Judge orders Westside apartment owner to take immediate action to address poor living conditions

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A judge has granted the City of Jacksonville a temporary injunction requiring the owner of Colonial Forest Apartments to take immediate action at the property.

The News4JAX I-TEAM has been reporting on the deteriorating conditions at the property on Firestone Road with trash piling up, balconies and stairwells falling apart, and residents complaining about pests and squatters.

An attorney for the city said this was a route of last resort after 37 inspections took place in the past eight months and 21 notices and citations were issued to the owner.

READ | Full order granting City of Jacksonville’s motion for emergency temporary injunction

There are three major issues the city is asking the Colonial Forest owner to address:

• Trash pickup

• Pool maintenance

• Nine condemned stairwells on the property

Now that a temporary injunction has been granted, the city is giving the owner:

• Five days to obtain a contracted licensed waste hauler

• Five days to obtain a service provider to clean out, repair and maintain the swimming pool

• Two days to temporarily relocate residents in condemned units to a safer place to live

• Allow the city to immediately fix condemned staircases to eliminate the need for a fire watch

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An attorney for the city said the only reason residents in affected units haven’t been forced to move out is because the fire marshal’s office has staged fire personnel at the property 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

At Wednesday’s hearing, a regional manager and attorney for Colonial Forest were present over Zoom, but neither had much to say or much of an argument against the city’s requests.

“I am going to implore with my client to comply with the ordinance violations and do whatever it takes to get these issues corrected,” said Michael Franz, attorney for Colonial Forest.

If the owner fails to comply with the court order, the city will pursue an order holding them in contempt of court.

The judge at that point can start imposing contempt penalties and eventually start imposing criminal sanctions.

There is no date set for a final judgment hearing yet.