Port St. Lucie special magistrate orders continuances, certifies fines and authorizes abatements after long code‑enforcement docket

Keith Davis, the special magistrate appointed by the City of Port St. Lucie, convened a special magistrate hearing on Nov. 12, 2025, to consider dozens of code‑enforcement and solid‑waste certification matters. The docket included commercial site‑plan and landscaping violations, unsecured pools and inoperable vehicles, high grass and overgrowth complaints, and requests to recover abatement and administrative costs.

The hearing opened with the swearing of city witnesses and the clerk reading multiple postponements and abatements into the record. City staff detailed service procedures: notices were sent by certified mail, posted on the property, and the agenda posted in City Hall, and photographic evidence presented at the hearing is maintained as public records.

Several property owners and their representatives asked for more time to complete repairs or pull permits. For the former CVS property at 9197 S. U.S. Highway 1 (case 25‑12658), the city presented site‑plan and landscaping violations; attorney Joseph Grasso told the magistrate the new owner had only recently made contact and requested 120 days. Magistrate Davis set a compliance/continuance date of March 11, 2026, for that property and noted one previously alleged parking violation had been abated.

Owners of other commercial and residential properties similarly requested continuances while they secured tenants, contractors or insurance proceeds. Where the city reported progress or had abated hazards, the magistrate often awarded abatement costs and administrative fees back to the city. Examples recorded during the hearing included a $5,000 abatement award plus a $411 administrative fee in one matter and $2,250 plus $411 in another; numerous other abatement awards of $225 or $395 were also entered, together with $411 administrative fees where applicable.

In cases involving occupied homes, Magistrate Davis frequently set near‑term dates for compliance. Derek Stone, the respondent in case 25‑13101 at 2257 SW Graybill Ave., told the court a broken pool pump and recent foreclosure had delayed repairs; he asked for 90 days and the magistrate instead gave a 30‑day compliance date of Dec. 10, 2025 and requested prompt remediation of the pool water and mildew.

For properties where repeated noncompliance was documented, the magistrate granted the city authority to enter and abate under Florida Statute 162.085. City staff noted one rental property had 16 code enforcement cases in the last 18 months and that the owner holds multiple liens; the magistrate found the property remained in violation and authorized abatement and cost recovery.

The magistrate certified fines where respondents had not complied after prior hearings and ordered recovery of abatement and administrative costs where the city had already remedied public‑health or safety hazards. The clerk read an extended list of additional cases into the record; Magistrate Davis signed orders for those matters. Where owners had demonstrated progress, hearings were continued without certifying fines to allow permit and repair processes to proceed.

The hearing closed after the clerk confirmed proper notice procedures and the magistrate signed the appropriate orders. With no public commenters and no remaining business, Davis adjourned the hearing about 12:10 p.m.

What happens next: Many continuances schedule compliance dates (examples: Dec. 10, 2025; Feb. 11, 2026; March 11, 2026). If respondents fail to meet the newly set deadlines the city may return to seek fines certified and/or abatement costs charged to property owners, per the magistrate’s orders.

All direct quotes and case outcomes in this report are drawn from the Nov. 12, 2025 hearing transcript and the orders the magistrate signed at that session.