Fort Pierce special magistrate halts fines, sets deadlines in multiple code-enforcement cases

Special Magistrate Jennifer Peschke heard multiple property code-enforcement cases for the City of Fort Pierce on Feb. 4, 2025, and issued orders ranging from a 90-day stay on daily fines to directions that owners secure or clear properties by Feb. 11, 2025.

In the most substantial matter, the magistrate ordered the running of daily fines to be abated for 436 N. 11th St. while the owner obtains building permits, and gave the owner 90 days to secure a permit. The docket shows daily fines had been running since an affidavit of noncompliance on Nov. 14, 2024, leaving a balance of $20,520 as of the day before the hearing. City staff told the magistrate that once a permit is issued, work subject to the permit typically has six months to be completed and enforcement is paused while permit work continues; the magistrate said fines will automatically resume if no permit is issued within 90 days.

At 202 Gardenia Ave., the magistrate accepted evidence that the property had been brought into compliance and entered an administrative charge—estimated at $1,198.02, rounded for order entry to $1,200—as the lien amount associated with that division’s violation. Staff explained there were two separate liens in the broader matter handled by different city departments; the lien addressed at this hearing was not yet a formal recorded lien, but the magistrate warned…