Is anybody else out there dealing with problems related to old hotels or motels illegally converting into condominium rentals without properly going through everything required for this type of change of use?
Please advise how your jurisdiction is handling these situations.
Please find attached below a full copy of HB269 which includes our language
(On pages 2-4). This is the bill that has been sent to the Governor for signature.
HB269 - Click Here to Open
Sam Sullivan, CPM & FACE Sgt-at-Arms
Collection Center Supervisor
Code Enforcement Officer
5115 NE 63rd Avenue
Gainesville, FL 32609
(352) 334-0172
Please review the Bill below and contact your delegates to advise on your support!
Florida Senate – 2013 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT Bill No. SB 1252
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate
Comm: RCS
03/21/2013.
House
The Committee on Community Affairs (Simpson) recommended the following:
Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
Between lines 65 and 66 3 insert:
Section 1. Section 162.12, Florida Statutes, is amended to 5 read:
162.12 Notices.—
(1) All notices required by this part must be provided to the alleged violator by:
(a) Certified mail, return receipt requested, to the address listed in the tax collector’s office for tax notices, or to the address listed in the county property appraiser’s Florida Senate – 2013 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT Bill No. SB 1252 database. The local government may also provide an additional notice to any other address it may find for provided by the property owner in writing to the local government for the purpose of receiving notices. For property owned by a corporation, notices may be provided by certified mail to the registered agent of the corporation. If any notice sent by certified mail is not signed as received within 30 days after the postmarked date of mailing, notice may be provided by posting as described in subparagraphs (2)(b)1. and 2.;
(b) Hand delivery by the sheriff or other law enforcement officer, code inspector, or other person designated by the local governing body;
(c) Leaving the notice at the violator’s usual place of residence with any person residing therein who is above 15 years of age and informing such person of the contents of the notice; or
(d) In the case of commercial premises, leaving the notice with the manager or other person in charge.
(2) In addition to providing notice as set forth in 31 subsection (1), at the option of the code enforcement board or the local government, notice may also be served by publication or posting, as follows:
(a)1. Such notice shall be published once during each week for 4 consecutive weeks (four publications being sufficient) in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the code enforcement board is located. The newspaper shall meet such requirements as are prescribed under chapter 50 for legal and official advertisements.
2. Proof of publication shall be made as provided in ss.
50.041 and 50.051. 42
(b)1. In lieu of publication as described in paragraph (a), such notice may be posted at least 10 days prior to the hearing, or prior to the expiration of any deadline contained in the notice, in at least two locations, one of which shall be the property upon which the violation is alleged to exist and the other of which shall be, in the case of municipalities, at the primary municipal government office, and in the case of counties, at the front door of the courthouse or the main county governmental center in said county.
2. Proof of posting shall be by affidavit of the person posting the notice, which affidavit shall include a copy of the notice posted and the date and places of its posting.
(c) Notice by publication or posting may run concurrently with, or may follow, an attempt or attempts to provide notice by hand delivery or by mail as required under subsection (1).
Evidence that an attempt has been made to hand deliver or mail notice as provided in subsection (1), together with proof of publication or posting as provided in subsection (2), shall be sufficient to show that the notice requirements of this part have been met, without regard to whether or not the alleged violator actually received such notice.
================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
And the title is amended as follows:
Delete line 2 and insert:
An act relating to building construction; amending s. Florida Senate – 2013 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT Bill No. SB 1252
162.12, F.S.; revising notice requirements in the Local Government Code Enforcement Boards Act; amending s.
Wilma TV is currently producing the fourth season of TLC’s Hoarding: Buried Alive, an hour-long documentary television series about hoarding. We are seeking participants who are willing to open up their lives and homes to share their stories.
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/hoarding-buried-alive
The series explores the various facets of hoarding by recounting the personal stories of people who are struggling with this disease. A story can involve one or multiple people hoarding in the same family; people who are attempting to cope with a hoarding issue; or in more extreme cases, people who may be facing eviction, financial or marital distress due to hoarding.
The benefits of participating include complementary treatment from top mental health professionals, hands-on assistance from professional organizers and if desired, additional hauling and junk removal services.
Additionally, we provide participants with monetary compensation in order to encourage continued treatment and progress.
If you or someone you know needs help to stop hoarding, we would like to hear from you. We understand the sensitive and often embarrassing nature of this problem and promise to treat all participants with the utmost respect.
The goal of our series is to promote a better understanding of compulsive hoarding, what steps can be taken to deal with the issue, and how a comprehensive exploration of this common problem can lead to positive change for the people involved.
Please contact us at:
Email: tlchoarding@gmail.com
Phone: 240-662-4292
All inquiries will be kept confidential.
Anybody having a problem with squatters these days?
If so…
How are your Code Enforcement Departments involved in correcting the situations;
or do any related complaints simply get referred to Law Enforcement for response?
Link to a recent story below:
Did you see this in the Sun-Sentinel: http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-03-11/news/fl-west-boca-squatting-20130307_1_eviction-empty-house-andre-loki-boy-barbosa
Help Fight Blight – Stop Snipe Signs!
Anybody else dealing with a company using “snipe signs” to advertise for Grout Cleaning and Sealing? Flat Fee $250.00 (941)-408-41XX.
If so – Please contact:
Shawn Horton
Code Enforcement Mgr.
Charlotte County
Community Development
(941) 764-4148
Have any of you had to respond to residential neighborhoods wanting to install a community garden with the plan of selling the items it produces from the same site as well?
