The News-Press: Local & State - Some Island Club residents set to sue
Builder misled them about decks, they say

By DENISE L. SCOTT, dscott@news-press.com
Published by news-press.com on June 6, 2004

Some residents of the Island Club in Estero plan to sue the builder they claim misled them into thinking it was legal to build lanais, decks and concrete pads on property they don’t own.

About 150 homeowners attended the informational meeting Friday night, which was meant to raise a legal fund against builder Ronald L. Davis, owner of RLD Homes.

Resident Michael Towns, who organized the meeting, said 207 of the 250 homes have either concrete pads, lanais or decks — all in violation of county code for extending onto common property. The lanais and decks also were built without permits.

“I’m no builder, but somebody knew you don’t build lanais on property you don’t own. It says it in (county) code,” Towns said.

The county had been negotiating with the community for two years to bring the structures into compliance. However, Commissioner Ray Judah recently ordered that the structures be torn down because of safety and flooding concerns.

Towns said his group, which is separate from the homeowners association board, hasn’t yet determined whether it will include any government agencies in the lawsuit.

“There’s also culpability with the county,” Towns said. “There were inspectors crawling all over the community, but people weren’t paying attention. They weren’t insisting the rules be followed.”


------------------
When you get an HOA, a municipality, a homeowner's organization, and a few lawyers in the mix, I'd say major litigation may not be far behind. What do you think?