West Palm Beach magistrate reduces multiple long-running code liens, orders payments

Special Magistrate Amity Barnard on Wednesday reduced a series of long-running code-enforcement fines and entered orders designed to clear liens that have impeded property sales and rehabilitation.

Barnard reduced a $37,400 lien tied to 1152 Okeechobee Road to $5,000, payable within 60 days, after the city and the property representative told the magistrate they had reached an agreement. "I'll reduce the previous fine amount from 37,400 to the mutually agreed amount of $5,000 payable within 60 days," the magistrate said on the record.

At 941 McIntosh Street the magistrate cut two historic liens: a construction-without-permit lien that had accrued to $817,200 was reduced to $8,000, and a separate 2021 lien of $22,600 was reduced to $2,000; both sums are payable within one year. Barnard recorded the reductions after the owner confirmed agreement with the city.

In another case, the magistrate reduced a $85,800 lien tied to an unlicensed short-term rental to $3,500, payable within 60 days, after the owner's attorney, Guy Quattlebaum, described efforts to secure required permits and inspections. "They were diligent about it," Quattlebaum told the board; Barnard said she weighed the owner's remediation steps when setting the reduced amount.

Other rulings included cuts ordered for properties on Hampton Road and McIntosh related to rehabilitation work by new owners. For 707 Hampton Road the magistrate reduced a $58,200 lien to $3,500 and an $87,000 lien to $4,500, both with 60-day payment deadlines, citing the buyers' investment plans and the lack of repeat violations under the new ownership.

The hearing also addressed several smaller or neighborhood cases in which the magistrate either extended compliance deadlines or set per-day fines for noncompliance. In the largest single concession, a case dating from 2008 that had accumulated $519,800 in fines was reduced to $15,000 with 180 days to pay, a reduction Barnard said she granted to facilitate sale and resolution after reviewing the property's long history and the trustee's efforts to remediate the site.

Barnard repeatedly urged respondents to pay by the ordered deadlines; she warned that failure to meet the reduced-payment schedule would cause fines to revert to their original amounts. "If you don't pay it within the specified time, the fines revert to the original amount," she told several respondents as she issued orders.

The rulings were entered from the bench after officers presented photographs and affidavits of posting. Several respondents said they had already spent money on repairs or had contractors scheduled and asked for additional time, which the magistrate frequently granted where the record showed active remediation.

The magistrate adjourned the session at 12:38 p.m.