Today a 3-judge appeals tribunal handed the Longboat Key commission a stunning defeat. The town lawyer's land use litigation losing streak remains intact. The town might finally look elsewhere for legal advice. The primary duty of a municipal attorney is to keep that municipality out of expensive court proceedings; especially if the municipality will lose.
The latest appeals court loss may expose the town to law suits and costly litigation from property owners who have been denied unfettered access to the real estate markets due the the town's ill-advised legal gambits against its own residents.
Judge Roberts, and now the Florida appeals court, have ruled that the LBK commissioners broke the law when they zealously advanced the interests of the Key Club. Bob White and the members of IPOC are to be congratulated for their unflinching conviction that the town commission had violated the property owner's legal rights.
Those on the commission and the town's previous planning director, who opposed the Key Club expansion as being inappropriate and needlessly dense, have been vindicated. It has been stated before, I was always in favor of improvements at the Key Club, but not at the expense of surrounding property owners.
While on the commission, I requested that the commissioners retain an outside, disinterested land use attorney to advise the commission concerning the Key Club proposal. I had lost faith in the two lawyers retained by the town. At that time I expressed my doubts that the town was on firm legal footing if they approved the KC expansion. Unfortunately, there was no support for this proposal, most especially from the town lawyer. If the commission had insisted that the Key Club proposal be adjusted to the point where the surrounding community was comfortable, the Key Club expansion would already be in its 3rd year and close to being completed. Instead we have had a paralysed real estate market on the south end. Who in their right mind would not be cautious about investing while there was a lawsuit pending on the property.
Unfortunately for our residents, this commission will try to get around this resounding slam by the Florida courts by shamelessly gutting our comprehensive plan and those building codes specifically needing change to specifically address the Key Club expansion. If the commissioners once again look to the town lawyer's advice, they should also look at his win/loss record in land use litigation he has managed on behalf of our community.
If the new Key Club owners really want to add value for themselves and for our community, they should work with the affected property owners and the commission to create a win-win design that is more appropriate for Longboat Key, keeps the process out of the courts, and hastens the completion of the entire process.
The town could now retain an expert land use attorney to advise the town how to avoid another court defeat that could be even more destructive to our property owners than the most recent rout. There is that old saying - Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.
This commission, and sadly Longboat Key, will now be immortalized in the law journals and legal precedents citations as a Goat Rodeo. We can do better than that. We need some changes and we need them before more damage is done.
If anyone doubts that the appeals court ruling will be well noted in Florida legel circles, they may want to enter the following in Google
ReplyDeletelongboat key appeal
Talking to a neighbor, I was asked how long the community will continue to be overshadowed by the Key Club, since the courts have killed the town's first attempt to make the Key Club expansion street legal.
ReplyDeleteI had to reply that I had no idea how many more years the Key Club expansion project will continue to be on the front pages of island life on Longboat Key. However, I do feel that the current faltering process is detrimental to real estate sales, divides our community and diminishes our image as a place to live.
Light reading: This link discusses the relationship between existing PUD documents and subsequent enactment of codes by municipalities. The article reflects current judicial thought on that relationship.
ReplyDeletehttp://lawoftheland.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/fed-dist-court-in-fl-holds-pud-governing-documents-do-not-permit-cell-towers/
The courts have now rebuked the Longboat Key commission for leaving the reservation and acting as if they were a bunch of cowboys above the law.
ReplyDeleteThe courts have chastened those commissioners, past and present, who attempted to justify spot zoning as a means of adding value to Loeb Partners Longboat Key Club properties.
I caution the same people that a thinly veiled end-run around the spirit of the law will most likely draw the same ire from the Florida courts.
People who invest in a well-defined PUD have inalienable rights similar to members of condominium associations and "common areas".
Small towns frequently lack the in-house expertise to cope with complex tasks. This is to be expected. Problems arise when small town officials fail to grasp their own limitations.