Official sheds light on receiving code citation

The county attorney says he was cited for moving dirt onto another property because the dirt was still technically his.

By ALISA ULFERTS

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 23, 2000

DADE CITY -- County Attorney Robert Sumner was out of town last week when county commissioners first learned that he'd been cited by the county Code Enforcement division for developing without a permit.

But during Tuesday night's County Commission meeting, Sumner explained to his five elected bosses how he, the county official charged with knowing and interpreting the county's laws, ran afoul of section 302.1 of ordinance 89.21.

Sumner had been cited Feb. 16 for moving claylike fill dirt from his property to the adjacent 1,700-acre Little Everglades Ranch, north of Dade City off Jordan Road, without a permit.

Sumner told commissioners the person to whom he was selling the property next to the ranch moved the dirt and that Sumner was cited because the sale had not yet closed and he was still the official owner.

County code enforcement officials told the Times last week that Sumner had moved the dirt.

Sumner said the property buyer was filling in sections of the ranch, which will be used next month for the planned steeplechase race. "The property has been owned by my brother, my sister and I since my father died," Sumner explained to commissioners. He and his siblings entered into a contract to sell the property, but the closing was delayed for several reasons, including a missing signature from Sumner's brother, who lives in Georgia.

"My understanding is the reason for the red flag was that the property that the clay was coming from was not in the same ownership" as the property to which it was being taken, Sumner said. Sumner no longer owns the parcel. The sale closed on Monday, he told commissioners.

In the citation, Sumner was given 30 days to get a permit, move the dirt or appear before the county Code Enforcement board. Sumner told commissioners the matter had been resolved.

"The violation was corrected when (the buyer) got the permit," Sumner said.

Times staff writer Alisa Ulferts covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is ulferts@sptimes.com.

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