Wellington - Getting Slapped with Code Violations - Again

By Mitra Malek

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

WELLINGTON — 

Getting slapped with code violations — especially over and over again — could cost wrongdoers big wads of cash.

The village is considering raising maximum fines for everything from growing bushes too high to more serious problems like a broken roof.

The problem spurring the proposal, said Bob Basehart, Wellington’s growth management director, isn’t the ordinary homeowner.

More so, it’s a small number of people or businesses who own multiple properties in the village and for whom fines have been “nothing more than the cost of doing business,” he said. “The purpose of this is basically to raise the bar a little bit.”

The new maximum fines would be up to $1,000 a day for first violations, $5,000 a day for repeat violations and a one-time fine of $15,000 for irreparable or irreversible violations. Those fines are the highest Florida statutes allow for a municipality of Wellington’s size.

Right now fines are up to $250 a day for first violations, $500 for repeat violations and a one-time fine of $5,000 for irreversible violations.

It will take at least a 4-1 vote from the council to change the amounts.

Wellington’s Planning, Zoning and Adjustment Board on Wednesday recommended approval.

“We want a village that’s kept up to standard,” board member Paul Adams said. “We have a problem that’s growing.”

The new rules would require the special magistrate to consider several things in order to determine how much to fine wrongdoers: the gravity of the violation, whether the violator tried to correct the violation before the hearing with the magistrate, and the violator’s history of breaking codes — on any property in the village.

“The point is he has the discretion to do that,” board member Michael Drahos said.

The village also is considering adopting rules that would in essence punish code violators by not allowing them to make changes on any properties they own if they have outstanding fines or are still in violation of codes on other properties within Wellington.

The planning board asked staff to do some more research on that proposal before members make a recommendation.