CITY OF COCOA BEACH, FLORIDA, PETITIONER,
v.
BRUCE FOUNTAIN AND JENNIFER FOUNTAIN, RESPONDENTS
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The court quashed the lower court's reversal of a code enforcement board decision, holding that a sailboat under construction in a residential zone violates the city ordinance prohibiting boats exceeding twenty-six feet unless operable, in regular use, and properly licensed.
A sailboat under construction that does not meet the statutory exceptions for boats in residential zones violates the ordinance, and the lower court erred in reversing the Board's enforcement decision.
[1] A sailboat under construction that does not satisfy statutory exceptions requiring the boat to be operable, in regular use, and properly licensed violates an ordinance pr…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe City of Cocoa Beach's Code Enforcement Board determined that respondents violated city ordinances by parking a large sailboat on residential prope…
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Petitioner seeks review of an order that reversed the decision of its Code Enforcement Board (“the Board”). The Board determined that Respondents violated two distinct city ordinances by parking a large sailboat on property zoned for residential use. In reversing the decision of the Board, the lower court addressed one of the potential violations1 but failed to address the Board’s conclusion that Respondents also violated section 4-76 of the ordinance. That section prohibits, among other things, the parking of boats in excess of twenty-six feet in a residential zone unless certain exceptions apply. The exceptions require, inter alia, that the boat “be operable,” as well as “in regular use, and have a current license and current registration.” Cocoa Beach, Fla., Code § 4-76A.3.Í. (2010). The instant boat meets none of these criteria.
Respondents postulate that the lower court must have determined that the object in question is not a “boat,” because it is under construction and not yet completed. To reach such a conclusion, however, the lower court would have departed from its permissible standard of review by invading the fact-finding province of the Board and applied an incorrect legal standard in its construction of the ordinance. Accordingly, we quash the decision under review.
PETITION GRANTED; ORDER QUASHED.
SAWAYA, TORPY and COHEN, JJ„ concur.