Michael Martin is in jail for not demolishing his guest house, despite active appeals still pending

TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa homeowner is in jail for not demolishing his guest house. Last week, 13th Judicial District judge Christopher Nash made the extraordinary move to order Michael Martin’s arrest after Martin sought to delay possible demolition while his civil case against his neighbors is still pending in the 2nd District Court of Appeals.

Martin was arrested on Monday for not complying with a previous order to demolish his guest house, pickleball court, and pool on his property in the affluent Beach Park neighborhood.

Martin’s attorney, Sam Heller, says Martin is prepared to stay in jail as he waits for two appeals, the latest in a series of different appeals that up until now have been rejected by the 2nd DCA.

Martin’s neighbors, Barbara and Gordon Babbitt, first sued Martin and the City of Tampa in 2021 after Martin applied and was approved for permits to build his home, guest house, pickleball court, and pool.

“This location will allow the occupants of the [guest house] to peer into the backyard and pool area of Babbitts’ home,” the original complaint stated. Martin subsequently removed any windows facing the Babbitt’s property and installed bamboo along the property line to obstruct the view of the guest house.

The Babbitt’s contend Martin’s construction was erroneously approved by the city, saying, in addition to other mistakes, that the guest house is “within a utility easement that has never been invalidated or released by the City. This area had previously been reserved on a plat as public space.”

The case, nearly five years later, now has more than 500 filings as part of the court record, with Judge Nash ultimately ruling the construction didn’t comply with plat restrictions from when it was originally subdivided in 1924.

He first ordered the demolition of the guest house in his order, later changing the language and scope to include the pickleball court and pool.

Martin has appeals pending right now, but the Babbitt’s, through their attorney Trae Weingardt, filed six motions to have Martin found in contempt, arguing Martin has signed a contract with a demolition company and needs to pay $392,372.50 to Dynamite Demolition to begin tearing down the structures. Judge Nash rejected them until last week, finding Martin in contempt and ordering a writ of bodily attachment,” which orders” all law enforcement to take Martin into custody and take him to jail.

At an emergency hearing Tuesday afternoon, Judge Nash said he wanted to speak to all parties as soon as he heard Martin was arrested.

“My purpose in doing so is to discuss the fastest possible path forward to Mr. Martin being released and the Court’s order being complied with,” he said, according to a transcript.

The Babbitts didn’t come to the door tonight to give their side, but in the same transcript, Weingardt said, “the Babbitts don’t want Mr. Martin to sit in jail. They want the judgment to be complied with.”

“It’s like, you’re gonna have an attempted murder or a rapist bond out or bail out?” Martin said in an interview on Friday before his arrest. “You want me to be held [without bond?] It’s like, it’s insane.”

“Our client is sitting in jail and has a choice whether he is going to either comply with this order in the face of an appeal, pay $800,000 to demolish this guest house, and give up his rights to appeal, or sit in jail,” Heller said in an interview Tuesday night. “At the end of the day, though, he is in jail, and it’s been because of the multiple requests by the neighbors for him to go to jail or be absent, completing this demolition.”

The judge rejected an offer to put demolition money into a court account while the appeal is pending. The lawsuit may not stop Martin from eventually building what he wants on his property. The City of Tampa is currently reviewing a court-ordered replatting of part of his land, which, if approved, means he may have to demolish the guest house now only to rebuild it again later.