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Magistrate recommends $3,000 lien after Titusville lot owner achieves compliance for overgrowth
Summary
A special magistrate recommended the City Council reduce a $16,400 accrued overgrowth lien on a vacant lot owned by DWB Development Inc. to $3,000 plus administrative costs after the owner brought the property into compliance in March and cited missed mailed notices.
Don Wynn, the specially appointed magistrate for the City of Titusville code enforcement hearings, recommended the City Council reduce a lien against a vacant lot on Louisiana Street owned by DWB Development Inc. to $3,000 plus administrative costs after the property achieved compliance on March 25, 2025. The lien had accrued daily fines of $100 per day beginning Oct. 13, 2024, totaling $16,400 by the date of the application for lien reduction.
The reduction recommendation followed testimony from a representative of DWB Development Inc., identified in the hearing as Mr. Del Pratt, who said the company did not receive mailed notices at its current mailing address and that the notices had been returned as sent to an old address. “$16,000 it would devastate us,” Del Pratt said, describing the financial impact and reporting that the property had been maintained and put on a regular landscaping schedule since the owner learned of the violation.
Magistrate Wynn said he considered factors in city code 31-71, including the gravity of the violation and the fine’s size relative to the property value, and noted that the city’s record mailings appeared to have been sent to addresses on file. Wynn said, “I do think a fine is appropriate. I’m not going to be reducing it by 16,000. I will be reducing it,” and recommended the council reduce the lien to $3,000. He added that administrative costs of $198.97 would be added, producing a combined amount of $3,198.97.
The magistrate’s recommendation will be reduced to a written order and transmitted to the City Council for final action. City staff and the magistrate also directed the clerk to ensure the owner’s requested mailing address is added to the case file so future notices are sent to the address Mr. Del Pratt provided.
Background: The case originated from a finding of a vegetation/overgrowth violation after an inspection in September 2024; the owner did not appear at earlier hearings. The code enforcement file shows compliance verified March 25, 2025, and a lien reduction application was received May 19, 2025. The magistrate’s written order will be a recommendation for council consideration.
