Counties — Code enforcement — Unpermitted construction — On appeal of county code enforcement board order finding property owner in violation of county code for building structure without permits and approved inspections, review is limited to record before enforcement board — Argument regarding land patent that allegedly grants owner ability to prohibit government entry onto property is stricken where no copy of land patent was submitted into record below — Search and seizure — Code enforcement officers were authorized to travel down road on which property was located and conduct visual inspections from road, although road was privately maintained, where nursery open to the public was located at entrance to road and there was no gate or “no trespassing” sign preventing public access to road — Code enforcement inspections from roadway do not constitute searches under Fourth Amendment, and officers were not required to obtain consent or warrants prior to inspections — Code enforcement officers’ entry onto property for purpose of posting notice of violation did not violate Fourth Amendment — No merit to argument that code enforcement officers committed trespass by entering onto property where there is no evidence that any officer was adjudicated guilty of any trespass offense — Right to Farm Act — Argument that Right to Farm Act precludes enforcement of county code fails — Being farmer does not exempt property owner from complying with local laws and ordinances, land at issue was zoned residential rather than agricultural, and arguments about Act were not raised below — Argument that evidence from inspections should be suppressed as fruit of poisonous tree fails because inspections conducted from road open to public did not violate Fourth Amendment — Finally, owner failed to submit proper transcript of proceedings before the board or proper statement of facts in lieu of transcript to support claim that code enforcement board committed reversible error
Legal Topics
Counties — Code enforcement — Unpermitted construction
Dec 30th, 2025 in by admin
