A South Tampa homeowner spent nearly three weeks in jail after refusing to comply with a judge’s order to tear down a guest house, pool and pickleball court that city officials had previously approved.
Michael Martin, 62, was released from Hillsborough County jail this week after agreeing to move forward with demolition plans for the structures behind his Beach Park home, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The teardown could cost another $400,000 on top of the nearly $2 million Martin said he has already sunk into the project, including construction costs and legal fees.
“I’m not done fighting,” Martin told the outlet after his release, saying he lost 12 pounds while incarcerated and required IV fluids at home.
At the center of the fight is a two-story gym and guest house Martin built on the property that extends to a former alley behind the home. Martin maintains the city approved every permit associated with the project and that he followed guidance from Tampa planning officials throughout the process.
But neighbors Gordon and Barbara Babbitt sued in 2021, arguing the project created a nuisance by blocking sunlight to their pool and darkening portions of their house. Their attorneys later argued the land wasn’t legally buildable because part of the land had been reserved for public use decades earlier.
Martin’s attorney, Sam Heller, said the alley was abandoned in the 1960s or 1970s and absorbed into surrounding residential lots. A zoning consultant who worked on the property said city officials indicated that no replatting was required before construction.
That defense didn’t persuade the court. In 2023, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Christopher Nash ruled the guest house violated the original plat restrictions and ordered it demolished. The judge later added Martin’s pool and pickleball court to the order.
After repeated motions from the Babbitts’ attorneys, Nash held Martin in contempt in April and ordered him jailed until he complied. Martin still had an appeal pending at the time of his arrest, but after losing that appeal this week, he agreed to fund the demolition in exchange for his release.
The city has largely distanced itself from the dispute, calling it “a legal matter between the litigants and the courts,” the outlet reported. The Babbitts’ legal team argued Martin knowingly pushed ahead despite warnings that the structures could ultimately be deemed illegal.
Martin has since sued the Babbitts over improvements on the same disputed alley land — a move that could drag more neighbors into the fight.
— Eric Weilbacher
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