She won problem docks in divorce settlement

For years neighbors have complained that three docks and a lift on Leisure Beach are too long, making it hard for them to navigate boats.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP, Times Staff Writer
Published December 22, 2007

HUDSON - In the waterfront community of Leisure Beach, things haven't been so leisurely for Lynn Flareau.

She got a home with three docks and a boat lift from her divorce settlement a year ago, but along with it, she's inherited a 5-foot problem.

That's how much Pasco attorneys say the dock exceeds what the county allows.

Since her husband built the structures in 2002, Flareau's neighbors have campaigned to get them reduced or removed. They say the docks and lift jut out so much that it makes it difficult for their boats to pass through the channel leading to the Gulf of Mexico.

Pasco attorneys twice sued the Flareaus. In the latest lawsuit filed in August, the county's lawyers said: "The defendant's dock constitutes open, public, repeated, continuous, persistent and intentional violations of the Pasco County Code of Ordinances."

Which is where the story might end, except that another set of county officials are now saying, well, it doesn't.

In a memo sent to the county's top staff planners, assistant zoning administrator Lee Millard said "a literal interpretation of the provisions of this code would deprive the applicant of rights commonly enjoyed by other properties in the same zoning district." He recommended they give Flareau a variance from Pasco's Land Development Code.

This produced a lawsuit from Leisure Beach resident Steve Byle, and brought about a dozen Leisure Beach neighbors out to Flareau's variance hearing on Thursday.

Byle charged that the top staff planners of the Development Review Committee aren't even the right people to hear the variance request, since it affects an ordinance that's not in the Land Development Code.

"When news of this leaks out to the other waterfront communities - that the county will grant variances to all dock violators - the commissioners' phones will be ringing off the hook," Byle said.

It doesn't help that the County Attorney's Office dismissed the first lawsuit it brought against Flareau. Turns out its initial research on the canal wasn't up to snuff.

The assistant county attorney who worked that case used measurements that was "not 100 percent accurate," said Joe Richards, the county attorney who led the second lawsuit.

"We took another look at it and did a survey," he said. "We filed the second lawsuit because we continued to get complaints."

Byle says the courts must now decide.

But Richards says the matter rests with Development Review Committee. If the committee's planners grant the variance, that ends the case for him. If not, he'll push on with the lawsuit - even though he would have to contend with arguments from his own zoning department that support Flareau's case.

The neighbors want no variance.

"I have a 28-foot boat with a 101/2-foot beam," said Vince Maugeri. "I'm 76. If a strong wind comes and I hit that dock, I tear up my whole boat."

Two neighbors, Jerry and Taire Hudson, sympathize with Flareau.

"I'm all for not hurting people. Some people go too far," said Jerry Hudson, disapproving of the campaign against Flareau.

As for Flareau, she said she feels attacked. Nobody has ever approached her directly to discuss the problem, she said.

County planners postponed the hearing to Feb. 28, but Flareau said she would face her neighbors earlier than that.

"I'd like to attend the next homeowners meeting," she said.

Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at 813909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 21, 2007, 21:25:55]