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Magistrate gives homeowner 30 days to obtain permits for unpermitted pool and deck or face fines
Summary
Marie D. Fuller was given 30 days to pull building permits for an existing pool and deck at 2916 Fish Cove Court; the magistrate said fines accrued would be held if she obtains permits within 30 days but would be imposed retroactively if she does not.
Special Magistrate Bill Reisman reviewed two related cases involving an unpermitted pool and an unpermitted deck at 2916 Fish Cove Court, owned by Marie D. Fuller.
City Code Compliance Officer Mary Laracy presented that the owner had been given deadlines in prior hearings. For the pool, a September 22, 2021 order gave 30 days to remove the pool or obtain a permit; the city said the owner did not comply and that fines of $25 per day had accrued. For the deck, a separate order gave 90 days; the city said a $25-per-day fine had been accruing.
Fuller told the magistrate she had purchased the house with the pool and deck already installed and that the city had advised her to obtain a survey to determine if the pool sat in a flood zone. She said she had recently obtained an updated survey and presented it at the hearing. Fuller said she had been told at an earlier date not to come to a hearing because a staff member was ill and that she was unaware fines had been imposed; the magistrate noted the orders required permits and that compliance means an issued permit.
The magistrate found both properties remained in violation and granted Fuller 30 days to obtain the necessary permits. Reisman ordered that the previously-accumulated fines (the pool case amount cited by the city was $2,375 and the deck case $875) would not be imposed if Fuller pulls the required permits and brings the property into compliance within 30 days; otherwise the fines will be imposed retroactively to the original deadline date.
Discussion: prior orders, the need for a survey to determine flood-zone eligibility, and whether prior hearing continuances affected the 30-day deadlines. Direction: owner to bring survey and permit application to the building department and to work with code staff; magistrate to hold fines in abeyance for 30 days provided permits are pulled.
The magistrate emphasized that his role was to enforce the written orders and that the path to avoiding fines was to secure the permits within the new 30-day window.
