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Tavares council directs ordinance to require no-cost garage-sale permits, proposes fines for repeat violators
Summary
Following complaints about frequent weekend sales at a few properties, the Tavares City Council directed staff to draft an ordinance reinstating a no-cost permit for garage sales and to set fines for repeat violations.
The Tavares City Council on July 2 directed staff to return with an ordinance reinstating a no-cost garage-sale permit and a progressive fine structure for repeat violations after hearing from code enforcement that a small number of properties were holding frequent sales that residents called in as nuisances.
Code Enforcement Officer Chris McCormick told the council that complaints had clustered at roughly three or four properties where salvagers or others repeatedly held sales, sometimes nearly every weekend. McCormick said the current ordinance sets a limit of four garage sales per year but lacks a tracking mechanism and a defined fine per violation, which made enforcement difficult. He said the prior permit system allowed officers to check whether a property had already used its four permits in the calendar year.
Staff proposed two options, and urged returning to a no-cost permit tracked by address so officers could respond to neighbor complaints and identify repeat permit users. As drafted conceptually in the discussion, the proposed penalties were: first offense — warning; second offense — $150; each subsequent offense — $250 per calendar year. Council members agreed the fines should be sufficient to deter commercial or near-daily sales but expressed concern about imposing unnecessary burdens on residents who use the system correctly.
Council asked staff to draft an ordinance that would reintroduce a free online permit that can be applied for from home, tie permits to property address (not individual applicants), allow up to three consecutive days per permit, and define the warning-and-fine structure; staff will return with specific ordinance language and a proposed fine schedule. The motion to direct staff to prepare the ordinance passed by voice vote with no member recorded opposing.
During public discussion council members said they did not want to overburden residents who follow the rules but wanted tools to stop chronic abuses that create eyesores and community nuisance.
