MEMORANDUM MONROE COUNTY PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES DEPARTMENT

To: Monroe County Planning Commission

Through: Emily Schemper, AICP, CFM, Acting Senior Director of Planning & Environmental Resources

From: Brad Stein, AICP, Planning and Development Review Manager Mike Roberts, Senior Administrator of Environmental Resources

Date: August 8, 2018

Subject: Van D. Fischer, 1251 Crane Boulevard, , : An appeal, pursuant to Section 102-185 of the Monroe County Land Development Code, by the property owners to the Planning Commission concerning the hold placed on Permit Number 18101345 through a Memorandum from Rick Griffin, Building Official, dated May 31, 2018. The subject property is legally described as the East half of Lot 3, Block 16, North Sugarloaf Acres, Section 2 (OR427-1049), Upper Sugarloaf Key, Monroe County, Florida, having the Parcel ID number 00117490- 001800. (file # 2018-132)

Meeting: August 22, 2018 Continued to September 26, 2018

1 I. DECISION BEING APPEALED: 2 The appellant is appealing a hold placed on Building Permit# 18101345, by the Monroe County 3 Building Official, through a Memorandum dated May 31, 2018 (Memo, Attachment A) at the 4 request of the neighboring property at 1261 Crane Blvd, through a letter from Brett Smith of 5 the Smith Law Firm dated May 30, 2018 (Letter, Attachment B). The Building Official placed 6 the hold on the permit for the dock, which clearly encroaches onto the neighbor’s property 7 (Survey, Attachment C) and the County cannot permit work on property absent their consent. 8 9 The appellant states the following for the basis of the appeal pursuant to Section 102-185 of 10 the Monroe County Land Development Code: 11 12 “The hold placed on permit 18101345 was placed in error. The 13 Memorandum dated May 31, 2018, from Rick Griffin, Building Official, stated 14 that the basis for the hold was that "An Appeal Letter has been submitted for 15 permit 18101345 by Brett Smith ([email protected]) on behalf of 16 the neighboring property owner at 1261 Crane Blvd, Sugarloaf Key." A copy of 17 the Appeal Letter was not attached to the Memorandum so the actual basis for 18 the hold as stated in the Appeal Letter is unknown to appellant. 19 20 The hold was placed in error based on apparently misleading and 21 incomplete information. The repairs authorized by permit 18101345 would not

Planning Commission Appeal (File # 2018-132) 1251 Crane Boulevard, Sugarloaf Key, Florida Page 1 of 6 1 require unauthorized access to 1261 Crane Boulevard, and none of the repairs 2 will occur on or above the 1261 Crane Boulevard property. While there is an 3 encroachment of the dock onto 1261 Crane Boulevard, the total area of the 4 encroachment is 331 square feet which affects a mere 0.26% of the neighboring 5 property. The encroachment has existed for 32 years and has never been legally 6 challenged. The encroachment of the dock gradually ranges over approximately 7 312 linear feet from 0.4-feet (4.8 inches) to 1.9-feet (22.8 inches) at the apparent 8 mean high water line (MHWL) (See attached survey), thereby providing access 9 to the damaged portion of the dock without having to cross the property 10 boundary line.” 11

12 13 Subject Properties 1261 & 1251 Crane Blvd. (outlined in blue) with Land Use Districts Overlaid (Aerial 14 dated 2018) 15 16 The County Building Official’s memorandum stated, “…a Hold has been placed on the permit 17 and inspections and during the Hold no work shall commence until the Hold has been 18 released.” It did not provide a specific provision of the Land Development Code (LDC) for the 19 decision, determination or interpretation to place the permit on hold. Sections 6-56 and 6-57 20 of the Monroe County Code of Ordinances gives the Construction Board of Adjustments and 21 Appeals the authority to consider appeals of an administrative decision or interpretation of the 22 building official. 23

Planning Commission Appeal (File # 2018-132) 1251 Crane Boulevard, Sugarloaf Key, Florida Page 2 of 6 1 2 Portion of the survey showing property line through dock 3 Survey by Land Surveying dated September 20, 2018 4

