Lake Worth, a dumping ground

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The question of the day is--How would you like your neighborhood to be screwed in this fashion? How would you like someone to come into your neighborhood and build a monstrosity just because he can? This is an attractive neighborhood with well kept houses until this was allowed to happen. It looks more like a commercial structure that should be in an industrial setting, not a residential neighborhood.

According to a third party who spoke with the owner,
this cement block atrocity was built for Mr. Sprague's boats.
Two entries to the garage:  one on D Street
 and the other on 17th Ave N.

Is this a joke, or what?

We have a code Department; We have a Building Department; We have a Planning and Zoning Department. Someone suggested that the reason this was allowed to happen was more than likely  City Manager Bornstein's decision to end the Zoning in Progress right after he was hired. Should we then blame this on that commission majority led by Mayor Pam Triolo that did not listen to the Planning and Zoning board or anyone else for that matter?

The neighboring residents invested their life savings in their homes and look what happens. It is no wonder Lake Worth continues to go to slum and blight. Developers and moochers know they can come here and get away with just about anything...think a $1.6  million legal settlement.  When asked, Mr. Sprague says he is going to live in that little tiny wreck of a building behind this humongous garage he just built.  Neighbors are furious and can you blame them? Single family residential neighborhoods are no longer sacrosanct in Lake Worth. Anything goes it seems. Just "get it off our plate."

Michael Bornstein said his main mission as city manager was to clean up the slum and blight and get rid of the lawsuits. He got rid of one lawsuit, blaming all the wrong people, that has cost us dearly but what about this? As far as contracts are concerned, can we please begin to do our due diligence before we sign with anyone. Next, get our Code tightened up. 

STEVEN A. SPRAGUE, identified himself as Steven Sprague Insurance company to my source. He sells health and life insurance, homeowners and renters, auto insurance and more. Sprague bought this property in August 2011 for $26,750. There is a little house on the property consisting of 1,100 sq feet that had code violations up the kazoo. Mr. Sprague said he paid the violation fees but nothing on the little structure has been corrected from what I have been told. He says he has done everything by the book. If our "book" allows this sort of thing, it needs to be re-written.

The garage that was built is twice the size of the little house that no one in his right mind would occupy. The attraction for this buyer was the 50 x 150 foot lot. The windows are boarded up and the front door is hanging by a thread. You could literally blow the entire structure over with a feather.

According to the same source who spoke to Mr. Sprague, as well as public records, (unless there are two Steven A. Spragues) this is his "real world" and where he resides in West Palm Beach although the records in Lake Worth show his only address as North D and 17th but no one lives there. I would bet anything West Palm Beach would not allow a garage to be built such as this in a residential neighborhood.

One of the property owners across the street on N D Street who has lived there for over 30 years, recently placed her property on the market for sale and will be getting the heck out of town. She is totally appalled at what happened in her immediate neighborhood not to mention what is going on all over the City of Lake Worth. She wonders why Lake Worth is not protecting homeowners from this sort of thing.