Work is ordered to stop at upscale housing development Hernando Oaks until $1,200 in fines are paid.
By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published June 13, 2003
BROOKSVILLE - Developers of Hernando Oaks, an upscale housing development on U.S. 41, have been fined for three different building code violations over the past month.
The most recent violation could threaten Hernando Oaks' progress, because its developers were fined $1,200 and ordered to stop all work until fines are paid, at a Wednesday hearing. Special Master Ken Warnstadt agreed with the county that Hernando Oaks hired an unlicensed contractor and failed to get a permit for irrigation work.
Hernando Oaks is a gated, golf course community under construction at U.S. 41 and Powell Road, which will eventually include 975 homes, some costing as much as $600,000.
The development company also was fined for failing to get a building permit before putting up modular homes to serve as a temporary clubhouse, said Grant Tolbert, director of the county's development department.
Hernando Oaks also failed to get a building permit before installing a shelter to store its golf carts. The shelter wasn't on its county-approved master plan, Tolbert said.
Developer Ronald Dunston said many of his problems boil down to contractors telling him one thing and the county telling him another.
"We made some mistakes out there, because that is a huge project and I'm not going to get anything done right the first time," Dunston said Thursday evening. "But any time someone tells me they want something done, I immediately address the problem and fix it."
Dunston hired licensed landscaper Walter Mason with a company called Sunscape Landscaping to do the landscaping around the welcome center, Dunston said.
However, county inspector Jeff Thompson said he found Mason digging trenches and installing the sprinkler system during a routine field inspection of the project in early May.
Dunston said the company needed the irrigation system in quickly, so the landscaper started digging the ditches to save time for the licensed irrigation contractor.
Thompson said Sunscape had also started to lay piping for the sprinkler system.
Mason admitted the violations to Warnstadt, the county-appointed special master who adjudicates disputes between the county and contractors. Warnstadt fined Mason $650, said Joe Creech, director of county contractor licensing.
However, Hernando Oaks was also charged for hiring an unlicensed contractor and failing to get a permit for the irrigation work. But nobody represented Hernando Oaks at the Wednesday hearing, Creech said.
Warnstadt fined the company and issued the order for work to stop at Hernando Oaks until fines are paid. The stop order governs Hernando Oaks contracted work only, not the residential houses under construction by local builders.
On Thursday, Dunston said he knew about Sunscape's fines, but said he was unaware of Warnstadt's orders against Hernando Oaks, LLC.
"I had not been notified that I needed to appear in court," he said.
With the temporary clubhouse, Dunston said he assumed the company that put up the modular homes had gotten a building permit. With the golf cart shelter, Dunston said the company that provided it assured him he didn't need one.
But Dunston not only needed a building permit for the golf cart shelter, he needed to have it drawn on his original plans submitted to the county, Tolbert said.
The Planning and Zoning Commission approved Hernando Oaks' request for a conditional use permit for its already-standing golf cart shelter on Monday.
"We're trying to take the necessary steps to make sure everything is okay," said Donald Lacey of Coastal Engineering Associates who represented Hernando Oaks at the meeting.
Tolbert recently sat down in a meeting with Dunston and told him: "We don't want anymore of these types of situations coming up," Tolbert told the Times Thursday.
Dunston argued the county has lately come down hard on him and his project, which he said will bring the county much-needed tax dollars.
"I like Hernando County, and I want to do it right, but I think we ought to get a little appreciation," he said. "It makes me want to say, "Why didn't I go to Pasco or Citrus' when I just get scolded all the time for trying to build a first-class resort."
- Jennifer Liberto covers business and development in Hernando County and can be reached at 848-1434 or liberto@sptimes.com
