Code Enforcement Board - Regular Meeting

Alright. I hereby call this meeting to order. This is code enforcement special magistrate for the city of Delray Beach. Normally, would tell you the cases are called in the order in which they appear in the agenda, but since we have one case, that's the case that we will call. This is a quasi judicial hearing, which means the formal rules of evidence do not apply here. However, all testimony is taken under oath under penalty of perjury. So if you are going to testify today or you're likely to testify or there's a possibility you will testify, please raise your right hand so you can be sworn in.

By the authority vested in me as a notary of the state of Florida, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Yes. You may be seated.

Do we have any changes to the agenda?

We do not. Alright.

Let's call the case.

Case 1252566. Owner's name is Thrive Collective Foundation. Property address is 35 Northwest 14th Avenue, and the code officer is Chandler Ferguson. Thank you.

Is there anyone here on behalf of the respondent? Yep. Why don't you come on up to the podium? Do they use this week? Yep. Alright. Sorry, ma'am. Can you state your name, please?

Sarah Selznick.

Are you an attorney?

No. I'm the president of the foundation.

Okay. Perfect.

And does she have the authority represent the property owner? Yes. Okay.

Thank you. I think the property owner is the foundation. Right?

Yes. It is. But Okay. Sometimes we have registered agents or other people instead of the president.

Fair enough. You you have the authority to be here on behalf of the Yes. Okay. Great. Fantastic.

Alright. Thank you. At this time, the city would like to call our our first witness, mister William Belter. Yes. Good afternoon. Thank you. How are you employed with the city, sir?

I'm a structural inspector.

And how long have you been doing that?

Twelve plus years.

And do you are you employed in the building department?

Yes.

And as a part of your duties and responsibility, from time to time, do you go out to different properties and conduct inspections for whether a building would be considered unsafe in the city of Delray Beach?

Yes. Occasionally, it'll happen. There's a fire building or something of that nature. Well, the the we'll be requested to go out to the job site and just evaluate whether it's safe for or not. And if it's considered to be unsafe, put a sticker on it to just and that's what happened here. There was fire in the next day.

Okay. So alright. So perfect. So so you said that's what happened here. There was a fire. Are you referring to the property with the address of 35 Northwest 14th Avenue in Delray Beach Florida? That's correct. So what happened when you went out to the property on 01/21/2025?

Well, I received a call from my boss here, Steve, to go and just and he was requested by a fire department to have somebody go over and put a stick around there. Apparently, the fire had been the night before or something, and they just wanted to make sure that an unsafe sticker was placed on the building. So I went out there. I looked at it, took a few pictures, placed an unsafe sticker on the building.

So as a part of putting unsafe stickers on buildings, do you also evaluate the structure or the property to determine whether it is indeed unsafe as you have been advised?

Well, believe the fire department had already determined that. I didn't really take a whole lot of pictures or go inside or anything

But did you that time. But did you did but you did take pictures and make some of your own findings. Correct?

Yes.

Okay. Thank you. At this time, I'm now showing you has been previously marked as city's exhibit one for identification purposes. Do you recognize this?

Yes.

And is this the structure or the property that you went out to? Yes. And this was taken on that date in January 21? Yes. And can you give a little bit of describe what you observed when you went out to the property?

Well, I think we're observing it right now. This is a lot of smoke damage. There's you can kinda see a whole lot of the inside from here, but the smoke damage is extensive in there. And he said windows, doors, things are all askew. You can see all the windows in the front there are all on the ground. It's probably taken out by the fire department in effort to keep the whole place from burning down.

So based on your review and and inspection when you went to to sticker the property, do you say that you noticed extensive fire and smoke damage to multiple areas of the structure?

Yes.

And then was it in your opinion that the overall integrity of the structure appeared to be compromised?

It would seem so. I didn't look in a whole lot of detail, but it was likely.

Right. Based on your observations. Correct?

Yes.

Alright. City's exhibit two for identification purposes?

Yes.

So sometimes, you know, the record doesn't necessarily see, which means the record, what we're recording. So we have to be descriptive in what we see on the photograph. So can you please describe what's in this photograph here?

Well, this is a little bit more to the left side of the of the building there. You can see there is a carport over to the left. I don't know how much it was affected, but most of the fire was on the inside of the building. And what we see is more smoke that you can see back inside. It's very dark in there. And that's most likely from the smoke. You could see more from a different angle. I don't know that I took any pictures of from around the other side where it can be seen.

