detail detail because it's a hearing and so my basically my license my cdl license was taken from me illegally they lied had my license taken from me and for money reasons that would save them money basically what went on i'm not going to say their name but that happened in 20 march 2022 is when they when they fired me illegally and ever since then i've had money problems because if you go back and look and say i kept all the taxes paid up before that even though my the other parts of the family the lots are not in my name okay uh so they're not helping with the taxes so all the burden is left on me they've never paid not one penny towards any real estate bill any property tax whatever you want to call it so i'm having to pay on the third year now which you know is really disturbing i don't like that i kept everything paid up until they fired me and took my certification from me so now i'm i'm working for minimal money i'm at work right now i can't afford to take a day off uh you know so i already paid the property taxes the third year uh and uh so i'm i'm having to do stuff a little bit at a time and that's that should be easy to understand and i have health problems i've already supposed to got more surgeries i can't get more surgeries because i can't afford it my deductible is two thousand dollars okay without even counting anything else i'm not trying to make excuses i'm just being honest and i'm just being given a hard time i believe because i have two old houses their houses are are nice houses i wouldn't call them great i call them decent nice houses and i believe i'm just being picked on by i'm just guessing probably i'm not going to say their name uh who complained uh so it could be one of three people or it could be a couple of them okay so mr let me stop all i'm saying is i think i'm just that's the reason i'm being i'm being singled out because the same people i believe that are complaining they have clear violations but i haven't called in on them and and been a pain to them and but you know they that's just i believe this is what's going on and i'm doing my best i've already mowed the yard three times i've got rid of some stuff i'm getting i'm getting rid of it a little bit of time just give me time to get rid of it i don't have money to pay fines you're talking about getting paying me having to charge me fifty dollars a day well what will happen is you'll just take my property from me because i won't be able to pay the taxes then and i won't be able to eat or anything else so i'm doing my best so just give me time i'm asking respectfully to get things moved around and then uh i expect to be left alone after that okay mr thomas you made a statement i want to make sure i'm corrected so you said you are not the owner of the property that you no i'm not i'm the caretaker of the property because nobody else ever wanted to do anything uh even uh you know i had when my mom was alive i would have to come out and do a lot of stuff because none of the other family members and this is the truth would do anything so this is all the burden is on me understood okay all right i appreciate you being on by the zoom call um yeah i'll make a decision in the case okay that's it so let's go move on to the next case which is i believe a penalty hearing let me read the penalty hearing statement the hearing this non-compliance or penalty hearing is strictly to evaluate if an order has been created by the special magistrate has been followed or not been followed i will not rehear the case as a special magistrate has no authority to revisit its previous action the policy is determined if the respondent is in compliance or not in compliance give the county and the respondent an opportunity to speak to on the compliance or non-compliance and then make a decision regarding compliance or non-compliance and if found in non-compliance placement of a lien in the benefit of the county so we call the first case in the penalty i think it's the only one in the penalty hearing case number two five dash zero one two nine zero six alachua county versus plumber richard a and arlene e all right so are the plumbers here somebody from the plumbers here seeing none please proceed michael williams uh alachua county code with regard to uh code case 25 dash zero one two nine zero six um location of the violation one eight zero two one northeast 135th avenue waldo florida three two six nine four um this property was initially before you on three nine 2026 there was a determination of guilty not in compliance um uh there's a prosecution cost of 210 dollars um daily fine of 150 dollars per day was uh imposed total fines of seven thousand eight hundred and sixty dollars um i did do a drive-by of the property on last evening um there was a a little bit of uh improvement to the property but uh still not in compliance all right okay all right again somebody here representing the plumbers see none all right county will have a lien and placed on it all right let's move on now to reduction hearing is the person on zoom josh uh no this would be um case number two five dash zero zero nine nine five one oh okay i'm sorry my mistake it's not a zoom call all right so that would be a lot oh um reduction yeah reduction yeah that's the next one right yes okay i'm sorry i was thinking about the one after the emergency case okay so uh let me read this reduction statement i will now hear requests for reduction of fines and rescission of liens the decision to grant or deny your request is solely within my discretion per statute in making my decision i may consider recommendations from alachua county code administration please state precisely what you are requesting why you believe i should grant your request you may present any information that is relevant to your request the only purpose of this hearing is to consider a reduction of fine or rescission of lien this is not an opportunity to discuss the original findings of guilt for the violations please refrain from commenting on the original proceeding since i have no authority to revisit that final action okay so you want to call the case please case number two five dash zero zero zero nine nine five one alachua county versus sherry watson that's what's okay now so this is a little different burden is on you to tell me why i should risk so the county's not going to present a case or anything so it's your opportunity to explain why you are seeking a reduction of fines or removal of the lien i would like to read can you pull the microphone down so there you go like to respectfully request a reduction um i've been doing the best i can with getting everything