Article
Courtesy of the St. Petersburg Times
By
WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Posted June 18, 2006
ST. PETERSBURG - Condominium disputes are fodder
for advice columns, the basis of lawsuits and the cause of fractured
friendships. A resident of an upscale downtown St. Petersburg
condominium tower even challenged another to a duel at dawn.
At Bridgeton North, a 64-unit condominium near the
Sunshine Skyway bridge, disputes are being blamed for death threats,
vandalized cars, requests for restraining orders, recall petitions and
an organized effort to kick out an unwanted couple.
The trouble escalated about a year ago after an
engineering company said the nine-story building at 7100 Sunshine Skyway
Lane needed about $1.5-million in repairs. Residents balked at the cost
and launched a bid to recall the majority of their board.
Polly Demma, 52, and her husband, Albert, 78,
hired the engineering firm that issued the dire report. They then sued
the condo association to force it to fix problems cited by the firm.
Since then, Polly Demma said, they have become pariahs in the
condominium that boasts Tampa Bay as its back yard.
The president and vice president of the condo
board say the Demmas are simply litigious. They say the building is
structurally sound and that all necessary repairs have been made. The
association's lawyer is suggesting that Bridgeton owners buy out the
Demmas and send them packing. But Polly Demma, who ran for state
representative in 1990 and for state education commissioner in 1994,
insists that she and her husband are staying put.
"We found this place and absolutely fell in
love with it,'' she said of their two-bedroom, two-bath unit on the
fourth floor. "This is where we want to spend the rest of our
lives.''
She and her husband just want the building to be
safe, she said.
Caston Lynch, president of the condo board, said
the $1.5-million price tag for repairs would have cost each unit owner
about $40,000.
Sitting at her dining room table recently,
surrounded by files of documents relating to the dispute, Polly Demma
said things quickly turned sour after she and her husband bought their
apartment in 1998. As they gutted the unit, she said, they found mildew
and stains behind wallpaper on an exterior wall. The wall also contained
asbestos, she said. The couple discovered that the roof over the balcony
leaked and that water came in through the windows and sliding glass
door, Demma said. They sued the former owner of the apartment for not
disclosing the leak in the exterior wall, she said.
Demma said that last hurricane season, 2 inches of
water washed into the unit and that when it rains heavily, as it did
recently during Tropical Storm Alberto, a puddle forms on the balcony.
Last week as the wind whipped up outside, "It
sounded like my porch was going to fall off,'' she said.
Carter Karins, of Karins Engineering Group, said
that when his firm studied the building, it found "some significant
problems with deteriorating concrete caused by the saltwater from the
gulf ... and lots of evidence of moisture damage with the windows and
sliding glass doors.''
He doesn't think the building "is in danger
of imminent collapse,'' Karins said, but repairs will become more
expensive over time.
Condo association officials said they've addressed
the problems. Lynch, the president, said only three balconies needed
repair.
"The person on the board at the time wanted
all the porches replaced,'' he said.
A former president, Jim Mineo, who no longer lives
at Bridgeton, said the balconies had begun to deteriorate. Other areas
of the building also needed to be repaired, said Mineo, adding that he
had advocated having the work done in phases. Some board members
disagreed, and rumors and accusations began to make the rounds, he said.
"There were a lot of things said that were
not true and there were a lot of scare tactics moneywise,'' said Mineo,
who sold his unit in December. "There are still leaks throughout
the building. ... The whole exterior of the building needs to be
caulked. If anybody in their right mind would sit down and read the
engineers' report, they would realize that the current board is not
taking corrective action to remedy or take care of the building.''
St. Petersburg lawyer Michael Allweiss is
representing the association in its dispute with the Demmas.
"I don't understand why they simply don't
move somewhere that would make them more happy,'' he said. "My
recommendation is that the people at Bridgeton come up with the money to
buy these people out at fair market value or else they'll be tormented
for the rest of their lives.''
The majority of condo owners have signed a
petition asking the Demmas to leave, Allweiss said. "That's how bad
it is. They had a conflict there recently where they threatened a nun
who is a resident of the building.''
This month, two neighbors, Frances H. Dory, 82,
and J. Richard Fretz, also 82, petitioned for a restraining order
against the Demmas. In his petition, Fretz said Polly Demma swore at him
and said "in a very harsh tone of voice'' that she was going to get
even with him.
In hers, Dory stated that she avoids any encounter
with Polly Demma and that when she turns away, Demma "makes nasty
remarks.'' She said she would like to use the garage "without
fear.''
Ruby Kelly Pfaus, who has lived at Bridgeton since
1983, defended the Demmas and described them as "fine people'' who
have been "so ill treated in the building.''
During a telephone interview from Poland, Ohio,
where she lives for three months of the year, Pfaus said attempts to
correct problems at the Demmas' apartment had been "less than
sincere.''
"I have never been in the Demmas'
condominium, but I know that there had been numerous problems when the
previous owners were there,'' she said.
The condo association has become vindictive, said
Polly Demma, who teaches at Robinson High School in Tampa. Paul Cavonis,
the Seminole lawyer who is representing her and her husband in two
lawsuits against Bridgeton North, agreed.
"These condominium disputes can be
acrimonious. This particular one is particularly bad,'' he said.
Records show that St. Petersburg police have
responded to nearly a dozen incidents involving the Demmas since 2001.
Allweiss, the condominium's lawyer, said the
Demmas' lawsuits have no merit.
One lawsuit was filed to force the condo
association to repair the building, specifically the balconies and the
garage. In their second suit, the Demmas want condo officials to allow
repairmen access to their rooftop air-conditioning unit. |