County denies fault for damaged homes

A lawsuit alleges building inspectors wrongly approved the East Lake townhomes, which later became waterlogged.

County building inspectors okayed Nature's Watch townhomes that later sustained millions of dollars in water damage, but Pinellas County is not responsible for that damage, county attorneys said in court Monday.

"The government is not an insurer of public safety; the government is not an insurer of buildings," Assistant County Attorney Thomas E. Spencer told Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge John Lenderman.

Lenderman heard arguments Monday morning on a residents' lawsuit alleging that building inspectors missed scores of building code violations that led to extensive water damage in the 182-unit development in East Lake.

County attorneys say the suit should be dropped based on sovereign immunity case law, which they say shields the county from liability in this case.

But the attorney for the Nature's Watch homeowners says the county is at least partially responsible for the community's problems.

"The buildings were built in such a way that they never should have been issued a certificate of occupancy," attorney Henry A. Stein told the judge.

After an hour of argument from both sides, Lenderman said he would rule in the next several weeks on whether to dismiss the suit.

Nature's Watch homeowners were stunned in April 2003 to learn it might cost $92,000 per homeowner to repair water damage that, experts concluded, was caused by poor construction.

An appeals court in January released residents from having to pay court-ordered repairs, but most owners are out the $28,000 they had already paid in repair assessments. And much more repairs are needed.

The suit, which Stein filed in May on behalf of 72 homeowners, alleges the county Building Department "recklessly and negligently" breached its responsibilities "by utterly failing on a continuing and inexplicable manner to comply with the code requirements during construction of (Nature's Watch)."

The suit contends the Building Department approved construction plans and issued certificates of occupancy despite serious construction defects.

"Its lack of enforcement was not just negligent, it was reckless," Stein told the judge. Pinellas County "should pay."

Stein described a three-story chimney built with a two-story flue. If the chimney had ever been lit, the building could have caught fire, he said. He also told the judge the roofs were built unsealed and at a specific pitch that should have not passed inspection and that the buildings did not have the correct number of lugs in the walls.

Stein said he will appeal if Lenderman rules against his clients.

Nature's Watch was built from 1992 to 1998 by a company led by longtime developer Richard Geiger of Holiday. The townhomes sold from $125,000 to $300,000. During the years, water damage started to appear and balconies became unsafe. The homeowners association sued Geiger, and that lawsuit is pending. Geiger did not return messages left for him Monday.

For homeowners Michael and Debbie Glugla, the court action is an attempt to recoup at least some of the $28,000 they shelled out in assessments, even though their home suffered no damage.

"If any good comes out of it, it's that . . . the Building Department puts some checks and balances into it so no one has to go through this again," Michael Glugla said.

The former St. Petersburg police officer recently returned from Afghanistan, where he was working as a civilian to train Afghani law enforcement personnel. Glugla said he took the lucrative overseas assignment to relieve the financial burden of the repair assessment. He had to take out a second mortgage on the home to pay the assessment.

Despite their burdens, the handful of residents who showed up at Monday's hearing were trying to keep it light. Before the judge entered the courtroom, Glugla and another homeowner kidded each other about the long process.

"Let's see, the normal life expectancy of a male is now, what, 74?" one man said to Glugla.

"This might outlive me . . . I don't know if I'll see closure," said Glugla, 48. "My kids might have to take over."