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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDocumentation_Regular_Tab 7A_6/14/1990VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA Post Office Box 3273 • 357 Tequesta Drive Tequesta, Florida 33469-0273 • (407) 575-6200 FAX: (407) 575-6203 MEMORANDUM: TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: Village Council Thomas G. Bradford, Village Manager June 8, 1990 Petition of JARA, Inc. to Reconstitute Board of Adjustment; Agenda Item Attached hereto, please find a copy of the above referenced received this date. Due to the nature of this matter, and the request for "expeditious processing," this matter has been placed on the Agenda of the June 14, Village Council Meeting for your consideration. TGB/ j mm Attachment cc: Board of Adjustment Members, w/attachment John C. Randolph, Village Attorney, w/attachment Scott D. Ladd, Building Official, w/attachment LAW OFFICES MOYLE, FLANIGAN, KATZ, FITZGERALD & SHEEHAN, P.A. THOMAS M. BEASON PETER L. BRETON ROBERT BRODY GREGORY D. COOK E. COLE FITZGERALD, 311 JOHN F FLANIGAN ROY W FOXALL ANDREW FULTON, M MYRA GENDEL NANCY MALLEY GRAHAM WINSLOW D. HAWKESAJI LYNN G. HAWKINS MARTIN V. KATZ WILLIAM B. KING RONALD K. KOLINS STEVEN A. MAYANS Thomas Bradford Village Manager Village of Tequesta 357 Tequesta Drive Tequesta, FL 33469 Re: Jara, Inc. Dear Mr. Bradford: 9- FLOOR, BARNETT CENTRE 625 NORTH FLAGLER DRIVE POST OFFICE BOX 3888 WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA 33402 TELEPHONE (407) 659-7500 FACSIMILE (407) 659 - 1 789 TALLAHASSEE OFFICE SUITE 100, THE PERKINS HOUSE 118 NORTH GADSDEN STREET TALLAHASSEE. FLORIDA 32301 TELEPHONE (904) 681-3828 FACSIMILE (904) 681-8788 June 7, 1990 ANDREW J. MCMAHON LISA A. MILLER JON C. MOYLE JODY H. OLIVER DAVID S. PRESSLY NANCY VORPE OUINLAN PATRICK E. OUINLAN MARK E. RAYMOND THOMAS A. SHEEHAN, 3II DONNA H. STINSON MARTA M. SUAREZ-MURIAS SAMUEL A. THOMAS WILTON L. WHITE THOMAS L. YOSET JOEL H. YUDENFREUND Enclosed for filing please find the original, and for your convenience, five copies of the Petition of Jara, Inc. To Reconstitute Board of Adjustment. In view of the fact that the matter of the application of Jara, Inc, relating to Lot 8, Block 2, of Country Club Point is, to the extent of the issue of minimum lot width requirements, to be heard, as we understand it, by the Village's Zoning Board of Adjustment on June 25, 1990, your most expeditious processing and consideration of this Petition is respectfully requested. If you have any questions please be sure to contact me at your very earliest convenience. Ver y ours, o al RKK:jd cc: Don Arbree Joseph Arbree John Randolph Hon. Joseph Capretta David S. Pressly, Esq. Peter L. Breton, Esq. 2293E 060790-1 2292E BEFORE THE VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA PETITION OF JARA, INC. TO RECONSTITUTE BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BY: RONALD K. KOLINS Of Counsel: MOYLE, FLANIGAN, KATZ FITZGERALD & SHEEHAN, P.A. 625 NORTH FLAGLER DRIVE WEST PALM BEACH, FL 33401 (407) 659-7500 Date: JUNE 7, 1990 I. PREFATORY STATEMENT On April 4, 1990, Jara, Inc. ("JaraI') filed its Application for Subdivision Review pursuant to and in full conformity with the applicable provisions of the Village of Tequesta ("Tequesta") codes and ordiances. Pursuant to those codes and ordinances, the aforesaid application is to be considered and decided by the Tequesta Village Council, and thus the matter was scheduled for and was originally heard by that Council on April 26, 1990. However, at that hearing the Council refused to decide the matter and postponed it for further consideration at its next hearing on May 10, 1990. Thereat, with one member of the Council absent, the vote taken resulted in a deadlocked Council and the matter was scheduled for further consideration at the then next following Council hearing on May 24, 1990. At the May 24th hearing the Council did not bring the matter to a vote because of the "filing" thereat of a letter dated May 24, 1990 from Timothy E. Goldsbury to Scott D. Ladd as Clerk of the Board styled as a "Letter of Appeal." That letter, ostensibly "filed" pursuant to Section XIII (C)(1) of the Tequesta Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance (August 25, 1987), alleges that Mr. Goldsbury is an "a grieved" (sic) party by the "determination" of the Tequesta Building Official regarding minimum width requirements. This letter was executed by Mr. Goldsbury in his capacity as President of the Tequesta Country Club Point Property -2- Owners Association, Inc. and is on the letterhead of Country Club Point Property Owners Association. The records of Tequesta also contain a similar "Letter of Appeal" dated May 24, 1990 from Mr. Goldsbury to Mr. Ladd in which Mr. Goldsbury specifically appeals on behalf of "this Association." The Tequesta Council, based upon the appeal(s), deferred action and forwarded the matter of the lot width determination to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. By letter dated June 1, 1990 from Mr. Ladd as Building Official to Joseph M. Arbree, President of Jara, and received by Mr. Arbree on June 5, 1990, Jara was formally notified of the Village's action. It is the understanding of Jara that the Board of Adjustment will consider this matter at its June 25, 1990 meeting and that Jara will receive written notification thereof and the opportunity to appear and be heard. HHHNFT9• •m It is and continues to be the position of Jara that the so-called appeal(s) of and on behalf of Mr. Goldsbury, the Tequesta Country Club Point Property Owners Association and the Country Club Point Property Owners Association, are not contemplated and/or authorized by any provision of the codes and ordinances of the Village of Tequesta, including Section XIII (C)(1) of the Tequesta Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance. Moreover, the "filing(s)" fail to meet the procedural requirements of -3- Section XIII (C)(1) and thus are procedurally deficient. Jara's position is and has always been that the Council was and is obligated to pass upon its pending application and that no other board or body of the Village of Tequesta has any jurisdiction whatsoever to consider this matter. Therefore, Jara hereby reaffirms its legal and jurisdictional position and affirmatively states that no action which it now takes or may take in the future, including the possibility of appearing before the Zoning Board of Adjustment and including the filing of this Petition, is to be considered, interpreted, or in any way taken as a relinquishment or waiver of any or all of Jara's rights to object to the actions of the Council and/or the Zoning Board of Adjustment and/or any other Village body or official as relates to this matter. Given the aforesaid, it is very clear that, even putting aside the jurisdictional and procedural impediments to the involvement of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, it is not reasonably possible for Jara to receive a fair and unbiased hearing before that Board for a number of reasons, as follows: A. Mr. William Kirkland, the Board's chairman, has been one of the leading public spokesmen opposing the application generally, and the position of the Village Building Official concerning minimum lot width in particular. Mr. Kirkland has spoken repeatedly, at great length, and -4- vociferously in this regard at all three of the public hearings before the Village Council. As the Chairman of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, his prejudging of this issue and his continuous public position in that regard, standing alone, constitutes a tainting of the objectivity of the Board to an extent which precludes any reasonable chance Jara would have for a fair hearing. Moreover, Mr. Kirkland is a resident of Country Club Point and a member of its Property Owners Association, one of the entities whose appeal is to be before the Board. Thus, as his Association is a party to this proceeding, Mr. Kirkland is further biased and in an untenable position in terms of influencing the Board. B. Mr. Kenneth Northamer, an alternate member of the Board, is also a resident of Country Club Point and a member of its Association. He, like Mr. Kirkland, has publicly spoken against the application generally and the lot width issue specifically. His public position, both standing alone and as a second member of the Board to oppose this matter, adds to the taint of bias and precludes the Board's ability to satisfy its public duty and my client's right to a fair, untainted, and unbiased hearing. -5- C. Of the five regular members of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, a majority of three reside in Country Club Point and are members of its Association. Thus, Messrs. Kirkland and Reddecliff, and Ms. Mary Louis Nolen are, in effect, parties to the proceeding. Moreover, given the position taken by their Association, they could not provide a fair hearing. Thus, by both conflict and bias they cannot participate in the Board's consideration of this matter. D. Mr. Northamer, an alternate member, also lives in Country Club Point and thus, in addition to the reasons discussed in (B) above, and for the same reasons set forth in (C) above, cannot serve in place of a regular member in the Board's consideration of this matter. E. The remaining two regular members of the Board, Messrs. Turner and Van Wagner, as well as the remaining alternate, Mr. DeMott, reside in Tequesta Country Club whose Association, of which they are all members, was represented at the public hearing and which Association repeatedly and publicly opposed this application. In view of the foregoing, it is the position of Jara that the existing Board, in its entirety, cannot consider this matter -6- lawfully. At least four of its members are, in effect, parties to the proceedings, and, in any event, the objectivity of the entire Board has been compromised by the public positions taken by its Chairman, another member, and representatives of all of the other members. Given that all of the members must therefore recuse or, at the very least, a majority of four (three of five regular members and one alternate) have already prejudged the issue and/or live in Country Club Point and thus must recuse, a quorum of the Board cannot be constituted. That, coupled with the fact that the entire Board is now tainted with bias as discussed above, there can be no Village Zoning Board of Adjustment as presently constituted for the purpose of the instant matter. Therefore, Jara respectfully petitions and requests that, for purposes of considering the appeal(s) "filed" by Mr. Goldsbury, the Village Council sit as the Zoning Board of Adjustment. That Council is in existence; it is the ultimate local authority; and each of its members was elected by the Village's residents. No other body would be more appropriate to serve as the Board under the foregoing circumstances. This situation is most unusual and perhaps a matter of first instance and thus the Village codes and ordinances provide no specific guidance. It is, however, clear that both reason and fairness dictate that the "substitute" board be at a higher level of local authority. To do anything less would further compromise the possibility of Jara getting the fair, full, and unbiased -7- hearing that it deserves. Moreover, it is the Village Council that is charged, pursuant to the Tequesta Subdivision Code, with the jurisdiction and responsibility of interpreting the Subdivision Code's provisions. See, e.g. Article II, Ord. 56. Petitioner therefore requests that the Village Council convene as the Zoning Board of Adjustment for the purpose of considering this matter. Respectfully submitted LR nald 4K.W'�1?ins--