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Fort Lauderdale code board orders assisted‑living owner to comply within 15 days or face $1,000 daily fines
Summary
The Fort Lauderdale Code Enforcement Board found unpermitted renovations at an assisted‑living property and ordered the owner to comply within 15 days or face fines up to $1,000 per day; inspectors said multiple units were altered without permits and some work left units uninhabitable.
The Fort Lauderdale Code Enforcement Board on May 27 ordered the owner of an assisted‑living property at 2855 West Commercial Boulevard to come into compliance within 15 days or face fines of $1,000 per day per violation.
Inspector Andrew Gebbia, presenting the city's case, told the board the building had been “illegally altered and construction work illegally performed without obtaining the required permits” and described “interior renovations consisting of replacement of kitchenettes, structural, plumbing, and electrical, and replacement of split unit ACs.”
The finding followed Gebbia’s description of multiple units where electrical and plumbing work was exposed and kitchens were incomplete. “There was also new split AC units installed in some of these units, and there was at least one corridor door removed,” he said. Gebbia said he issued a stop‑work order after observing the work and that permit applications on file lacked the signed, sealed plans an architect or engineer must provide for the structural work the city found.
City attorney Rhonda Montoya Hassan advised the board that Florida Statutes Chapter 162 requires giving property owners a “reasonable time to comply,” and she confirmed the board could set the time and consider higher daily fines under a recently adopted City of Fort Lauderdale ordinance. “The statute contemplates a reasonable time to comply,” she said; when board members asked about maximum penalty amounts she confirmed the city’s updated code allows fines up to $1,000 per day.
Board members debated how much time to allow. Inspectors told the board they had tried to schedule a meeting with the property’s representatives but were denied, and that plan submissions on file needed revisions. Gebbia said his inspection had been limited to one wing of the building; he estimated that wing contained about 25 units per floor across four floors — roughly 100 units in that section — and described conditions he said made those units not inhabitable at the time of his visit.
After discussion the board voted to find the violations existed as alleged and ordered the property owner to come into compliance within 15 days. The order included an instruction that the owner reappear before the board at the next scheduled hearing. The board recorded the motion and conducted a roll call; the motion passed.
Inspector Gebbia and the city recommended the shorter compliance period and the higher fine level because, he and other board members said, the work involved occupants who are elderly and therefore vulnerable. The board’s order gives the inspector authority to note whether compliance has occurred; if it is not met the daily fines will be assessed and recorded.
The property is listed in the code record as Lauderdale Commercial Boulevard Partners LLC. The board’s action does not itself address criminal liability or other civil remedies; it imposes administrative fines and a compliance deadline under the city’s code enforcement process.
