Nassau County special magistrate issues compliance orders, sets fines and future hearings for multiple properties

The Nassau County Code Enforcement Special Magistrate on Jan. 14, 2025 issued multiple findings of violations, recorded several cures and set compliance dates and fine-assessment hearings for properties in Yulee, Fernandina Beach and Callahan.

The most immediate action concerned property at 85444 Wilson Neck Road in Yulee, owned by Todd and Candice Saladin. Special Magistrate Harrison Poole found the property in violation of county code, set a compliance date of Feb. 7, 2025 and ordered a $50-per-day fine to begin Feb. 8 if the property remains out of compliance; a fine-assessment hearing was scheduled for Feb. 11, 2025. Officer Travis Taylor testified to repeated inspections and mailed and posted notices after a complaint on Sept. 6, 2024.

Why this matters: The magistrate’s orders formalize deadlines and potential daily fines that apply to property owners and can lead to lien or further enforcement action if compliance is not achieved. Several properties on the agenda were found cured, which ends active enforcement but preserves the record of prior violations.

Officer Travis Taylor, testifying for the county, described inspections and notice history for multiple properties, including repeated re-inspections on Sept. 10 and Sept. 30, 2024 and additional inspections on Dec. 5, 2024. For the Saladin property, Taylor recommended a compliance date of Feb. 7, 2025 and a $50-per-day fine until compliance; he also requested a fine-assessment hearing on Feb. 11, 2025.

Tenant John Homan, speaking on behalf of the Saladin property, described difficulty finding a recycler or buyer for one inoperable vehicle and said two other vehicles were intended for repair and sale. Homan asked for extra time to repair the vehicles; the county indicated that if the overall trash, litter and debris are abated by Feb. 7, it would consider additional time for the vehicles at the Feb. 11 hearing. Magistrate Poole said, “I’m going to issue an order: a compliance date of February 7, 2025, with a daily fine of $50, which will start on February 8th, if not in compliance.”

Other outcomes recorded at the hearing included factual findings that prior violations had been cured: the property listed for Rebecca N. Peacock (tab B) and the properties for Hubert Raymond Fountain (tab C) and John L. Edenfield Jr. (tab D) were found to have achieved compliance on Jan. 13, 2025. The clerk and code officers presented documentary evidence — courtesy letters, notices of violation, affidavits of posting and photographs — that the magistrate received into the record.

A separate fine-assessment hearing for the estate of Mary P. Till (tab E) was continued. Code officer Marjie Camacho testified the property had not achieved compliance as of her Jan. 13, 2025 inspection; the magistrate continued the matter, set a new compliance date of Feb. 7, 2025, and imposed a $100-per-day fine retroactive to Dec. 7, 2024 if the property remains out of compliance. The fine-assessment hearing was scheduled for Feb. 11, 2025.

Several matters were removed from the calendar because the properties had achieved compliance before the hearing or were otherwise resolved: Anita Fay Oliver’s case (tab F) and the cases referenced under tab G (including Tammy B. Quinn and Lisa Holton) were called and noted as compliant.

The magistrate stated written orders reflecting the oral pronouncements would be issued in the next few days. Future enforcement or collection actions remain possible if compliance is not sustained.

Cases cited at the hearing relied on Nassau County Code Ordinances referenced in the staff reports, including the county’s nuisance and unserviceable-vehicle provisions. The magistrate scheduled multiple fine-assessment hearings for Feb. 11, 2025 at 1:30 p.m. for matters that remain unresolved.