Article Courtesy of The Palm Beach Post
By Christine Stapleton

Published August 10, 2016

WEST PALM BEACH — Residents of Green Terrace condominiums in West Palm Beach — bracing for their water to be shut off Thursday — got another reprieve when city officials reluctantly decided to give the homeowner’s association until Tuesday to pay its $30,000 delinquent water bill.

The city posted notices on residents’ doors that it intended to shut off the water on Thursday if the bill was not paid. However, the city balked after a judge declined to hold a hearing Thursday morning about whether the homeowner’s association had enough money to pay its bill.

The condominium board, which is being sued by some residents, had hoped Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Catherine Brunson would hold a hearing and dissolve an injunction, which it claims is preventing the board from paying the bill. Brunson declined, saying her routine morning calendar call was not the appropriate time for such a complex hearing.

“I hate being in this situation,” said West Palm Beach City Administrator Jeff Green, who attended the hearing. The city is helping residents who are disabled, elderly or have children find alternative housing, he said. “I don’t think the homeowners’ association is doing what they should do.”

Several residents who attended the hearing said their next stop was a grocery store, where they would buy bottled water. But Green said Thursday the city would grant the reprieve.

The Green Terrace condominium on Georgia Avenue near Belvedere Road in West Palm Beach on March 26, 2014. (Richard Graulich / ... read more

The city turned off the water on July 7 but turned it on a day later after learning from The Palm Beach Post that residents had no warning.

On July 11, the judge ordered the board to pay whatever necessary to keep the water flowing. To help the board comply, the city set up a payment plan but Green Terrace did not make the payments, Green said. On Wednesday, the homeowners’ association paid $2,500 — not enough to keep the water flowing.

The water woes at Green Terrace are the latest salvo in a bitter lawsuit between the condo board, including one-time sober home owner Ken Bailynson, and residents who fear Bailynson is trying to take over the complex. He owns 44 units.

In September 2014, the FBI raided the complex on Georgia Avenue off Belvedere Road, then the location of Good Decisions Sober Living facility, owned by Bailynson. No charges have been filed. Bailynson shut down the business but continued to buy apartments.