Here we have more of these 5/4 decisions from the highest court in the land. They have been making some doozies of late and this one is devastating for all or us who want to protect our environment and our State from developers who have no regard and whose only thought is making money. Here in Florida we have a lot to protect and much to lose when decisions come down like this latest one on Tuesday. This developer fought his case all the way to the highest court in the land and won.
This is why it is so important that we get tight zoning laws within our city and well written land development regulations. Our commission, minus Chris McVoy, along with the city manager, stopped the Zoning in Progress and as a result, we got that dreadful humongous garage at D Street and 17th Avenue North. Incidentally, I have been told that the downtown heights issue is not over. Lake Worth's Comprehensive Plan may take much more time now if the people challenge the city commission's vote on the heights issue. We who voted and won this referendum on changing our Charter, may have more to say about what our commission did on Tuesday, a commission who was ready, willing and wanting to follow advice from their legal eagle and the voters be damned.
A legal opinion is just that, an opinion, and more often than not, a court will overturn these types of decisions that have poked the will of the people in the eye and have denied them their rights. Our elected officials must have the moral integrity to ensure the voting rights and the voting results of the people they represent no matter their personal feelings.
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that a Florida water management district violated private property rights when it asked a local developer to help pay for the environmental mitigation of building on wetlands in return for a construction permit. In her dissenting opinion, Justice Elena Kagan (who is a liberal appointed by Obama but does not rubber stamp anything) said the ruling has the potential to “work a revolution in land-use law.”
Read more...
Read more... on the Koontz vs. St. Johns River Water Management District.
7 comments:
I'm not sure what you would like the commission to do. Should we spend money and get more legal opinions so that we can be sure our attorneys are correct? Should we violate the new law and risk being sued by the property owners who will claim our city is illegally taking away their rights? Fact is, no one is coming to build anything here. Dixie Highway is sad to look at. We have no commerce to connect the downtown with the beach or Bryant Park. Our local businesses are really struggling to make it this summer. Is it really in the best interests of the city to keep fighting on this issue when we are in such bad financial shape.
300,000 monthly visits and only 41 votes on the most important issues facing the city?
This is strangely similar to "collecting" 1,700 signatures then only getting 1,200 votes.
LOL--you just love to be a boor. Your facts are wrong, as usual.
Whatever reason only a small percentage of people decided to vote (and it is ALWAYS that way in March elections--nothing new here) WE WON THE VOTE and you are doing all that you can to suppress the outcome and that basic right under our constitution.
Why not tell your developer friends to start developing Dixie Highway and stop the bitching. Why didn't you tell your developer friends to start building in our downtown all of these years? You just like to bitch and carry on and cost the city tons of money with your constant BS.
You love excuses and you love being on the WRONG side of what's right. As far as the city attorney is concerned, he was doing his job for this commission and what they wanted to happen here. No surprise but just another reason why I have little regard for attorneys in general.
And you tell me why people don't get involved in polls. You probably have that answer all down in your smug little brainless noggin.
Developers are not coming to our city. They are building all around us. So why are we trying to stop things that are not happening? Seems like you are looking for a good issue to divide the few thousand that vote now that the beach is no longer an issue. Does anyone know why no one is interested in Dixie Highway development?
What you just said makes NO sense.
You tell me WHY developers are not coming to our city? Is it because they were allowed to build in our city all these years? What kept them away? It certainly was not restricting our downtown to 4 stories.
It was YOU, the bully brats, that divided the city on heights in our downtown by changing the comp Plan. it is YOU still fighting the will of the people. It is YOU who just wants to argue to kingdom come.
How did the Comp plan change the heights? It actually lowered the heights except for a few properties that it was felt needed height to succeed. It was your group that decided that was not acceptable and than went out and told the voters that heights were going up all over the city. You won because there was really no opposition and because you asked a question that was framed in such a way that you knew you would win. It was like asking the voters to vote on a tax increase. There was no debate and no rational to explain to folks what you tried to do. So now you blame everyone else for dividing the city. That's wrong.
You guys just keep getting confused on this issue--.
Please understand the DIFFERENCE in a Comp Plan change(what you did initially that prompted the petition process) and in a charter amendment that the RPPAC got on the ballot for vote).
There were months of debate on this issue during the election, during the delay of the election and since the stall of the results of this vote by the people. The voters understood it--how come you didn't?
Division? The ONLY people divining this city are you and those who do not honor the will of the voters.
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