ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A home on South Leonardi Street in a small St. Augustine neighborhood is now being foreclosed after years of complaints from neighbors.
News4JAX visited the property and spoke with Shane Peterson, who said the home has been in his family his entire life. Peterson explained that the city voted on January 26th to start the foreclosure process.
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Neighbors have long been concerned about the property, citing noise from heavy equipment and other disturbances. Peterson acknowledged that he used to run a large firewood operation at the home, which caused noise issues.
“If they foreclose, I’d be homeless,” Peterson said.
The process of foreclosure started at a city commission meeting in late January. The city said it had been working for about eight years on different complaints to bring the home into compliance and resolve liens but was unsuccessful.
City Attorney Isabelle Lopez discussed the liens in the recent city meeting.
“There’s two current recorded liens, $50,000 each that were heard and determined some time ago, over a year ago,” she said.
Barry Fox, the city’s code enforcement manager, said the liens are meant to encourage compliance.
“We stop our liens at $50,000 so that we try to get compliance from homeowners because our intent is not to be punitive,” Fox said. “We want to try to encourage getting things cleaned up, but currently the property is backed in non-compliance.”
Neighbors expressed relief about the foreclosure. Kathleen Brennan, who lives down the street, described the noise from log splitting and chainsaws as “just craziness.”
“We’re more than relieved,” Brennan said.
One complication the city faces is that multiple people are listed on the deed. Peterson, who is not currently on the deed, said he is trying to get his name added to explore options to prevent foreclosure. The city noted that if the fines are paid, foreclosure could be avoided.
Neighbors also raised concerns about police activity near the home.
City officials said foreclosure is rare; in the past 15 years, only two or three homes have been foreclosed on in St. Augustine.