Clay County: Stop the passage of an expanded residency restriction!
Today, at 4PM in Clay County, the county commission is scheduled to consider a proposed amendment to the “Sexual Offenders and Sexual Predators Ordinance”
The agenda item can be seen here: https://claycounty.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=5470&MeetingID=1352
The proposed amended ordinance can be found here: https://claycounty.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/AttachmentViewer.ashx?AttachmentID=10291&ItemID=5470
The meeting will take place at the Clay County Administration Building, 4th Floor, BCC Meeting Room, 477 Houston Street, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043 at 4:00 PM
Among other things, this new ordinance will DOUBLE the residency restriction and impose Halloween restrictions! It is based on the FALSE premise that registrants have a high rate of recidivism, that SORRs are effective and that there’s an increased risk to children from registrants on Halloween.
We implore you to show up at the meeting and speak out against the ordinance!
If you cannot show up in person, contact the county commissioners:
Discover more from Florida Action Committee (FAC)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Thanks to Sarah and Jacob for showing up and their participation. I noticed that there were no residents of Clay County that spoke in favor of the ordinance. It was all done by politicians and law enforcement. I gave my 3 minutes of testimony but it was hard to refute Mr. Rollins in 3 minutes. I had made a few notes ahead of time on my copy of the ordinance. It was not hard to come up with talking points because of the excellent education and resources I have received from FAC during the past 4 years. And it was easy because you could drive a truck through some of the misstatements and logic in the document. We need to not faulter at this point.
Is there any change in the status of this act?
A survivor approached us after the hearing. She suffered horrible abuse as a young child.
And she apologized. To SarahF, especially.
SarahF or Maryanne will correct me if our accounts differ. But this survivor felt bad about the outcome of the hearing and pointed out that a residency restriction would not have protected her as a child. Even though her assailant was a neighbor.
I bring this up because commissioners, at least once, invoked the interest of the victims. But no victims, to our knowledge, expressed support for this ordinance. At the public hearing, nobody did, other than the commissioners themselves.
One of the most powerful points made in the documentary film Untouchable, came at the end.
Ron Book was asked whether any of the laws that he got enacted would have done anything to protect his daughter. He had to admit… no.
Very sad to see, despite all the extraordinary efforts of SarahF, Jacob, Marianne, and others, that this draconian ordinance was unanimously approved. Legislators and lawmakers don’t care about the facts. They just want to be re-elected and look tough to their constituents. Trying to educate them has failed. Litigation is the only remedy, but at what cost? Unlike many other states, Floriduh has failed to reach the tipping point on the absurdity of these prima facie unconstitutional laws and “ordinances.” Floriduh is nothing but a minefield of restrictions. Personally, my focus is now on finding a better state to die in.
JZ, when my husband is released in February, we will have his probation rules to follow along with an ankle monitor, the registry rules to follow, the state statutes to follow, his sentencing rules to follow, and now a new county ordinance covering 4 additional requirements.
SarahF, upon reading this ordinance, a couple of things caught my attention. First, “This Article shall be effective in the unincorporated area of Clay County, Florida.” So if you live in an incorporated area (municipality) of Clay, (Green Cove Springs, Orange Park, Penney Farms, or Keystone Heights), it is NOT applicable to you.
A municode search shows NO restrictions in Orange Park, Green Cove or Keystone. Can’t locate an official webpage for Penney. Even the link on https://www.claycountygov.com/about-us/local-government/municipalities is broken.
Secondly, any violation of probation eliminates grandfathering of this ordinance:
“(c) Exceptions. The provisions of this section shall not prohibit a sexual offender or sexual predator from continuing to reside at his or her residence:
(1) If the residence was established prior to the effective date of this Article, unless the sexual offense or a violation of probation for said offense was committed subsequent thereto.”
When they realize how difficult it will be to maintain an annual list of “Child Safety Zones,” they may have regrets for passing this ordinance. This also begs the question, can a registrant be punished in between the annual updates?
Also, the effective date, which should be precise, is ambiguous:
“Section 3. Effective Date. This ordinance shall be effective as prescribed by Florida general law.”
This really $ucks and I’m sorry you and your husband have to live under these barbaric conditions.
JZ, we do live in the unincorporated area. I was looking yesterday on googlemaps at areas within the city limits of Orange Park, but housing is too limited there. I am still hoping for an exemption.
The part about any violation while on probation eliminating the grandfathering part was not brought up by the commissioners. I doubt that they know it is in there.
“If the residence was established prior to the effective date of this article, unless the sexual offense or a violation of probation for said offense was committed subsequent thereto” — this part is what I do not understand. Does it mean that if you are grandfathered in and have one technical violation on your probation, that you would then have to leave your home if it is within 2000 feet of one of the listed places?
The language clearly (to me) suggests grandfathering. I cannot think of a single reason why his residence there would be rejected. Can you?
I read the “unless,” “violation” language to mean that if someone is forced, via a probation violation, to relocate from that residence to jail, they lose their grandfathering. Which then puts you in a position of having to do one of two things. Have your lawyer argue before the judge that what he did was not in fact a violation of probation and that we disagree with the PO. Or, get the commissioner who invoked exemptions on the phone, reminding him of your public discussion and why living in your house is important to husband’s rehabilitation, and ask how can we do this.
I do think that the observation re incorporates areas still matters, because there are no 300’ exclusion zones there. Like, I don’t know whether Orange Park Mall is in unincorporated Clay or in fact in City of Orange Park.
The mall is in the unincorporated area.
Our residence is being rejected because we live within 1000 feet of a school and home with a day care.
That’s right I forgot, the state 1,000’ was the reason. Dammit! this is frustrating even for me, so I can’t even imagine…
As CMC noted in the other thread https://floridaactioncommittee.org/urgent-sex-offender-shuffle-again/#comment-79945
the law governing the 1,000 ft. restriction started out as 794.065 and was effective for offenses committed on or after October 1, 2004. There was no provision to allow you to stay in your home if you had established your residence before your offense.
“(1) It is unlawful for any person who has been convicted of a violation of s. 794.011, s. 800.04, s. 827.071, or s. 847.0145, regardless of whether adjudication has been withheld, in which the victim of the offense was less than 16 years of age, to reside within 1,000 feet of any school, day care center, park, or playground.”
Nor was there any protection if one of those popped up within 1,000 feet of you.
In 2008, s. 847.0135(5) was added to the list of offenses and was made retroactive to October 1, 2004.
In 2010, s. 794.065 was changed to s. 775.215 and a protection provision was added.
“(2) However, a person does not violate this subsection and may not be forced to relocate if he or she is living in a residence that meets the requirements of this subsection and a school, child care facility, park, or playground is subsequently established within 1,000 feet of his or her residence.”
Also, out-of-state registrants were now burdened by the same restrictions, if the offense was committed on or after May 26, 2010.
There is still no provision in this statute to allow you to stay in your home if you had established your residence before your offense.
Don’t worry. This has a stirring within me that I cannot let go of. I am ready and willing to go through any door that God will allow me to go through.
SarahF, yes any violation of probation conditions nullifies grandfathering protection so you would have to move (into a city I would hope, if feasible) or as Jacob stated, fight it.
You mentioned something about not applying to residency in unincorporated areas…… does this law apply to the Lake Ausbery area?