cleaned up um it's been a hard four or five years when i first moved up just in time for covid now otherwise you wouldn't be here right and you paid the prosecution so you were okay so i just want to make that framework clear for you okay so i'm just asking for a reduction because i just can't afford with everything going on i i did pay out um recently thirteen hundred dollars just to have the slab popped up unfortunately my engine blew in my truck which cost me seventy five hundred dollars um it's just been a lot and i just i just need to help on the on the on the payment okay i would deeply appreciate not having a lien on my property understood um does county have a position well i just want to state a couple things for the record your honor so there was um an electrical service that was located on the property back from 2022 it was only a temporary service but it was continued to be there and used so they were living in a recreational vehicle without permits the building which was a hazard needed to come down so in the notice of violation it stated that she could either rebuild or demo so she applied for the application for the demo did not pay for it or receive it as yet but she started to demo the building which was removing the roof um other than that um we have no recommendation for you okay so any reduction that you would like to grant the county would have agreed to okay all right and so where do you stand on getting the rest of the building down well it's all down it's all down i just have to call the inspector back to have him oh i see okay he just wanted me to make sure it was had like a little bit of rubbish that had to be hauled off and that was so we were going to call him back to do that how much did the total demolition cost you just to rob you don't have to give me about 3 500 because i had my family come help right i understand and the original goal was to rebuild the house and i tried getting engineers and we tried every way i could okay all right all right i'll you'll get a reduction i'll just go over the facts and stuff and you'll get it in the mail okay say that again i said i will grant a reduction i haven't made a decision how much yet but okay you'll let me know okay yeah and so you know once if the reduction is in uh you have the ability to pay it off and as soon as it's paid off the lien would be removed okay okay all right thank you you're welcome all right i believe we have an emergency case called in for a zoom call is that correct you want to call the case please and are they on the call josh are they on yeah they're on okay go ahead case number two five dash zero zero nine one three zero alachua county versus chakran phase mohammed okay who do we have on the call hello good morning yes and who are you uh my name is jonathan francisco cruz i am the buyer for this property okay so you're the buyer for the property okay yes yes yes yes your honor okay so let me uh you brought the answer here i'm going to let the county proceed first to give us a little background here and then i'll ask you to explain what you're asking for county please proceed thank you missy daniels with the county get missy can you pull that microphone down because the zoom calls apparently it's not missy daniels with the county this was a case that you heard to place a lien on the property on april 8th for building without permits mr muhammad is the current property owner mr cruz is potentially buying the property investing in it and he has asked that we he wants a letter from the county to get rid of the liens so that he could go to closing we've explained over the past month that the only way to get to a hearing to get the liens off is to come into compliance like you've had a lot of people buy properties with liens on them right you do that all the time he then requested the emergency hearing to come before you nothing's in compliance mr cruz intends to bring it into compliance and we're happy about that he'll he's um pulling the permits under his purview now instead of mr muhammad's and he has to be an owner in some cases to pull a permit anyway so yeah he um well a contractor is going to need to pull the permits for him as an investor so but yes the owner would so once he's the owner he can right move forward with that the fines are eleven thousand three hundred and eighty now this is under your jurisdiction to consider his request he's asking that the lien be completely eliminated for his closing the county would support an agreement if you wanted to agree to reduce the liens once it's in compliance give him a certain amount of time and agree ahead of time that we would reduce it at that point if he meets those time frames and completely comes into compliance but obviously it's under your jurisdiction understood so and this is a little strange in some ways because usually the buyer has completely removed all the problems and brought into compliance and now seeking a reduction of lien or removal of it which is a more typical case the code requires that a hearing or states that a hearing can only be rescheduled for reduction of liens once the property's in compliance right and so that's just a little different animal here completely council have any issues or problems so we do i just we'll come with the microphone so he can hear you just to make it clear we do object to the removal of the lien because that's the only thing that we have at this time the only thing that as miss daniel was saying is that we try to come to an agreement about what that would be upon compliance um with your honor's approval but we do object and don't believe there's any authority in the law to allow for the lien to be removed prior to the compliance i agree and i'm going to agree with you on that so let me let the buyer speak here are you willing to work come into um to to put together an agreement that the county finds acceptable that if you bring it into compliance that you could then have the lien removed once it's in compliance and any fines that were reduced to would be paid because right now the way the system is set up is i don't have authority to make a removal because it's not in compliance that both the state statute and county ordinance require that the facility be in compliance before i can consider reducing the fine and removing the lien but you can come up with a letter agreement between the county and you and i think that's what the county is proposing is that there be some formal agreement that and if you meet those criteria then the fine reduced fund would be paid and the lien would be removed at that time am i stating that correctly yes your