Compromise cools issue with code enforcement issue

Robert Nosworthy agreed with Longboat Key Code Enforcement officials that the individual who removed the air-conditioning unit outside his Neptune Avenue property was not permitted to do so.

A thief stole the unit, Nosworthy and his attorney, Jaime Garcia, told the Code Enforcement Board at its Sept. 12 meeting. And, in doing so, the alleged thief failed to obtain the necessary building permits required by the town.

“I don’t know how Mr. Nosworthy can get a building permit for a thief to steal an air-conditioning unit,” Garcia told the board.

Nosworthy also didn’t deny Code Enforcement’s charges that he placed a replacement air conditioning unit on his porch. But he and his attorney contended that he never hooked up the unit and that he taped the piping to deter another theft.

At the hearing, Code Enforcement Officer Heidi Micale presented photos, some taken the previous day, of the new unit, covered by a sheet, on the condominium’s porch. She also presented testimony from town inspector Tony Sapuppo and Nosworthy’s neighbor, Jeffrey Stewart, who said he was under the impression that Nosworthy was replacing the unit.

Upon questioning from board members, Nosworthy admitted that he never filed a police report for the theft of the original unit, which he said was “very old.” He said he has never hooked up the new unit at the Neptune Avenue property, which he bought in February 2010 with plans to use it in retirement, because his plans have been pushed back. He told the board that although he often checks on the property, he has never resided there and, as a result, has never needed an air-conditioning unit.

The testimony led one board member to question what could be considered an ordinance violation.

“Does mere placement on a slab constitute a violation?” asked board member Joel Mangel.

But Micale told the board that the codes are clear and that the presence of the unit gives cause for concern.

“It’s hurricane season,” she said. “That’s wind-born debris.”

Board member Beverly Shapiro questioned whether the unit has remained uninstalled. She asked Nosworthy if his unit had mildew, which he denied.

“That would suggest that the air-conditioning unit was working,” Shapiro said, citing recent temperatures that have soared into the 90s.

Micale told the board that Code Enforcement has officially recorded eight-and-a-half hours on the case, although it could have documented more time, and said that the town was asking Nosworthy to obtain a $54 permit. Shapiro asked if the whole matter — attorneys and all — could have been avoided for $54, leading Garcia to joke: “You make it sound like having a lawyer is a bad thing.”

In the end, the board reached a stipulation agreement that gives Nosworthy 36 days to obtain a permit to install the new air-conditioning unit — which is what Nosworthy said he had planned to do from the beginning.