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Official's frustration about condos simmers
By AMY WIMMER © St. Petersburg Times, published August 30, 2000 ST. PETE BEACH -- These days at City Hall, building official Mike Knotek is, in a word, frustrated. Frustrated with the developers of Mirabella townhomes, who still have not outlined firm plans to fix most of the roofs in the complex, even though their deadline to begin repairs is Friday. Frustrated with the county's construction licensing board, which has refused to consider the Mirabella case because it is tied up in a civil lawsuit, among other reasons. And frustrated with the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which responded to his complaint against the contractors with a four-sentence letter stating that the department could do nothing to help. "If there's nothing they can do, why do we have them?" Knotek asked. After 16 months of delays, code enforcement hearings before a special master, and regular promises that the developers would do the work, the special master last month decided to charge the developers $250 a day if the repairs do not begin by Sept. 1. Neither Bob Douglass, the lawyer and former St. Pete Beach mayor who heads Mirabella Development Corp., nor Lon Wadsworth, head of Wadsworth Construction Corp., the builder, attended the hearing. Douglass explained why, however, in a visit later that week to City Hall. Knotek said Douglass insisted that he thought the city had come to an agreement with his company about the work that needs to be completed. But the developer did not formalize the agreement with a written plan for repairs and a work schedule for the project. As a result, Knotek asked Special Master John Elias to begin levying fines against Mirabella if the developer did not begin the roof work by Friday. "Talking doesn't do away with the violation," Knotek said. "You have to really fix it. It seems like every time there's a meeting, he walks out of there thinking it's over, but you have to do the work." A roofing consultant hired by the city found that the 76-unit Mirabella townhomes, built in 1995 and 1996 behind Dolphin Village, was constructed with shoddy workmanship, and the roofers skimped on materials such as adhesive and roofing tiles. Some tiles were simply left in stacks on top of the roofs. As a result, some Mirabella residents complain of leaky roofs, and Knotek is concerned that heavy winds could turn the loose and cracked tiles into projectiles. The developers did submit a plan, but it fell short of the level of repairs that Knotek had demanded. Douglass detailed the plan in an Aug. 16 letter to City Hall, but among other items, it did not include the developer's promise to adhere each roof tile to the roof, either with adhesive or sealed nails. The letter also stated that Douglass expected the repair work to begin in a couple of weeks. Knotek said he has reached an agreement with the developers for work on Building No. 1 at Mirabella, but the other four that need extensive roof work -- the complex has six buildings altogether -- remain in limbo. Beyond the city's code enforcement action against Wadsworth and Douglass, Knotek also reported two of the roofing contractors who worked on Mirabella to the Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board and the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation. In addition to the roofers, Knotek filed a complaint against Wadsworth with the state. But an analyst from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation told Knotek that the state will not look into the matter because it does not have jurisdiction, and a committee of the county licensing board decided not to consider the case, mostly because it is entangled in a web of code enforcement actions and a civil suit. W.J. "Bill" Owens, executive director of the board, which is chaired by another St. Pete Beach developer, Paul Skipper, said the fact that Knotek came to work for the city after Mirabella was built also made the situation difficult to investigate. "As far as wrongdoing, both contractors claim that they didn't do anything wrong, and Mr. Knotek wasn't there at the time, and he can't point a finger at anyone except that there's a problem," Owens said. "Given that uncertainty, the board chose not to prosecute either of the roofers at this time."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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