Indialantic officials reviewing building code laws to avoid "man cave" situation
After seeing what is happening just north of them, officials in Indialantic are being proactive.
They’ve been following a legal battle taking place in a small neighborhood of unincorporated Brevard. That’s where a homeowner is attempting to build a “man cave” (that’s the actual wording on the permit application) made out of stacked shipping containers.
Brevard County code allows shipping containers to be used as storage but stacking of containers is not permitted. The homeowner’s approved application included plans for roughly 670-square-feet of living space, two balconies and a spiral staircase.
More: Beachside man tells county he should be able to keep "man cave" out of shipping containers
Despite that, the county approved the permit. Officials now that the approval was due to a "process failure."
Now the case is in the hands of a magistrate. County officials said no timetable has been given as to when a decision might be made.
Indialantic Mayor Mark McDermott brought this case up at the January city council meeting.
“We want to make sure something like that doesn’t happen here.” said Town Manager Michael Casey. “Our code enforcement building official will look into it and present the findings at our next meeting Feb. 14.”
Longtime attorney Paul Gougelman who has served as Indialantic’s legal representation for 30 years said if this building dispute can happen up the road, it can happen in Indialantic.
“The issues that are surfacing could happen anywhere in Florida,” Gougelman said. “The building code for Brevard County and for various cities is pretty much the same. Wherever you go in the state of Florida you’ll be operating under the same code.”
The "man cave” homeowner argued in court he should be able to keep the structure since he altered the containers from their original design. Court documents stated the project, estimated to cost roughly $68,000 so far, passed three inspections and the permit was individually reviewed more than 34 times.
Gougelman believes the homeowner will be required to take the structure down because “it sounds like this thing was built inconsistent with the code and it was probably not built consistent with what was applied for.”
He cited a Florida Supreme Court opinion dating back to the 1940s that states a permit can be revoked if a permit is issued based on mistaken facts.
“Everybody is entitled to their day in court,” Gougelman said. “I have been practicing law for 43 years and over the years I’ve had people come in my office and they’re very upset about how they have been wronged in some way and they are so angry they want to sue all the way to the Supreme Court and demand that I litigate. It usually lasts as long as my first bill. The question becomes how much money does he want to invest in fighting it. He can appeal it and if he gets a bad ruling he can try to get into the Florida Supreme Court. Yeah this takes time, but it also takes money. The question is how much staying power does he have. And how much is realistic.”
Repeated calls to the homeowner have gone unanswered.
Spitzer can be reached at mspitzer@floridatoday.com
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Indialantic officials reviewing building code laws to avoid "man cave" situation
