Code Enforcement Special Magistrate - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call to order the Charlotte County Code Enforcement Special Magistrate hearing for September 2nd, 2026. It's just after 9 AM. My name is Robert Burnson. I am the special magistrate to hear these cases. I do have a conflict with a couple of cases under section six of the agenda. Another attorney will be coming to handle those cases and will take them at the time he arrives. Just to go over today's proceedings to give you an idea how this works. We'll go through the agenda. The first cases that we'll hear are on the consent agenda under section seven of the agenda. Those are the affidavits of non-compliance. Those are cases in which an order has previously been entered and the county alleges that you have violated the order that was entered. In those cases, we'll hear testimony as to whether or not you are in violation of the order, but we will not re-hear the case as to whether the order should have been issued in the first place. The order is issued, there's a period to appeal it. If that period has passed, the order is valid and is not challengeable. The second set of cases that we'll hear are new business. That's under Roman numeral eight on the agenda. Those are the cases lettered A through R. Those cases are being heard for the first time. There will be no fine issued in those cases today. If you're found in violation, those are orders that will give you time to correct the violation. If you fail to correct the violation within the time given, or fail to work with the code enforcement officer. At that point you can be found to be in violation of the order and then that case would be brought back on the consent agenda for a fine. Those cases we will hear the facts and determine whether the violation exists. So to begin with, we're going to swear in all of those who are going to give testimony. If you're here, here with a friend, think you might want to say something, please stand and be sworn in so we can do that all at once. Anyone that's going to be speaking today, please stand and be sworn in.

Do solemnly swear the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. This, so please answer, I do.

Okay. Announce the agenda changes. COD 250229 Florida Air Works Inc. Joseph Casey has been dismissed. COD 2601164 Paul Hand and Suzanne Hand. 9388 Boot Street Punta Gorda has been dismissed. And COD 2601166 Clinton Roser. 9324 Mandy Street in Punta Gorda has been continued. So we will now go to the consent agenda. The first case that we have someone present that I'm aware of is number two, Deborah Devine and Mark Devine. You'll come to the podium, please. When you come up, please give us your name and indicate if you've been sworn in.

My name is Mark Devine. Mrs. Devine is 1,300 miles away.

Okay. And you've been sworn in?

Just now.

Yes.

Yes.

Okay, so there's an allegation that you're in violation of the order. Do you believe that's true or not?

No, I do not.

Okay, then we'll hear from the officer and then you'll have the opportunity to question the officer and then provide any information you might have.

Okay. My name is Gloria Wahlberg, Certified Code Compliance Officer, Certified Landscape Inspector, Charlotte County. This is COD 2502424 at 5399 Ashwood Road, owner of record Deborah and Mark Devine. The case was heard on March 4th, 2026 for clearing within the scrub jay habitat without a permit. They did obtain a permit, but it's got outstanding scrub J fees that now the permit is expired, not issued.

What would you like to tell us? Or do you have any questions for her?

I'm not really sure. I had to seek an attorney because I was kidnapped here from the county, tortured by the county, and force fed barbiturates by the county. So I was concerned and was needing to find an attorney on this. It took me until just recently to get to a far legal group across from the courthouse, and they were saying that the only lien against the property was the judgment for seeing you. for standing here before you so it was only $78 but had I just paid the $78 that would mean that I'm guilty of this which I don't believe I am and that's why I'm back here today

Okay, well, county's proven that you are in violation. There's been additional orders issued, and I find that the county continues to prove that you're in violation. There's no testimony to the contrary, and the fine will be $4,520. Thank you. Next, we have case number seven, COD 24-02128, Juliana Idico-Bardi. And I'm sure I've not said that anywhere near or close.

Come on up.

So as I indicated, this is an indication that you're in violation of the order. Have you brought the property into compliance?

80% I had surgery and the doctor did the surgery that didn't have to do it and I've been into the emergency room four times already because of it and I can hardly stand and when I pick up something heavy I bleed and I end up back in the emergency room so I've been working I don't have any family. I don't have anybody. And I've been doing it all by myself.

Okay. Well, since it's still in violation, the fine will be $70. And if you can get it cleaned up and work with them so that we don't have to see you again. Okay. Okay, thank you.

Thanks.

