Conley’s Code Violations on Hold

Conley's Code Violations on Hold

Last week, the Sand Paper reported on code violations at the Purple Heart Theater and that Community Development Director Walter Fleugel had agreed to hold those violations in abeyance if Conley met with several conditions set forth by the Town: a cease and desist letter that he has stopped using 2915 Estero Blvd for a membership organization office or for events, a Certificate of Use for the building to be used as an office for the Island Arts Foundation, and all the required inspections completed. As of this week, Conley has met those conditions and has now been approved by the Town to operate 2915 Estero as anoffice only.

"Basically, this means a home occupancy office, which means there can be no visitors since he has no parking,” said Fleugel. "But if he wants to come in and apply for special exceptions for COP and/or membership gatherings, he's more than welcome to. However, at that point he'd have to be re-inspected so the parking would become an issue again and the codes are a lot stricter for public assembly than for office occupancy.”

Walter explained that ‘held in abeyance' means that the Town will no longer move forward with the code violations unless Conley re-offends, and in that case all violations would be taken directly to the magistrate.

"Our objective is to get people into compliance, not to go around collecting fines,” he said. "When people want to come into compliance, we don't want to be punitive. Codes are what builds equity and holds everyone to the same standard – that's why they're good for a community.”