Special Magistrate Robert Riggio denied an appeal on July 22, 2025 by Ronald Lewis of a trespass warning issued for parts of City Island Park, but the magistrate clarified the order’s scope to allow Lewis pedestrian access to the Volusia County Library via Jackie Robinson Parkway and adjoining sidewalks.

The city presented records that Lewis had been the subject of an earlier enforcement incident (April 29, 2025) involving the same park property and a subsequent June 24, 2025 contact in which officers said Lewis again was on park property before posted hours. Officer Gaspar testified that Lewis had prior contacts at the location and that officers had observed individuals camping and narcotics activity in the park at off-hours, explaining why the department enforces posted hours and issues trespass warnings in some cases.

Lewis told the magistrate he had gone to the park early to visit with acquaintances and, in at least one earlier encounter, to use a restroom during an emergency. “I had to use the toilet,” Lewis said when explaining the April incident; he also said he uses the library and was concerned the trespass order would bar him from using library services.

Because Lewis’s written appeal centered on an asserted inability to access the library, the magistrate asked city staff to show a property-appraiser map of city-owned land and the pedestrian routes. Sergeant Connolly displayed a map that highlighted the city-owned parcel and showed a public sidewalk route along Jackie Robinson Parkway and a sidewalk along the canal leading to the library. Magistrate Riggio stated the order would be denied on the merits but modified in scope to clarify that it does not prohibit Lewis from reaching the Volusia County Library via the designated sidewalks; the magistrate also instructed staff to attach the printed map to the order so Lewis would have a clear written route to follow.

Riggio signed and dated an order denying the appeal of the June 24 trespass warning but specifying that access to the Volusia County Library via Jackie Robinson Parkway and the adjoining sidewalks, as shown on an attached map, remains permitted. The city said it would provide Lewis with copies of the signed order and the map; the magistrate and officers warned Lewis that the order does not allow loitering or other prohibited conduct and that the library’s hours remain the governing opening times for lawful entry.