Parking on empty lots (Punta Gorda: houses, construction, contractor)

[nbposter]

It must be a Florida thing! Up north where I am from you never see this, but here in Punta Gorda Isles it seems to be the norm, not only cars but construction trucks too. I wonder if the owners of these lots know people are doing this. Today there is an event called “share the love for the kids” home tours. Well it rained over an inch the other day and rained all last night and still is this morning. Sure enough there are a few lots close to one of the homes that is open touring. People are parking on these lots and it’s muddy and no doubt will be gouged out with tire marks in these lots for a very long time. I just wonder why everyone thinks it’s ok to trespass on these lots without permission? What if someone fell and hurt themselves on a private lot, could they sue the owner? And by the end of the day there will be a muddy mess all over the lots when everyone is gone, but for those of us who live by the lots we will be looking at the mess for a very long time come!

[Ron61]

I tend to agree with your assessment. When we first moved here we noticed how people will park on someone else’s lot. It took us by surprise because where we come from that is unacceptable because it would be considered trespassing. I too have seen numerous lots with very deep ruts in them that someone else(the owner)will have to fill in. Just seems very disrespectful to me, but as I’m always learning about Florida, things are done differently here.

[twowilldo]

We have watched and wondered about that too. If I had an empty lot here I would plant something across the front to keep people off of it.

Going one step farther, a few of our neighbors are having their docks replaced. The contractor has been coming into the canal with a big barge/crane and dumping large hunks of concrete and old pilings onto two nearby empty lots. To clean up the pile, they bring in a big front end loader (complete with a large dump truck and heavy trailer) and just tear everything up in the worst way. Fortunately they just got the last of it before the rain moved in. There are actually 2 lots there side by side. The guy 3 houses down from us owns one of the lots and we watched him walk out there and chase the guys off his land. We don't know that neighbor but after seeing him do that it made is pretty sure people help themselves because they figure nobody is there to say no.

[JERSEY MAN]

Originally Posted by twowilldo

We have watched and wondered about that too. If I had an empty lot here I would plant something across the front to keep people off of it.

Going one step farther, a few of our neighbors are having their docks replaced. The contractor has been coming into the canal with a big barge/crane and dumping large hunks of concrete and old pilings onto two nearby empty lots. To clean up the pile, they bring in a big front end loader (complete with a large dump truck and heavy trailer) and just tear everything up in the worst way. Fortunately they just got the last of it before the rain moved in. There are actually 2 lots there side by side. The guy 3 houses down from us owns one of the lots and we watched him walk out there and chase the guys off his land. We don't know that neighbor but after seeing him do that it made is pretty sure people help themselves because they figure nobody is there to say no.

Empty lots on the water can be used by the dock building companies in Punta Gorda. The seawalls are owned by the city and it's their responsibility for repair work and cutting the grass. I'm having a dock installed now and the company is using the lot 2 doors down for debris removal, delivery of pilings, parking the barge next to it, parking trucks while working and so forth.

[twowilldo]

Originally Posted by JERSEY MAN

Empty lots on the water can be used by the dock building companies in Punta Gorda. The seawalls are owned by the city and it's their responsibility for repair work and cutting the grass. I'm having a dock installed now and the company is using the lot 2 doors down for debris removal, delivery of pilings, parking the barge next to it, parking trucks while working and so forth.

Yes, I know they own and maintain the walls and caps, we pay into the fund for that every year. We had an addition built onto our dock last April, so we didn't have debris from a tear out, but Parr's barge, materials and equipment stayed on our property.

We watched our neighbor chase them off of his lot so they used the one next to it. Haven't asked the him about how that all works, but absolutely nobody parks on his lot, for any reason. So if in the absence of empty lots (when the place is all built out) will they then have free reign over the built up lots as well? It is happening here pretty quickly all around us.

[JERSEY MAN]

Originally Posted by twowilldo

Yes, I know they own and maintain the walls and caps, we pay into the fund for that every year. We had an addition built onto our dock last April, so we didn't have debris from a tear out, but Parr's barge, materials and equipment stayed on our property.

We watched our neighbor chase them off of his lot so they used the one next to it. Haven't asked the him about how that all works, but absolutely nobody parks on his lot, for any reason. So if in the absence of empty lots (when the place is all built out) will they then have free reign over the built up lots as well? It is happening here pretty quickly all around us.

Ask the city manager. I don't see a problem with the use of the lots as long as they clean up after themselves, that's one thing the city inspectors check. I don't think you can rope, fence or deny the use of the empty lots for permitted dock work . Heck after Hurricane Irma the city had 25 miles of seawall to replace and private companies had to do the docks over on many properties. It would take years if they couldn't use the empty lots.

[mrs.cool]

Our pool company had to use the empty lot next to us to get their equipment to our back yard. I found out who owned it and messaged the 2 principles of the LLC listed and asked for permission. A month after the pool had started, I got permission from one of them. But, according to our pool salesman, they are required by whoever is in charge of such things, to repair a lot back to the way they found it. In our case, that will include taking out the culvert they had to put in.

[twowilldo]

Originally Posted by mrs.cool

Our pool company had to use the empty lot next to us to get their equipment to our back yard. I found out who owned it and messaged the 2 principles of the LLC listed and asked for permission. A month after the pool had started, I got permission from one of them. But, according to our pool salesman, they are required by whoever is in charge of such things, to repair a lot back to the way they found it. In our case, that will include taking out the culvert they had to put in.

Good to know, thanks!

[JERSEY MAN]

Originally Posted by mrs.cool

Our pool company had to use the empty lot next to us to get their equipment to our back yard. I found out who owned it and messaged the 2 principles of the LLC listed and asked for permission. A month after the pool had started, I got permission from one of them. But, according to our pool salesman, they are required by whoever is in charge of such things, to repair a lot back to the way they found it. In our case, that will include taking out the culvert they had to put in.

We had to get a "Right of Way" permit from the County on our last dock install. The inspector came out after the job was done and made sure the land was returned to the original condition.

[twowilldo]

Originally Posted by JERSEY MAN

We had to get a "Right of Way" permit from the County on our last dock install. The inspector came out after the job was done and made sure the land was returned to the original condition.

Interesting. Not sure if it was because our job was completely contained on the property, as the only permit I recall was the one that Parr got for the actual addition of the new portion. We were out there when the inspector came and all he did was some measuring, not much else...

This information is all helpful because we have talked about having the older part of the dock replaced down the road... and it will be nice to know what is coming.