So you have to speak into the microphone. So I think we caught what you said, but just if you could speak a little louder into the microphone. And is that a in this photograph on the left side of the photograph, that orange thing, is that the sticker that you're referring to, the unsafe sticker?

Yeah. That's a second one. I put two of them on there in case one of them fell off. There would there would because the other one is on the side of that door around the corner. I wanted want something that could be seen from the road.

Thank you. City's Exhibit 3 for identification purposes. What is this photograph?

This is the house number on the building. Just Close-up of that.

So just confirming that that's the location you went out to. Correct?

Yes. Originally, it was called 39. So when I got there, I realized it was actually 35. And 39 was next door.

Okay. Thank you. What about city's Exhibit 4 for identification purposes?

This is the unsafe sticker.

Alright. So it has a sticker with the address, no no trespassing, do not enter or occupy. And it has your your signature representing as a designee of Steve Tobias, correct, who is our chief building official?

Yes.

And that was it states the date there 01/21/2025?

Yes.

Alright. At this time, the city would like to introduce those four exhibits into evidence.

Ma'am, you have any objection to those photographs? No. So admitted.

Thank you. So after you went out and and you provided the sticker on the property, to mean that it was unsafe, did you provide all the information that you obtained and from your observations to your supervisor, the chief building official, Steve Tobias?

Yes.

Okay. Thank you, sir. No further questions for the witness.

Ma'am, do you have any questions for the inspector?

No. Alright. Thank you, sir. Thank you. At this time, the city would like to call mister Steve Tobias.

Good afternoon, sir. Steve Tobias for the city.

Thank you, mister Tobias. What is your official position with the city of Delray Beach?

Chief building official.

And as a part of your duties as chief building official, do you assess any information you receive from your designees and make your own observations to determine whether a specific property is unsafe in the city? Yes. And you're the designated person pursuant to our code of ordinances? Yes. And you're allowed to designate individuals as well to go out and make these observations? Correct. Alright. So within your your duties and responsibilities, did you were you provided information from one of your inspectors, mister William Derr, that a property was unsafe located at 35 Northwest 14th Avenue in Delray Beach, Florida? Yes. Okay.

And based on that, were you provided with photographs, and did you have discussions with mister Durr?

Yes.

And and based on your your review of the entire file and all information provided with you, did you indeed deem the property as unsafe?

I did.

And what's the process when you deem a property unsafe as far as notice wise?

Well, notice wise, what we do is we verify through pictures, through conversation with the inspector who was on-site. In this particular case, I went on-site as well. And we verified that the building was indeed unsafe and open to the public. And then we work closely with code enforcement to have a document that's recorded, have a citation, or have a a document sent to the homeowner, and we make sure that everything is stickered. Everything is documented picture wise. And then, basically, what we do is we wait for response, and we also and or a permit.

Okay. So let's break that down a little bit. Yes. So let's talk about this property specifically here at 35 Northwest 14th Ave. You said that you went out to the property. In your opinion, what did you observe which led you to make a finding that the property was unsafe?

Well, what we observed was the building was indeed, on the inside, completely burned out, with the timbers, the roof timbers, the framing of the walls completely gone. Some fell down. From we didn't actually go in the building, but what you could see from outside the building looking in the windows, and keep in mind, there are no windows at this point. We could see things that were falling in, caving in, and we deemed it unsafe at that point.

So as a part of the process that you just explained, we hit that step. Right? You reviewed everything. You reviewed photographs. You spoke to Mr. Durer. You visibly saw the property inspected it yourself. Correct? So at that point, did you work with code enforcement to make to send out a notice of unsafe property?

Yes.

And I'm now showing you it's been previously marked as exhibit four a. Is this a fair and accurate fair and accurate representation of the notice that you prepared?

Yes.

Okay. And you provided that to the code enforcement department on or around March 12, March 13. Is that correct?

I believe that is about on or about that date, yes.

Okay. And did you subsequently provide an affidavit to the code enforcement department? Because I think you said that was the third thing you do, right? You provide the notice, and then you file the affidavit. Did you get with code enforcement sometime later to provide that affidavit?

That I do not recall.

Okay. But that would be something that would have been filed, correct? Correct. If you had gotten it. Thank you. And then you stated that, a part of the process is that you wait a certain time period, I believe. And and what is that time period?

Well, that time period, I believe, per this document is sixty days.

