Can code enforcement fine you for something they approved ?

if you grew up in South Florida odds are you spent a lot of time in and on the water Joel Behar did I love my boat and I love the water and that's why I live here so I can have the convenience of having a boat in the backyard that's why Joel bought a house on a canal in North Miami he then applied to install a boat lift that would run perpendicular to the seawall then I had the city come out and they approved a building permit and we did everything correctly and we even had the final inspection and the permits closed out with the boat on the lift angel Martinez and his son got a permit to install a similar lift a few feet away from Joel they were approved ta-da Collin we Faline yes I was very happy until the problems started the problem about a year after both men built their properly permitted lifts North Miami cited them for the lips and I get a letter in the mail saying that I'm violating section 29 saying that the fines are gonna start and I need to get my boat off the lift angel started getting a hundred dollar fines because he had his boat on his boat lift angel countered you approved the lips a Ola yet allow me and they told me I was confused as to how I can park and I told them that no they were the ones who were confused and talked about confusion at City Hall while they were being cited by code compliance for putting their boat on their lift Bryan's of Pula put in a request to build the exact same lift the city was telling angel and Joel they could not use this is what was approved by the city and it shows the dock so this is the build up this is the seawall to make sure the city knew Brian's boat would be perpendicular to the seawall he drew the boat on the application I don't think they can complain with the way that we permitted it we've described every last detail about how we wanted this to Brian's lift with a boat on it was approved at the same time Joel and Angel were told their boat on the lift was illegal it's really sad it's really sad I've lost sleep over it well Howard can a city approve a project and then declare it illegal legally in some cases a government agency can make a mistake and force you to correct it but if the mistakes are unconscionable the law calls that equitable estoppel meaning the city approved three separate lifts and legally and morally they just have to live with their mistakes I met with the city manager of North Miami and his staff aleem Gandhi said the confusion came because the lifts and boat cannot protrude more than 25 feet into the canal it's a hundred feet wide that means the lifts are legal but Joel angel and Brian can't put their boats on them the city officials at the meeting were not aware until I told them that the building department had just approved Brian's lift with a boat on it the same lift code enforcement was citing Joel and Angel for Johnny told me I'm going to do my best to find an amicable solution Andy's trying Joel has been asked to request a text amendment from the city that will allow the boat and lift just as they are for the three homeowners the North Miami City Council would ultimately have to approve it and the fee for Joel to apply for the amendment is three thousand dollars but the city has agreed to waive the fee because of everything that has gone on this is where politicians need to step in these are taxpayers that were lied on the word of the city and shouldn't be punished for trusting the city and should be allowed to use their boat lifts it's all Joel is asking for I just want to be able to use what I have what I have a permit for I want to be able to keep my boat behind my house now if you're wondering why they can't put lifts parallel to their property the Lots are too small for that anyway Joel is putting in the application to allow the three people to use their boat lifts we'll keep an eye on it and let you know what North Miami does don't have a boat can't float and want to build a moat around your problem dock it with us will work parallel with you to give you a lift you can use legally with a supplement Patrick Frazier Seven News you

Channel: WSVN-TV

Views: 411,955

Rating: 4.7895727 out of 5

Keywords: Boat Lift (Product Category), Code Enforcement, North Miami

Id: r-5K_JFTc_k

Length: 4min 6sec (246 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 29 2015