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Blue Cypress Lake Stilt Houses <br /> May 27, 2015 <br /> Pa _ a 2 <br /> 1. Ejectment. If the court finds the property does belong to the County, one of the <br /> remedies available to the County is to get an order from the Court removing the <br /> occupants from the stilt houses as they built on land not owned by them and without <br /> County permission. <br /> 2. Violation of the County and Florida Building Codes. It is believed that the stilt <br /> houses were built without any building permits. If this is the case, the houses must <br /> obtain after-the-fact building permits and be inspected as to electrical, plumbing and <br /> structure in order to determine if the houses meet applicable code requirements. <br /> 3. Trespass. If the court does find that the property is owned by the County, the court <br /> could also find that the stilt houses and occupants are occupying the lands without <br /> permission and are thus trespassing on County owned land. <br /> 4. Theft of utilities. Based on information and belief, the stilt houses have running <br /> water and/or electricity. The only nearby source of the water would be the County <br /> owned well at Middleton Blue Cypress Lake Park or electric in the park. If the owners <br /> do not have permission to tap into the County's well or electric, the court could hold <br /> them liable for monetary damages. <br /> When this matter came before the Board in March 2015, the County Attorney's Office wished <br /> to avoid being ensnarled in this ongoing lawsuit. Now that we are joined in the suit, we must <br /> defend the matter and the first step in the process is to file the answer and counter claims. <br /> As was stated earlier, this does not mean that we must vigorously prosecute all of the <br /> counter claims, but they must be raised in the County's initial pleading. <br /> This matter was originally on the May 19, 2015 agenda, but removed on the request of the <br /> attorneys for the defendant owners. Attorneys for the defendant owners were asked to meet <br /> on this matter, but as of the date of this memo, no contact has been received from either <br /> counsel. <br /> Funding: There is no funding associated with this matter. <br /> Recommendation: The County Attorney's Office recommends the Board approve filing the <br /> answer and include the applicable counter claims therein. <br /> 121 <br />