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Item I5BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: —May 21, 2014_ Division: Growth Management Bulk Item: Yes No X Department: Code Corn T liance Staff Contact /Phone #: Christine HurIU/305 289-2519 AGENDA ITEM WORDING: Discussion and Direction for policy options on handling complaints of overgrown vegetation blocking navigation in Residential Canals and overgrown vegetation on dry lot properties. IT BACKGROUND: The Code Compliance Department routinely receives complaints regarding overgrown vegetation blocking navigation in canals in violation of MCC Section 264(b) and overgrowth on dry lot properties in violation of MCC Section 21-20. The complaints are investigated and when appropriate brought forward to hearing before the Special Magistrate (SM) for a finding of violation. Most property owners comply but some do not. Staff would like to discuss options for a policy on how to proceed with non -compliant cases, after they are found in violation by the SM but have not complied or may have complied but vegetation has grown back. See attached memo. PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION: N/A CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES: N/A STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS: Option I — Direct Staff to develop an Overgrown Vegetation Program whereby County funds are expended to gain compliance and liens are filed for collection later; Option 2 — Direct Staff to process overgrowth violations through money judgment or foreclosure; Option 3 — Do nothing and allow fines to accrue until compliance. TOTAL COST: INDIRECT COST® BUDGETED: Yes —No DIFFERENTIAL OF LOCAL PREFERENCE: COST TO COUNTY: SOURCE OF FUNDS: REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes — No X AMOUNT PER MONTH— Year APPROVED BY: County Arty O'OMB/Purchasing _ Risk Management DOCUMENTATION: Included — Not Required_ DISPOSITION: AGENDA IT 4 Office of _the Director 2798 Overseas Highway Suite #400 Dist. I Marathon, FL 33050 Voice: (305) 289-2517 Fax: (305) 289-2854 County of Monroe Growth Management Division We strive to be caring, professional, Merl fair Board of ggggDL91agMgidffRM Mayor Sylvia Murphy, Dist-5 Mayor Pro Tern Danny L. Kolhage, Heather Carruthers, Dist. 3 David Rice, Dist. 4 George Neugent, Dist. 2 TO: Christine Hurley, Division Director THRIJ: Ronda Norman, Director Code Compliance FROM: Cynthia J. McPherson, Sr. Administrator, Code Compliance DATE: April 21, 2014 RE: Overgrown Vegetation in Residential Canals Blocking Navigation and Other Properties OVERGROWN CANALS: We have ongoing problems of overgrown vegetation in canals on residential lots when property owners do not comply with Code Section 26-4 which states property owners are prohibited from allowing vegetation or trees to interfere with vessels traveling upon navigable canals. (See Code Section Page 7) Current Process Upon receipt of a complaint or by a proactive inspection of a lot with overgrown vegetation blocking navigation, a code case is created. A Code Inspector conducts a site visit, reviews aerial photos, and requests a site visit from the Biologist who makes a determination of vegetation type, trimming requirements, and permit requirements. The Biologist completes the inspection sending the Code Inspector confirmation trimming is required, the type of vegetation, and if a permit is required. If a permit is required, there is an indication of whether it is a county or DEP permit, or both. The Code Inspector sends the property owner a Courtesy Notice indicating the violation and the need for correction. A compliance date is given keeping in in the type of vegetation and if permitting is required. Cases requiring a DEP permit and a licensed trimmer are given more time. Obtaining a DEP permit and hiring a licensed trimmer is at the expense of the property owner and may take iip to sixty (60) days. Extensions may be given by the Code Inspector with progress shown. A Notice of Violation/Notice of Hearing (NOV/NOH) is sent to the property owner when there has been no communication with the owner and compliance has not been reached. Reasons may include financial burden, foreclosure proceeding, orbankruptcy. A copy of the NOV/NOH is sent to representatives indicated on documents recorded in the Clerk of Court (Lis Pandang). The case goes to hearing and is heard by the Special Magistrate. He reviews the evidence and if found sufficient, enters an Order finding the owner in violation. He orders corrections (the trimming) to be completed by a specified compliance date, imposes a fine per day if not in compliance by the date given and accesses costs to be paid. Fines and costs continue until compliance is reached. 11 Page The Code Inspector conducts a compliance re -inspection pursuant to the Order. If non -compliant, the code compliance liaison is notified by the inspector of non-compliance, with photos, if applicable. At this point, code compliance liaison will file a lien. After ninety (90) days if the case remains non -compliant and the lien is not satisfied, ownership is researched and the case is be placed back on the agenda for the Special Magistrate to authorize a money judgment or foreclosure pursuant to F.S. 162.09. Following this authorization, an item will be placed on the BOCC agenda seeking the Board's direction and authorization on further action and/or money judgment or foreclosure and/or collections efforts. Re - inspections by Code Inspectors are conducted at each step to verify non-compliance. This entire process is lengthy and is frustrating to residents along overgrown canals. Difficulty arises in determining ownership of the canal. Canals may be owned in part or in total by the adjacent landowner, the County, or the State which may be subject to sovereign submerged land laws. A title search is necessary and frequently extensive research is required. Title searches and research take time and are costly. On site, the vegetation continues to grow prohibiting safe navigation. To complicate the situation, the installation of boat lifts in combination with overgrown vegetation creates hazardous conditions. The county