Friday, March 5, 2010

In June 2005, a fire ripped through Bill Grosscup's 47-foot houseboat berthed on Hilton Haven Road. It was a total loss.

Records from the Monroe County Property Appraiser's Office showed a pile-supported carport (canopy) and two pile-supported storage units were also on the property.

But when Grosscup set out to replace his floating home, he didn't go looking at houseboats. Instead, he prepared to construct a 3,000-square-foot concrete home on pilings above the water where his houseboat had been berthed. Beyond a state Department of Environmental Protection permit to replace 23 wooden pilings ostensibly damaged during the fire with concrete pilings, he proceeded without required permission or permits from city, state or federal agencies.

Mr. Grosscup might have gotten away with circumventing development rules had it not been for a persistent Code Enforcement officer who eventually lost his job -- and later regained it -- because he believed everyone should have to follow the same set of rules.

Code Inspector Jim Young "red-tagged" the project in February 2006, requiring that all work be halted. But Grosscup had friends in high places, and the sun had not set that day before then-Assistant City Manager John Jones ordered Young to remove the stop-work order, saying Grosscup did not need a city permit.

Young sought the opinion of Assistant City Attorney Kevin Hoyes, who agreed that a building permit was required. Jones insisted they were both wrong. Young went to his supervisor, who, again, agreed that Grosscup was in violation. Jones didn't budge, and the stop-work order on his friend's project was lifted.

Determined, Young let the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers know what was happening at the site. When Jones found out, he ordered Young not to contact other agencies. When Jones later learned the Corps was receiving anonymous tips, he angrily ordered Young and all city Code Enforcement staff to stay away from the site, and to stop photographing the project.

Then-City Manager Julio Avael sought to resolve the issue by firing Young in August 2006.

Grosscup, who was now on the radar of state and federal agencies, set about applying for permits to build the home. But those agencies didn't buy his assertion that he was simply replacing an existing "pile-supported residential structure." The Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers have denied his permit applications, and the city has informed him he must apply for after-the-fact variances and file a major development plan. Or, he could simply replace his houseboat with another houseboat, and replace the pre-existing structures -- a canopy and two storage units -- with the same type of structures.

In ordering staff to ignore a blatant code violation committed by a personal friend -- and going so far as demanding enforcement officers stay away from the site and keep their mouths shut -- Jones exemplified city government at its worst. It is the type of bubba backroom corruption that produces a deep vein of public cynicism.

Fortunately, the city's administration has changed since this saga began unfolding. Young was rehired as senior manager of Code Compliance, and Key West Planning Director Amy Kimball-Murley has remained firm in her insistence that Grosscup live by the same rules as every other property owner in Key West. Much to its credit, the Key West City Commission voted 6-0 last month to uphold Murley's decisions.

A level playing field can go a long way toward building public trust.

As for Grosscup, he has now filed a lawsuit against the city and an alphabet soup of state and federal agencies. But without influential friends in government who are willing to look the other way, his legal fees would be far better spent on a new houseboat.

-- The Citizen