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Magistrate levies $500-a-day finding for repeat cemetery maintenance violations near Parker Avenue park
Summary
A repeat code enforcement case involving an undeveloped cemetery adjacent to a city park drew repeated citizen complaints; the magistrate assessed a $500-per-day finding starting Oct. 29, 2024, until compliance is achieved.
The City of West Palm Beach Special Magistrate found a property near Parker Avenue in repeated violation of sanitation and overgrowth codes and assessed a $500-per-day finding beginning Oct. 29, 2024, until the property comes into compliance.
Richard Pazmino, a city code enforcement officer, told the magistrate the site is an undeveloped parcel adjacent to a city park and has been the subject of multiple complaints from neighbors about trash, overgrown vegetation and wildlife, including reports of coyotes. "All the violations still exist," Pazmino said, recounting earlier inspections and a prior repeat case that had come into compliance on Sept. 10, 2024.
Pazmino described the case as a second repeat under code section 2635(b) and recommended a daily finding of $500 for the ongoing noncompliance that began Oct. 29, 2024. The magistrate adopted the officer's testimony and the city's evidence and entered the $500-a-day finding, which will run until the property is brought into compliance.
Neighbors have repeatedly filed complaints over the condition of the parcel and the magistrate noted prior promises from the respondent to perform weekly maintenance had not been kept. Pazmino said the last work was performed in September 2024, and the property had since deteriorated.
The order requires the property owner to remedy trash and overgrowth issues and to coordinate with code enforcement. The magistrate admitted the photographs and the case file as the city's composite exhibit during the hearing.
Because the action is a civil administrative enforcement of city code, the magistrate's ruling does not itself impose criminal liability but does assess a continuing daily civil finding until compliance is verified.
The case is recorded as CE24112981 in the hearing record; the magistrate instructed the city's enforcement staff to continue monitoring, and neighbors who reported conditions were noted in the case file.