I don't have any other consent agenda items with people present and therefore since they are on the consent agenda I find that the county has proven the violation continues to exist and will sign the orders accordingly. So that will bring us to the new business cases. First person I have here is letter G as in George. It's COD 2502413, Keith Coby, 8461 Gawant Boulevard, Punta Gorda. Somebody present for that? us your name please keith kobe and you've been sworn in yes and do you contest the charges that are before you no we're working on it you're so you agree to what they're they're saying okay then since he's agreeing to it i'm going to find that the respondent is in violation of the cited code section give 15 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance or thereafter be fined $50 for each day the violation continues to exist with a two-year cease and desist for repeat zoning violations and abatement in the event of noncompliance with cost of abatement to be added to the fines and costs. There are photographs that will enter into the file as well. If you can get it cleaned up and get it brought together, we won't see you again. I urge you to work with the officer so that you can get it all resolved.

Sure thing, and just for clarification, to understand it, how much time do we have to finish the, there's a lot of work to do.

So we're giving you 15 days in the order. How many? 15, but if you work with them and keep them informed, they will not bring it back on the 16th day. If they see that you're working with them, we do this every month, and we don't see people back that are making progress, we see people back that ignore it.

It's been a lot of progress, so thank you.

Okay, very good. The next person, case that we have is letter K is in King, COD 2501001, Tina Rossi, 6167 Jalotte Boulevard, Port Charlotte. Can you give us your names please?

Tina Rossi.

My name is Robert Priest, I'm her husband.

Okay, and you've both been sworn in? Both been sworn in, okay. Do you contest the charges that are against you?

I don't know how to answer that.

Okay, well then we'll go ahead and we'll hear what they have to say and if you have any questions you can ask questions and then tell us what you want to tell us. Okay.

good morning my name is wendy welsh code compliance officer of charlotte county the record is cod 2501001 the address of the violation is 6167 jalop boulevard zoning is rsf 3.5 the owner of record is tina r rossi on may 9 2025 i conducted an inspection and observed the following violations our charlotte county code section 3624 right-of-way permit was required section 3630 duration of right-of-way permits and 3635.3 restoration of right-of-way during the investigation i took photographs of the property and would like to offer them into evidence as county composite exhibit number one you've had a chance to see the photographs do you have any objection uh not what's photographed okay then they're admitted as exhibit one Thank you. The notice of violation was served by certified mail in accordance with Florida Statute 162. I have had no communication with the owners regarding this case.

Excuse me. I'm sorry. I can't hear you.

Is that better?

Yes.

Okay. I have had no communication with the owners regarding this case. On June 24th, 2026, I conducted the final inspection finding violations still substantially the same, no changes were observed. This is the end of my testimony.

Do you have any questions for the officer? You said that you've had no communication with us?

Not since the permit. When the permit expired, I sent you letters and you never returned.

That's false. I'm sorry, but that's false. I have had communication over the phone with you. I believe it was you. It may not have been. Okay. But it was a representative of yours. You basically told me that you would not allow me to renew this permit any longer. And I had explained to you that when I bought this lot, we bought this lot to be able to park our RV and our boat and so forth on and I had to have access. Eventually, we were going to build a garage. I couldn't give you a time and date as to when it was going to be done because, of course, I'm a poor guy. You know, we're doing the best we can. And then, of course, the hurricane came in, and that kind of messed things up for us, too. I have asked continuously from... the office next door to let me read. Renew I don't mind paying a fee that this was is going to be nothing more than a temporary driveway. I would make sure that it stayed clean, made sure it stayed open, which pictures will show you if you come out look at it, it does maintain it. And, and as of right now, We were planning on having a garage built within the next six to eight months. Got another little situation. My next door neighbor who owns a lot right beside me has some medical issues and we're in negotiations of buying that lot as well. So it's hard for me to be able to put in a driveway tell you exactly where it's going to go until we know exactly where our garage is going to be able to go. One of the changes that's been made from my understanding, and I haven't gotten a clear answer on it from no one yet was after the hurricane. Some of the codes from the county has changed. And now I may have to be bringing in a bunch of dirt on that lot in order to build my, my garage. So the question is this, okay, and I'm not here to get in a battle with the county or nobody else. I'm trying to do the best I can to stay as close to appliance as I can. I understand the pipe I got in there. It's not pipe that y'all allow. However, the pipe that's in there is bigger than the pipe that that is feeding this line. So I make sure that I have good flow for water in case of water. And You can come out and check any time. My area stays dry. After a rainstorm, it's dry.