honor you are but i believe i was about to ask i believe you would need to be the one to decide that amount because it's under your jurisdiction and the cost already been placed and i'm prepared to do that today if you have some idea of of what county's position on that is you know if he's going to bring it into compliance i assume it's going to cost a fair amount of money the county does not object to prosecution costs if you want to reduce it to that okay all right so i'm willing to do that um so as the buyer you willing to accept that that i would reduce it to prosecution costs but you would have to come into an agreement a sign agreement with the county that that's uh you would bring it into compliance in a timely way your honor uh let me explain thank you uh first of all thank you for the opportunity and accepting this case in a short notice um this is the situation that we have uh i complete the assessment with my general contractor actually uh she's local and have experience 13 years of experience working with uh the county and also my architect as well uh what we're trying to do is uh paying for the fine at closing through the title company and request a conditional lien release because full title and for my lender i already have the funds approved for the acquisition and for uh the renovation basically it's uh around 80 80 000 approximately so uh that's why i was requesting requesting the conditional lien release to have this closing actually was scheduled for tomorrow and then after closing my uh gc with uh file uh permits actually there's five different permits that needs to be filed and two other needs to uh take over and then the contractor we start working right away and get the property inspected after all the repairs are completed okay let me say to go you made a statement you have in the closing you have assigned certain funds to be paid for the lien is that correct yes and how much is how much is that uh we need to request uh a payoff uh letter from the county with the final amount and that amount will be sent via certified check uh through the title title company uh so yes so how does the county feel about that your honor i still feel like they're misunderstanding i think we've tried to explain to them that we can't we cannot do a conditional release of the lien right um and i think that that's probably their sticking point with their bank is is my guess right um but we can't we can't agree to that and i don't believe there's any way in the law for that to to be allowed okay um we want to work with them but the lien is all we have until things are done so uh let me have a question to the buyer there have you an ability to extend the closing date so that you could get the uh because the county if i understood county correctly they would be willing to go to prosecution costs yes your honor so if you could pay 210 is that right 280 280 dollars then that is the county's recommended to be reduced to 280 if you can pay 280 then you would get a release of lien upon payment of the penalty um and is that correct as long as and once compliance is done when once compliance is done yeah yes uh your honor uh yeah the issue is like they are requiring payment and complete all renovation before closing and as you know as the buyer and i cannot complete renovation without having a closing and transfer the deed uh into my name so that's that's the issue the issue is not payment uh we are willing to submit the payment of all fines and the procedure prosecution uh i know uh costs uh but uh yeah we will need that's why we are requesting the connection conditional uh link release to have this closing and i can continue the renovation works and inspections okay well at this time i don't believe i have legal jurisdiction to grant that um because of the way the state statute and the county ordinances are set up um so i i'm sorry to disappoint you but at this juncture i do not have the legal authority to grant that wait a second here go ahead the county has additional information make it clear for mr cruz that because he has to use a contractor because he's an investor he's not going to live there um that contractor can still apply for the permits pull the permits they just need the current owner to sign to agree to pulling those permits so he can extend his closing and do the work if he can't close with this lien on it and just do the work while the current owner still owns it with his contractor but again we're not requiring that that he comes into compliance for his closing that's his bank investors do this all the time sure so did you hear that yes uh yes i say like the permits uh my gc is ready to take over and file new permits but the property is still on on mr fire name i need to have the deed transfer because my lender won't allow the lien on title so yeah if it's not possible definitely i will need to cancel this transaction because i i have experience i have been doing this for a long time uh but i i respect uh the way that you structure but yeah so i would i would say if your contractor can get the current owner to sign off on doing that then you can proceed and and delay the closing until it gets in compliance and then then you come back in and we can do that once it's in compliance but that we have to have come i have to have compliance otherwise i can't proceed right yeah i would need to do all the the renovation before closing and the situation is that my lender will provide the funds for renovations so that's why i need the contractor and the ec need to get paid and those funds are coming from my lender basically so that's okay that's where we are right now okay all right at this point i'm gonna say you know i would say continue to work with the county and see if you can come up with a way to make this work because the county obviously would like to have it in compliance and and has no interest in collecting the fines if it can get in compliance and put it back on the tax rolls so all right i think that is our last case any other business to come before i see someone here what's your name which number 25 0 0 25 0 0 3 8 8 3 same case number i don't see anything on the agenda no that i have no now that earlier agenda you sent me had a lot more cases on it mm-hmm no let me see i didn't send that out i did not send that out no did you figure out what's um your honor we're gonna have to talk with the we can talk go downstairs and talk with the um property owner okay and see what's going on it's not in the it's not on the agenda so yeah so we'd have proper notice and stuff so okay all right so i'm going to close this hearing at uh call at 11 o'clock