Coral Springs shopping center owner appeals $120,600 fire code fine after special magistrate reduces original penalty
Coral Springs, Florida – A Coral Springs shopping center owner is challenging a city fire code fine in Broward County Circuit Court after a special magistrate reduced the original penalty but declined to eliminate it.
Harvest International Investments LLC, which owns the property at 9617-9641 Westview Drive in the Westview Plaza shopping center, also known locally as Magnolia Shoppes, was originally facing $144,100 in fines.
During a July 30 hearing, the special magistrate reduced the amount by $23,500, bringing the fine to $120,600. Harvest later filed an appeal in Broward County Circuit Court on Aug. 31, according to court records.
The case involves three fire code issues identified by Coral Springs inspectors. They included an exit sign that failed to operate on battery power, blocked exit doors and an unpaid fire reinspection fee.
The fines began accumulating on May 2, 2025, at a rate of $250 per day for each violation, according to court records. The violations remained in place for different lengths of time before they were corrected.
The exit sign violation continued for 227 days and was fixed in December. The blocked-door violation lasted even longer, continuing for 313 days into March.
During the hearing, a fire inspector told the magistrate that the blocked doors presented a potential danger if an emergency required people to leave the building quickly.
“There are exit doors on the corridor with panic hardware, which the hardwares don’t work. Some of the doors were stuck,” the inspector said, according to the hearing transcript included with the lawsuit.
The property manager, Emanuel Ortega of Magnolia Shoppes, asked the magistrate to reduce the penalty. Ortega said new management had taken over the property and corrected the violations after becoming aware of them.
“We humbly come today to request the city’s mercy and leniency on this fine that has been levied against the property for this particular fire department violation,” Ortega said.
The request for a reduction was considered against the property’s reported financial value. The magistrate noted that county records valued the property at more than $18 million.
The magistrate also said there was no evidence showing the financial hardship that state law requires when seeking a reduction of a code enforcement fine.
Despite that concern, the magistrate reduced the penalty by $23,500. The decision left Harvest with a $120,600 fine, which the company is now challenging through its court appeal.
“I have misgivings about reducing it at all,” the magistrate said.
The dispute is not the only legal matter involving Harvest and the Westview Drive property. The $120,600 fine represents one of five Coral Springs liens against the company connected to the property.
Another Harvest-related lien has become part of a separate foreclosure lawsuit filed by the city of Wilton Manors in April. That case involves another property owned by Harvest and names Coral Springs as a defendant.
Harvest’s new appeal lists the city of Coral Springs as the defendant and identifies the value of the claim as more than $100,000.
The appeal will now move through the Broward County Circuit Court. At this point, no hearing date has been scheduled.
The underlying fire code violations have been corrected, according to the information presented during the magistrate hearing. The remaining dispute centers on the size of the fine and whether the reduced amount should stand.
The case highlights the financial consequences that can follow prolonged fire code violations. In this instance, the penalties accumulated over months as inspectors continued to cite the property for problems involving an emergency exit sign and doors.
For the shopping center owner, the next stage of the dispute will take place in circuit court, where Harvest is seeking further relief from the city-imposed penalty. The court has not yet set a date for a hearing on the appeal.
