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City weighs options on halted garage
The first option, buying the property owners' house, already has been rejected.
By LORRI HELFAND
Published June 7, 2006
LARGO - A couple who was ordered to stop building a 2,000-square-foot garage in their back yard, despite receiving a city permit to build it, has offered the city three options to avoid a lawsuit.
One option would require the city to buy Michael and Rose Brown's home at 2860 Vernon Terrace, and reimburse them for the amount spent on the project so far.
Largo City Manager Steve Stanton called that option "absurd."
"We have no intention of buying the house," Stanton said Tuesday.
But city Community Development director Mike Staffopoulos said other options offered by the couple remain on the table.
City officials, who issued the permit for the garage in April, learned they did so by mistake after neighbors complained that steel beams visible from their yards were as high as some of their two-story homes.
Staffopoulos said the structure didn't comply with the city's development code because it was not compatible with other structures in the neighborhood. On May 15, he ordered work halted on the project.
Rose Brown declined comment on the matter. Her husband, Michael, and her attorney, Aubrey O. Dicus Jr., also did not return calls seeking comment.
A letter from Dicus, dated May 22, said the Browns purchased the property Feb. 23 intending to add the garage to store a 37-foot recreational vehicle, a 24-foot boat, a 20-foot trailer, a van, a truck and tools.
The couple has offered two other remedies.
In the Browns' preferred option, the city would permit a concrete foundation, parking pad and driveway extension, which have already been installed. The couple would then demolish the partially constructed steel structure and cover all their own costs to date, except legal fees. And the city would finance building a new garage compatible with the neighborhood.
In the other option, the Browns are asking the city to remove the installed concrete and reimburse them for all costs associated with the project. Largo also would be financially responsible for any damage to the house or pool during the demolition.
The couple listed their total costs for the project at $73,772.37, plus attorney fees and costs. Staffopoulos has requested verification of those expenses.
Lorri Helfand can be reached at 445-4155 or at lorri@sptimes.com
[Last modified June 7, 2006, 02:00:17]
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