Okay. So you wait sixty days to see if there's any corrections made. And corrections could mean many things. Correct? Property could be secured, demolition permit, whichever the property owner would need to bring the property into a safe condition. Correct?

It could be an engineer's letter stating that work needs to to repair the structure. Could be a demolition permit. Could be a few other things.

And in this particular case, sixty days passed without any type of improvement. Correct?

Correct.

Alright. And at that point, did you follow-up with code enforcement some point later to make sure that we were continuing with a code enforcement proceeding?

Yes.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

At this time, the city would like to call code officer, the code officer for this case, please. Thank you. Good afternoon, sir. Please state your name. Oh, wait a second. Do you have any questions for the witnesses? I'm sorry.

Ma'am, do you have any questions?

No. Okay. Thank you. Go ahead. You may proceed, sir.

Good afternoon. My name is Chandler Ferguson. On 01/21/2025, the City Of Derry Beach chief building officials, designee, William Derr conducted an inspection of the home located at 35 Northwest 14th Avenue, Derry Beach, Florida 33444. Following a reported structure fire, the inspection was performed to assess an assess the extent of a fire damage and determine the structural integrity of the home located on the property. Upon arrival, the chief building officials designee, William Durer, observed the extensive fire and smoke damage to multiple areas of the structure, including interior walls and portions of the roof.

The overall integrity of the structure appear appears to be compromised. I channel the Ferguson code officer was assigned to this case. Based on the inspection findings in the, accordance with article 7.8, unsafe buildings or structures of the city of Derry Beach, land development regulations, LDR 7.8, the chief building officials determined that the structure of the property is unsafe for occupancy and presents a hazard to health, safety, and welfare of the public. On 03/12/2025, I inspected the property, Chandler Ferguson, and observed that the property was unsecured and unsafe because of the fire. A notice of unsafe building structure, the notice, was issued to the property owner, in accordance with the above LDR article requiring that the property owner apply for the necessary building permits and complete repairs within sixty days of the service of the unsafe notice.

On 03/13/2025, the unsafe notice was mailed and posted at the property's owner's address on record. The date to submit building permits was 05/12/2025. On 05/13/2025, I, Chandler Ferguson, reinspected the property, at which time the unsafe conditions remain unaddressed. As of the date as of the date of the of this violation, the property continues to be in violation and remains unsafe as deemed by the chief building official. On 08/08/2025, Enrique Fernandez, code enforcement administrator, inspected the property and observed that the property is not in compliance.

On 08/14/2025, Enrique Hernandez posted the special magistrate notice of hearing at the property and served the notice to the property owner at the address on record. The property owner stated that Enrique it state stated to Enrique that the contractor has submitted permits for the demolition, and the property will be demolished. As of 08/15/2025, no permit has been submitted to the development services department. On 08/18/2025, a permit application for demolition was submitted online. We have 17 photos to present and submit as evidence.

Okay. Thank you. So based on your investigation, you compile all the information that you just previously stated. Correct? Correct. Alright. Thank you. So I'm now showing you it's been previously identified as city's exhibit five taken on 03/12/2025. Do you recognize this photo? Yes. And are these photographs that you referred to that you, as part of your code enforcement investigation, took?

Yes.

So if you can explain to us what's in this photograph.

Alright. So upon my observation, what I see is the fire burned out the windows. Of course, you see signs of smoke. As soon as I got out of my vehicle, you could smell the smoke. But as far as pictures, yes, the the house is pretty much falling apart. And the shadows and the sun behind the photo, you can't really see inside of the house, but you can kinda see directly through the house. You can see everything just falling apart.

Alright. City's exhibit six, also taken on the same date. Could you describe what's in this photograph?

Yes. So pretty much the same thing. You see the house falling apart, wood damaged, smoke, smoke stains, if that's the correct term. But, yes, it's

Thank you.

City. Yeah.

City's exhibit seven?

Same thing. You see smoke smoke marks everywhere. The windows are busted. The house is just falling apart.

And that was on March 12 as well? Yes. City's exhibit eight?

You can this picture kinda depicts better of how the house is falling apart because you see that wood that wood piece kinda falling out of the window. It fell from the ceiling. It busted the window.

So are you talking about the piece that kinda looks at the top? It almost looks like the sun is shining through it?

Yeah. You you kinda see, like, two squares in that window, that top window where you see the wood sticking up. You kinda see how that busting window, and that was connected to something inside of the house. I forgot what it was, but, yeah, it was falling over.

