Cape Council removes cap on code violation amounts
Establishes special master process for requests for reduction of fines or liens
The city of Cape Coral has removed its cap on fines for violating city codes while establishing an appeal process for those who would like to get fines and liens reduced or eliminated.
Cape Coral City Council added a section to code compliance Wednesday that would allow an individual to go before a special magistrate with their request.
City Manager Mike Ilczyszyn said there has been an administrative cap for liens that are placed for code enforcement issues for some time.
“I would like to remove the cap for the bad actors in the community, but I don’t want to do that without having a relief mechanism that doesn’t dump a workload on the agenda,” he said.
Ilczyszyn said if an individual is involved in a code case and they do not rectify the issue under the land development code, and then go through a code hearing and are found guilty with the running daily fine, the city has a process now that caps the penalty amount to a fixed number.
Todd Hoagland, code compliance manager, said the ordinance proposed adds a section, a procedure through which someone can request a fine, or lien to be reduced.
Reductions could be requested by the legal owner of the property against which a fine has been imposed; a subsequent purchaser of the property; a code compliance division and an owner and code compliance by joint agreement.
The requirements for eligibility include that all ad valorem property taxes and special assessments must be current, city utility charges and other government-imposed liens against the subject real property have been paid, and all violations have been corrected.
Hoagland said for the hearing process, the appealing party will be given the opportunity to present any mitigation factors to a special magistrate, such as hardships, considerations, improvements.
“The special magistrate will consider all the evidence and testimony,” he said.
The special magistrate can either deny, or grant the request for reduction, as well as assess the city’s administrative costs for the hearing, which will be paid by the requesting party.
Any hard costs that the city has taken to remedy the violation, such as lot clearing, grass mowing, junk removal, board-up, will be paid and will not forgiven.
If the applicant fails to pay the reduced fine, or lien amount, it will revert back to the original amount.
The council also approved a resolution that would increase the established administrative costs charged to a violator if the city prevails in prosecuting a case before the special magistrate.
The city set the monetary amount of $94 for the recovery of administrative costs, an amount that was established for several years.
The amounts include:
* Stipulated agreements and agreed orders: $100
* Day of hearing costs of prosecution in a special magistrate case: $305
* Full or partial reduction of code enforcement lien: $305
The fees will take effect immediately.
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