Sir, basically by your own testimony, you're admitting that there's a violation out there. So I'm going to go ahead and issue the order that you are in violation. You have 15 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance, thereafter be fined $50 for each day the violation continues. And issue a two year cease and desist for repeat zoning violations and abatement in the event of non-compliance with cost of abatement to be added to the fines and cost. I urge you to work with them outside of the hearing.

I will, but something else I want to bring up, okay? I don't like the double standards here. And the reason I'm saying this is, you go down Flamingo, The county owns all that property back there with a bunch of streets go back there. They're not in compliance at all.

Well, you can file a complaint if you think there's a violation. I'm not sure what that violation would be, but... you can uh pursue that all right okay so you're saying it's fifty dollars a day from today no there's no there's no i got 15 days there you have 15 days if you're working with them and you're making progress you probably have more than 15 days that's been the what we've seen we're just not we're just not really sure exactly where the driveway is going to be at this point is this gentleman here he's the gentleman i'll be dealing with No. No, it's Wendy. Wendy?

It will be me, I'll talk to you outside. Okay. Pardon me? I will talk to you outside. Okay. Okay. All right. All right, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Good luck with getting it resolved. Mr. Beeson is here for our conflict cases. Neither conflict case has shown up, is that correct? So the first one is Mr. Bisgrove, that's a consent agenda item. So in the absence of it, you can find the violation, sign the order. And the second one, they are not present. What we typically do in the absence of the respondent in the new cases is in the absence of any testimony to the contrary, there's an affidavit in the file and a photographs in the file that you can review. And with absence of any testimony to the contrary, you can find that the county has proven the violation and issue the order, if you are so inclined.

I've already reviewed the case file. I'll sign the order.

And with that, the conflict cases are resolved. We thank you for making the long journey. Your microphone needs to be on if you want to say anything further.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Beeson. Now we'll go back to the agenda. Is there anyone else present? I have nobody else present for any case. Is there anyone in the audience that was expecting to have a case heard? okay we just have some spectators today so with that we will go back to new business letter a and we oh with that we're going to take a break okay with that we're going to take a five minute recess and we will return in five minutes

Thank you.

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¶¶ Thank you.

