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Fort Pierce magistrate gives homeowner seven days to remove nonoperable vehicles at 604 Azalea/Xavier Ave.
Summary
Special Magistrate found nuisance violations at 604 Azalea Avenue (also cited as 604 Xavier Ave.) for nonoperable vehicles and ordered owner Cole Duttman to abate within seven days or face city abatement and assessed costs; 30-day appeal rights were noted.
A Fort Pierce special magistrate on March 17 ordered homeowner Cole Duttman to remove or make operable nonoperational vehicles parked at 604 Azalea Avenue (also cited at 604 Xavier Avenue) within seven days, finding the parked trailer and boat in violation of the city nuisance code.
The finding follows code-enforcement testimony and photos submitted by Heather Dubavik, a City of Fort Pierce code enforcement officer, who said notices were issued in February and photographic evidence taken on multiple dates showed the vehicles remained on the property. The magistrate entered the city's composite photographic exhibit into the record.
The city cited the property under the municipal nuisance provision identified in the hearing as “24-19 subsection 15 subsection c” for nonoperative vehicles. Dubavik testified that on an earlier visit a license plate/tag had been present but was later missing; Duttman told the magistrate he believes the tag was stolen and said he has registration documents and plans to report the missing tag to the police.
Duttman told the magistrate he intends to dispose of the boat and trailer because he will not repair them. The magistrate said the owner has seven days to comply and warned that failure to do so would allow the city to abate the nuisance and assess the cost against the property. A 30-day right to appeal was also announced at the hearing.
The magistrate and city staff encouraged Duttman to contact the code officer if he could not meet the seven-day schedule; the officer provided her phone number during the session. No formal fine tally or abatement cost was announced at the hearing; the magistrate said abatement costs would be assessed if the city takes action.
