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July 6, 2010 Memo for Gem Lake City Council Page 4 of 4 which applies to any work requiring a permit which is done before the permit is obtained. The "special inspection fee" is equal to the base permit fee, effectively doubling the permit fee. The City may also issue misdemeanor citations to the landowners for conducting fill activities without a permit in violation of the Zoning Ordinance, the Building Code, or both regulations. In practice, I normally recommend using a citation as a way to seize the attention of an owner who is not responding. Once the person appears in court, the emphasis shifts back to getting the person to obtain the building permit after the fact, make any required corrections, and pay the required fees and penalties. The ticket usually proceeds to trial or plea only if the person refuses to cooperate, and then the sentence usually calls for holding back fines and jail time to make the person to obtain their perniit. In short, if the offending property owner is responding and willing to pay for an after the fact permit, there is not much more to be obtained by the misdemeanor citation. I do not believe that a civil action seeking the removal of the beach is possible. A removal action is a request for an injunction to prevent the ongoing acts (the land use) of a landowner that violate the zoning code. The failure to get a permit is not going to support an order making the owner cease the land use. First, it is not directly related to the legal wrong of failing to submit an application; the land use is not just legal, but one to which the owner is entitled under the zoning code. Second, and of greater import for the injunction, the City can only obtain an injunction if it proves that it has "no adequate remedy at law." Here, the law already provides an "adequate remedy" for an owner's failure to get a permit before starting work: the ability to double the permit fee. TSO/tso Encl J Respectfully yours, KELLY & LEMMONS, P.A. Trevor S. Oliver