And all these photographs that we've been discussing are March 12. Right? Yes. Alright. Alright. So exhibit nine?

This is a better picture of what I was explaining as far as the house falling apart on the inside. You see wood falling apart, and everything is just burnt.

Okay. Cities exhibit 10?

Same thing. It's it's not the best picture, but that it would be, like, the porch or garage area. And that also is kinda cave in on the inside. They have, I believe, two windows in there. They're busted open as well. And, again, signs of smoke and fire.

K. Lots of debris outside too? Yes. Alright. City's Exhibit 11?

That's the same side, but it's just a close-up on the that window facing north. So, yeah, that that window fell apart. Unfortunately, a lot of trash, debris, smoke, same.

Alright. City's Exhibit 12?

This is the other window, that second window that I was studying about, those other two. And same thing. You can see on the roof, sun safe, smoke smoke marks, sperm.

Thank you. City's exhibit 13. Now I think you said that you went out again on August 8?

Enrique.

Oh, okay. But is this the fair and accurate representation of the property when you left? Yes. Alright. What about fourteen? Is this another fair and accurate representation of the home? Yes. Exhibit 15, August 14, based on your compilation of records for this based on your investigation, is this was this the condition on the fourteenth?

Yes.

Okay. Alright. So city's exhibit that was sorry. 1516. What does this depict? Is this the permit screen?

Yes. So this is pretty much this is from where I put in all of the information and, of course, they have they have landscape, they have electrical, they have roof replacement. So, yes, these are all of the permits.

Right. But that was nothing as of August 15.

Correct? No. No. No. Not at all. Thousand eleven

was Okay.

The last.

And I believe you say that they recently came in and tried to apply for a permit? Monday. Okay. And, also, based on your investigation, were you able to determine if this property was having any issues with vagrants or individuals who weren't supposed to be going inside of the property?

Yes. A week before we had the the repair of the fire, there was a complaint about homeless people coming in and out. So, yes, there was

Right. Even

after the fire, to be honest.

So after the fire as well, you you received complaints that people were going in and out of the property that weren't supposed to be there?

Yes. And upon our investigations, we will find lighters, liquor bottles, of that such at

front door.

Okay. At this time, the city would like to introduce, four a through 16 into evidence.

Ma'am, do you have any objection? No. So admit.

We don't have any further, questions at this time.

Ma'am, the floor is yours. What's Okay. Going

So I

It doesn't look great.

I'll happily try to get through this. I run a foundation, a family foundation called was called Thrive Collective Foundation. We support locally because of the very over looming threat of gentrification in the neighborhood, a legacy housing project. So we usually work with a family who owns a legacy property that hasn't can't afford to build a house on it. We work with the family to get qualifications, whatever, build a new home.

We've built a few of them so far. Because property started turning over so quickly in the neighborhood, the foundation started to acquire either empty lots or dilapidated structures with the intention of conveying them to a nonprofit developer who then matches somebody with roots from this neighborhood to an affordable home. This house obviously has a dilapidated structure when we purchased it. I got wind of the fire happening when it happened in January through We have a property manager that keeps all the lawns mowed and things like that. We own four lots right now.

The property owner let me know there was a fire. It took us a few weeks to get the report back from the police to try to figure out kind of what happened. Then code enforcement came out and I spoke to somebody shortly after that notice came out and I can't remember I don't remember who the person was in code enforcement, it was a woman. And told her the plan was to demo the house and then an affordable home was gonna be built on the property. She said she would note it in the file, let let people know that that was happening.

And then we explored first the possibility of we already have a house designed for the property. A new owner has already been selected for the house. It's a staff member of Village Academy. And and we have the the designs for the home, everything kind of ready to go. So we first explored putting in a permit together like a building the demo permit and the new build together. It didn't really work out that way. We were advised to do the demo permit first. And this has been just like a so there's a contractor. There's a general contractor that's already been hired. This has been a lot of back and forth with the city.

They gave us like a checklist of the requirements that needed to be that they needed in order to issue a permit for the demolition. It's been a lot of back and forth. Like, first we were told we needed to have the water turned back on just to shut it off, to show proof that the water was off. There's never been any utilities connected to the property since I've owned it. Then we were told we needed to have the electric turned back on to turn it back off.

That, you know, it's like running through these things and kind of keep the the running up against hurdles of the of meeting the requirements for the to get the demo permit. There was a utilities bill that was unpaid even though we've never had water hooked up to the property. Just things like that. So it just became a lot of back and forth getting the permits and this is not the first time. It's just the time frame with which code enforcement wants something fixed is not lining up with the time frame.

