Code enforcement board finds Safety Harbor property at 5026 Mullers Lane in violation, gives owner until mid-September to comply

The Safety Harbor Code Enforcement Board on July 16 found Douglas and Amy Levi in violation of Safety Harbor’s property-maintenance code for an overgrown vacant lot at 5026 Mullers Lane and gave the owners until Sept. 15, 2025, to bring the property into compliance.

City staff presented the case at the board’s meeting. Paul Bushey, community compliance officer for the City of Safety Harbor, said a neighbor complaint led to a site visit that showed the lot was “significantly overgrown.” Bushey said the city mailed a notice of violation on May 28, 2025, giving the owners 25 days to correct the condition but that the notice apparently did not reach the property owners because the address on file with the Pinellas County property appraiser was out of date. Bushey told the board he was notified on July 15 that Amy Levi had contacted code enforcement and acknowledged the violations and that she planned to hire a landscape contractor to address them.

Bushey told the board the city’s administrative costs to prosecute the case totaled at least $410, calculated from nine hours of the compliance officer’s time and 16 hours of the board clerk’s time. The city asked the board to allow an additional 61 days for compliance and, if the property remained out of compliance after Sept. 15, to impose a $100 daily fine beginning Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. The city also asked that the $410 in prosecution costs be waived if the violations are corrected by Sept. 15.

A board member moved to find the respondents in violation and to adopt the city’s recommended remedy, and Jeff Cardenas seconded the motion. The motion passed. The board’s order will be issued by at least four members, reduced to writing within 10 days and mailed to the Levi respondents, as required by the board’s rules.

The board’s action distinguishes between discussion and decision: staff presented evidence and background (discussion); the board formally voted to find a violation, set a compliance deadline and specified the fine and administrative-cost waiver conditions (formal action). The respondents were not present at the hearing; Bushey said city staff posted hearing notices at the property, mailed certified notices and sent first-class copies to the mailing address on file prior to the hearing on July 3, 2025.

The case will return to staff if the owners do not bring the property into compliance by the deadline, at which point daily fines would begin and administrative procedures spelled out by the board will be followed.