Planning Commission Appeal (File # 2018-132) 1251 Crane Boulevard, Sugarloaf Key, Florida Page 3 of 6 1 II. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: 2 Location/Address: 1251 Crane Boulevard, Sugarloaf Key, Florida, near Mile Marker 19.2 3 Legal Description: The East half of Lot 3, Block 16, North Sugarloaf Acres, Section 2 4 (OR427-1049), Upper Sugarloaf Key, Monroe County, Florida 5 Parcel ID Number: 00117490-001800 6 Property Owner/Appellants: Van D. & Darlene Fischer 7 Agent: Van D. Fischer 8 Size of Site: 21,300 square feet of residential waterfront and 0.20 acres submerged per the 9 Property Appraiser’s office Property Record Card 10 Land Use Map (Zoning) District: Improved Subdivision (IS) 11 Future Land Use Map (FLUM) Designation: Residential Medium (RM) 12 Tier Designation: I 13 Flood Zone: VE12 14 Existing Uses: Residential dwelling unit 15 Existing Vegetation / Habitat: Developed/Hammock/Buttonwood/Salt Marsh/Mangrove 16 Community Character of Immediate Vicinity: surrounding uses are: single-family 17 residential, and undeveloped habitat containing Hammock/Buttonwood/Salt 18 Marsh/Mangrove. 19 20 III. RELEVANT PRIOR COUNTY ACTIONS: 21 Building permit 18101345, issued 5/29/2018:“TO REPAIR 464 SF OF EXISTING DOCK”. 22 23 Memorandum from Monroe County Building Official placing permit on hold to property 24 owner dated May 31, 2018. 25 26 IV. BASIS OF APPEAL: 27 In accordance with Section 102-185(a) Authority. The Planning Commission shall have the 28 authority to hear and decide appeals from any decision, determination or interpretation by 29 any administrative official with respect to the provisions of this Land Development Code and 30 the standards and procedures hereinafter set forth, except for appeals from actions by the 31 Historic Preservation Commission and appeals from administrative actions regarding the 32 floodplain management provisions of this Land Development Code. 33 34 A copy of the letter from the Smith Law Firm dated 5/30/2018, was not attached to the 35 Memorandum from the Building Official dated 5/31/2018 that was sent to the appellant placing 36 the permit on hold; the appellant has stated that the hold was placed in error based on 37 apparently misleading and incomplete information and the basis for the hold stated in the 38 memorandum is unknown to appellant. 39 40 Staff is uncertain as to how the Building Official’s decision relates to the provisions of the 41 Land Development Code and/or how the appeal under consideration falls under the jurisdiction 42 of the Planning Commission. 43 44 As stated previously, Section 6-57 of the Monroe County Code of Ordinances (Chapter 6 – 45 Buildings and Construction; Article II. Building Code) sets forth the procedures for appeals of 46 decisions by the Building Official in the context of the building code.

Planning Commission Appeal (File # 2018-132) 1251 Crane Boulevard, Sugarloaf Key, Florida Page 4 of 6 1 Sec. 6-57. - Administrative appeals. 2 3 (a) Scope of appeals. The owner of a building, structure or service system, or his duly 4 authorized agent, may appeal an administrative decision or interpretation of the building 5 official relative to a building, structure or service owned by such person related to the Florida 6 Building Code to the construction board of adjustment and appeals only if one of the following 7 conditions is alleged to exist: 8 9 (1) The building official rejected or refused to approve the mode or manner of construction 10 proposed to be followed or materials to be used in the installation or alteration of a 11 building, structure or service system; 12 13 (2) The provisions of the Florida Building Code do not apply to this specific case; 14 15 (3) An equally good or more desirable form of installation can be employed in any specific 16 case; or 17 18 (4) The true intent and meaning of the Florida Building Code or any of the regulations 19 thereunder have been misconstrued or incorrectly interpreted. 20 21 (b) Initiation of appeals. The appellant shall complete and submit a written notice of appeal to 22 the building department within 30 days of the decision. The notice of appeal shall be in a form 23 approved by the building official and accompanied by a nonrefundable fee. No notice of appeal 24 shall be deemed complete without payment of required fees. 25 26 (c) Procedures. Upon receipt of a complete notice to appeal, the building official shall 27 schedule a hearing to consider the appeal at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the 28 construction board of adjustment and appeals. The building officials shall prepare a staff 29 report and shall forward in a timely manner the appellant's notice and staff report along with 30 all records relevant to the appeal to the construction board of adjustment and appeals prior to 31 the scheduled hearing. 32 33 (d) Decisions on appeals. In rendering its decision in accordance with the provisions of section 34 6-56(c), the construction board of adjustment and appeals must find that at least one of the 35 conditions in subsection (a) of this section have been met in order to overturn an administrative 36 decision or interpretation of the building official. 37 38 (e) Waiver of rights. Failure to file notice of appeal within the 30-calendar-day appeal period 39 shall constitute a waiver of any rights under this chapter to appeal the decision or 40 interpretation of the building official. 41 42 V. RECOMMENDATION: 43 The decision by the Building Official to hold the permit work without the consent of the 44 neighboring property owner was not based on any specific section of the LDC. It is 45 recommended that the Planning Commission dismiss the request to appeal on the basis that no

Planning Commission Appeal (File # 2018-132) 1251 Crane Boulevard, Sugarloaf Key, Florida Page 5 of 6 1 decision, determination or interpretation was based on any provisions of the LDC as set forth 2 within Section 102-185(a). 3 4 VI. EXHIBITS: 5 . Attachment A – Memorandum dated May 31, 2018, from Rick Griffin, Building Official 6 . Attachment B – Letter from Smith Law Firm dated May 30, 2018 7 . Attachment C – Survey by Florida Keys Land Surveying dated September 20, 2018

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