It's taking permits like the the permit department to issue permits. And so I thought when mister Enrique came to the house that a permit had already was submitted. They still there was still one last thing. I think the now there is a I I have a permit number. So we're try like, there's no one who wants this demoed more than I do. Like, we're trying to help help build the community back up. We're not trying to create slum and blight in the neighborhood. And so this has been a learning process. This is the first time we've had to go through that, like have to demo a house. This this won't this is not how, you know, we're trying to conduct business either.

So as soon as we're issued permits, like we've been trying to demo this house for over four months, like try to get the permits to demo the house since April. So it should be taken care of as soon as we can, you know, as soon as the permit department will let us. There's already permits, applications that will go in right behind it to build an affordable home. There's already a homeowner selected. Like hopefully this will all be something that adds to the neighborhood and does not detract from it. So yeah, that's where we're at.

And so we have a recommendation. Sure.

Alright. The city suggest, secure the property within seven days while the permit is in, the review process or twenty five, Sorry. 250 daily fine. And to obtain an approved permit within sixty days or $250 daily fine.

So let me see if I understand correctly. What the city is asking me to do is order them to secure the property within seven days and to obtain their permit within sixty days?

Yes. Just because of the testimony that we heard about vagrants and other individuals attempting to go into the property, you know, we're definitely concerned with the unsafeness of the property.

What do you well, tell me what you think of the city, what the city's requesting I do.

I just have a question. If the permit's issued before seven days, you still want us to secure it? And do you have specific recommendations on how to secure like, what you want it what you want it to look like? I'm happy to comply. You know, we're not trying to run a skirt around or try to get out of any kind of situation. We're trying to build an affordable home.

So our recommendation is based on understanding that you did apply for the permit and we still want the property secured because of its unsafe nature. The permitting process may take some time before you could even start the demolition. So in the meantime, we would ask it be ordered that the property be secured within the seven days.

And what does that look like? Fencing? Like a

Well, can get with our building department as far as any recommendations. I know the magistrate can't provide you with any recommendations. They can't as a part of

the city. Well, would you want me to secure anyone's property? So you know, the the city's point I guess what the city is trying to do is make sure that people don't enter your unsafe building. And I think you don't want people entering it either.

So not. So

And let me just ask that the building official, do you seven days to secure is unreasonable?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

And and can you provide the respondent some recommendations on how to do that?

Well, what what we're looking at is boarding up all the openings in the in the structure.

Mhmm.

So plywood would be fine.

Okay.

Just as long as we can keep the general public from going in there.

Okay.

That's really what we're looking for. Securing the doors. Securing doors, windows, all the openings

Okay.

Please.

Sure.

Okay. Alright. So I'm gonna I'm gonna adopt the city's recommendation in this case, in case, 25002566. I'm gonna find that the property is in violation of the city code, and I'm gonna give the respondent seven days to secure the openings, so that it's not accessible by the general public. And I'm gonna give the respondent sixty days to obtain you didn't wanna just obtain the permit in sixty days.

Yes. Yeah. So a demo permit is is unique. It goes through a lot of different departments for review as we've have heard. I looked at that what was submitted this morning. There's still a few sign offs that need to be in place before a permit can be issued. Unfortunately, those can take time. So sixty days

is Sorry. I see what the city is thinking. So, basically, what you want is the building to be secure while you work through the demolition permit process?

Yes, sir. Okay. Alright.

I get it. Alright. Sixty days to obtain the demolition permit or a fine of up to $250 per day may issue. That should give you plenty of time. Just get it secured, and then you can work with the city on getting it demolished.

Okay. And if the if if the hang up on time is the city issuing the permit? Permit? So Like, what happens if Yeah.

So that's a that's a fair question.

Like, we

just The short answer

issued for a fence, and it's taken five months, and we still don't have a permit

to put our fence in. Here's short answer to your question. Generally speaking, if it really is an issue with the city, they they work with you. If if if you find that the this is not my experience as a magistrate here, but if you find that the city is not working with you in that, they have to come back for me for an assessment of the fine. And you can come back and say, hey. I've done all this stuff, and it's really their fault, and explain it to me. Okay?

Okay. Alright. Alright.

So that's my ruling. I don't think that we have anything else. Right?

No other cases.

Alright. Nothing else before us. We are adjourned. Thanks.