The Jupiter Courier |
Overgrown
yard might get owners booted out of home
December 15,2001 By Randall Murray - News staff writer |
An elderly Tequesta couple should learn
just in time for Christmas whether they will lose their home. Village Attorney
John C. Randolph advised the Tequesta Village Council on Thursday one more
legal step remains before the council can decide the fate of Wilburt and
Hattie Siegel, of 498 Dover Road.
The attorney predicted the couple's latest
appeal will be dismissed within two weeks. At that time, "the council can
take action," he said.
Alvarez levied a $1,000-a-day fine on the
Siegels, $250 for each of four charges. That fine has reached almost $720,000,
almost eight times the $92,511 assessed value of the house, according to
county property appraiser records.
Wade Griest, 82, the Siegels' neighbor
at 494 Dover Road, complained to the council about the long-term nature
of the dispute.
The Siegels' back yard resembles a jungle.
Weeds and other vegetation are knee- high, and climbing vines dangle from
trees.
Hattie Siegel said the village is persecuting the couple. She contends village code enforcement officers do not understand the law, and she fought the charges because, in her opinion, they were improperly filed. She said her 86-year-old husband "is in
ill health and depressed" as a result of the conflict. She indicated she
and her husband, who also own a home in Charleston, S.C., are planning
to move into a senior citizens center if they lose the Dover Road home.
"I guess it's just gotten out of hand," she said. "We had beautiful plants that were not meant to be clipped, trimmed or manicured," but when ordered by the village to trim those plants, she said they did. The plants died, adding to the visual problems with the property. |