We have an opportunity to expand a City residential playground park; and this is just one of the many creative items being discussed. Code Man would definitely appreciate any information you may have on the topic; copies of related ordinances and/or legal opinions, etc. would be of use too.
Please respond below and thanks for you assistance.
Have any of you run into a situation where one property owner was shining a bright light onto another property intentionally creating a nuisance because of a neighborhood dispute?
More importantly; are any of you aware of codes prohibiting this in a residential setting?
We have an inquiry from an individual experiencing this now in Cape Coral I believe; and she is on a mission to find a code solution rather than having to file some sort of civil law suit for relief.
Please share any information you may have available.
Check out the new way one local jurisdiction is dealing with a very old and persistent problem to frustrate violators and prevent illegal signs -
“STOP Snipe Signs” by using robo-calls.
Then send us your thoughts and suggestions by adding comments below.
Ingenious way to fight sign litter in Jacksonville is being wasted
by Ron Littlepage, Florida Times-Union, 2/5
In 2010, the City Council boldly declared a “zero tolerance” policy for litter.
In passing the law, the council declared that “Jacksonville citizens believe that their city should be a model for beauty that is not surpassed by any city in America.” Therefore, the city would become “litter free.”
Ha. Ha. That’s a good one.
It’s not that the new law wasn’t strong. It was. In particular it went after “snipe signs,” those annoying signs that pop up on public rights of way faster than negative ads in the Republican presidential primary advertising everything from weight loss programs to offers to buy junk cars. Tracking down who is responsible for the signs that litter intersections all over Jacksonville should not be that difficult. Most include phone numbers to call. And the ordinance is quite explicit about who should get slapped with a citation.
The ordinance reads: “The person or business who owns or is advertised or identified on the sign shall be presumed to have permitted the placement of the snipe sign in the absence of evidence to the contrary.”
The penalty for breaking the law is progressively stiff.
The first violation is $50; the second, $75. For repeat scofflaws — five or more violations — the fine is $350. And those fines are for each sign.
So why are the snipe signs still everywhere?
Because the ordinance isn’t being enforced.
“A warning citation and education is the first step and brings the violator into compliance,” the Mayor’s Office wrote in an email. “No money has been collected to date under this ordinance.” The snipers may indeed be slow learners, but if they haven’t learned about the law in the year and a half since it was passed, it’s past time to put some muscle behind it. The problem isn’t just the clutter on our streets. Also missing out because of a lack of enforcement are the city’s bus stops and bus shelters. The ordinance provided that 70 percent of the fines collected would be put into a trust fund “to be maintained for the purpose of keeping bus stops and bus shelters well maintained, in good repair and litter free.”
Seventy percent of zero isn’t going to help a whole lot.
The other 30 percent was supposed to go toward paying for enforcing the ordinance. If the excuse is that deep budget cuts the last few years have reduced the number of employees who can enforce the law, there are enough snipe signs out there to finance an army.
The ordinance also allows for individual citizens to be certified to issue citations. So far, five volunteers have been certified, according to the Mayor’s Office. Apparently there isn’t a lot of encouragement to do so.
Zero tolerance for litter? Not until the snipers get hit in the pocketbook.
(Snipe Signs in Trashville Part 2),
How you can help clean up trashy signs
by Ron Littlepage, Florida Times-Union, 2/8/12
It turns out a lot of people are fed up with the proliferation of snipe signs that has earned Jacksonville the nickname of Trashville. I heard from many of them after writing a column earlier this week about the lack of enforcement of a city ordinance banning the illegal signs that are stuck to utility poles and placed in public rights of way all over town.
You know the signs I mean:
Lose weight. We buy junk cars. We buy houses. Websites $99.
And by enforcement I mean fining the repeat offenders as the ordinance allows, which hasn’t been done, rather than just having city crews occasionally pick up the unsightly signs. Hitting the snipers in the pocketbook would get their attention. Quite a few people who are tired of the mess are picking up the signs on their own, which the ordinance specifically allows. According to the ordinance, snipe signs are considered abandoned property and are “thereby subject to being removed by any person, so long as such removal is accomplished in a safe and peacefulmanner.”
Just be careful out there, folks.
So now that you have the snipe signs, what do you do with them besides adding them to the city landfill? One reader wrote that they make good tomato stakes. Here’s another good use: The Teacher Supply Depot at 3108 Lenox Ave. will be happy to take the signs. “We do reuse the snipe signs,” the Depot’s Chris Buckley wrote in an email. “We have been making bird houses, recycle bins and other kinds of fun items.”
Ridding our neighborhoods and streets of eyesores and converting them into something useful at the same time, now that’s taking lemons and turning them into lemonade. (An aside plug for the Depot: “If anyone has old craft supplies, children’s games or books, sewing odds and ends, office or school supplies, science materials, paper or holiday supplies, or anything like these,
we are also interested,” Buckley wrote.
In passing the ordinance in 2010, the City Council declared that there would be “zero tolerance” for litter, including snipe signs, and that Jacksonville would become “litter free.”
That goal obviously hasn’t been achieved.
On Saturday, a sign at the corner of Riverside Avenue and Post Street pointed to a gun show. I followed the signs, stuck in the public rights of way at regular intervals, for several miles down Post. Later that day, I saw the same signs posted many miles away by the Jacksonville Equestrian Center. But these two signs, also spotted on Riverside, took the cake.
One sign advertised a website for singles. Beside it was a separate sign advertising a deal to makesnipe signs for $1 each.
The scofflaws are bold because they are getting away with it.
That has to change, or we will ALL remain Trashville.
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