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Article
Courtesy of Tampa Bay Times
By Barbara Behrendt
Published November 2, 2013
BROOKSVILLE — At first look, the Trails at Rivard could be a
picture postcard for Central Florida golf course communities.
A landscaped sign adorns the entrance off U.S. 41, just south of Brooksville.
Just beyond that, a row of neatly kept villas fronts the boulevard, with a wide
swath of the golf course spread out behind. On a recent day, a pair of sandhill
cranes poked around in the grass.
But just a few hundred feet away, the postcard image dissolves, a shocking
reminder of the bust that followed the housing boom.
Side by side with handsome,
manicured, Florida-style homes is an unfinished gray,
concrete-block shell. The house has a roof, but no windows
or doors. The wood framing inside is weathered.
After a few other occupied houses stands a concrete-block
wall with no roof on a weedy lot. Rebar juts out of the
blocks toward the sky.
Both of the unfinished homes sport bright orange posters
warning they are unsafe.
Then there's the empty lot where what neighbors call "the
haunted house" once stood. Another abandoned construction
project, the county demolished it at the end of August. The
two-story structure was so compromised that some say the
county's building official declined to inspect the upstairs
because of the poor condition of the staircase. |
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Trails at Rivard residents are upset with the county and builder over
homes that have been unfinished for years. “Our property taxes are so
high. To have to look out at that all the time, it’s worse than an
eyesore," Cheryl Crawford says. “It’s dangerous"
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"It's sad,'' Juliann Mayles said of the abandoned
buildings in her neighborhood.
Mayles used to be able to see the haunted house from her home on Old Oak Trail.
She can still see three other abandoned homes.
"It's so senseless,'' she said.
Her husband, Al, has been working for several years to get the county to force
the builder, Costa Homes president Paul Bakkalapulo, to deal with the eyesores.
Those sites are the most obvious problem. But the maintenance of overgrown lots
and the clearing of commercial construction equipment from the neighborhood also
have been issues.
Bakkalapulo said he is working to resolve the concerns with the county, but
residents worry that the latest negotiations are just another delay.
Last week, Mayles, his wife and more than a dozen other Rivard residents met
with County Administrator Len Sossamon, Commissioner Nick Nicholson and key
county staffers from the planning, code enforcement and building departments.
For more than two hours, officials and the residents discussed the issues and
the county staff detailed how it is trying to get Bakkalapulo back in compliance
and resolve the issue of unsafe buildings.
County officials also acknowledged that reductions in the county budget in
recent years have taken a toll on the county's ability to respond to such
problems.
Despite assurances from the county's staff, residents remained skeptical that
they're close to resolving a problem they have lived with for seven years.
"Would you live there?'' Mrs. Mayles asked Ron Pianta, assistant administrator
for planning and development.
"No,'' Pianta said. "If I were you, I would be complaining also''
• • •
On the day of the meeting with county officials, Rivard resident Barbara Stanley
chatted with a neighbor who is a real estate saleswoman. She told Stanley that
some Realtors won't even bring people into Rivard because of its condition.
"It's like living in inner-city Detroit,'' Stanley said of the overgrown lots
and vandalized home sites.
Cheryl Crawford lives across the street from two of the abandoned construction
sites.
"Our property taxes are so high. To have to look out at that all the time, it's
worse than an eyesore,'' she said. "It's dangerous.''
Permits for the nine abandoned houses were issued November 2006. For years, the
residents complained, and then, early in 2012, they say the county drafted an
agreement that gave Bakkalapulo 18 months to remedy the problem.
The work was to be completed by August of this year, but only one home was
finished by the deadline — one at the front of the subdivision. Another had been
demolished by the county, and a lien was placed on the lot.
A third house on the list, directly behind Stanley's home, was issued a new
permit, and construction resumed. Stanley said there had been no activity there
for years. But over the past few months, a crew put up stucco on the outside and
drywall on the exposed interior.
In August and September, the county building official revoked the permits on the
six remaining sites, declaring the structures unsafe.
On Aug. 27, county building department field inspector Vic Heisler wrote to
Bakkalapulo, describing what needed to happen with the remaining six
construction sites.
By Friday, he must either begin demolition or obtain building permits to
complete those structures. Bakkalapulo said he wants to complete construction,
so he was given a specific list of criteria he must meet.
He must submit an engineer's certification that each structure can be repaired
and have new plans complying with the current Florida Building Code. And he must
provide a performance bond or set $10,000 in escrow for each house that will be
used to demolish it if he doesn't meet the time line.
Those times include completing a final roof inspection by Dec. 7; completed
windows, doors, stucco and exterior painting by Jan. 7, and a certificate of
occupancy by Feb. 7.
"Understand Paul that it is the desire of the Building Department to see these
houses completed and have the Rivard community again become a desirable place
for current and future residents to live,'' Heisler wrote.
Bakkalapulo has begun to submit paperwork but has not agreed to the escrow
account or a bond. He called the demand "a unique requirement'' and said he knew
of no rule that requires that kind of financial assurance to the county.
He told the Times that he has every intention of working with the county to get
the job done and noted that he has a vested interest in making the community
succeed. He still owns most of the undeveloped lots and the second phase of the
development, for which there is no approved master plan.
"We understand that it's a tough situation, and we're trying to work through
it,'' Bakkalapulo said. "It's something that can be done with time.''
• • •
Bakkalapulo's time is short by the county's order.
Residents hope county officials will stick to their guns because they said
they've heard it all before when it comes to solving the problems.
During the recent meeting with county officials, residents repeatedly expressed
distrust toward the county, as well as the builder.
"It's like a game,'' Mayles told officials. "It's like a game being played out
at our expense. It's just ludicrous.''
The county didn't hold the builder's feet to the fire, didn't fine him
previously and is now granting another extension, he said.
"Why should we believe this is going to happen now?'' he asked.
"This has got to happen,'' Nicholson said.
"I understand your skepticism,'' Pianta said.
He explained how with a shrinking staff and dwindling financial resources, the
county cannot keep up with the kinds of programs that address code issues or pay
for the demolition of unsafe buildings.
"It's nobody's fault,'' he said.
During the lean times, Pianta said, there was a conscious effort to not enforce
some rules. But when Sossamon became administrator, he said, putting programs
and enforcement back in place became a priority.
He also noted, "Historically, the building official has tried to work with a
builder, and this builder took advantage of that.'
"Frankly, I'm embarrassed, and I understand your frustration," Pianta told the
frustrated residents. "I know why you're angry.''
"Just give us a chance,'' Nicholson asked them.
The morning after the meeting, lawn mowers were buzzing throughout Rivard, and
overgrown lots that had been deemed to be out of compliance with county codes
were being trimmed.
Despite the work, residents questioned whether county officials will follow
through with their promises.
"Our objection is that they gave him another six months,'' Mayles said. "What's
our guarantee?''
"I don't think that the people of this community are unreasonable,'' Stanley
said. "We're not against this guy making a living . . . but we just think it is
his duty to press on and make this right.''
FAST FACTS:
The Trails at Rivard
• Initial approval for the development: May 8, 1990
• Number of lots, according to the approved master plan: 225
single-family and 120 multifamily in
Phase I; 187 single-family in Phase II,
which currently has no master plan
• Number of improved lots: 124 single-family, including 24 villas |