has no program or funding to assist residents or to abate the overgrown canals. Below is a table of areas of concern and actual photos within unincorporated Monroe County. Also, Note the aerial GIS maps showing the overgrowth of canals in Exhibit A. - - - Upper Keys - - — -- - - La Paloma Rd Center Ln Michael Dr Adam Dr _ Narragansett Ln- N. Blackwater Ln Middle Keys Magnolia Dr Palmetto Dr Geranium Dr Begonia Dr Violet Dr Cedar Dr Rose Dr Iris Dr Marigold Dr Narcissus Ave Bougainvillea Ln Lower Keys Ocean Shores Dr Corine PI Lorelane PI S.Ocean Shores Dr. Mango Ln Cactus Ln Gardenia Ln Pandorea Ln Buttonwood Dr Eugene Rd Venna Rd Hall Rd Gordon Rd_ Poinciana St Pine St Palmetto St Hibiscus St Gumbo Limbo St Driftwood St Tropic St Treasure Island St Tradewind St South Seas St Landers St — Gulfstream St Kingfish Lane Guadaloupe Ln St. Lucie Ln Bonita Lane Martinque Ln _ Jamaica Ln Palm Dr St. Vincent Ln Tobago Ln Trinidad Rd Barbados Ln Oleander Ln 2 1 P a g e Fox St Caribbean St Blue Lagoon St Bahama St Witters Ln Baileys Ln Delgado Ln Malaga Ln a Mathews Rd San Marco Dr� Dolphin Ln OVERGROWN DRY LOTS Overgrown vegetation is not only a problem for properties on canals but dry lots, as well. The violation of Code Section 21-20 (Page 7) with the notification process to a property owner of an overgrown, unmaintained dry lot is the same as for a canal. Determining ownership is less cumbersome. However, absentee owners, foreclosures, and/or bankruptcy frequently deter timely compliance. These unkempt lots create a nuisance for neighborhoods. Currently, the county has no program or fanding to mow/trim or clean up these lots. Staff is seeking direction on whether the BOCC wants to develop a process whereby the County would conduct the trimming/permitting and lien the owner for the costs similar to the County's unsafe uninhabitable program. Additionally cases include: I® Litigation with BOCC Approval for Non-compliance A. Injunctive Relief 1. Money Judgment for unpaid fines; or 2. Foreclosure. Its No Litigation Approval By BOCC for Non-compliance A. No Proactive Approach To Do Trimming Allow lien to remain filed and accrue interest until sale or refinancing HL Overgrown Vegetation in Residential Canals Blocking Navigation: A. Contract Services with Licensed Mangrove Trimmers and Landscapers 1. Mangroves -Estimated cost per lot-$ 1000. * 2. Native Species- Estimated cost per lot-$800.-$ 1000. 3. Invasive Exotics -Estimated cost per lot-$800.-$1000 IV. Overgrown Vegetation on Residential Dry Lots. A. Contract Services with Licensed Landscapers 1. Dry lots- Estimated cost per lot- $250-$500.* *Includes labor, equipment, disposal, permits, and property title search Currently, the County has budgeted $60,000/yr. for unsafe structure demolition. To date, the County has only demolished one structure using County funds and liened the property. The remaining four structures have come into compliance by the owners demolishing their unsafe structures. 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(b) Prohibition on causing or permitting trees to interfere with vessels upon any manmade water body. No real property owner may cause, suffer, or permit a tree, trees or other vegetation, to grow, or otherwise extend, from his real property into or over a manmade water body in such a way or manner as to constitute a navigational hazard to, or to interfere with, vessels engaged in a journey or ride upon the nummade water body. It shall be presumed that vegetation extending from the shoreline of a manmade water body beyond the approximate mean low water mark by more than ten percent of the overall perpendicular width of the water body at the point of measurement constitutes a navigational hazard, This presumption is aligned with the permitted limits for the construction of docking facilities in the land development regulations. (c) Penalties for violation. (I)Pursuant to F.S. § 125,69(l), violations of this section shall be prosecuted in the same manner as misdemeanors are prosecuted. Such violation shall be prosecuted in the name of the state in a court having jurisdiction of misdemeanors by the prosecuting attorney thereof and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $500.00 or by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed 60 days or by both fine and imprisonment. (2) Violations of this section shall also be punished as in section 8-4, and F.S. ch. 162, or by prosecution before the code enforcement special magistrate as provided prosecution pursuant to the citation and civil infraction procedure in Chapter 8, article 11, and F.S. ch. 162, (3) This section may also be enforced through any lawful procedure or process available to the county for the enforcement of its ordinances, including by way of illustration and not limitation, suits for injunctive relief. See. 21-20. Premises to be cleaned and mowed. (a)For the purposes of promoting the health, safety and general welfare of the residents of the county, all lands inside and outside of subdivisions, including vacant lands, and improved property within the unincorporated area of the county, shall be kept cleared of debris, garbage, litter, yard trash, refuse, special solid waste, solid waste, trash, industrial waste and/or that tend to be a breeding place or haven for snakes, rodents, insects, and vermin of all kinds and character, and/or that tend to create a fire hazard, endanger the lives and property of the residents of the county, create a traffic hazard, create a nuisance or unsanitary condition and/or that render the soil or air impure, unwholesome, or unhealthful. (b)For the purposes of health, safety, and general welfare of the residents of the county, all commercial and residential lots, vacant or occupied, shall be kept mowed except that for subdivisions located within public acquisition areas, publicly owned vacant lots acquired for conservation and resource protection purposes and private vacant lots subject to a county approved management plan. (c)For the purposes of health, safety, and general welfare of the residents of the county, all mulching materials shall be kept or spread at a depth not to exceed eight inches.