The Fort Myers Beach Code Enforcement Special Magistrate will hold her first meeting in several months. There are 20 cases set to come before Magistrate Myrnabelle Roche next Thursday at 11AM. Sunset Grill owner Terry Persaud has 4 of those cases.
Two cases against Persaud involve renting beach chairs illegally on the beach. Persaud does not have a license to rent beach chairs behind his restaurant, to beachgoers walking by. His customers can use the chairs if they are dining at the restaurant.
It’s a case Persaud has lost before when code enforcement officers went undercover and Sunset Grill employees rented them chairs. He took the case to the magistrate with his attorney, said he was not renting chairs, and lost the case. He’s been racking up daily fines ever since. In March of 2021, Roche ruled that Persaud was in violation of her previous order not to rent the beach chairs. He was ordered to pay $9,575 in fines to the town. And, Roche warned Persaud to stop renting chairs and said the next time he violates her ruling it would be $500 per day. The cases are back before the magistrate for alleged repeat violations.
The third case involves the parking lot at the Sunset Grill. The violation in the case makes reference to a special exception Persaud was granted for the parking lot in March of 2020. The town claims Persaud is in violation of the special exception he was granted for that lot. The town says Persaud is in violation of the conditions of section 4 of that special exception of which there are 14.
The final case is for unsafe stairs and handrails.
The town and Persaud have been fighting with each other for years, so much so that the town is pursuing foreclosing on Persaud’s property.
Also on the magistrate’s docket is a case against the beach Baptist for recreational vehicles being parked at the church and the parking lot being used as a camp site.
And there’s one case for a turtle light violation against a beach resort.
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