DAYTONA BEACH — Like Lavell Waters, the 600-square-foot house on South Wild Olive Avenue he’s owned for nearly 30 years has seen better days. The same could be said for the neighborhood.
Waters, an 80-year-old veteran and movie buff, used to inspect nuclear warheads before falling on hard times. Water damage spans the back ceiling of the 79-year-old house and a fallen beam braces the foyer. And the neighborhood, just a short walk from striking views of the Atlantic Ocean and Halifax River, has been a focal point for residents’ complaints about beachside blight and code enforcement shortcomings.
Now circumstances are coming together in a way that could soon leave Waters homeless; that could mean the city-ordered destruction of the house even as a new owner seeks to make repairs; and that might signal a new and more aggressive approach to the city’s cleanup efforts — though Daytona Beach officials aren’t talking.
After The News-Journal published a series of stories called “Tarnished Jewel” documenting failed efforts to improve deteriorating beachside properties, droves of nearby residents and commercial property owners spoke out at public forums last year about the need for stronger city action. Much of the talk was about longstanding dilapidation, the large number of vacant properties and the inattention of absentee landlords.
The story of Waters and his Wild Olive home illustrates another side of that drive for progress, about how even well-meaning homeowners with limited means can be swept up in the current to beautify the beachside.
Pride of ownership
Even though the front porch is badly splintered now, Waters speaks with pride of how he built it himself. His collection of some 250 CDs and another thousand DVDs and VHS tapes — most of them arranged in alphabetical order — are prominently displayed inside, along with pictures from his youth, models of Studebakers and memories.
“A lot of people think this is not much,” said Waters, who goes by Max. “But it’s me — is what it is.”
After an honorable discharge from the Army in 1962, Waters bounced around between jobs in the area before retiring in 2003. He said he used to make extra money by renting out a second building on his property, but when the tenant moved out, and with a stated income of less than $800 a month, Waters needed more money to get by.
“That’s when I came up with the idea of a reverse mortgage,” he said. “Not a good idea.”
The reverse mortgage holder demanded that Waters have homeowner’s insurance, Waters said. At a rate of $2,200 a year, he said he couldn’t afford it.
Court records show Waters staved off a foreclosure in 2004. Since then, three Chapter 13 bankruptcies and a hurricane-prompted foreclosure delayed but couldn’t halt the inevitable.
“How do you lose 25 years of your life?” Waters said.
Howard Rollins of New Smyrna Beach bought the property at a May 11 auction for $67,900, court records show. Rollins said Waters hasn’t paid on the home since 2012 and that he bought the home legally.
Rollins visited the home Tuesday to let Waters know he would soon need to leave.
While he empathized with Waters’ plight, Rollins said that if he let Waters stay, Waters would become his tenant and be governed under eviction laws. Then it could be months before he would legally be required to leave. Rollins hopes to fix it up long before then.
“It’s an eyesore and it’s people’s neighborhood,” Rollins said.
But now there’s a new problem that could mean even his accelerated timeline is too late. When he showed up to see the house, Rollins was surprised to see a bright orange sign taped to the front door.
The city had condemned the property.
Rollins said the city told him he has 20 days to fix the roof or the home will be destroyed.
No comment
The News-Journal reached out to City Manager Jim Chisholm, City Commissioner Kelly White and officials in the code enforcement and public information office. No one returned calls or email messages about the house and city condemnation process.
The case seems unusual to Amy Pyle, a member of the city’s Beachside Redevelopment Board and a City Commission candidate after being a longtime advocate for cleaning up the beachside.
“This is very interesting because there is no existing code violation on this house,” said Pyle, who lives on the beachside. “It hasn’t been a long process where everybody’s notified and then it goes before the code enforcement board and then they make a judgment or a lien or a fine. None of that happened.
“The very first action on this house,” she continued, “was when the man stapled the (condemnation notice) on the house. Nobody’s arguing that it’s not in bad shape, but what city process brought it to this conclusion?”
Pyle said when she asked city officials about the home, she was told that the condemnation process is separate from code enforcement proceedings. City officials, whom Pyle would not name, told her they were surprised by the move as well.
“We’re all sort of wondering what’s going on,” she said. “You see these orange stickers are starting to pop up all over the place, and I would like to know what’s the process when they decide to tear a building down.”
Waters said the inspector who condemned the home never even set foot inside.
A year ago, city commissioners adopted changes in city code that expedite the city's procedures for dealing with condemnation of unsafe, dangerous and dilapidated structures. Before the changes were made, they were discussed at City Commission meetings.
Pyle argues the city should focus its efforts on the worst homes first. That includes homes that are significantly blighted to the point where they’re lowering property values and those that are havens for crime.
“I’m a big advocate for removing blight, a big advocate,” Pyle said. “But this case is totally different. It’s been a mess for a while, but if there’s no complaint and no inspection, how did it get condemned?”
Commissioners and city staffers have spoken at public meetings about the need for getting tougher on blighted properties. Plans for making that happen have been discussed and the action against Waters’ home may represent the implementation of a new policy.
City officials wouldn’t confirm if that’s the case.
‘Outlived them all’
Now facing condemnation on one front and legal removal on the other, Waters said he just needs some time to get situated.
Local veterans group Team Red White and Blue has found a place for Waters to store his belongings. Waters said the VA would provide him with temporary lodging at a hotel.
What happens in the long-term is less clear. Waters has never married. He has no kids and is the last of his family.
“I’ve outlived them all,” he said.
Now, with no support system in place, Waters faces the choices he made earlier in life alone.
“I feel for the guy,” Rollins said. “He told me, he didn’t expect to live this long.”