Neighbors to Sweetwater official: Tear down your unlawful construction

Court has ruled against Commissioner Jose Diaz, his backyard buildings

SWEETWATER, Fla. – In 2014 then-Sweetwater Mayor Jose Diaz promised to do the right thing about construction in his own backyard that was being done without proper permits.

"If I cannot finish it up, sir, I (will) demolish it," Diaz said.

Flash forward to the present day.

Diaz, now a city commissioner, has nearly finished the construction, but the buildings, which are not in compliance with codes, remain unauthorized to be there.

Diaz's neighbors, Lucy Castro and Octavio Guerrero, have been fighting against Diaz's backyard behemoth for several years.

It doesn't meet the city's setback requirements, but Diaz was able to get an approval from his city to start building back in 2010. But when that permit expired, Diaz kept building.  

When Local 10 News exposed the unlawful construction, Diaz went back before the planning and zoning board to try to get another variance and lost.

"Then he takes it on appeal to the city commission, where he is on that panel," the couple's attorney, Paul Savage, said.

Savage attended that meeting last year in which the then-vice mayor recused himself from voting on his own house project, but his colleagues on the commission voted to give him the variance.

"I'm not going to sign it. I'm not supporting it," Mayor Orlando Lopez said.

Lopez, who is Diaz's political foe, sided with the couple.

In fact, he refused to sign the resolution, prompting Diaz, despite his recusal and admitted conflict of interest, to sign the resolution himself.

"I don't know why Mr. Diaz would sign a resolution that approves a variance on his own house," Savage said.

Savage, meanwhile, immediately appealed the commission action, saying it was legally proper and warned Diaz to stop work while the matter was in the courts.

"If you build while the case is pending, you do so at your own risk," Savage said. "He just kept building."

Lopez then discovered that Sweetwater city attorney Guillermo Cuadra had hired an outside attorney to represent the city in the Diaz case without required authorization from the commission. The commission then voted to authorize the payments retroactively. The city has racked up $50,000 in bills related to the Diaz case to date, according to Lopez, who said he believe the hiring of the outside attorney amounted to special treatment for Diaz because of his position in the city. 

"They are using city funds to defend a private individual," Lopez said.

Cuadra said he hired the outside attorney to represent the city in the case and acknowledged that he was should have obtained initial approval from the commission. Despite the efforts of attorneys representing Diaz and the city, the appellate court ruled against Diaz in June on the grounds that the vote on the Diaz property wasn't allowed under the law. 

"This resolution was negated. It was erased," Savage said.

Diaz has been defiant in the face of the court ruling.

When Local 10 News investigative reporter Bob Norman pointed out that his construction is currently not permitted by law, Diaz said, "No, it's not illegal, my friend. Illegal is something that you do without permission."

"The court has thrown it out," Norman said.

"The court said that the procedure was wrong, not the construction," Diaz countered.

"Well, if the procedure is wrong, then the construction is wrong, because it's against the rules," Norman said.

"That's your opinion," Diaz said with a laugh.

 Diaz indicated the commission would be pass a new law related to the case. 

Shortly after that interview, an item was placed on the agenda for Monday night's commission meeting by Vice Mayor Jose Bergouignan, Diaz's friend, to relax permitting rules across the entire city and allow use of more yard area. It would also keep variances from expiring in retroactive fashion in a way that would directly benefit Diaz.

Bergouignian, prior to the meeting, said he didn't propose the change in the law for the benefit of Diaz. When the item came up, Diaz recused himself from the vote. 

Diaz wasn't talking at Monday's meeting when Norman asked him about signing the approval for his own house.

"Is this resolution that's up tonight, is that geared towards helping you in your situation with your house?" Norman said.

"You are doing an excellent job, sir," Diaz said. "But I have nothing to tell you."

Then the vice mayor pulled it from discussion.

"I'd like to defer this item until after the (Diaz) case is done so that it'll be fair to everybody," he said.

For Savage and his clients, it was a victory.

"The commission blinked," Savage said.

But the construction remains standing, as does the commissioner's neighbors' call to tear it down, but Diaz said that wasn't going to happen.  

"You said that if it's not proper, you will demolish," Norman said.

"No, I won't," Diaz said. "Everything is legal. Everything is documented."

Diaz said he intends to go back to his city to obtain the variance for his backyard property.