Traska v. Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County
A property owner invoked FLUEDRA ( tion 70.51, Fla. Stat.) to resolve a code-enforcement dispute; after the County Commission rejected a tentative settlement, the County declared the 165-day statutory period expired and the special magistrate never filed the required written recommendation. The trial court quashed the alternative writ and dismissed the mandamus complaint with prejudice after a non-evidentiary hearing. The Fifth DCA reversed, holding the complaint stated a plausible claim to compel the ministerial duty under section 70.51(19) to prepare and file a written recommendation, and that disputed facts (including whether the parties extended the 165-day period by conduct) had to be resolved on evidence, not argument.
Key facts
- Property owner Traska invoked FLUEDRA (Fla. Stat. § 70.51) to resolve a code-enforcement dispute with Brevard County; after the County Commission rejected a tentative settlement, the County declared the 165-day statutory period expired without the special magistrate filing a required written recommendation.
- Traska filed a mandamus complaint; the trial court held a non-evidentiary hearing on motions and quashed the alternative writ, dismissing the complaint with prejudice based on competing oral arguments about whether the parties had extended the statutory period.
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Why it matters
This is one of the few appellate decisions construing FLUEDRA's procedural machinery, and it gives land-use practitioners a mandamus pathway when a local government abandons the section 70.51 process after the 165-day… — full analysis with a trial
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