We will reconvene the Charlotte County Code Enforcement Special Magistrate hearing for September 2nd. There are no more respondents in the chambers, so we will go through the remaining new business cases in order, starting with the letter A as in Apple, COD 25. 02118 Kenneth Sloan 28285 North Twin Lakes Drive Punta Gorda I have reviewed the file with the sworn affidavit of the officer and the photographs and based on that and no testimony to the contrary I find that the county has Proven the violation of the cited code sections, give 15 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance or thereafter be fined $50 for each day the violation continues to exist with a two year cease and desist order for repeat zoning violations and abatement in the event of non-compliance with cost of abatement to be added to the fines and costs. Next, we'll go to letter B as in boy, COD 2500960M CLIS LLC, 1953 Winchester Avenue, Inglewood. I reviewed the file, the sworn affidavit of the hearing of the code enforcement officer along with the photographs. With the absence of any testimony to the contrary, I find that the county has proven the violation. Give 30 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance. Thereafter be fined $100 for each day the violation continues to exist. Next we'll go to letter C as in Charlie. COD 2502276, David Deacon and Robin Deacon, 22055 Marshall Avenue, Port Charlotte. In the absence of any testimony to the contrary, I reviewed the photographs and the sworn affidavit of the officer. Find the county has proven the violation. Give 30 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance. Thereafter, find $50 for each day the violation continues to exist. Next we'll go to D as in Dog, COD 2601770. Heinz Joseph Gerstle, 22456 Hernando Avenue, Port Charlotte. I reviewed the file with the sworn affidavit of the officer along with the photographs. In the absence of any testimony to the contrary, I find that the county has proven the violation. Give 30 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance or thereafter be fined $50 for each day the violation continues. Next we'll go to E as in Echo, COD 2601029, John Ditas Sabino Sr. and Don Ditas. Sabino Jr., 924 Bowman Terrace, Port Charlotte. I reviewed the file with the sworn affidavit of the officer, photographs contained within the file. In the absence of any testimony to the contrary, I find that the county has proven the violation. Give 15 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance and thereafter be fined $50 for each day the violation continues. Issuance of a two year cease and desist order for repeat violations and abatement in the event of non-compliance with cost of abatement to be added to the fines and costs. Next we'll go to letter F as in Frank, COD 2601388. Jennifer Holdsworth and Danielle Backett and Janice Keeney, 320 Yorkshire Street, Port Charlotte. I reviewed the photographs and the sworn affidavit in the file. In the absence of any testimony to the contrary, I find that the county has proven the violation. Give 15 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance. Thereafter be fined $50 for each day the violation continues to exist with the issuance of a two year cease and desist for repeat zoning violations and abatement in the event of non-compliance with cost of abatement to be added to the fines and costs. Next we'll go to letter J as in John. COD 2402411, Christodoulou and US Affordable Homes Inc. 32091 Washington Loop Road, Punta Gorda. I've reviewed the file with the sworn affidavit of the officer, as well as the photographs. In the absence of any testimony to the contrary, I find that the county has proven the violation. Give 30 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance. Thereafter, be subject to a fine of $100 for each day the violation continues. Issue a two year cease and desist order for repeat zoning violations and abatement in the event of noncompliance. With cost of abatement to be added to the fines and costs. Move on to letter L as in lucky. COD 2601273 Echo Solar Company, LLC 221 Dorman Street, Port Charlotte. I reviewed the file and the sworn affidavit of the officer as well. There is no testimony to the contrary. I find that the county has proven the violation. Give 15 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance. Or thereafter be fined $100 for each day the violation continues with a two year cease and desist for repeat zoning violations and abatement in the event of non-compliance with the cost of abatement to be added to the fines and costs. That'll bring us to letter M as in Mary, COD 2501812, ASC Global Inc, 2385 Pappas Terrace, Port Charlotte. I reviewed the file with the sworn affidavit of the officer and the photographs. Find that the county has proven the violation in the absence of any testimony to the contrary. Give 30 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance and thereafter be fined $100 for each day the violation continues. Letter N is in Nancy, COD 2600338, Flipping House, LLC, 9317 Hialeah Terrace, Port Charlotte. I reviewed the file with the sworn affidavit of the officer and the photographs. In the absence of any testimony to the contrary, I find the county has proven the violation. Give 30 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance or thereafter be fined $100 for each day the violation continues to exist. Next is letter O is in Oscar, COD 2600903, ROKA, DGC, Investment, LLC, 10459, Sunbury Drive, Port Charlotte. Reviewed the file with the sworn affidavit of the officer and the photographs in the absence of any testimony to the contrary Find that the county has proven the violations give 30 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance or thereafter be fined $100 for each day the violation continues to exist Letter P as in Paul, COD 2600907, A Lake Investments Inc, 13410 Appleton Boulevard, Port Charlotte. I reviewed the file with the sworn affidavit of the officer as well as the photographs. In the absence of any testimony to the contrary, I find the county has proven the violation, give 30 days. From the date of the order to bring the property into compliance and thereafter be fined $100 for each day the violation continues. Letter Q is in Queen, COD 2601317, Kenneth Sloan, 3229 Montgomery Drive, Port Charlotte. I reviewed the file along with the sworn affidavit of the officer and the photographs contained therein. In the absence of any testimony to the contrary, find that the county has proven the violation, give 15 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance, thereafter be fined $50 for each day Violation continues to exist with a two year cease and desist order for repeat zoning violations and abatement in the event of non-compliance with cost of the abatement to be added to the fines and costs. Finally, letter R is in Robert, COD 2601295, Christina Knock Chow, 561 Sharon Circle, Port Charlotte. I reviewed the file with photographs and the sworn affidavit of the officer. In the absence of any testimony to the contrary, I find that the county has proven the violation, give 30 days from the date of the order to bring the property into compliance, and thereafter be fined $50 for each day the violation continues. With a two year cease and desist order for repeat zoning violations and abatement in the event of non-compliance with cost of abatement to be added to the fines and costs. Our next meeting is going to be on October 7th, 2026 at 9 AM. And with that, the business before us is completed and we are adjourned.