By Jim Reeder
Article Courtesy of The Palm Beach
Post
Posted Saturday, September 6, 2003
FORT PIERCE -- Accusing one of its
residents of brewing confusion with slanderous lies, a condo developer
sued Friday, saying the man wrote a letter full of falsehoods -- questioning
the structural soundness of the apartments' outdoor decks -- and then disseminated
it to his neighbors.
That resident, Ray Wazny, isn't just another
condo commando. And he has more than a passing familiarity with the construction
details of the condominiums known as Atrium I and Atrium II on North State
Road A1A on North Hutchinson Island.
He's assistant St. Lucie County administrator
and the county's former community development director and public works
director. And he once was responsible for approving one of the projects
for the county, an attorney for the developer says.
"He was employed by the building department
and signed off on Atrium I, then went ahead and bought in Atrium II," said
Alan S. Polackwich, of Vero Beach.
Surf 'N Sand Properties of St. Lucie County
filed suit Friday against Wazny in St. Lucie Circuit Court, alleging libel
and slander for a letter it says Wazny wrote, accusing the developers of
illegally cutting corners.
Wazny said in his letter, which was attached
to the lawsuit as an exhibit, that Surf 'N Sand should set aside $880,000
-- $20,000 for each outdoor deck of Atrium II's 44 apartments -- for potential
repairs. He also wrote that he wants Surf 'N Sand to have every deck tested
by an independent, professional engineer. And that the Atrium II Homeowners
Association shouldn't accept the work until the tests are complete.
"There are large areas of the exterior
deck where the concrete coverage over the steel reinforcement doesn't meet
the inch-and-a-half minimum as required on the original building plans
for Atrium II," Wazny wrote.
The lawsuit said, however, that the law
requires concrete covers to be only 1 inch thick, and even that is subject
to variations.
Wazny wrote that the concrete coverage
is an inch thick in some places and five-eighths of an inch in other spots.
Reached at work late Friday, Wazny declined
to comment on a pending lawsuit.
"Gosh, if there's litigation, I hesitate
to answer any questions," he said.
But another Atrium I is what Wazny said,
in his letter, he is trying to avoid.
Homeowners in Atrium I have had 286 steel
reinforcement bars replaced and repaired on their decks because they were
installed with inadequate concrete cover, he writes, and homeowners there
are looking at $74,000 in attorneys' fees to resolve their building problems.
Polackwich, though, said he wondered why
Wazny -- with his level of expertise -- would move into a place that he
didn't feel was constructed properly.
And he called Wazny's letter "the straw
that broke the camel's back." He said Wazny has been a bit of a handful
since moving into Atrium II a year ago.
"I think most homeowners are confused by
his statements and that's why we feel the need to set the record straight,"
Polackwich said. "He has been very aggressive in making his position known
and we have no choice but to respond equally." |