By John Pacenti
One way to stoke easygoing Ocean Ridge Mayor Geoff Pugh’s ire: abandon or fail to maintain a property.
It wasn’t exactly the shoot-out at the OK Corral, but Pugh wasn’t buying what a builder was selling at the Sept. 8 commission meeting when the new out-of-town owners of a once-abandoned construction site came looking for mercy to lift $75,000 in fines on the property.
“Why would I listen? We have asked you over and over and over again for years to do something about the property. You didn’t listen to the town, but then you’re coming to us, and we’re supposed to listen? I don’t think so,” Pugh told contractor Stephen Petrucci of Bella Homes.
Petrucci said the reason that the construction site at 113 Island Drive was abandoned was that the town would not allow work on what was then a spec house when the development order expired.
“I disagree that it was we who stopped your project. You stopped your own project,” Pugh said. “You didn’t run the project good enough.”
Petrucci said the plan was to construct a residence on the property purchased in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then the architect died, and the replacement he hired was unresponsive. “It was really a disaster for me,” he said.
Pugh said that the undeveloped property had bedeviled neighbors. “I mean literally, their back porch, their pool was covered in dirt,” the mayor said.
Caught in the crossfire were new owners Charlie and Lisa Dahlem of Louisville, Kentucky. The couple said they have roots in the area and even got married at the Ocean Club on the beach. The couple bought the property in April 2024, contingent on Petrucci’s building their dream home.
Charlie Dahlem is vice president of The Dahlem Company, a commercial real estate company. He presented a slide of the impressive home he plans to build on the property.
“We purchased the land and did not know this cloud was hanging over us, not at all. It was a surprise to us,” he said.
Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy wondered if Petrucci was focused on building his other homes in the town rather than addressing the mess.
Vice Mayor Steve Coz told the Dahlems, “I think you have a problem on your side of the table that doesn’t involve us, so I don’t understand why we’re getting dragged into it.”
Commissioner Dave Hutchins said, “It’s not our job to take care of this.”
That’s when Petrucci tried to shift the blame to the town for not allowing his spec home construction to continue without a development order.
“You made the town suffer, and those people suffer over there for years — years,” Pugh said. “Some apologies are not acceptable.”
Town Attorney Christy Goddeau said if an owner of a property is involved in a code enforcement proceeding, receives notice and then transfers the property, “you must provide notice to the new owners; otherwise, there is a presumption of fraud under Florida statute.”
The commission voted no to the request to waive the fine, but without prejudice. This would allow the Dahlems to come back before the panel to address the issue if they come to an understanding with Petrucci, Goddeau said.
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