Man pleads for his home.

[sheclown]

from an email dated 9/2/10 and sent to city officials:

...I have walked the house and in my opinion structurally the house is sound.  There is no immediate danger of the home structurally failing.  Please advise as to whom I need to speak to so that we can come to some agreement.



Eddie Johnson

President

W.E. Johnson General Contractors, Inc
CGC1507130/QB68490

[Debbie Thompson]

Has there been any response to this email?

[sheclown]

I will add my opinion...

I have walked the house, as well, and in my opinion, the house is sound.  I agree there is no immediate danger of the home structurally failing.

Gloria DeVall
Glory Homes, Inc.
Certified Building Contractor
CBC059741

[sheclown]

While the previous ED of SPAR was pro-demolition, the current one is on the side of preservation for this house. 

Dear Ms. Scott,



Regarding the property at 423 Walnut Court, it is our understanding the owner has been in discussion with Eddie Johnson, of W.E. Johnson General Contractors, Inc. and that they are seeking a Stipulated Agreement to resolve the code violations and prevent demolition.



Though this property has been in the system for some time and it has an extensive history of violations without remedy, with Mr. Johnson's superior reputation as a contractor and experience with historic structures he is an excellent representative for dealing with this endangered structure.



Please consider any assistance you could provide to Mr. Johnson to move forward on preserving and renovating this property. In case you haven't connected with Mr. Johnson,.....



Thank you for your attention and consideration in this matter. I know you and Elaine have done an outstanding job addressing the concerns of Springfield and its historic structures. Elaine has only been the most professional and helpful in communication regarding the process of carrying our her responsibilities. We really are working together on all concerns.



Respectfully,



Brenda Boydston

SPAR Council


Executive Director

1321 N. Main St.

Jacksonville, FL 32206

...and I agree.  It appears we are all working together on this issue.

[ChriswUfGator]

Well I'll be damned. SPAR actually did the right thing...

[sheclown]

Jeff Waltz

[sheclown]

[buckethead]

That picture of him says a thousand words. I have no money to offer, but I do have expertise, tools and a set of able hands to help.



Is all his plumbing/electric/mechanical in place?


Is there any chance the city can forgive the fines/penalties if he can finish the refurbishing and manage a workable deal to pay the overdue taxes? It seems a shame to take what was his vision as a punishment for whatever reason he was unable to adhere to the city's timetable, and money grab (errrr... sorry. That was probably uncalled for...) tax payment schedule. It occurs to me that Mr Waltz may have seen financial hardship like so many of us who have earned our living in the housing sector.

It's hard to finalize a project when the money runs dry.

[sheclown]

@ buckethead:  I'll pass your message to Jeff.

[sheclown]

Lost Art on Walnut Court

[ChriswUfGator]

IME, COJ rarely drops code enforcement fines, unless they are forced to. I would suspect that with the current budget crunch, they're probably even more tight-fisted than usual about it, but it certainly couldn't hurt to ask. In all my dealings with them, Code Enforcement was never really interested in a win-win, they were just a bunch of tinpot dictators running around stroking their own egos and browbeating people with arcane and petty rules at the public's expense. With the exception of Bruce Chauncey that is, he was always the reasonable one over there. Code Enforcement's attitude explains why they allowed themselves to be used by SPAR, and also explains why we've had half of a National Historic District be demolished because of open windows, trash in the yard, uncut weeds, and other nonsense.

Never hurts to try though. Now that SPAR has been spanked and stuffed back in its cage, maybe Code Enforcement will be more reasonable about things.

[sheclown]

Thank you for the information.  As I understand what you are telling me is the following:



If property changes ownership and is renovated the city will want a 255,000 check plus an additional 250/day that it takes for the property to be renovated.

Property taxes need to be paid.

If these are not done then the city will proceed with the demolition of the building.



Eddie Johnson

President

W.E. Johnson General Contractors, Inc

Eddie Johnson got this information from Dr. Gaffney's office.

This does not look good for Walnut Court.

[sheclown]

 

Good Morning, Mr. Johnson,



Municipal government liens transfer with the property; liens (debts) remain with the property (regardless of the owner) until paid.  Administrative liens “attach” to all of the owner’s personal property; for instance, if an owner receives an administrative lien for 123 Acme Street, this action “clouds” the titles for his/her other properties, thus hindering sale of other properties. In addition, administrative liens are recorded on public record at the Clerk of Courts’ Office; mortgage services, title companies, and banks research public records for such debts, which may hinder obtaining loans.  In essence, an administrative lien is a civil penalty (financial), which leads to severe financial problems for the owner of record.



Mr. Johnson, you mentioned you “walked the house”; it is a violation of law to enter an unsafe condemned structure without written permission of Municipal Code Compliance Division â€" the preceding includes the owner.  In addition, Stipulated Orders are agreements between property owners and the City of Jacksonville â€" not contractors or prospective owners.

Mr. Waltz, one of several qualifications for Stipulated Orders signed under the current Amnesty Program (August 1, 2010 â€" October 29, 2010) is the applicant/owner cannot be “be personally indebted to the City of Jacksonville for any reason, including, but not limited to, ad valorem property taxes, special assessments, city utility charges, or other government-imposed fines against the property”.  Property taxes for years 2008 ($1713.20), 2009 ($1314.55), and 2010 ($1141.01) remain unpaid; the Office of the Tax Collector has issued tax certificates for 2008 and 2009 property taxes.  In addition, an unpaid nuisance lien remains against the parcel.  You may view additional qualifications for the Amnesty Program at www.coj.net.  

Kimberly Scott, M.P.A., Chief
Municipal Code Compliance Division
Environmental and Compliance Department
407 Laura Street, N., Ste. 200
Jacksonville, FL  32202

I don't understand this.  It is illegal for a building contractor to walk through a condemned property without code enforcement's written permission?  It is illegal for a homeowner to walk through his condemned property without code enforcement's written permission?

How can he check up on it and make sure it is okay?  How can he monitor it?  Resecure it?  How can a contractor give a bid?

If this is true ... a condemnation is a death sentence for a house

[iloveionia]

Comb it.
I did.
I find nothing to support her statement.

I see it, but I don't see the word "violation" as directed to entering a property.

http://library.municode.com/HTML/12174/level2/TXIV_C518.html
Specifically 518.310 section b):

If the violator chooses to provide temporary repairs by securing and sealing the property, as stated hereinafter, he/she shall notify and obtain approval from the Chief for the temporary repairs. The Chief, when approving temporary repairs in the form of securing and sealing, shall state a reasonable time in which permanent repairs shall be made to the property. If permanent repairs are not made within the stipulated time, the Chief can cite the property for being in violation of this Part and take the necessary action to abate the nuisance.

So yeah, get permission to fix your OWN property, don't do it in the "stipulated time" and get cited.  AGAIN.  Even though the city has policy to mothball a historic home, they don't.  And basically, this quote says, you can't board either without addressing the rest of the problems in the home in their time frame.

In this economy, in this time, this is unreasonable.  

Let me add that most folks DON'T know or possess this information.  People trying to do the right thing are getting caught up in a nasty system that does not protect our homes or assist homeowners properly.  Punitive consequences cause people to throw up their arms and give up. 

[buckethead]

It seems policy might have more to do with "undesirable" people than "undesirable" structures.

Could this be a concerted effort to push out poorer property owners at the cost of demolishing the historic structures? Even if it isn't the intent, it is the result.